[SOLVED] i5 6600K 100c temp (thermal throttling) & 100% Usage. Please help.

[freestyler24]

Hello All,

My i5 6600k temp idles around 44° C to 49° C and with load (playing game-cs go, using video editing tool-filmora) it shoots to 100° C within 30 seconds. Also when I did a stress test with intel extreme tuning utility same thing 30 seconds into the test it shoots to 100°C. Also my CPU usage idles at 1-5% while 100% under the same load as above. After a lot of research I finally figured that I might need to change my thermal paste and I have ordered it. As I am waiting for it I would like to know what are the other optimizations that I could do within my BIOS and windows setting to reduce this extreme temperature and usage. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

*background apps while doing the stress test: Nvidia graphics software, AI suite 3 (asus motherboard software), Bitdefender (Total Security software), Volume Controller

My Specs:
CPU: Intel i5 6600k 3.5 Ghz(O.C 4.5) currently running at base clock
------
Motherboard: Asus z170 pro gaming
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RAM: G.SKILL Trident Z 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR4 3200Mhz RGB Series Memory - F43200C16D16GTZR - AMP enabled
------
GPU: Zotac RTX 2060 Super 8 GB
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PSU: Corsair RM1000X
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CPU Cooler: CM liquid lite 120
---------------
Storage:
----------
Primary: Samsung Evo 850 Plus 250GB M.2 Nvme (PCIE)
Other: Samsung Evo 850 250GB SSD
Other: Samsung Evo 850 1TB SSD
========================
Monitor: Benq XL2430T
----------
Mid Tower: NZXT Noctis 450

CPU-Z- Image: CPU-Z Info
Speccy Image: Speccy Info
Extreme Tuning Utility: Info (cpu fan at full speed while stress test)
AIDA64 System stability test: AIDA64 Stablity test (cpu fan at full speed while stress test)
AIDA64 Statistics after stability test: AIDA64 Stats

 

[Darkbreeze]

Sounds to me like it is a LOT more likely that pump in your AIO, which was a poor quality with worse than air cooler performance, to begin with, is failing.

That CM 120 lite isn't even good enough for the 6600k stock profile really, much less overclocked, much less now probably two years later. What you need is a MUCH more capable cooler.

Also factor in that your "load" temps are really NOT "load temps" because playing games, encoding video and running XTU are not accurate thermal compliance validation tools. They are not 100% TDP and they are not steady state work loads.

In a steady state work load you will certainly be seeing even worse thermal issues than you are currently, so my advice would be that if you want to continue using that CPU with that 4.5Ghz OC, get a better cooler. An "average" 140mm heatsink fan cooler would offer better performance than that, or any, "lite" AIO. As soon as you see "lite" in the name of any PC product, you should be looking elsewhere as a matter of course because it is exactly as they've labeled it.

"Lite" on performance. "Lite" on quality. "Lite" on longevity.

 

[freestyler24]

Thank you so much @Darkbreeze for this much needed information. I have never O.C'd my cpu. I was reffering to the max O.C capablity as shown on their manual. Following your advice I would buy a better cpu cooler which can also be future proof so that even if I upgrade my cpu and mobo i would be able to use. Was thinking of NZXT x73 AIO.

I also wanted to know if there is something that I need toi look into on my BIOS and OS settings to get better results till I buy a new AIO and receive my thermal paste? Thank you

 

[Darkbreeze]

Are you only interested in an AIO cooler, or air coolers as well? There are a fair number of reasons why an air cooler makes more sense, and here are my recommendations on that. If you want an AIO cooler I'd highly recommend sticking with the ones sold by Corsair, Fractal Design, Deepcool and on the budget side of things Arctic makes a couple of very decent AIO coolers now with very good performance for the price, those are the liquid freezer models.

For air, below.

Below is my list of preferred CPU AIR coolers, also known as Heatsink fans (HSF).

Do not look here for recommendations on water/liquid cooling solutions. There are none to be found.

BEFORE seriously considering ANY cooler, make sure to compare it's height with the maximum CPU cooler height supported by your case. If a cooler won't fit, then there isn't much point in looking at it anyhow unless you are willing to replace the case with a larger, more accomodating model. It should probably go without saying that the recommendations below are NOT intended for systems that incorporate small form factor or mini ITX type enclosures. These are generally for standard ATX tower cases. For recommendations on coolers for very small enclosures, there are many of us around here that can offer some suggestions based on the use case.

A good air cooler works just as well for most applications. There are very few instances I can think of where an AIO will work better than a good air cooler, and even fewer where an AIO will outperform an air cooler if you are willing to buy the right air cooler and then level up by adding some even higher end fans to it.

Loops leak. Heatsinks don't. Pumps fail, FAR more often and usually with far worse consequences, than fans do.

And unlike a heatsink fan assembly, when your pump fails for 99% of AIO coolers, you will be replacing the whole thing, for another 100+ dollars, rather than just a 25 dollar investment for the failure of a fan. Especially since I've rarely seen dual fan coolers have both fans fail at the same time, but even if you factor in two fan failures that's still only about fifty bucks compared to the 100+ it will cost to replace an AIO with a failed pump. And you WILL have a failed pump on most AIO coolers within three years of purchase. Seeing one last longer than five years is possible, but it is not particularly common and we often, very often, see them fail at around the 3 year mark. Sometimes much sooner.

Pump quality and longevity is an area that needs GREAT improvement before AIO coolers will become a primary recommendation for me.

I see a lot of AIO coolers leak and damage hardware as well.

Certainly there are situations where an AIO is called for, or even preferred, but those are MOSTLY aesthetic considerations, because let's face it, a build with an AIO or custom loop generally "looks" a lot cleaner than one that has a big heatsink taking up half the real estate inside your case. When that is the case, I have recommendations for those as well, but I don't offer them unless somebody is specifically asking to go that route.[/B]

They are basically listed in order of preference, from top to bottom. In general, best to worst, with some allowances for quality over pure benchmarks in some cases. To some degree that preference is based on known performance on similarly overclocked configurations, but not entirely. There are likely a couple of units that are placed closer to the top not because they offer purely better performance than another cooler which is below it, but potentially due to a variety of reasons.

One model might be placed higher than another with the same or similar performance, but has quieter or higher quality fans. It may have the same performance but a better warranty. Long term quality may be higher. It may be less expensive in some cases. Maybe it performs slightly worse, but has quieter fans and a better "fan pitch". Some fans with equal decibel levels do not "sound" like they are the same as the specific pitch heard from one fan might be less annoying than another.

In any case, these are not "tiered" and are not a 100% be all, end all ranking. They are simply MY preference when looking at coolers for a build or when making recommendations. Often, which HSF gets chosen depends on what is on this list and fits the budget or is priced right at the time due to a sale or rebate. Hopefully it will help you and you can rest assured that every cooler listed here is a model that to some degree or other is generally a quality unit which is a lot more likely to be worth the money spent on it than on many other models out there that might look to be a similarly worthwhile investment.

Certainly there are a great many other very good coolers out there, but these are models which are usually available to most anybody building a system or looking for a cooler, regardless of what part of the world they might live in. As always, professional reviews are usually an absolutely essential part of the process of finding a cooler so if you are looking at a model not listed here, I would highly recommend looking at at least two or three professional reviews first.

If you cannot find two reviews of any given cooler, it is likely either too new to have been reviewed yet or it sucked, and nobody wanted to buy one in order to review it plus the manufacturer refused to send samples out to the sites that perform reviews because they knew it would likely get bad publicity.

IMO, nobody out there is making better fans, overall, than Noctua, followed pretty closely by Thermalright. So if you intend to match case fans to the same brand on your HSF, those are pretty hard to beat. Of course, Corsair has it's Maglev fans, and those are pretty damn good too, but they tend to be more expensive than what are in my opinion better fans by these other two, so while they are good products they don't have the same noise characteristics and are probably better suited for configurations where sheer brute force is preferred over low noise that still gives good performance. Also, as with most fan models out there, don't look at the specifications for the non-RGB Maglev fan models and think that you'll be getting the same specs on any RGB versions, because you won't. Fans with RGB tend to sacrifice both maximum CFM and static pressure for the right to stuff the RGB electronics under the hood.

Noctua NH-D14 (Replace stock fans with NF-A14 industrialPPC 2000rpm)
Noctua NH-D15/D15 SE-AM4
Noctua NH-D14 (With original fans)
Thermalright Silver arrow IB-E Extreme
Cryorig R1 Ultimate or Universal
Be Quiet Dark rock Pro 4
Thermalright Legrand Macho RT
Phanteks PH-TC14PE (BK,BL, OR or RD)
Deepcool Assassin III
Thermalright Macho X2
Thermalright Macho rev. C
Thermalright Macho rev.B
Thermalright ARO-M14G (Ryzen only)
SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HE1425
Thermalright Macho direct
Deepcool Assassin II
Noctua NH-U14S
Noctua NH-U12A
Thermalright true spirit 140 Direct
FSP Windale 6
Scythe Ninja 5
Scythe Mugen max
Scythe Mugen 5 rev.B
BeQuiet dark rock (3 or 4)
Thermalright Macho SBM
Cryorig H5
Noctua NH-U12S


It may not be obvious, but is probably worth mentioning, that not all cooler models will fit all CPU sockets as aftermarket coolers generally require an adapter intended for use with that socket. Some coolers that fit an AMD platform might not fit a later AMD platform, or an Intel platform. Often these coolers come with adapters for multiple types of platforms but be sure to verify that a specific cooler WILL work with your platform before purchasing one and finding out later that it will not.

 

[freestyler24]

Are you only interested in an AIO cooler, or air coolers as well? There are a fair number of reasons why an air cooler makes more sense, and here are my recommendations on that. If you want an AIO cooler I'd highly recommend sticking with the ones sold by Corsair, Fractal Design, Deepcool and on the budget side of things Arctic makes a couple of very decent AIO coolers now with very good performance for the price, those are the liquid freezer models.

For air, below.

Below is my list of preferred CPU AIR coolers, also known as Heatsink fans (HSF).

Do not look here for recommendations on water/liquid cooling solutions. There are none to be found.

BEFORE seriously considering ANY cooler, make sure to compare it's height with the maximum CPU cooler height supported by your case. If a cooler won't fit, then there isn't much point in looking at it anyhow unless you are willing to replace the case with a larger, more accomodating model. It should probably go without saying that the recommendations below are NOT intended for systems that incorporate small form factor or mini ITX type enclosures. These are generally for standard ATX tower cases. For recommendations on coolers for very small enclosures, there are many of us around here that can offer some suggestions based on the use case.

A good air cooler works just as well for most applications. There are very few instances I can think of where an AIO will work better than a good air cooler, and even fewer where an AIO will outperform an air cooler if you are willing to buy the right air cooler and then level up by adding some even higher end fans to it.

Loops leak. Heatsinks don't. Pumps fail, FAR more often and usually with far worse consequences, than fans do.

And unlike a heatsink fan assembly, when your pump fails for 99% of AIO coolers, you will be replacing the whole thing, for another 100+ dollars, rather than just a 25 dollar investment for the failure of a fan. Especially since I've rarely seen dual fan coolers have both fans fail at the same time, but even if you factor in two fan failures that's still only about fifty bucks compared to the 100+ it will cost to replace an AIO with a failed pump. And you WILL have a failed pump on most AIO coolers within three years of purchase. Seeing one last longer than five years is possible, but it is not particularly common and we often, very often, see them fail at around the 3 year mark. Sometimes much sooner.

Pump quality and longevity is an area that needs GREAT improvement before AIO coolers will become a primary recommendation for me.

I see a lot of AIO coolers leak and damage hardware as well.

Certainly there are situations where an AIO is called for, or even preferred, but those are MOSTLY aesthetic considerations, because let's face it, a build with an AIO or custom loop generally "looks" a lot cleaner than one that has a big heatsink taking up half the real estate inside your case. When that is the case, I have recommendations for those as well, but I don't offer them unless somebody is specifically asking to go that route.[/B]

They are basically listed in order of preference, from top to bottom. In general, best to worst, with some allowances for quality over pure benchmarks in some cases. To some degree that preference is based on known performance on similarly overclocked configurations, but not entirely. There are likely a couple of units that are placed closer to the top not because they offer purely better performance than another cooler which is below it, but potentially due to a variety of reasons.

One model might be placed higher than another with the same or similar performance, but has quieter or higher quality fans. It may have the same performance but a better warranty. Long term quality may be higher. It may be less expensive in some cases. Maybe it performs slightly worse, but has quieter fans and a better "fan pitch". Some fans with equal decibel levels do not "sound" like they are the same as the specific pitch heard from one fan might be less annoying than another.

In any case, these are not "tiered" and are not a 100% be all, end all ranking. They are simply MY preference when looking at coolers for a build or when making recommendations. Often, which HSF gets chosen depends on what is on this list and fits the budget or is priced right at the time due to a sale or rebate. Hopefully it will help you and you can rest assured that every cooler listed here is a model that to some degree or other is generally a quality unit which is a lot more likely to be worth the money spent on it than on many other models out there that might look to be a similarly worthwhile investment.

Certainly there are a great many other very good coolers out there, but these are models which are usually available to most anybody building a system or looking for a cooler, regardless of what part of the world they might live in. As always, professional reviews are usually an absolutely essential part of the process of finding a cooler so if you are looking at a model not listed here, I would highly recommend looking at at least two or three professional reviews first.

If you cannot find two reviews of any given cooler, it is likely either too new to have been reviewed yet or it sucked, and nobody wanted to buy one in order to review it plus the manufacturer refused to send samples out to the sites that perform reviews because they knew it would likely get bad publicity.

IMO, nobody out there is making better fans, overall, than Noctua, followed pretty closely by Thermalright. So if you intend to match case fans to the same brand on your HSF, those are pretty hard to beat. Of course, Corsair has it's Maglev fans, and those are pretty damn good too, but they tend to be more expensive than what are in my opinion better fans by these other two, so while they are good products they don't have the same noise characteristics and are probably better suited for configurations where sheer brute force is preferred over low noise that still gives good performance. Also, as with most fan models out there, don't look at the specifications for the non-RGB Maglev fan models and think that you'll be getting the same specs on any RGB versions, because you won't. Fans with RGB tend to sacrifice both maximum CFM and static pressure for the right to stuff the RGB electronics under the hood.

Noctua NH-D14 (Replace stock fans with NF-A14 industrialPPC 2000rpm)
Noctua NH-D15/D15 SE-AM4
Noctua NH-D14 (With original fans)
Thermalright Silver arrow IB-E Extreme
Cryorig R1 Ultimate or Universal
Be Quiet Dark rock Pro 4
Thermalright Legrand Macho RT
Phanteks PH-TC14PE (BK,BL, OR or RD)
Deepcool Assassin III
Thermalright Macho X2
Thermalright Macho rev. C
Thermalright Macho rev.B
Thermalright ARO-M14G (Ryzen only)
SilentiumPC Fortis 3 HE1425
Thermalright Macho direct
Deepcool Assassin II
Noctua NH-U14S
Noctua NH-U12A
Thermalright true spirit 140 Direct
FSP Windale 6
Scythe Ninja 5
Scythe Mugen max
Scythe Mugen 5 rev.B
BeQuiet dark rock (3 or 4)
Thermalright Macho SBM
Cryorig H5
Noctua NH-U12S


It may not be obvious, but is probably worth mentioning, that not all cooler models will fit all CPU sockets as aftermarket coolers generally require an adapter intended for use with that socket. Some coolers that fit an AMD platform might not fit a later AMD platform, or an Intel platform. Often these coolers come with adapters for multiple types of platforms but be sure to verify that a specific cooler WILL work with your platform before purchasing one and finding out later that it will not.

The reason I checked for a AIO was because I wanted something that looks good and have more efficiency. But now after reading your response I would rather buy a Noctua NH-D14 with industrialppc fans, as I totally agree to what you are pointing out here, which is, to have a better performance with lower issues and price point. I couldn't thank you more for all your kind advise. Thank you so much once again.

 

[Darkbreeze]

That's a pretty expensive option, because you're looking at about 150 bucks worth of hardware to do that. Yes, it will definitely offer exceptional cooling, but it will also be somewhat loud, because the iPPC fans are not very quiet once they get up past 1500rpm, and more importantly you have to make absolutely sure that you'll have clearance because the D14 is an older heatsink (Which MIGHT be you have a hard time even SOURCING one of them, because they've been out of production for a while now, but are still around here and there) and doesn't have the offset and cutout for memory clearance like the D15 has.

Truthfully, if you want top shelf air cooling I'd simply stick to the Noctua D15, Deepcool assassin III, Dark rock Pro 4 or Cryorig R1 (Ultimate or Universal). They all have performance within a few degrees of each other and even within a few degrees of the D14 with the industrial fans AND unless you are planning to run one of the very highest end CPUs that has more than 8 cores/16 threads, or are planning some serious overclocking, you don't need anything more than that.

Just for clarity, here's the article on the D14, and you should read it and fully understand what you might be getting yourself into before jumping in feet first.

Noctua NH-D14 Redux: Modern Fans On An Old Heatsink - Overclockers

Various combinations of fans were tried on the NH-D14, especially the NF-A15 and the NF-A14. We found a winner.

www.overclockers.com

 

[Phaaze88]

Take it from me, who has loaded up his chassis with IPPCs in the pursuit of 'science' - but really, his curiosity got the better of him...
Do NOT get IPPCs for your home PC. Leave those for servers and other - as Noctua puts it - INDUSTRIAL applications.

I can tolerate some noise too; I put up with them for a little over a year, and had enough...
When not using them for what they are meant for, they are no good beyond stress testing, and unless the user is a hardcore overclocker, that alone isn't very useful.
All that extra horsepower is wasted, because no one's going to want to run them over 1000-1500rpm just browsing, gaming, editing, etc.

Another thing to watch out for is their high power draw, especially above 2000rpm. You can't chain more than like 2-3 to a header in most cases or you can kill motherboard headers.
The 140mm, 3000rpm model is rated for a whopping 0.55A! The 120mm model is a more modest 0.3A.
My X299 mobo has 2A headers - I'm assuming so, because I have chained 2x 140mm together and didn't kill any headers.

Please look away from IPPCs.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Another thing to watch out for is their high power draw, especially above 2000rpm. You can't chain more than like 2-3 to a header in most cases

Well, you shouldn't be running more than 3 fans on any motherboard header anyhow, no matter what model of fan it is, and I REALLY don't recommend running more than two, because I HAVE seen, more than once, systems that had three fans on one header melt wires and smoke the board. Not because three normally operating fans are too much, for most modern boards, but because with three fans running off one header if anything at all goes wrong with one of them to where the motor pulls a bit more than expected, added to the the normal pull of the other two fans, poof.

With only two fans per header you at least have a little bit of headroom to accommodate any spikes in current draw, like at startup, or unexpected issues. Granted, nothing, even one fan, is going to save you if a motor has a direct short, but for anything other than a direct short having a bit of headroom between actual draw and capacity spec is a good thing.

Anyhow, my two cents on fans per header.

Also, we're talking about the 2000rpm variety, not the 3000rpm model. There is a significant difference between them in terms of noise and power draw. But also airflow. I don't believe that there is anything additional to be gained on any standard heatsink by increasing the CFM beyond 150CFM or the static pressure beyond 5mm H20, because by that point you're already at parity with what the heatsink is able to cycle away from the heat spreader anyhow.

 

[Phaaze88]

OH... uhh...
🤐

 

[geofelt]

Some good advice from Darkbreeze.
Let me add a few added thoughts.

1. I expect any processor with a proper functioning cooler to idle at 10-15c. over ambient.
In your case at 44-49c. something is wrong.
Old paste is not likely to be the cause. More likely is a failing pump, a fluid leak, or clogged lines.

2. Your case is an excellent one for air cooling. You can handle a tower type air cooler up to 180mm.
I like the noctua dual tower coolers. They are equivalent in cooling capability to 240mm liquid coolers.
My suggestion would be the Noctua NH-D15s .
The s variants have two features which may apply to you, now, or in the future.
a) The cooler can handle ram with tall heat spreaders. Important if you ever want rgb bling on ram.
b) On occasion, The NH-D15 and NH-U14 can interfere with graphics cards with backplates mounted in the first pcie X16 slot. The NH-D15s is offset to avoid such a possibility.
Noctua has a motherboard compatibility page that will assess this possibility for your motherboard.

3. Mounting a large AIO is a bit of catch 22.
If you mount it in the front of your case, cpu cooling will be optimum. But the heated air will be used to cool your motherboard and graphics card.
OTOH, if you mount it at the top as exhaust the cooler will use heated internal case air and the cpu will not be cooled as well. On balance, I would prefer the latter option.

4. You have a K suffix processor and a Z170 motherboard.
You have the ability to overclock for some added performance.
How high you can go is determined by your luck in getting a good chip.
As of 12/04/2016
What percent can get an overclock at a somewhat sane 1.40v Vcore.

I5-6600K

4.9 14%
4.8 38%
4.7 67%
4.6 87%

 

[Darkbreeze]

In some cases, with plenty of correctly configured case airflow, the best of those dual tower coolers can compete with some of the best 280mm coolers. Especially if it's bursty behavior because the air coolers "react" much faster, and much better, than the AIO coolers do. The AIO coolers really show their benefit once saturation is reached, with long sessions and while running CPU intensive tasks that are not cyclic, but are more steady state and continuous.

But either way, no matter whether the OP goes with a 240mm or 280mm AIO, depending on what their case will accommodate, or an air cooler, again, IF the case will accommodate it, they need SOMETHING better than a 120mm AIO, because that is simply not good enough, even if it weren't malfunctioning, which it seems to be.

 

[freestyler24]

Hello Guys, Thank you all for helping me out, it helped me a great deal to figure things out and understand CPU cooling tech. Maybe I'll not need a cooler soon as I am not thinking of overclocking my CPU. All I use my PC is mostly for work and gaming (cs go is the only game I play) and most importantly, I figured out the exact issue with my temps reaching 100°..

1. When I checked the AIO orientation/positioning, it was mounted like this:

<<airflow<<Back Fan 1401 <<airflow<<Motherboard ??airflow?? Radiator fan>>airflow>>Radiator>><<airflow<<Front Fans 1203



If you look at the above airflow indicator radiator fan was installed incorrectly by the pc builder who assembled the pc and since then I was using it like this. There was a tension between the airflow though the radiator which was mounted vertically with the pipes at the bottom. So I strongly felt maybe that's the issue and removed the radiator and the fan and installed it on top of the case lie this:

Top-<<airflow<<case<<radiator<<airflow<<Fan*120-Bottom (vertically).



After the above setup the temps were down to 40°-50° while idle and during AIDA64 stress test (all tests selected), the temps did touch the thermal throttle with 100° but as compared to before(30sec) it hit the throttle in about 5 minutes. This made me confident that the AIO is working but there is some kind of connectivity issues between the AIO and the CPU. Also found an old stock thermal paste that came with the AIO in my NZXT case box.



2. When I finally opened my AIO Block, I was raged to see the plastic sticker that comes on the AIO block out of the box still on the block! The genius who assembled the PC did not remove it before placing it on top of CPU. If you see the images you can see the thermal paste on it. Thermal paste was like a thick layer of paint stuck on the processor. With a lot of patience and time it came off with ISO PROPYL ALCOHOL 99% and the cloth. But not as easily as Linus shows in his video. It took a good 20-30mins to remove it. I didn't wanted to brick it.

Image of the AIO Block
Image of the AIO Block

Now with the stock CM thermal paste and block with out the plastic cover it is idling at 30-31° on average and with AIDA64 stress test(all selected tests) it is reaching a max temps of 50-51° during an hour test.😄

Image of the stress test
Image of the stress test

Only thing now to figure out is to fix my CPU usage at 100% during the stress test. Is it normal to have 100% usage while gaming or stress test?

 

[mdd1963]

any stress test (certainly those primarlly CPU involved) will indeed induce 100% CPU load for the duration of the test...

 

[freestyler24]

any stress test (certainly those primarlly CPU involved) will indeed induce 100% CPU load for the duration of the test...

@mdd1963 thank you. But does it also happen while playing games like CS GO?