Question i5-9400f 100C at 50% normal or not?

[Draggs]

Been having temps problems lately and asked the MS community support as well. Told me the temps are normal so I leave it at that. Lately, my PC has been having small stutters often, even doing mundane things so I went back there to try out some troubleshooting (driver, repair Win, etc.) But I couldn't shake the possibility that it was a hardware problem. I've read some threads here too that say 9400f should be able to reach 100C so it's nothing too groundbreaking, but at 50%? That's why I'm asking this question, and maybe try to fix it before it busted my CPU. Is this normal? Should I be worried? Is this really a hardware problem?

https://imgur.com/a/txAxbgg

View: https://imgur.com/a/txAxbgg

 

[ajearo]

Recently I faced such a problem with the i5 9400, the cooler was not fixed due to the closely spaced capacitors and the temperature flew away at 100 degrees and throttling, try to replace the thermal paste, apply it with a drop in the center and press it on all 4 latches so that it holds as intended, and then there will be no such temperature jumps to the limit of 100 degrees. 3 mins on 60watt with cooler from pentium g5400 and temperature under 80c for example.

https://imgur.com/a/XC1tQbD

 

[hotaru.hino]

I'd suggest a "second opinion". Run HWiNFO and see what that says.

 

[beyondlogic]

Been having temps problems lately and asked the MS community support as well. Told me the temps are normal so I leave it at that. Lately, my PC has been having small stutters often, even doing mundane things so I went back there to try out some troubleshooting (driver, repair Win, etc.) But I couldn't shake the possibility that it was a hardware problem. I've read some threads here too that say 9400f should be able to reach 100C so it's nothing too groundbreaking, but at 50%? That's why I'm asking this question, and maybe try to fix it before it busted my CPU. Is this normal? Should I be worried? Is this really a hardware problem?

https://imgur.com/a/txAxbgg

View: https://imgur.com/a/txAxbgg

Nope that's not normal at max it should only be kicking at like maybe 80c

What cooler are you using

Also a pea size isn't really enough now.

to spread it finely I use a vinyl glove for spreading non powdered.

If you don't want to spread it do a line spread top to bottom as the chip is a straight line under the ihs.

 

[ajearo]

Nope that's not normal at max it should only be kicking at like maybe 80c

What cooler are you using

Also a pea size isn't really enough now.

to spread it finely I use a vinyl glove for spreading non powdered.

If you don't want to spread it do a line spread top to bottom as the chip is a straight line under the ihs.

Why, it is enough to squeeze out a small and not quite tiny amount in the middle of the CPU cover and fix the cooler on it, everything will spread perfectly since the pressure is excessive for such a process

3200 rpm indicates it's a box cooler, that is not fully secured and the heat sink is minimized or there is a lack of thermal paste (5nm layer if spread like butter on bread)

 

[beyondlogic]

Why, it is enough to squeeze out a small and not quite tiny amount in the middle of the CPU cover and fix the cooler on it, everything will spread perfectly since the pressure is excessive for such a process

If your having to push down on the cooler it can damage the board also wouldn't recommend doing that while it's on. There are loads of layers in a PCB and loads of traces around the socket uneven pressure could damage those traces. Kind of the reason why you don't overtighten a cooler to much as you can bend or warp the board.

 

[ajearo]

If your having to push down on the cooler it can damage the board also wouldn't recommend doing that while it's on. There are loads of layers in a PCB and loads of traces around the socket uneven pressure could damage those traces. Kind of the reason why you don't overtighten a cooler to much as you can bend or warp the board.

It's hard for me to read this, I say it's enough to apply in the middle and not smear anything, it will smudge itself by the downforce of the cooler on 4 clips in the case of a box version
You can endlessly try to repeat the factory version of the layer application or trust the physics of the 4th grade of school

 

[beyondlogic]

It's hard for me to read this, I say it's enough to apply in the middle and not smear anything, it will smudge itself by the downforce of the cooler on 4 clips in the case of a box version
You can endlessly try to repeat the factory version of the layer application or trust the physics of the 4th grade of school

Ok dude no need to throw insults. But you can damage the board by applying pressure to a area I've done it before not something I recommend.

 

[ajearo]

Ok dude no need to throw insults. But you can damage the board by applying pressure to a area I've done it before not something I recommend.

That is, if it is enough for me to apply thermal paste in the middle, and then, after removing the cooler, see the round pattern of thermal paste as the contact area of the radiator, then I definitely try to break the tracks, break the socket and apply excessive force? Interesting, but I'd rather go to Warzone

 

[hotaru.hino]

Nope that's not normal at max it should only be kicking at like maybe 80c

What cooler are you using

Also a pea size isn't really enough now.

to spread it finely I use a vinyl glove for spreading non powdered.

If you don't want to spread it do a line spread top to bottom as the chip is a straight line under the ihs.

The act of mounting the cooler applies enough pressure to spread the paste out. There's really no need to spread the paste out before attaching the cooler.

 

[Draggs]

Nope that's not normal at max it should only be kicking at like maybe 80c

What cooler are you using

Also a pea size isn't really enough now.

to spread it finely I use a vinyl glove for spreading non powdered.

If you don't want to spread it do a line spread top to bottom as the chip is a straight line under the ihs.

stock intel cooler

Why, it is enough to squeeze out a small and not quite tiny amount in the middle of the CPU cover and fix the cooler on it, everything will spread perfectly since the pressure is excessive for such a process

3200 rpm indicates it's a box cooler, that is not fully secured and the heat sink is minimized or there is a lack of thermal paste (5nm layer if spread like butter on bread)

yep, I used the cooler that came with the box. idk about the lack of thermal, tho. been using it out of the box for 3-4 years, I think. haven't messed around with the CPU that much after that. I'll see if it's secured or not later, I'll get a new thermal paste too, while at that.

 

[SkyNetRising]

stock intel cooler
Is this really a hardware problem?

Get a better cpu cooler. Stock cooler is not sufficient.

 

[beyondlogic]

i tried with pea method and results were not good:

instead i reopen and put the other way and this was better:

That's board your showing is a bare die which Def don't apply pressure to that can crack it.

But the point stands pea size amount doesn't provide ample coverage.

Also different thermal pastes have different viscosity

 

[hotaru.hino]

i tried with pea method and results were not good:


instead i reopen and put the other way and this was better:

Did you do this as an experiment, or were you even aware there are other patterns you could apply the paste?

There are other patterns that you can use. If you did a line across the length of the die, it'd spread out to cover it upon mounting the heat sink. See this picture for other patterns (from https://store.gamersnexus.net/products/modmat):

So while yes, the "pea sized drop" advice isn't as useful anymore, the "you need to spread it across the die" still isn't necessary for most pastes.

Also the heat sink pressure on your particular hardware doesn't appear to be a lot anyway due to it being a bare die. I'm willing to bet the coverage would be greater if it were on a desktop part for the same application.

 

[Darkbreeze]

i tried with pea method and results were not good:

instead i reopen and put the other way and this was better:

This is not single die consumer hardware, so of course that's not the right method for THIS hardware. Not even remotely similar to most consumer configurations now or for the last fifteen years. Not comparable therefore not relevant.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Been having temps problems lately and asked the MS community support as well. Told me the temps are normal so I leave it at that. Lately, my PC has been having small stutters often, even doing mundane things so I went back there to try out some troubleshooting (driver, repair Win, etc.) But I couldn't shake the possibility that it was a hardware problem. I've read some threads here too that say 9400f should be able to reach 100C so it's nothing too groundbreaking, but at 50%? That's why I'm asking this question, and maybe try to fix it before it busted my CPU. Is this normal? Should I be worried? Is this really a hardware problem?

https://imgur.com/a/txAxbgg

View: https://imgur.com/a/txAxbgg

100°C on a 9400F CPU at ANY amount of core usage, including 100%, is 100% not acceptable. This is not a high TDP processor. Something is absolutely wrong. Maximum 100% all core thermal response should NEVER be more than 85°C, AT MOST, and that's only when running something like Prime95 Small FFT with AVX disabled. Normal tasks, you should never see anything above about 80°C under the worst of conditions. Either you have inadequate cooling, your CPU cooler is not installed correctly, you have zero airflow through the case or there is a problem with either your CPU or motherboard. Since it's not a K SKU model, it probably can't be a bad configuration.

 

[bit_user]

Either you have inadequate cooling, your CPU cooler is not installed correctly, you have zero airflow through the case

At work, my laptop was consistently hitting 100 C, under low utilization. Turned out the CPU fan had stopped spinning. I rebooted into the the onboard diagnostics, from the boot menu, and they confirmed the CPU fan was broken. Took a picture of the fault code, sent it to Dell, and their on site service tech came out and replaced it.

That said, I see where OP's screenshot shows normal looking RPMs for everything, so I guess it's not that. Just mentioning, in case it helps someone.

 

[Darkbreeze]

At work, my laptop was consistently hitting 100 C, under low utilization. Turned out the CPU fan had stopped spinning. I rebooted into the the onboard diagnostics, from the boot menu, and they confirmed the CPU fan was broken. Took a picture of the fault code, sent it to Dell, and their on site service tech came out and replaced it.

That said, I see where OP's screenshot shows normal looking RPMs for everything, so I guess it's not that. Just mentioning, in case it helps someone.

I have no argument, nor does your post seem to contradict anything I have said. But I agree, of course it can be cooling. Failed CPU cooler, whether desktop or laptop. Failed CPU, whether desktop or laptop. Failed CONFIGURATION, no matter what is is, including some of the lower powered devices that use mobile or desktop parts. Anything. For sure, failed hardware is probable in these situations. Failed configurations isn't far behind it though especially on mobile devices where people think they can get away with "overclocking" or making ANY fundamental changes to hardware that the manufacturer ALREADY determine was just about at the end of it's limits. When in doubt, start over, from the beginning, and ask EVERY question, as if it had not been asked before.

 

[Draggs]

Either you have inadequate cooling, your CPU cooler is not installed correctly, you have zero airflow through the case or there is a problem with either your CPU or motherboard.

Is there a way to check which problem I have? I have fans installed on the case so I don't believe it's zero airflow, though I'm still pretty new to this too. How do I check for problematic CPU or motherboard?

 

[bit_user]

Is there a way to check which problem I have? I have fans installed on the case so I don't believe it's zero airflow,

If they were nearly all blowing in or out, you could have a situation where the case has too much positive or negative pressure. Depending on whether the case has other vents or openings, that could result in poor airflow.

I run my cases with positive pressure, but either with an exhaust fan or enough openings that there's still plenty of airflow.

Anyway, your screen shot shows a mechanical hard drive with a temperature of 43-45 C. That doesn't seem very consistent with a high case temperature.

 

[thestryker]

The Intel stock cooler from that generation isn't very good as they'd gotten rid of the copper core. I'd think it should be sufficient for that CPU at least under standard operation. I'm betting that the cooler either isn't installed correctly or perhaps one of the clips broke in which case you'd absolutely need a new cooler.

Without knowing what case you have I can't really say for sure what you should be looking at for a replacement. In the US you could get something plenty good enough for around $20.

 

[Draggs]

If they were nearly all blowing in or out, you could have a situation where the case has too much positive or negative pressure. Depending on whether the case has other vents or openings, that could result in poor airflow.

I have 3 fans, one firing from the bottom to the GPU, one firing right from above to the CPU, and one on the back beside IO firing out.

The Intel stock cooler from that generation isn't very good as they'd gotten rid of the copper core. I'd think it should be sufficient for that CPU at least under standard operation. I'm betting that the cooler either isn't installed correctly or perhaps one of the clips broke in which case you'd absolutely need a new cooler.

Ah, so it's better to just buy a new cooler, just to be safe? I never tweaked any of the default settings relating to the CPU and back then when I bought this people say you don't really need anything more than the stock cooler for this CPU, so I never thought about that.

Without knowing what case you have I can't really say for sure what you should be looking at for a replacement. In the US you could get something plenty good enough for around $20.

My bad, should probably mention that earlier. It's Cougar QBX so I think it's a bit tight on the spacing. I'm also not in the US, but there might be same or similar models here, so I'll take any recommendation I can get.

 

[bit_user]

I'm betting that the cooler either isn't installed correctly or perhaps one of the clips broke in which case you'd absolutely need a new cooler.

I've seen a PC come from a whitebox builder with a stock heatsink that I think had only one of the four pins properly pushed through the motherboard hole. Needless to say, it wasn't making good contact with the CPU. I found it in a pile of unplugged machines sitting in our lab, so I have no idea what the story was behind it.

Without knowing what case you have I can't really say for sure what you should be looking at for a replacement. In the US you could get something plenty good enough for around $20.

This site is pretty good for checking whether a CPU cooler will fit your case:

Pick parts. Build your PC. Compare and share.

pcpartpicker.com

 

[bit_user]

I have 3 fans, one firing from the bottom to the GPU, one firing right from above to the CPU, and one on the back beside IO firing out.

It's a pretty well-reviewed case. So, if you have all of the fans installed how they're supposed to be, then it's probably not your case fans.

My bad, should probably mention that earlier. It's Cougar QBX so I think it's a bit tight on the spacing.

Weirdly, for all the Cougar cases pcpartpicker has, they don't seem to have the QBX.

According to this, it supports a CPU cooler up to 105 mm in height:

COUGAR :: QBX - Ultra-Compact Pro Gaming Mini-ITX Case

COUGAR QBX comes here to conquer the world with three big weapons within its compact body: Its dimensions, its expansion potential and its unrivaled cooling.

cougargaming.com

Here's a selection of compatible coolers in PCPartPicker's database:

https://pcpartpicker.com/products/cpu-cooler/#H=49000000,105000000&c=30&F=0&W=0
​

I don't know enough to say you definitely need a new CPU cooler, but should you decide to go that route...

 

[thestryker]

My bad, should probably mention that earlier. It's Cougar QBX so I think it's a bit tight on the spacing. I'm also not in the US, but there might be same or similar models here, so I'll take any recommendation I can get.

Yeah that case is going to massively limit what's possible cooler wise. I think the best case scenario would be figuring out what's wrong with what you've got. id cooling and Thermalright are probably going to end up being your most affordable choices that would be worth buying but it's really going to depend on what's available where you live.