i6700K+ROG Hero Alpha+Kraken X61 Temperature Issue?

[Phil Chen]

Hi Guys, just want to ask you experienced folks to see if my setup is OK. I've seen multiple online sources with the same setup but their CPU Core temperature does not exceed 70 Deg. C. Anyone with same setup kindly share their numbers? Any ideas what may be wrong?

What baffles me is that so many people are reporting an idle temperature of around 20 Deg., and never over 70 Deg. under full load at stock (even with mild OC at 4.5~4.6GHz). But I am getting the same temperatures at stock (non-OC) near the 70 Deg. mark and once I OC I hit the early 80 Deg. mark.

4.6GHz Overclock
My CPU core temp seems to be higher than others: (Going over 80 Deg.)
Current Min. Max. Avg.
CPU 35 29 67 45.8
CPU Core #1 31 25 84 44.7
CPU Core #2 37 30 87 47.5
CPU Core #3 28 25 79 41.9
CPU Core #4 29 26 81 42.3

I am running it at 4.6GHz with below settings in UEFI:

• 
  XMP = XMP profile
  BCLK = 100
  Asus MultiCore enhancement = OFF
  CPU Core Ratio = Sync All Cores
  Multiplier = 46
  CPU LLC = Level 6
  Intel Speedstep = Enabled
  CPU Core/Cache Current Limit Max. = 255
  Min. CPU Cache Ratio = 8
  Max. CPU Cache Ratio = 42
  CPU Core Voltage = 1.32V @ 4.6GHz
  CPU VCCIO Voltage = 1.1V
  CPU System Agent Voltage = 1.1V

4GHz Baseline

BIOS Q-FAN Settings
I have disabled Q-FAN for CPU in UEFI. But that had little effect CPU Core Temps.
I have my Kraken X61 water pump cable connected to the W_PUMP pin on my ROG VIII Hero Alpha m/b. The 2x fan cables on the Kraken X61 are connected to some molex power leads and a SATA power lead. Finally, the USB cable from the Kraken goes straight to a USB header on the m/b.

I think this set up bypasses the Q-FAN control in UEFI? Because I was able to see both pump speed and fan speed in CAM before turning Q-FAN CPU control, and by turning Q-FAN CPU off didn't make any difference.

System Specs
Motherboard: Asus ROG VIII Hero Alpha Rev 1.XX
Processor: Intel Core i7 6700K
Memory (part number): Kingston HyperX (KHX266C15D4/8G)
Graphics Card #1: Gigabyte G1 Gaming 1080GTX
Sound Card: ROG SupremeFX 2015 8 CH
Monitor: Benq XL2430T
Storage #1: Intel 750 PCIe 400GB
Storage #2: Seagate 2TB (ST2000NM0053)
CPU Cooler: NZXT Kraken X61
Case: CoolerMaster Mastercase Maker 5
Power Supply: Corsair RM850i
Keyboard: Razer Blackwidow Chroma X
Mouse: Logitech G402
Headset: Plantronics Gamecom 777
Mouse Pad: Razer Goliathus
Headset/Speakers: Altec Lansing MX5021
OS: Win10

 

[Tradesman1]

Have you tried replacing the thermal compound on the CPU, might have too much or too little, only need a dab about the size of a grain of rice

 

[Phil Chen]

Have you tried replacing the thermal compound on the CPU, might have too much or too little, only need a dab about the size of a grain of rice

Hi Tradesman, thanks for the reply.

I actually did a little experiment using the "pea method", putting a smaller dab, a larger dab, and near excessive to see if how it'd impact the results. Unfortunately the results showed no significant influence on that....

 

[Phil Chen]

After some testing, and with the help of an experienced guy on Reddit, we were able to find that:

NZXT Kraken X61 is very finiky. The water pump cable somehow confuses the software or M/B and produce higher temperature reading (or lowering cooling effectiveness). So after connecting this lead to CPU_FAN header (instead of W_PUMP header), CAM software for Kraken has shown around 10C drop in all reading.

I have probably gotten a mediocre silicon lottery as Core#2 seems to run hotter than the other 3 cores. While others are able to see 4.6GHz @ VCore 1.31, LLC lvl6 underload at sub 70C. My chip performs the same at higher temperatures.