Question i7 14700k Temps too high

[SteveBeast]

i7 14700k
Rtx 4070
Win 11
32 GB RAM
AIO: Kraken X63 280mm
bequiet pure base 500dx case

Hello

I’ve noticed that my CPU temperature averages between 40–55°C when idle. While gaming (e.g., playing COD Black Ops 6), it typically averages around 70°C, but I occasionally see spikes up to 85°C. These spikes aren’t very frequent, but they do happen.

Are these temperatures too high? Could the spikes to 85°C damage my CPU in the long run?

I recently replaced the thermal paste, but the temps haven’t improved much. My cooler is only 3 years old—could it be failing? Or is it time to consider upgrading to a new AIO cooler?

 

[SteveBeast]

Honestly, I had no idea either, but when I bought the 14600K it was with the design of learning a little about over-clocking. What I didn't bargain on is the whole heat issue about a year or so ago coming to full bloom after MOBO manufacturers had sent out boards with wide open settings to get the most out of Intel chips... Long story short, I was aware of what was going on so I knew to be cautious when getting it set up.

Here's the link I relied upon the most:
https://www.reddit.com/r/intel/comments/17aogsi/quick_easy_efficient_i5_13600k_overclocking_on/

It's a guy with a 13600K doing the undervolting on an MSI 790-A board. He does it, changes it, does it again, BUT updates what he does and how he got it to the best performance. I was a bit overwhelmed when I started it, but it was a breeze when I got it together.

Getting to know the undervolting.. there were three videos that @vMax provided to me:

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mkAVITZoLY

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1qS7-goe38Y&t=2092s

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oZ4is-nTi4


These were very helpful. The middle one is helpful for MOBO-type and the other two on where to find Bios settings for CPU-Lite that will accomplish your undervolting.

I used Cinebench23 to benchmark the changes and HWMonitor to have the temps. Only once or twice, briefly, did temps ever get to 99C, but that was actually after Bios updates. I've never been able to explain that. But I just shut it down and reloaded the default Bios settings and started again.

I wound up figuring out after a lot of trial and error with settings in the Bios, that I was best off leaving the Bios in top default performance settings and then going in and doing the undervolting in the way that the Reddit guy did. I set the p-cores and e-cores as he suggested and then reduced the default CPU-Lite setting to - I think 9, but it could have been 11. Suffice it to say, somewhere 11 thru 8 or 7 will probably deliver great performance at lower voltage and temps. I stopped playing with it because voltage was down, temps weren't getting above 85C, and performance for that 14600K chip was at close to peak performance according to what I had read. 5.5Ghz and 4.4Ghz. and a 255xx on Cinebench23. I just stopped at that point.

Here's the link to the thread that helped me with the links I provided above.

https://forums.tomshardware.com/thr...toshop-and-after-effects.3841845/page-2#posts

The last post I made in that thread was an update in October and I had to go in one more time after a December Bios update to do it over again. Worked just the same, but I think the CPU-Lite Mode 5 I stated in that post might have been wrong. You can try to get it down that low if you want and temps will go down little by little as you do it, but you risk instability. My son has had no issues, stuttering, BSOD's, or abrupt shutdowns. Been running great.

I'll try to carve out a minute to confirm the CPU-Lite Mode this weekend, but I think it's 9. That was a number that popped up on a lot of videos and posts I read, so I think it's close to that...

Anyway, good luck. Keep us updated. I'd love to know there's another success story out there. 😉

thanks for your help I'll check it out 👍

 

[drjohnnyfever]

thanks for your help I'll check it out 👍

...and just a note, when l HWMonitored during the Cinebench23, the p-cores were at about 149% and the temps were still never above 83C. I remember being kind of amazed at the performance. With your chip, you should see similar, if not better, results. Take your time. And stop the benchmark if your worried or confused. Go back and start over.

What MOBO do you have, btw? I don't remember seeing it in the thread.

 

[SteveBeast]

Ok so now I have an issue. I have the arctic freezer 3 360 now but I can't mount the cpu pump on my motherboard because I missing my lga 1700 backplate somehow, I only have the backplate for the kraken x63 cooler. And the arctic freezer doesn't have a backplate with it. Is there any other way to mount the cpu pump with the contact frame without the lga 1700 backplate?