[SOLVED] i7 4790K High Idle Temperature

[xxtomxx]

I have a stock clock i7 4790K with a H100i cooling it. idle temp around 60c-70c and under any load the CPU quickly goes 70/80c.

I’ve cleaned out all the dust from the fans and radiator which helped a little. The H100i says it’s temp is around 25/28c so seems low given the CPU is so hot.

the only thing I can think is the cooler isn’t fitted correctly or the old thermal paste isn’t doing it’s job any more.

Any ideas / tests I can do to try and work out the issue?

Happy to provide more info if helpful.

 

[SamirD]

I think you nailed it with 'old thermal paste isn’t doing it’s job any more'. You need to use new paste whenever removing and reinstalling a cpu/heatsink.

 

[xxtomxx]

I think you nailed it with 'old thermal paste isn’t doing it’s job any more'. You need to use new paste whenever removing and reinstalling a cpu/heatsink.

I haven’t removed the heatsink since installation but that’s was 5-6+ years ago. Not sure if it may have degraded in that time.

if replacing it is the best option I’ll have a go!

 

[tylerangle1994]

Holy... yeah you should reapply thermal paste every year or two... At least that's my general rule of thumb. Both GPU and CPU I usually do that around the 2 year mark and it's almost always close to being dried up or just gone. I'd start there. My I7 4790k overclocked to 4.9ghz idles at 35-40c so definitely scary there.

 

[xxtomxx]

Holy... yeah you should reapply thermal paste every year or two... At least that's my general rule of thumb. Both GPU and CPU I usually do that around the 2 year mark and it's almost always close to being dried up or just gone. I'd start there. My I7 4790k overclocked to 4.9ghz idles at 35-40c so definitely scary there.

Looks like I have my next job sorted! Thanks guys. I’ll let you know how I get on.

 

[tylerangle1994]

Looks like I have my next job sorted! Thanks guys. I’ll let you know how I get on.

You got it! I'd imagine that is exactly the problem. Leaning more towards that than your cooler. Let me know how it looks once you open it. I'm relatively new to PCs so 3, almost 4 years now so I'm curious what it'll look like. Good luck man!

 

[xxtomxx]

Any recommendations on thermal paste? Looks like there are a lot of options to consider and I’m a noob at this.

 

[tylerangle1994]

Any recommendations on thermal paste? Looks like there are a lot of options to consider and I’m a noob at this.

So sorry. You probably already did everything by now. I ended up having to take apart my GPU and put a new cooler on it and glue heatsinks to the board without shorting it out. So after that I completely forgot to recheck Tom's Hardware. hahaha

Thermal paste is kinda one of those things that some people swear by one and not the other but in the end it really only matters like 4-7c differences. I think the most mainstream thermal paste is MX Arctic Silver. But any will do. Just avoid liquid metal and also avoid any that are conductive, try to get non conductive thermal paste.

 

[xxtomxx]

So sorry. You probably already did everything by now. I ended up having to take apart my GPU and put a new cooler on it and glue heatsinks to the board without shorting it out. So after that I completely forgot to recheck Tom's Hardware. hahaha

Thermal paste is kinda one of those things that some people swear by one and not the other but in the end it really only matters like 4-7c differences. I think the most mainstream thermal paste is MX Arctic Silver. But any will do. Just avoid liquid metal and also avoid any that are conductive, try to get non conductive thermal paste.

Thanks for your help. I’ve got some MX Arctic Silver but the cleaning solution never arrived. Seems to be lost in the post! I’ll have to order it from some where else.

I am tempted to add the new paste as short term fix and clean it up properly when I get the solution.

I don’t know how bad it is to leave on the old paste? I know it’s not advised but the PC is just an expensive brick at the moment...

 

[xxtomxx]

UPDATE: All sorted as the thermal paste remover finally arrived. CPU now idle’ing around 28-30°C so happy with that.

Thanks guys for your help!