Question I7-7700K idling over 60c

[ThyGlitchTitan]

Just the other day, my CPU just started having some massive overheating issues. Before it would normally idle around 30-40c , but out of nowhere it started idling at 60c or more. I tried reseating the cooler (I have an NZXT Kraken X62) with new paste, resetting the bios, tweaking voltage and clock speeds to try and fix this but nothing has worked. Any ideas? My only thought is that somehow the TIM between the IHS and DIE somehow has gone bad.

 

[nobspls]

I would suspect that the pump has failed or all the water has evaporated. And are you certain the thing is really in idle?

 

[ThyGlitchTitan]

As far as I can tell, the pump is still working. I used NZXT CAM to max out the pump speed and I can hear it spinning, I don’t think the liquid has evaporated either, I can feel that the radiator and lines getting warm after the pc has been on for a little bit. With task manager and cam open I can see the utilization of the cpu and frequency and wether it’s at 0% or 100% it’s 60+ Celsius and when I run AIDA64 and stress the CPU it thermal throttles. Even though I don’t suspect the AIO cooler to be the issue I have a hyper 212 coming in that I’m going to try on it and see what happens. I’m also gathering tools to delid the CPU and try out different thermal compounds to see if the TIM is fried.

 

[nobspls]

If you are stressing it with AIDA64 and seeing temps n the 60C range that is actually pretty good or better than many.

 

[ThyGlitchTitan]

That’s not entirely what I meant lol, I meant that in AIDA64 it idles at 60+ and when I start stress testing it jumps over 95+ and starts thermal throttling.

 

[Cioby]

Are you sure you didn't mess up and dropped paste all over the place? What's the fan speed?
Do a virus scan also with malwarebytes, tho I doubt it, seems weird your CPU is working so hard even at idle.

The other thing could be your fans blowing air the wrong way, or from your GPU, etc. Put your hand gently and fast on the back of the CPU also if you have access, see if it's really that hot and not just a fake temp.

 

[ThyGlitchTitan]

Yes I’m sure the paste is applied properly, as for my fan speeds, my aio pump is fixed at 80% and the radiator fans are set to performance mode in CAM so their low is 50%. I doubt it’s my gpu because it does this even before the system warms up, plus I leave the side panel off most of the time. I haven’t tried feeling the temp with my hand, I could probably try that by touching the back of the motherboard where the socket is. I’ll give that a try when I get the chance. But when the system has had a chance to warm up, the water block is warm/hot to the touch. I know I don’t have malware or virus issues because that would cause an array of other issues, including high cpu utilization when the system is at idle. The only answer that makes sense to me is that I got very unlucky in the Intel lottery and got one with bad TIM. The cpu is only a year and a half old, I got it back in August 2017 right before coffee lake dropped.

 

[lumineZ]

If you used to stay in the 30-40C range and now are at +60C range when you idle its not the TIM between the IHS and DIE.
Here are 4 things you should look into before thinking about a delid.

• TIM that came pre-applied on the AIO can have gone bad so try changing it.
• Have the voltages changed? what is your current Vcore?
• What kind of noise are the AIO making? are you 100% sure its not an air bubble trapped preventing the AIO to run as it should?
• Are you 100% the pump is running? touch the pump house and see you if you feel any vibrations.

 

[ThyGlitchTitan]

Ok, so 1: the original tim that came preapplied on the aio is long gone, I only used it for a couple of months way back when I first got it and ran it with an AMD FX-8350. I got the aio in early 2017. Now I’m using Arctic MX-4. It could use some fresh paste but it’s not that old. 2: I don’t remember the exact voltage but it was around 1.26v @ 4.6GHz until I reverted everything back to default in the bios; I had it running at a stable 4.6GHz using the “cpu upgrade” setting in my board’s bios (Gigabyte Z270X Ultra Gaming) but as of right now I just have everything set to “auto” so it should be running stock voltage and clocks. 3: the pump makes a very faint whirring sound, as it always has. You might be right about a bubble. I’m not 100% sure if that may be the issue or not. 4 yes the pump is for sure working, there is some vibration, and it has always felt the same to the touch since I got it. I’ll look more into the actual voltages and see if giving the aio a good shake might make a difference as soon as I can.

 

[ThyGlitchTitan]

So, after messing with the AIO a little bit, i think part of the issue is that some of the water has evaporated over time. I rotated the block 90 degrees counter-clockwise so the hoses are now on the top rather than on the right side, and to my relief, the CPU temps are back to what they should be. idle is between 30-40c and the fans aren't trying to ramp up all the time, guess its time for a new cooler lol. I shouldn't be surprised since the cooler is 2 years old now. big thanks to lumineZ for making me think more about the AIO. some of the water must've evaporated over time and the pump every so often sounds like a geiger counter (not nearly as loud but similar whir sound). i'm also going to mess with the voltage at some point since it fluctuates between 1.2v and 1.3v, i notice that its average is around 1.26v when it the core clock is at 4.5Ghz.

 

[mdd1963]

www.noctua.com