[SOLVED] i7 9700K running HOT when heavy gaming.

[faslanetech]

Hi all, a friend of mine was asking me if his temps were too hot when he's been heavy gaming. He's playing Division 2 and has a water cooled i7 9700k CPU and an RTX 2080 gpu.

His temps are hitting the "red zone" IMO and he wondered about re-thermal pasting his CPU. Thoughts?

His temps in HWmonitor are showing:

75°-93° C (depending on which core) in the first column (I believe that's the "average temp"a and the minimum column reports temps at 69-80° C (again depending on which core) and the MAX column is reporting 103-106°C (which is borderline hot).

Do these temps seem safe? Are the high temps just spiking occasionally and why some seem really hot?

His system is a ibuycyberpower water cooled setup he just bought pre-built. It IS overclocked from 3.9ghz (I believe) to about 4.3Ghz (again done at factory).

I know the 9700k are reported to run hot, should he be worried here at all? He games for several hours a day and when not gaming his CPU reports much lower and normal temps.

Thx all

Fas

 

[Phaaze88]

1)If it was done correctly, paste should be good for a few years.

2)Uhh... is that really a 9700K? Because that cpu can easily turbo on it's own to 4.6ghz across all cores...

3)Need more info. Post the full PC specs.... well, since it's a prebuilt, he probably doesn't know what all is in there.
Download and run HWINFO: https://www.hwinfo.com/
Leave the 2 checkboxes unchecked, and click on Save Report.
Click on Summary for Clipboard, and then Next.
Highlight everything that appears in the new window, and copy-paste it here. That will cover most of the PC's specs, save for the cpu cooler and the make and model of the power supply.

 

[faslanetech]

1)If it was done correctly, paste should be good for a few years.

2)Uhh... is that really a 9700K? Because that cpu can easily turbo on it's own to 4.6ghz across all cores...

3)Need more info. Post the full PC specs.... well, since it's a prebuilt, he probably doesn't know what all is in there.
Download and run HWINFO: https://www.hwinfo.com/
Leave the 2 checkboxes unchecked, and click on Save Report.
Click on Summary for Clipboard, and then Next.
Highlight everything that appears in the new window, and copy-paste it here. That will cover most of the PC's specs, save for the cpu cooler and the make and model of the power supply.

Well I'm going off his message and he's not a geek per se.
It might be the factory settings and NOT overclocked I can't say for sure as I haven't looked at his BIOS configuration. And I thought the same for thermal paste. His machine is only 5 months new.
I'll forward this on to him so he can genertmate a report but thought I'd ask in the mean time.

Thanks Phaaze88!!

 

[mdd1963]

103-106 is not borderling hot, it IS hot, and clearly to the point of throttling...

I'd have them consult with the maker, as surely it is under some sort of warranty...

 

[faslanetech]

I said as much but with this COVID he hasn't heard back yet. I'm tempted to re-paste it and see if that helps his temps but am also curious if this is normal while gaming too.. thoughts?

At idle everything is well spot on.

Thanks mdd1963 🙂

 

[Gmoney06ss]

No it's generally not normal gaming temps. Especially on a seemingly stock 9700k, as again boost clock is beyond the "overclock" you mentioned. Gaming on a well cooled 9700k should be in the mid 60s to mid 70s. Overclocked maybe low to high 70s. Never 100+.

How's the air flow in the case? What case? I know they offer several. Is it a 120mm cooler? That may explain a little but those temps are still unacceptable!

 

[faslanetech]

No it's generally not normal gaming temps. Especially on a seemingly stock 9700k, as again boost clock is beyond the "overclock" you mentioned. Gaming on a well cooled 9700k should be in the mid 60s to mid 70s. Overclocked maybe low to high 70s. Never 100+.

How's the air flow in the case? What case? I know they offer several. Is it a 120mm cooler? That may explain a little but those temps are still unacceptable!

Thanks! I wasn't honestly sure since it's normal when not gaming. Not sure the exact case but It's on par with most cases with large front panel dual fans, the big-uns, and has a single 120mm water cooler. Re-pasting it is simple enough but we're more concerned if he should request an RMA on it. It'll be a pain with the covid lockdowns so I may just re-paste it and see if that helps it. He's getting great airflow with a push pull setup (again all stock) but definitely a smart build, plenty of air inside case etc very roomy and breathable.

Thanks Gmoney06ss!!

Fas

 

[Gmoney06ss]

A single 120mm radiator is inadequate for a 9700k. As simple as a repast is, I think you'll be wasting your time. But I guess it is always worth a shot, even though as stated, paste should be good for quite some time.

I would start thinking about an RMA or possibly a cooler upgrade.

 

[Phaaze88]

A single 120mm radiator is inadequate for a 9700k. As simple as a repast is, I think you'll be wasting your time. But I guess it is always worth a shot, even though as stated, paste should be good for quite some time.

I would start thinking about an RMA or possibly a cooler upgrade.

That's the thing though. Cyberpower, Ibuypower - whatever, I forget if it's one or both of them, but they put 120mm AIOs on the 9900K too - because they follow Intel's stupid TDP ratings!

 

[faslanetech]

That's the thing though. Cyberpower, Ibuypower - whatever, I forget if it's one or both of them, but they put 120mm AIOs on the 9900K too - because they follow Intel's stupid TDP ratings!

Exactly! I will never buy pre-built. Ugh. This should have dual 120s. Its a nice build but they kinda skimped on the cooling.
His large dual forward fans are also not on the front blowin backward to the rear, they're a weird side mount creating airflow but not directly blowin on anything specific. It's a weird build IMO. I'm going to get it from him tomorrow and I'll post specifics with report and even a couple pics. I also forget if it's cyberpower, ibuypiwer or whomever also lol.

Fas

 

[mdd1963]

I put a Noctua NH-D15 on a 9700K a couple months ago, and, it hit only 68C at 4.6 GHz all-core loadings under CPU-Z/bench/stress CPU, which is a bit more stressful than what would be encountered in most games...

Short term, while waiting resolution or another cooler, one could make sure the maker has not used in of the mainboard's preset overclocks with core voltage boosts, making sure default clock speeds are used. (if an all core loading, it shoud be at 4.6 GHz, and, only 4.9 Ghz on a single core might be briefly seen opening/closing apps, etc...

Alternatively, lower all-core turbo clocks could be speciifed in Intel's XTU pretty easily as well, until better cooling is found or the maker proposes a solution. (As stated above, the 120 mm radiators were inadequate even for stock 7700K, so, they will certainly be thermally challenged on twice the core count at higher clock speeds...

 

[faslanetech]

I put a Noctua NH-D15 on a 9700K a couple months ago, and, it hit only 68C at 4.6 GHz all-core loadings under CPU-Z/bench/stress CPU, which is a bit more stressful than what would be encountered in most games...

Short term, while waiting resolution or another cooler, one could make sure the maker has not used in of the mainboard's preset overclocks with core voltage boosts, making sure default clock speeds are used. (if an all core loading, it shoud be at 4.6 GHz, and, only 4.9 Ghz on a single core might be briefly seen opening/closing apps, etc...

Alternatively, lower all-core turbo clocks could be speciifed in Intel's XTU pretty easily as well, until better cooling is found or the maker proposes a solution. (As stated above, the 120 mm radiators were inadequate even for stock 7700K, so, they will certainly be thermally challenged on twice the core count at higher clock speeds...

Thank you for the tips. I'm definitely going I to his UEFI as soon as I get my hands on it to see what's going on 🙂

Much appreciated mdd1963!

Fas

 

[Phaaze88]

Oh yeah... I forgot they also offer to pre-overclock the cpu as a service...

 

[faslanetech]

Oh yeah... I forgot they also offer to pre-overclock the cpu as a service...

Yeah and usually just by using a utility AFTER OS load, or a preset instead of a "true" OC by tweaking voltage etc etc.(but I've seen both).

Fas