Question i9 10900K - Alarming idle temperature. (No spikes)

[Moocats]

As of today, I noted a sudden an unexpected dip in performance, likely due to thermal throttling.

I do not routinely monitor system temps, although I probably should but upon checking I noted a temperature of 97-98°C which took me by surprise to say the least, especially as the PC is basically idle.
I decided upon a restart which triggered BIOS speakers temp warning alarms, so I did not proceed beyond this point.

My first port of call was to check the paste. It was a little thin and overdue a replacement anyway and the chip was indeed kicking off some significant heat, I allowed the chip to fully cool and then cleaned, prepped and re-pasted the chip and see what the situation was following.

Now the effects of thermal throttling have gone but the temps are still showing at 97-98°C again, not under any load. I decided to load up a game, in this case Starfield to see what occurred; the thermal throttling effects where apparent once more although little difference was shown as to the CPU's utilization percent.

Screenshots below are of the PC idle, followed by Starfield also running.

Spoiler: Screenshots

IDLE

STARFIELD

As you can see, little difference.

Some technical info.
CPU is Intel Core i9 10900K, There is no overclocking so it's running at the stock 3.70Ghz clock speed and voltage.
Cooler is: MSI MAG CORELIQUID 240R

CPU tech sheet: https://ark.intel.com/content/www/u...0900k-processor-20m-cache-up-to-5-30-ghz.html


At this point I'm wondering if the cooler pump is buggered, from my research I understand this chip can run hotter than what I was used to in previous PC's but this is clearly excessive. That said, I am open to suggestions if anyone has any thoughts.

Thanks so much,
Kane

 

[Phaaze88]

Cooler is: MSI MAG CORELIQUID 240R

These things are junk. It's not something you can fix, so just replace it with another cooler.

 

[Moocats]

These things are junk. It's not something you can fix, so just replace it with another cooler.

That is my thought also. I built the PC 3 years ago and the store had some pretty tasty discounts for buying multiple MSI products. Managed to cumulatively get about £300 off the entire build.

The cooler has done 3 years of pretty intensive usage although I must admit I’m a bit disappointed it didn’t last longer.

The irony here being I had an extended 3 year warranty on the build which expired……LITERALLY YESTERDAY! 🤣😂

Thanks for the reply.

 

[Phaaze88]

That is my thought also. I built the PC 3 years ago and the store had some pretty tasty discounts for buying multiple MSI products. Managed to cumulatively get about £300 off the entire build.

The cooler has done 3 years of pretty intensive usage although I must admit I’m a bit disappointed it didn’t last longer.

The irony here being I had an extended 3 year warranty on the build which expired……LITERALLY YESTERDAY! 🤣😂

Thanks for the reply.

3 years, huh? That's a lot longer than what dozens of 'em have been doing, which is clogging up much earlier than they should be. It tended to happen in ~1 year(+/-).

There was another thing with it being a pump in radiator unit: given enough time - fluid permeation happens very slowly in AIOs - a top mounted pump in rad unit would see the pump damaged to heat and friction... and lots of folks top mount their AIO radiators.
There should be warning labels in place for AIOs of this type... oh well.

 

[Moocats]

Saddly no option but to top mount for me. Replaced the cooler, all fine now which confirms the previous one was the problem. Not my day though as now my mouse just packed in.