Impulse bought an i7 7700k (no choice). A couple of heat related questions.

[sasklo]

Hello.

A few days ago, my i7 4790 based work PC broke on me and forced me to upgrade. I ended up getting a 7700k because that was the only high-end CPU the store had available. I hear that these run much hotter than previous generations but I'm not sure how much hotter and what temperatures are considered safe for prolonged use.

For context, I do a lot of 3D animation rendering and my previous CPU actually died on me while rendering something for more than a week straight.

With the 7700k at stock speeds, I'm getting 78-80 C on full load with spikes to around 85. Would it be safe to run this CPU at that temperature for days at a time? I'm still using my old cooler, a Hyper 212X, and I can't afford to replace it at the moment due to this sudden purchase.

I was thinking, since this CPU clocks up to 4.5 GHz under load, would it be possible to lower that automatic max clock speed without diving too deep into manually tuning the clock speeds and voltages? Would it help with the temps? Thanks.

specs:
CPU: i7 7700k stock speeds
Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z270-A
RAM: 4x 8GB Hyper X Fury
GPU: GTX 1070 OC and GTX 970 (CUDA only)
PSU: 750w Silverstone

 

[lrrelevant]

The CPU will only get that hot under synthetic loads, that you will probably never see under normal use. So yes, it will defintetly be safe to run.

 

[SENOR BURTOS]

85 degrees while not ideal, shouldn't be that big of a problem but in the long term those are not so good temperatures. Especially if you do a lot of 3D animation, one of the most important causes of failure is temperature issues.

The TJunction of that CPU is 100C so you aren't that far away from that mark, it is a little bit worrying

And yes, the 7700K DOES GET very hot, I've just seen a guy having thermal issues with the exact same CPU in this forum like 10 minutes ago.

They have very bad thermal compound inside (but in your case you shouldn't delid it), save some money for a better thermal paste or add a second fan to your cooler

 

[ko888]

Lowering the Vcore will lower the temperature.

You can also try disabling Turbo mode.

You can also try adding a second fan to the Hyper 212X operating in push-pull mode to lower the temps by a few degrees.

 

[envy14tpe]

Sounds normal for a 7700k. How to fix heat? You could down clock it or get a beefy cooler. For overclocking you really should get a AIO or dual fan air cooler.

Last option, buy a $40 delid kit and delid it then add new thermal compound and reseal. But it comes with some danger, but worth it.

 

[SENOR BURTOS]

Sounds normal for a 7700k. How to fix heat? You could down clock it or get a beefy cooler. For overclocking you really should get a AIO or dual fan air cooler.

Last option, buy a $40 delid kit and delid it then add new thermal compound and reseal. But it comes with some danger, but worth it.

I don't think he is going to OC, because OC isn't recommended for workstation, espetially if your rendering takes days to get done

 

[lakimens]

You need a very good PSU to handle those loads, that one is average if it's the Silverstone ST75F-GS v2 750W.
Seasonic G, Seasonic Prime, EVGA G2,G3, Corsair RMx, RMi... These are top of the line. G2 or G3 would be perfect for you since it's not too expensive.

I would say that is a safe temperature, you can reduce Turbo Booxt Power Max if you want to lower it.

 

[sasklo]

Thanks for the responses! I guess I'm a bit paranoid with running it at a constant 80 since it was just a few days ago that I was getting worried with a max temp of 74 and then having that CPU die on me. I can't buy additional parts until my wallet recovers so I just tried futzing around in the BIOS. I tried turning off Turbo mode as suggested and... it's down to around 70! Render times are a bit slower but not by much. It's still faster than my old CPU so I'm fine with it. I'll look into replacing the cooler in the future so that it feels like a proper CPU upgrade. Thanks again!

 

[10tacle]

With Intel's current terrible thermaling issues among Sky Lake and Kaby Lake, you really need a better cooling solution even when running stock speed. The H212X is a budget cooler trying to do the work of a performance cooler. A $30 Cryorig H7 would serve you a lot better and shave several C over that H212X.

This is of course assuming you don't want to delid and add better thermal paste or lap (sand) the CPU lid for maximum thermal contact continuity. FYI adding a second fan will not make any real difference on your cooler.

 

[J_E_D_70]

Are you sure it was the cpu and maybe the mobo popping a capacitor or the like? Super rare for an actual cpu to die, especially with temps in mid-70s.

 

[sasklo]

Are you sure it was the cpu and maybe the mobo popping a capacitor or the like? Super rare for an actual cpu to die, especially with temps in mid-70s.

Rare, but it happened in my case. It was tested on a known working lga 1150 motherboard and it didn't work. A working same generation i5 was also tested on my old motherboard and again it didn't work. I'm also confused why it broke like that.

 

[J_E_D_70]

So both the CPU and mobo are toast (that's how it reads)? If that's the case I'd say the mobo went and took the CPU with it.