Intel Core i7 860 extremely high temperatures

[Drugoli]

Hey,
I'm worried about my friends' PC. He has (as the title states) an i7 860 CPU, and without any games, or intense CPU things running, meaning web browsing and such, he gets core temperatures as high as 80C. He measures the temperatures through CPUID Hardware Monitor.
He is running a stock cooler, and doesn't have too many fans in his case, one in the front.

Are these temperatures dangerous at all? Cause as far as I know, 72.2C is the maximum for that particular CPU, so why can his run at 80C+ for months, without breaking down?

Any help would be very much appreciated ^_^

 

[Supernova1138]

The stock cooler is definitely not mounted properly if those are his idle temps. It could be that the plastic push pins have become warped with age, which is known to happen. Thus, the heatsink isn't making good contact with the CPU. Get some Isopropyl alcohol and some Q-Tips or something like that to clean off the CPU, then apply new thermal paste and try to remount the cooler. If the push pins have warped, I would suggest you replace the stock cooler with something else.

Something like the CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ or 212 EVO are good choices if he doesn't want to spend too much money, and he wants to have significantly better cooling performance than the stock cooler.

 

[rds1220]

I would take of the heatsink, re-apply thermal paste and see what happens. My guess is the black male pins are not pushed all the way through the clear female adapter. Also is the CPU overclocked at all?

 

[Drugoli]

I would take of the heatsink, re-apply thermal paste and see what happens. My guess is the black male pins are not pushed all the way through the clear female adapter. Also is the CPU overclocked at all?

We'll try that. And no, the CPU is not overclocked at all.

 

[rds1220]

Ok let us know what happens.

 

[Drugoli]

He has replaced the thermal paste on his CPU cooler, and has placed a fan in the top of his case. Now his CPU has an idle temperature of about 50C and has gotten up to a maximum of about 86C, while under load.
Are these reasonable temperatures, or should he try and get a new cooler?

 

[rds1220]

No something isn't right. An I7 at stock setting shouldn't be idling that high. It should be idling in the high 20's or low to mid 30 degree range. Do you know what the voltages are for the CPU. If everthing with the voltages are ok then I would look at getting new cooler like a hyper 212.

 

[Deeks]

+1 ^ there is definitely something wrong. either the cooler is not mounted properly or has to much or not enough thermal paste on it. Just like mentioned above a stock i7 should idle in around low to mid 30's depending on ambient temp. if ambient temp is really high ( 35c ) then maybe low 40's but 50's are way to high for idle temps. Also 72.2c is your max temp for tcase not for tjmax. often lots of people get these two mixed up. when you look at a hardware temp monitoring program like cpuid hardware monitor or fan speed est. . these are reading tjmax temps not tcase. tjmax on most processors are around 95 - 100c. all though it is good practice to try to keep your cpu under the 70's c range to prolong health of the hardware.