Question Intel Core Is Idle At 100 Celsius!

[TheRealRuskie]

Hey guys, I left my computer on overnight and woke up to hear the fan going far harder and faster than it usually does. I opened up CPUID and saw my Intel core was at 100 degrees Celsius! What!

It couldn't have been doing this for more than three days as I checked back then on a whim and all was fine.

Ok, so some background information. I bought this PC pre-built about a year ago and not once has this issue cropped up before. The card in question is an Intel Core i7 8700K. I took apart my PC, de-dusted it, inspected the thermal paste and everything seems in order.

I've checked task manager and nothing unusual is going on there. And to be honest I'm totally clueless as to why it's so hot.

One thing that could be irrelevant or incredibly relevant. A few days ago I was watching YouTube when the PC in question crashed out of nowhere and did some kind of lengthy reboot process, during which I remember seeing the phrase "Repairing C Drive". I have no clue what that was about and it hasn't happened since, maybe it is irrelevant.

Any insight from you guys would be extremely appreciated as I'm sure you can guess from the fact I bought a pre-built PC, I'm not exactly tech savvy.

Here is a screenshot of my CPUID in case it'll help identify the issue:

https://imgur.com/a/ozRy4oQ

View: https://imgur.com/a/ozRy4oQ


Thanks for the help,
- Henry

 

[NightHawkRMX]

What CPU cooler are you using?

The CPU does not seem to be throttling too bad, although it may be.

 

[Gmoney06ss]

When you say inspected thermal paste, did you clean off and replace? Or just look at and put the cooler back on?

 

[TheRealRuskie]

When you say inspected thermal paste, did you clean off and replace? Or just look at and put the cooler back on?

Well I'll be honest I don't really understand what thermal paste does. I took off the fan and saw the paste was spread out and covered the surface and I was like "yep, well the paste is there alright."

So I didn't replace it no.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Your CPU and cooler base are not 100% flat nor smooth, even though they may appear smooth to a naked eye. Thermal paste fills the imperfections of both surfaces to improve thermal transfer.

I took off the fan and saw the paste was spread out and covered the surface and I was like "yep, well the paste is there alright."

When you took the cooler off and put it back on, air got entrapped between the surfaces by the paste. Air is a very poor thermal conductor, so the cooler will not be able to absorb as much heat from your CPU, thus increasing CPU temps.

You need to make sure you take the cooler off, clean all thermal paste off using rubbing alcohol and a paper towel, then reapply paste. Then screw cooler back on in a criss cross pattern.

What cooler do you have?

 

[JustAnOverclocker]

You are smoking that chip! Shut down immediately!

 

[TheRealRuskie]

Your CPU and cooler base are not 100% flat nor smooth, even though they may appear smooth to a naked eye. Thermal paste fills the imperfections of both surfaces to improve thermal transfer.

When you took the cooler off and put it back on, air got entrapped between the surfaces by the paste. Air is a very poor thermal conductor, so the cooler will not be able to absorb as much heat from your CPU, thus increasing CPU temps.

You need to make sure you take the cooler off, clean all thermal paste off using rubbing alcohol and a paper towel, then reapply paste. Then screw cooler back on in a criss cross pattern.

What cooler do you have?

Thanks for explaining that.

My cooler is a corsair, I'm not sure about what specific model though.

Yeah I've just ordered some new thermal paste and something to clean it with. I'll try that out tomorrow and let you know if it fixed the issue. Cheers!

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Try the paste and see what happens. Make sure to clean the old paste off the cooler and CPU first.

My cooler is a corsair, I'm not sure about what specific model though.

Is this an
Air cooler

or an AIO liquid cooler?

 

[theoneandonlyfoohyking]

When you’re applying thermal paste, a reminder to apply it properly. You should apply no more than the size of a pea, in the centre of the unit. Place the cooler down until it pressed up against the CPU, which will evenly spread out the paste. As mentioned above, hold the cooler flat and screw in in a cross fashion. Don’t remove your hand until the cooler is all screwed in tight (not too tightly, just enough)

 

[TheRealRuskie]

Try the paste and see what happens. Make sure to clean the old paste off the cooler and CPU first.

Is this an
Air cooler

or an AIO liquid cooler?

Yeah it's the liquid cooled model.

Also thanks for the warning foohyking. I didn't know that separating the two surfaces where the paste connects is a bad idea.

Well this is pretty bad for the life expectancy of my core, but at least I learned something about PCs today.

It's almost like that time I used a vacuum cleaner to de-dust my pc... let's not talk about that one.

 

[NightHawkRMX]

Yeah it's the liquid cooled model.

Check if the paste fixes it. If not, there may be a pump issue or otherwise