Intel i5 6600k Core Temperatures - is this high?

[PotatoJedi]

For a while now, I've been having lots of crashes when playing specific games. Originally I thought it was a driver issue, but after installing and reinstalling what I felt was the culprit, The problem persisted.

I ran a temperature test and one of the cores was reaching well above 90°C, with the other core following close behind. The last 2 cores were a fair bit lower, maybe about 10°.

I'd like to know – is a core temperature of above 90°C while gaming normal? I ran a Speedfan test while gaming one day and when the computer crashed, the highest last recorded temperature on the log was 95°C on core #1. I can only assume that it reached its throttle point of 100° at some point and that's what caused the crash (as far as I'm aware 100°C is the limit.)

My specs:

Windows 7 64-bit ultimate/Windows 10 Professional (I have 2 OS, they both crash the same way)
Gigabyte Z170XP-SLI
Intel i5 6600k - Skylake (not overclocked)
Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 8 GB (not overclocked)
Corsair 32 GB Vengeance LFX 2666 MHz (4x8 GB)
EVGA 750W (Modular) PSU
Arctic Freezer 13

My current room temperature is 24°C. Should I be looking into upgrading the cooling, or is the processor itself the issue?

 

[nitinvaid20]

Well yes those Temp are high check if your CPU COoler is seated properly on CPU cooler and see if its dusty clean it and need screenshot of HW monitor or other app which shows temp use prime 95 or other software to stress test your cpu

your cpu overclocked?

 

[mbilal2]

No it's not normal. 80 is where the red light goes on for me. Buy and replace the thermal paste on your CPU. It costs about 7$ for a good one. Make sure to properly remove the old one using rubbing alcohol. You shouldn't be seeing those temps with that cooler.

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Your cooler probably isn't making good contact. Above 90C is not normal. [strike]95C can throttle. 100C can crash/shutdown.[/strike] Make sure you have extra thermal paste and remove, clean, and reinstall your cooler. Don't apply too much or too little thermal paste, this can lead to high temps.

 

[BringerOfTea]

Your cooler probably isn't making good contact. Above 90C is not normal. 95C can throttle. 100C can crash/shutdown. Make sure you have extra thermal paste and remove, clean, and reinstall your cooler. Don't apply too much or too little thermal paste, this can lead to high temps.

what this guy said.

 

[RaZooR]

see if your cpu cooler is working mean fan spin and if so check if there a thermal paste

 

[PotatoJedi]

Thanks everyone. I'll have a look at the thermal pasting and fans and whatnot and post back with results.

 

[CompuTronix]

PotatoJedi,

On behalf of Tom's Moderator Team, welcome aboard!

It may not necessary to remove your cooler. The Arctic Freezer 13 uses the same problematic push-pins that Intel's stock coolers use, so check each push-pin very carefully.

The temperature problem you've described suggests there's a push-pin that's not fully seated completely through the motherboard. This is a very common and well known issue with push-pin fasteners.

Also, the Arctic Freezer 13 is a 92 millimeter fan-class cooler. Unless you're using a narrow case, system builders will invariably choose a 120 millimeter fan-class cooler for the i5 6600K.

You might want to consider a better cooler such as the Cryorig H7 - https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA4UF2DZ6565&ignorebbr=1&nm_mc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC&cm_mmc=KNC-GoogleMKP-PC-_-pla-_-CPU+Cooling-_-9SIA4UF2DZ6565&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI0arDp7G51QIVDGZ-Ch0u5w7AEAQYASABEgINzvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds - which has proper mounting attachment hardware that includes a backplate.

Contrary to the statement made by MrN1ce9uy, Intel's specification for Throttle temperature for the i5 6600K is 100°C.

Core temperatures above 85°C aren't recommended.

Core temperatures increase and decrease with Ambient temperature.

As nitinvaid20 mentioned, using Prime95 for thermal testing is a good recommendation, however, it's necessary to be more specific:

Do not use Prime95 versions later than 26.6 on 2nd through 7th Generation i3, i5 or i7 CPU's, which all have AVX (Advanced Vector Extension) Instruction Sets. Prime95 versions later than 26.6 run AVX code on the CPU's Floating Point Unit (FPU) which causes unrealistic temperatures up to 20°C higher. The FPU test in the utility AIDA64 shows similar results.

AVX can be disabled in Prime95 versions later than 26.6 by inserting "CpuSupportsAVX=0" into the "local.txt" file in Prime95's folder. However, since Core temperatures will be the same as 26.6, it's easier to just use 26.6. AVX doesn't affect Core i 1st Generation, Core 2, Pentium or Celeron processors since they don't have AVX Instruction Sets.

• Prime95 v26.6 - http://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=15504

Run only Small FFT's. 10 minutes is more than adequate for thermal testing. For stability testing I recommend Asus RealBench, which is an utility for testing overall system stability.

• RealBench - http://rog.asus.com/rog-pro/realbench-v2-leaderboard/

If you'd like to learn more about processor temperatures, then you might want to read this Sicky: Intel Temperature Guide - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

Once again, welcome aboard!

CT

 

[PotatoJedi]

Turns out the suggestions above were spot on. The heatsink had come loose and just needed to be re-placed. Temperatures now run in the low to mid 50s while gaming. Thank you all!

 

[MrN1ce9uy]

Glad to hear you fixed your issue!