My CPU is overheating, need help.

[NarekS]

Hey, guys, just made an account and this is my first post. I have an AMD FX8350 and it seems to be overheating on idle (god knows how it is while gaming). At idle, my temperature is very inconsistent. Using MSi Afterburner and CPUID HWmonitor, I see that the temperatures vary from 45 C to 60 C while it's idling! I have a Lepa Aquachanger 240 to cool it down yet the temps are very high. Also, as a result of this, I'm getting very, very bad FPS when I game. For example, when I'm playing Battlefield 4, the game runs fine @90-120 FPS on ultra for the first 10 minutes, then starts to constantly dip below 30 FPS. Even if I put all the settings on low I get the same performance; nothing improves. I used the in-game performance chart to see what's going on and the CPU usage is much higher than the GPU (GPU is a GTX 970). My initial thought was that maybe my PSU wasn't strong enough to power all this so maybe not enough power is getting to the watercooler to actually cool down the CPU (the watercooler fans spin very slowly... I could easily stop them and they don't start spinning again until I give them a good push). My PSU is 620W. What do you guys suggest I do?

Forgot to mention (if it's important) that I have 16 GB of ram and my motherboard is an MSi 970 gaming.

 

[imperialxgx]

You installed watercooling and its still overheating?! Make sure you have proper air flow through the case and make sure you put cooling paste on the CPU, and make sure the water cooling device is fully intact with the CPU and it secure. otherwise I would say either bad CPU or bad watercooler, you shouldnt be getting that type of heat with a water cooler installed.

 

[GhislainG]

Your motherboard is able to handle that CPU without throttling it to protect the VRM? Use AMD Overdrive to monitor the thermal margins while stress testing the CPU; that will provide a much clearer picture of what may be causing the issue.

 

[NarekS]

Your motherboard is able to handle that CPU without throttling it to protect the VRM? Use AMD Overdrive to monitor the thermal margins while stress testing the CPU; that will provide a much clearer picture of what may be causing the issue.

I got the motherboard as a bundle deal with the CPU from Fry's. I doubt they'd sell a CPU with a mobo that couldn't handle it.

 

[NarekS]

You installed watercooling and its still overheating?! Make sure you have proper air flow through the case and make sure you put cooling paste on the CPU, and make sure the water cooling device is fully intact with the CPU and it secure. otherwise I would say either bad CPU or bad watercooler, you shouldnt be getting that type of heat with a water cooler installed.

Yeah, unfortunately. I think I proper airflow. The case itself couldn't fit both the radiator and the rad. fans in it so what I did was I mounted the radiator under the ventilation holes on the top of the case and mounted the fans on top of the ventilation holes. Just the thing is that the fans are spinning too slowly.

 

[GhislainG]

Your motherboard is able to handle that CPU without throttling it to protect the VRM? Use AMD Overdrive to monitor the thermal margins while stress testing the CPU; that will provide a much clearer picture of what may be causing the issue.

I got the motherboard as a bundle deal with the CPU from Fry's. I doubt they'd sell a CPU with a mobo that couldn't handle it.

I do; what motherboard was included?

 

[NarekS]

Your motherboard is able to handle that CPU without throttling it to protect the VRM? Use AMD Overdrive to monitor the thermal margins while stress testing the CPU; that will provide a much clearer picture of what may be causing the issue.

I got the motherboard as a bundle deal with the CPU from Fry's. I doubt they'd sell a CPU with a mobo that couldn't handle it.

I do; what motherboard was included?

As I said in my original post, it's an MSi 970 Gaming mobo.

 

[GhislainG]

What are the thermal margins at idle and at full load when using AMD Overdrive to monitor your CPU?

 

[imperialxgx]

You installed watercooling and its still overheating?! Make sure you have proper air flow through the case and make sure you put cooling paste on the CPU, and make sure the water cooling device is fully intact with the CPU and it secure. otherwise I would say either bad CPU or bad watercooler, you shouldnt be getting that type of heat with a water cooler installed.

Yeah, unfortunately. I think I proper airflow. The case itself couldn't fit both the radiator and the rad. fans in it so what I did was I mounted the radiator under the ventilation holes on the top of the case and mounted the fans on top of the ventilation holes. Just the thing is that the fans are spinning too slowly.

Hmm the if your using it as an exhaust and the radiator is in the case and the fans are outside of the case then your radiator is not cooling down. it is just flowing water, I would reccomend switching it and seeing what happens.

 

[NarekS]

What are the thermal margins at idle and at full load when using AMD Overdrive to monitor your CPU?

What do you mean by thermal margins? The CPU temperature?

You installed watercooling and its still overheating?! Make sure you have proper air flow through the case and make sure you put cooling paste on the CPU, and make sure the water cooling device is fully intact with the CPU and it secure. otherwise I would say either bad CPU or bad watercooler, you shouldnt be getting that type of heat with a water cooler installed.

Yeah, unfortunately. I think I proper airflow. The case itself couldn't fit both the radiator and the rad. fans in it so what I did was I mounted the radiator under the ventilation holes on the top of the case and mounted the fans on top of the ventilation holes. Just the thing is that the fans are spinning too slowly.

Hmm the if your using it as an exhaust and the radiator is in the case and the fans are outside of the case then your radiator is not cooling down. it is just flowing water, I would reccomend switching it and seeing what happens.

I'll try that but I don't see why the radiator shouldn't be cooling off. The fans are blowing directly at it through the ventilation holes.

 

[GhislainG]

AMD Overdrive provides the more accurate thermal margins, i.e., distance to throttling. If they are negative, then the CPU is throttling.

 

[NarekS]

AMD Overdrive provides the more accurate thermal margins, i.e., distance to throttling. If they are negative, then the CPU is throttling.

Alright, just downloaded it and my thermal margin is very inconsistent. Goes from 10 C to 30 C constantly.

EDIT: It even hit 5 C now....

 

[NarekS]

I believe I fixed it. I switched around some wires and now my fans are working at full speed. They're kinda loud now but my CPU temps don't really go high. I was playing Witcher 3 and they stayed at 40 C or so.