Question My CPU suddenly started overheating after few months ?

[Zetrix88]

The titles pretty much sums it up. But I can tell you few more details.

Even though the usage of my CPU is low, almost always below 50% the temperatures skyrocketed... From the usualy 40-60 °C . Suddenly I am getting 75+ And during some moments even so high like 90+ and EVEN 100 °C .

I have pretty much new PC that I have built myself. I have it for about 3 months now and didnt have any issues. No changes to hardware or software, this seems like really random problem and I cant find the cause. Only thing I did was connect a third monitor to my GPU ( Wacom for Drawing). But I really dont think that can be related.

Also, my GPU temperatures are perfectly fine. So I dont think the whole case has overheating problem, its just the CPU. Althought when its between those 90-100 Degrees it really gets cloud and warm... Also, I didnt do any overclocking.

My specs:

Case: FractalDesign R6
MB: MSI MPG Z490 Gaming Edge Wifi
CPU: i5 10600KF Comet Lake
GPU: RTX 3060
CPU Cooling: MSI MAG CORELIQUID 240R

Any help or tips appreciated.

 

[Phaaze88]

CPU Cooling: MSI MAG CORELIQUID 240R

Did you mount this at the top? Try mounting it at the front and see if it helps.

 

[Zetrix88]

Did you mount this at the top? Try mounting it at the front and see if it helps.

Yeah I mounted it at the top. And I wont be able to mount it from the front sadly. Maybe with a lot of effort I will be able to. But I got a lot of HDDs which are in the way...

I dont see how that would help though. For 3 months it worked flawlessly, why would I have to suddenly change position of my cooling?.

I tried taking top cover of my case and that didnt help anything.

 

[Phaaze88]

I dont see how that would help though. For 3 months it worked flawlessly, why would I have to suddenly change position of my cooling?.

-The pump is in the radiator.
-The pump should always stay immersed in fluid.
-AIOs are not topped off with fluid, so there will be air present from the beginning, but at the highest point of the loop.
-AIOs slowly lose fluid over time; permeation through the tubing.

Knowing that, what do you think is happening? Assuming the pump didn't randomly keel over, that is.

 

[Zetrix88]

Well one thing I forgot to mention. Whole MB with RAM, CPU and Cooling came all together in prebuilt pc. But I took it out from that PC and fit that into my case. So I never really had a look to how thermal paste is applied on the CPU. The shop might have <Mod Edit> it up...

But you think the problem is with the AIO pump? How can I check if its working properly?

 

[Phaaze88]

It's pretty hard to screw up thermal paste application, except if the paste has specific instructions - for example, TG Kryonaut: paste should be manually spread over the the entire IHS.
Too much is not as bad as too little; excess paste will be squeezed off the sides of the IHS by the mounting pressure.

But you think the problem is with the AIO pump? How can I check if its working properly?

Feel the radiator for vibrations - but if the fans are running, they could interfere with that, so you'd have to unplug them temporarily.
You could also put a load on the cpu and then feel both tubes, which also checks if the liquid is flowing normally.

 

[SamirD]

First thing I would do is boot up a linux live cd and see if everything is normal there. If so, then you might have some mining malware on your windows install.

 

[Cokacola14]

My inital gut says repaste And use speedfan or bios to make sure any fans are spinning up to where it needs! the pump is a pump, they dont build em like water pumps for our ditches for sprinklers no cast iron etc.! lol c:

 

[Zetrix88]

It's pretty hard to screw up thermal paste application, except if the paste has specific instructions - for example, TG Kryonaut: paste should be manually spread over the the entire IHS.
Too much is not as bad as too little; excess paste will be squeezed off the sides of the IHS by the mounting pressure.


Feel the radiator for vibrations - but if the fans are running, they could interfere with that, so you'd have to unplug them temporarily.
You could also put a load on the cpu and then feel both tubes, which also checks if the liquid is flowing normally.

Im gonna try that later today, to see if it works properly.

 

[Zetrix88]

First thing I would do is boot up a linux live cd and see if everything is normal there. If so, then you might have some mining malware on your windows install.

Wouldnt that cause the CPU usage to go high? Its pretty low, even if I am gaming...

And I am using ESET Antivirus, + I got malwarebytes to scan the PC few times. Didnt find anything serious

 

[Zetrix88]

My inital gut says repaste And use speedfan or bios to make sure any fans are spinning up to where it needs! the pump is a pump, they dont build em like water pumps for our ditches for sprinklers no cast iron etc.! lol c:

Idk, dont really want to take the cooling apart just yet. I kinda agree with the guy above. I think the the thermal paste is applied right by the manufacter. But if nothing else helps I am gonna check it out.

Gonna try that Speedfan software, using CPUID HW monitor right now.

 

[Zetrix88]

Alright, sorry for late reply. Had a busy week. But yesterday I tried looking into it. I installed the speedfan software and it didnt really do much, but it showed lower numbers than HW Monitor did. But during games the temperatues were still getting to around 85 - 95.

It's pretty hard to screw up thermal paste application, except if the paste has specific instructions - for example, TG Kryonaut: paste should be manually spread over the the entire IHS.
Too much is not as bad as too little; excess paste will be squeezed off the sides of the IHS by the mounting pressure.


Feel the radiator for vibrations - but if the fans are running, they could interfere with that, so you'd have to unplug them temporarily.
You could also put a load on the cpu and then feel both tubes, which also checks if the liquid is flowing normally.

So I took apart my pc. Cleaned it properly ( even thought it wasnt really that dusty at all). I tried turning off the fans on the liquid cooling and feel the vibrations. I cant really tell... I had 5 hard drives in my PC which are all vibrating on their own

But when I put my hand of the radiator I felt some small vibrations.And when I touched the tubes I mostly fell some vibrations through one, but not the other. That would probably change if I did some stress test on the CPU. Anyway I checked bios and the pump was showing me some numbers so that worked. All fans were working... I couldnt find any issue. One thing I did was tightening the 4 screws on the cooling which are exactly around the CPU. I was surprised that they werent properly tightened. I should have checked this when I got it from the shop..

When I turned my PC back on I had idle temperatues around 36-41 . ( In BIOS)
and when I started playing the temperature didnt get above 80. So this definitely helped quite a lot. but the temperatures still arent ideal. Sometimes it gets quite loud, which didnt happen before.

If the temperatures will be still rising I will try to remove the current paste which is there and put there new, pretty good rated one I bought. But so far its not doing bad. Thanks for the help

 

[SamirD]

Wouldnt that cause the CPU usage to go high? Its pretty low, even if I am gaming...

Yep, definitely can.

 

[Zetrix88]

Yeah, so cleaning the PC and tightening the screws ony helped temporarily. Now I am back to what it used to be...

I tried wiping off the old thermal paste and using new one. But that didnt help neither.


One thing I noticed which may be causing it is Chrome. I have LOTS of tabs opened usually. And even though the CPU usage is very low ( below 20%) It still overheats. But closing majority of Chrome tabs helped a lot... I need to do some tests and figure it out, what my CPU does during gaming for example with Chrome closed.

 

[Phaaze88]

Check the cooler backplate and see if it's loose or not.
If not, I'd say it's the cooler at this point.

Unfortunate that you aren't able to mount it at the front, as that means you have no choice but to get a different cooler.

 

[drea.drechsler]

Yeah, so cleaning the PC and tightening the screws ony helped temporarily. Now I am back to what it used to be...

I tried wiping off the old thermal paste and using new one. But that didnt help neither.


One thing I noticed which may be causing it is Chrome. I have LOTS of tabs opened usually. And even though the CPU usage is very low ( below 20%) It still overheats. But closing majority of Chrome tabs helped a lot... I need to do some tests and figure it out, what my CPU does during gaming for example with Chrome closed.

those radiator in pump AIO's are always problematic if you can't get the pump below the water block.

Are you certain the AIO pump is on and at full speed all the time?

One thing you might do is lay the case on it's side, or even inverted, for a while. The idea is to get the pump lower than the CPU water block so you know there are no air bubbles in it. The see if the thermal problem continues.

If you can't move the case, maybe open it and take the radiator out and set it beside the case for the test.

All the test is for is to help you decide whether replacing the AIO is the right thing to do.

 

[haseeb98ahm]

Yeah I mounted it at the top. And I wont be able to mount it from the front sadly. Maybe with a lot of effort I will be able to. But I got a lot of HDDs which are in the way...

I dont see how that would help though. For 3 months it worked flawlessly, why would I have to suddenly change position of my cooling?.

I tried taking top cover of my case and that didnt help anything.

Rotate your PC sideways (lay the case on its front) if temps improve you'll know the issue.

 

[Zetrix88]

Rotate your PC sideways (lay the case on its front) if temps improve you'll know the issue.

Hmmm, I dont know much about water cooling. This is my first one I have actually. I can send some photos of how the water cooling is mounted. Maybe I did some mistake that would be obvious to you guys but not me.

Anyway, you want me to lay the pc on front, so the cables would be basically going from the top right?

I guess I can try that

 

[drea.drechsler]

...
Anyway, you want me to lay the pc on front, so the cables would be basically going from the top right?
...

Or on it's side, whatever gets the pump (the solid square block that buried in the fins of the radiator) below the water block that mounts to the CPU itself.

This isn't meant to be a final solution, it's just a test to see if thermals improve.

 

[SamirD]

But closing majority of Chrome tabs helped a lot... I need to do some tests and figure it out, what my CPU does during gaming for example with Chrome closed.

Interesting. This would point to not enough ram actually. You can also try using chrome incognito mode as it only runs from ram and may help point you in the right direction as well.

 

[userK23c5d]

Following with great interest. Have had a Ryzen 3900x for one year, running like a bullet at default settings. Casual gamer. I love this machine. Last week it shut down unexpectedly. I was blissfully unaware of the heat situation with Ryzens. I hit 95 degrees in a matter of minutes. I under clocked to 1.8ghz and set the voltage at 1.25. it made no difference. Cooler is a Xilence AIO with dual 120mm fans. One tube gets hot, the other lukewarm, pump fan also shows action on bios.

I guess I'll stick on a kick ass cooler but am surprised that it deteriorated like this, mind you I wasn't watching the temps for a year, most likely it gradually got worse. I been dusting it regularly.

I would expect it to throttle like crazy though to avoid shutdown, bit it doesn't, looking into that next.

 

[vost]

did you find a solution, got the same AIO and my cpu is always at 90 while gaming

 

[Zetrix88]

did you find a solution, got the same AIO and my cpu is always at 90 while gaming

Yep I made new topic because I found out whats the problem. Basically failing AIO pump. The problem was the AIO the whole time. It just acted weird and I was trying to find the issue elsewhere. Got rid of AIO and bought new Noctua Air cooling and works flawlessly.