My i7 4770K Temperatures Are Normal?

[feelingtheblanks]

Hello everyone,

I recently upgraded my good old Core2Duo rig and bought a new cpu-motherboard-ram trio. My new specs is as follows:

- i7 4770K @ stock speed + Coolermaster 212Evo cpu cooler
- MSI z87 g43 motherboard
- 2x4 GB G-Skill Ripjaws X 1866Mhz
- Case: Corsair Carbide 400R

The problem is I wasn't aware of that new Haswell cpus are running slightly hotter and now I'm little bit worried about my temperatures. Since I was also planning to overclock my cpu a bit and trying to find a point that doesn't need a voltage increase, I'm losing my sleeps over this situation at the moment. 😛

Anyways. I'm using softwares like HWmonitor, Coretemp, Realtemp and Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. Turbo Boost is also active. So the cpu is going up until 3.9 GHz. Here are my temperatures:

Ambient room temp: Varies between 23-25 °C

Idle: 28-30 °C

While playing demanding games like Battlefield 4: Max 58-65°C

With Intel Extreme Tuning's stress test for 15 mins: max 68-70 °C

With Prime 95 Blend test for 15 mins: max 78-82 °C

I also run realtemp's sensor test and the values are identical since it's using Prime95 too.

I also noticed that Prime 95 is increasing my voltage value while Intel Extreme Tuning's stress test is using the default voltage. Couldn't understand why. Will I encounter these kinds of random voltage increases during normal tasks? Like playing games, rendering some stuff etc..?

So I'm wondering if my temperature values are normal with the cpu cooler i have (Coolermaster 212evo)? And is it safe to do some soft overclocking? Like trying to reach up to 4.1 GHz without increasing voltage?

I also could buy some extra fans for my case (1 exhaust to top & 1 intake to side) and maybe a second fan for the cpu cooler if you guys think that these would help a bit.

Sorry for my English by the way. I'm not a native speaker.

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions already.

Best

 

[06yfz450ridr]

that seems a little hot for that heatsink and cpu at stock settings. maybe try disabling the turbo and manually setting the voltage

 

[geofelt]

Not to worry.
Your temps look nominal.
A cpu will downclock or even shut itself off if it reaches damaging temperatures. That is at about 105c.

How well you can oc a haswell is mostly determined by your luck in getting a golden chip.
You can expect 4.0-4.4 for most.

As you increase the multiplier, the voltage will increase. A conservative limit is about 1.25v.
Past that, the heat increases exponentially.

Use OCCT to test. You will get a nice graph of the relevant measurements.
The test will stop once you get past 85c.

 

[PCDave]

-snip

Hey feelingthebanks,

Your temperatures currently looking fine- there all within spec, sure its a bit toasty- but nothing to worry about.

You could try doing some light overclocking, but I don't like the Prime95 blend test results, there OK- but I personally wouldn't push it any higher.

Also, some extra fans might help- if you need any fan suggestions, let us know.

Your english is fine, dont worry about it.

 

[Sevenater]

I agre with the others, these temps aren't really that bad, I have my 3570k overclocked to 4.2 and on Prime95 blend I get around 60-70c average, it's totally fine for your CPU to get upto around 85c before you need to worry about it. My dad worked with processors for over 25 years, he also was a part of making the first 1gb ram dim (Revolutionary) He says that your CPU is fine with temps up to 90c without a problem, usually some of the temperature problems come from overvolting or too much power being put into the CPU. This will cause it to run hotter, but your temps are fine, they may be on the warm side, but like others have said, you can turn off turbo and turn down the voltage on your CPU to lower the temps. Hope this helps!

 

[feelingtheblanks]

Thanks a lot for the fast replies everyone. These informations are quite helpful at the moment and it's good to know that I'm in safe zone for now.

I still couldn't understand why Prime95 is increasing my voltages up to 1.22 level while Intel Extreme Tuning's stress test is keeping it at 1.15 under same load. Do i need somekinda bios adjustment?

I'm also considering to re-apply the thermal paste since I didn't have enough time last week I made the tech guy put the parts together for me.

So I really could use a good price/performance thermal compound and 120mm case fan suggestions. Maybe a 2nd fan for my cpu cooler as a back up plan. (I don't really want to increase the noise level a lot though)

Thanks

 

[feelingtheblanks]

I accidentally hit the "best solution" button i guess. Now it says the thread is solved. I couldn't find how to reverse it, but I still need a little bit of help. 😛

 

[geofelt]

Different stress tests exercise in different ways. I used to use prime95, but find OCCT is more representative of normal usage.

My advice on conservative overclocking is to use the bios multiplier options, not the automatic oc level options which can be too aggressive. Simply increase the multiplier from 35 by a bit each time until you are comfortable.
The voltage will get adjusted automatically.

I do like aftermarket cpu coolers, if for no other reason than reduced noise.

$30 buys you a cm hyper212 which is a good performer.
If your budget is a bit higher, look at noctua tower coolers with slower/quieter 140mm fans.
The best would be the noctua nh-d14.
The nh-u14s is not so large and almost as good.

 

[geofelt]

I accidentally hit the "best solution" button i guess. Now it says the thread is solved. I couldn't find how to reverse it, but I still need a little bit of help. 😛

I unselected it for you.

 

[feelingtheblanks]

Different stress tests exercise in different ways. I used to use prime95, but find OCCT is more representative of normal usage.

My advice on conservative overclocking is to use the bios multiplier options, not the automatic oc level options which can be too aggressive. Simply increase the multiplier from 35 by a bit each time until you are comfortable.
The voltage will get adjusted automatically.

I do like aftermarket cpu coolers, if for no other reason than reduced noise.

$30 buys you a cm hyper212 which is a good performer.
If your budget is a bit higher, look at noctua tower coolers with slower/quieter 140mm fans.
The best would be the noctua nh-d14.
The nh-u14s is not so large and almost as good.

Thanks geofelt.

I already have CM Hyper 212evo atm. I'm also suspecting bad applied thermal paste here ,since I didn't have time last week and have a tech-guy put the parts together for me. I'll be re-applying the paste soon.

Is there a good price&performance paste to suggest or the one comes with the cpu cooler is enough at the moment?

I will also check OCCT and share my results here

 

[feelingtheblanks]

I completed a quick 10 minutes of stress test with OCCT and the results are identical to ones i got with Prime95. My voltages again went up to 1.22v. I don't know if it is normal with Turbo Boost. But like i said before it wasn't acting like this on Intel Extreme Tuning Utility's stress test where my cpu again boosting to 3.9 GHz the voltages sit at 1.15 and the temperatures around 65 °C.

About temperatures: I even saw one of the cores reached up to 86 °C for a second. But most of the times the whole package was varying between 75-80 °C.

Update: I've made a quick research and found out that people are usually reaching 4.2-4.3 GHz and even 4.4 with 1.22v so i have a weird problem with adaptive voltages and i have no idea how to deal with it since there are loads of voltage settings on bios. Good old core2duo days, everything was simple 😛

 

[geofelt]

It is normal to see different temperatures on each core.

The paste that comes with cpu coolers is fine.
You can get a couple of degrees better with something like AS5. Paste like as5 may take 200 hours to fully cure.
(Or a couple of degrees worse with peanut butter
It is not worth the hassle.
If you reapply paste, do not use too much, or it will act as an insulator.

If your use is for gaming, try disabling hyperthreading.
Few games use more than 2-3 cores, so the hyperthreads are not helpful.
Removal may let you oc a notch higher.
Many post their oc levels if it is decent, few will if they get a dog chip.

 

[feelingtheblanks]

Thanks for the help and suggestions geofelt.

So I give up overclocking for now (was considering it for future anyways). My priority is now adding 2-3 more fans to my case and maybe a second cpu fan to my heatsink (cm hyper 212evo) to get cooler values. I'm also considering to re-apply the thermal compound.

And i have a final question: Maybe I'm becoming a bit paranoid but generally speaking what should be my temp values with my current cpu cooler at best? Just to know my target 😛

 

[feelingtheblanks]

Update:

Strangely enough I tried the OC Genie feature of the mobo and it overclocked the cpu 4.1 GHz automatically @ 1.15v

After 10 minutes of OCCT test the max temp i've seen is 70 °C for a second. It mostly varies between 65-68 °C No voltage increasing during the test

I'm kinda confused now... It looks way cooler than the stock settings, at least under OCCT and Prime95 burn tests.

 

[geofelt]

I would not worry about heat too much.
Only if it gets to dangerous levels.
Under load, under normal conditions, you will never be 100% cpu bound and generate those high temperatures
Over time, paste will spread better and fill in air gaps making the contact more efficient.
I think you are at a good conservative point so you need not do more.

In time, experimenting will likely let you do better if you need it.
Look at the bios parameters that the genie set. That is a good starting point.

Fans do not cool, they just move air.
More and stronger fans will add noise.
I would not bother unless you have a problem that needs fixing.

 

[feelingtheblanks]

Thanks a lot for the suggestions geofelt. No question marks left now.

 

[06yfz450ridr]

you could always delid it and apply new paste, like this https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tPK6CdV_WI will void your warranty though.

i saw in most vids about a 20c drop on the hottest cores

 

[fklioside]

Hi everyone, I was hoping to find my answer in this thread and I think mine is actually running too hot.

I have a i7-4770k processor 3.5 (no overclock) with the Corsair h100 cooler. I did a Prime95 stress test running at 100% load and am at around 96*C. I was reading that anything over 85*C I have to worry about. Anyone have any insight? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

 

[Dave FromKent]

I'm a complete noob at this OC thing, but I'd say you are right! That seems a bit hot!

I've got the same CPU, same cooler, but I'm getting a steady 4.4 and the temperature is steady at about 70-71, peaking at 78 °C on load using prime95.

When I designed the machine, I read up and gained a healthy paranoia of heat!
In addition to the 2 x 120mm fans on the H100i (intake, not exhaust), I added 2 x 120mm as puller fans on the underside of the radiator.
I use a Mid sized case. I have three 140mm intake fans and 2 x 140mm exhaust fans which with the 4 x 120mm, keep a positive pressure in the case. I've traded a few degrees of higher heat to keep the dust down. Every hole is filtered, so if heat gets to be a problem, I might invert two of the 140mms to go to negative pressure. We'll see.

What additional fans have you fitted? How is the airflow through your case?

 

[zxgravediggerxz]

Hi everyone, I was hoping to find my answer in this thread and I think mine is actually running too hot.

I have a i7-4770k processor 3.5 (no overclock) with the Corsair h100 cooler. I did a Prime95 stress test running at 100% load and am at around 96*C. I was reading that anything over 85*C I have to worry about. Anyone have any insight? It would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

Prime95 is the wrong program to use. Apparently it overvoltages the Haswell CPU in the background. I have the same problem with a stock 4770k and a Hyper 212. I run in the mid 80c on Prime95 Small FFT test. 96 is a bit high even for Prime95 especially with your watercooler.

Use use Aida64 or Intel Extreme Tuning Utility. That's what I will run tonight.

check out this thread for some info

http://linustechtips.com/main/topic/38617-is-it-normal-for-my-4770k-to-have-around-90c-degree-on-full-load/