Question Very high CPU temps ?

[aaronq]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been mulling through threads and replies for the last few days to try and sort this out to no avail. I have had my PC for about 3 years now but have only actually bothered to check my temps now as I have always settled for manually cranking the fans to max on my case to cool everything.

MB: MSI Z7xx (can’t remember exact off the top of my head)
GPU: Strix 3080 TI
CPU: 12700KF
CPU Cooler: Noctua NH-D15S
RAM: Corsair 32GB (4 x 8GB) 3200
Case: Be Quiet! Silent 802 with glass panel and mesh front

Essentially, I noticed that gaming in the BF6 beta with the CPU at approx 60% load, the total package temp was reaching into the high 80s at times and sometimes grabbing into the low 90s. I tested with a few other games including Cyberpunk which saw similar results. Cinebench testing gets into the 90s aswell, and it seems regardless of the load I put on the CPU it’s a guarantee for 80+ degrees.

Under idle when the PC first comes on for the day the temps are actually quite good, around the 20-30 range, but as soon as it goes under load and temps go up, they absolutely don’t come back down. After a 3 hour session on battlefield the idle range shifts all the way up to 60 degrees +- 5 degrees.

Reading all I have on the DH15S and my best mate who has the same cooler I can’t understand why my temps are so high given I don’t run any overlock and have even tried a slight undervote to offset about 0.05V from the Auto base voltage.

I have 2 intake fans bringing in and 1 exhaust out the back. I have yet to try a re-paste on the CPU and will do so today. Just want some advice on what anyone thinks this might be attributed to or if this is normal?

I have also tried to lower lite load controls in BIOS and have changed the default cooling setting from water cooling to tower cooling, drastically lowering the PL.

 

[Lutfij]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

MB: MSI Z7xx (can’t remember exact off the top of my head)
Use CPU-Z and the info you're looking for will be stated under Mainboard tab. While you're there, please report back with the BIOS version you're on at this moment of time.

I have yet to try a re-paste on the CPU and will do so today.
That's the first order of business, using isopropyl alcohol to clean the surfaces and then a high quality thermal paste to finish the job, applying a small sized amounts at 4 corners and one in the center.

Another thing you could do is taking off the front fascia and seeing if those temps improve though in hindsight, if the temps went up recently, then it's either due to a background activity or thermal paste requiring a repaste, IMHO.

 

[aaronq]

Welcome to the forums, newcomer!

MB: MSI Z7xx (can’t remember exact off the top of my head)
Use CPU-Z and the info you're looking for will be stated under Mainboard tab. While you're there, please report back with the BIOS version you're on at this moment of time.

I have yet to try a re-paste on the CPU and will do so today.
That's the first order of business, using isopropyl alcohol to clean the surfaces and then a high quality thermal paste to finish the job, applying a small sized amounts at 4 corners and one in the center.

Another thing you could do is taking off the front fascia and seeing if those temps improve though in hindsight, if the temps went up recently, then it's either due to a background activity or thermal paste requiring a repaste, IMHO.

Hey Lutfij, thank you for the reply mate,

Last night the instant I pulled the heat sink off the CPU I knew the paste job a few years ago was not great, uneven spread and some parts of the chip not even covered. I did a re-paste using a more generous amount of the Noctua paste straight away. I couldn’t believe I’d missed this, but I also realised when reinstalling the D15 that I had the cooler fan intaking the wrong direction… needless to say after resolving both of these issues, I loaded back into windows and even in Cinebench with a slight undervolt nothing past mid 80s and gaming in the 60s high 50s. Bit of Occam’s Razor but glad I got it sorted.

Thanks again for the suggestions.