At what temperatures should I stop gaming at?

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

I have a i5-4670k (3.4Ghz) and a GTX 760 (SC) w/ a Western Digital RE3 (1TB)

They all have a tendency to overheat, for some reason.

My case has mesh all over, so airflow is definitely not a problem.

I have the stock cooler for my CPU, and no I don't overclock.

My GPU comes with the EVGA ACX cooler, but my GPU temps don't exactly matter, but I'd like to know what temps I should stop at.

Right now my averages under full load (celsius) are:

CPU: 70 degrees
GPU: 80 degrees
HDD: 50 degrees

Under idle/small use

CPU: 35 degrees
GPU: 40 degrees
HDD: 40 degrees

What temps should I stop my game at?

Please answer with this format:

CPU: (temp here)
GPU: (temp here)
HDD: (temp here)

thank you!

hunter315 · Feb 16, 2014

I think airflow is a problem, just because you have mesh all over doesn't mean that the air is actually moving through it. Your CPU is running rather hot, your GPU is at an alright temperature, not great, not horrible. But your hard drive is at a rather impressive temperature. What case do you have? I have never seen a hard drive get that hot, i don't know what the recommended maximum temp is because i have never been worried about it. If i were to put my whole system under stress test right now(prime95+furmark) and let it sit for a day i don't think my hard drive would get that hot, i've never seen it break 42C which is why i am suspicious of the airflow in your case, hard drives aren't hard to keep cool and most of their temp comes from absorbed heat.

Someone Somewhere · Feb 16, 2014

Mesh all over doesn't mean that you've got good airflow - often exactly the opposite. How are your fans laid out?

CPU: 85℃
GPU: 90℃
HDD: Doesn't matter much. Whatever.

EDIT: Ninjaed. I've seen HDDs that hot, but only in laptops or NASs in enclosed spaces at full load.

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

hunter315 :

I have a Xion XON-560 (Black)

Also @Someone Somewhere

I have a 120mm fan in the front, and a 80mm fan in the back

scout_03 · Feb 16, 2014

you need to have fans in your case to create a air flow this will help reduce your temp .

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

scout_03 :

I do have fans in my case...

How else would I be able to go 30 minutes without my motherboard melting?

scout_03 · Feb 16, 2014

it could be the cpu or the gpu even the hdd that will go out of service from overheathing that means buying new parts .

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

scout_03 :

I was asking what temps should I stop at if I'm gaming

CPU:
GPU:
HDD:

You didn't provide them

Someone Somewhere · Feb 16, 2014

Which are intake and exhaust? The one at the back should be exhaust, and the front intake.

Their website says it should come with both fans as 120mm.

EDIT: Having fixed temperatures for only three parts doesn't really make sense. It's possible that the VRMs or chipset are overheating due to lack of airflow, or a whole lot of other options.

Running your system permanently right at the edge isn't something that you want to do, unless you intend to toss it as soon as it's superseded, and not reuse/sell any parts.

Overtemp cutouts are symptomatic treatment. And generally not a good thing for regular usage.

james77 · Feb 16, 2014

There could be a problem with your airflow. Could you take a some pictures of your gaming rig and post it here?

edit: Where do you live by the way? It might be hot in your country.

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

james77 :

Yes I'll do that now

hunter315 · Feb 16, 2014

After a 5 minute experiment with Prime/Furmark I'm betting on bad airflow since none of my 3 hard drives budged from 35C even though the CPU hit 56 and the GPU hit 66.

As for your original question, it is like asking at what oil temperature should you stop driving your car. This assumes that you are constantly watching the temp, and it ignores the fact that there is a root cause that needs to be solved that may be indicative of a larger problem.

I'd start with making sure that all the mesh is clean, when fan filters clog up they pretty much stop all airflow, the mesh may have the same issue. Then i'd make sure you have an intake and an exhaust fan so that you are at least trying to pull air in and then push it back out later.

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

[UPDATE]

Here is my gaming rig (The fan to the left (back) in the back is pushing air toward the motherboard, and the fan to the right (front) is pushing air toward the Hard Drive)

Links:

http://uploadir.com/u/ji6r6hbs
http://uploadir.com/u/v9ouqwb2 <- Camera shook, sorry

hunter315 · Feb 16, 2014

Ahhh, theres your problem! You have both fans pushing air into the case so you are just building up pressure and the air is exiting out the side panel without moving across anything. Flip the back fan around, your temps should improve rather drastically.

scout_03 · Feb 16, 2014

then you dont have air flow you just recirculating hot air inside the case front one should input air back one should output hot air out give the name and model of your case and same for the motherboard so we could suggest you way to reduce the internal case and parts temp .

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

hunter315 :

Thanks very much! I will try this right now, going to shut down my PC!

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

[UPDATE] Bootup seems great! Temps for the CPU went down 5 degrees celsius from what it usually is upon bootup!

Check this: http://prntscr.com/2sxfl0

scout_03 · Feb 16, 2014

now if you could had some fan in that case for a greater air flow that will be great .

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

scout_03 :

There are 2 fans in it..

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

[UPDATE]

CPU and GPU run just fine!

CPU stayed in the high 50s and low 60s - never touched 70
GPU maintained a nice low-mid 70s temperature

Although my hard drive still ever so slowly increases.

3 hours of gameplay left my hard drive go from 35 degrees all the way to 44

The front fan is really warm right now, as well.

hunter315 · Feb 16, 2014

Beautiful! That is a fantastic improvement, you dropped almost 10C simply by turning a fan the other direction!

As for your hard drive, that may simply be based on how warm the room you are in is, my floor is about 15C(~60F) right now so my drives a running cool, if your computer is in an 80F(26C) room everything will shift up about 10C so my 35C drive temp would be 45C for you. I also found the spec sheet for the WD RE3 drives, they are industrial drives with a 0-60C operating temperature so it will at least be fine up to 60C which would be pretty damn hot for a hard drive!

scout_03 · Feb 16, 2014

you could move the hdd in the higher slot and see what temp it will get .

Milkth3cow · Feb 16, 2014

hunter315 :

Yeah, they must've been built to take some immense beatings.

I think if I just get a more efficient front case fan with a higher CFM rate it'll be no problem, really.

Thanks for all the help, you really saved me there!

At what temperatures should I stop gaming at?

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