i7-6700K Max temps coming at around 90°C while playing a game, is that too hot?

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

I have an i7-6700k.

For cooling I am using the Corsair H60 with 2 Corsair SP120 fans as Exhausts.

The temperature sits at around 23°C-30°C when I am not doing much however the Max temperatures can go to 90°C when playing games. I feel like that's too hot.

EDIT:
When idle cool air comes from the radiator. When gaming the air is hot only coming from the radiator of the H60. Air coming from the case Exhausts stays cool.

Just testing by playing PlanetSide 2 for a few minutes:
Maximum: 91°C
Average: 69°C

Suztera · Apr 22, 2016

Assuming you running stock speeds/voltage. Yes that hot. Check if the H60 pump is running and the water is actually flowing.

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

even with an overclock thats about 15degrees too hot
check your case cooling, especially that H60,
you have no intake fans?? only the 2 SP120 for exhaust?

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Gnuffi :

I have 2 intake fans coming from the front. 4 Exhaust fans(2 of them being the H60's fans). The case has holes on the side where two extra fans can be placed so that lets in more air. The air coming from the case Exhaust fans is cool. Only the air coming from the H60 fans is hot.

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Suztera :

I don't know how I would do that. I know that hot air is coming from the radiator so I assume its working.

Ecky · Apr 22, 2016

90c is hot, but not unsafe.

Does the waterblock feel hot to the touch? Does the radiator feel hot to the touch? Is the fan blowing off hot air?

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

are you sure the h60 is seated properly on the CPU paste and all?
im running on air and OC and im getting nowhere near those temps..
and your cooler should be adequate if seated right and functioning proper...

any chance you got like a "power virus" or something like prime95 running in teh background lol... very strange..

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

Ecky :

"Sustained Core temperature greater than 80C is too hot for ultimate stability, performance and longevity" directly from the guide
id venture to call his 90c on gaming temp way too close to dangerous for comfort
considering he is not overclocking there is not teh added voltage, so the heat makes even less sense

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Ecky :

The block get slightly hot and the air is hot coming from the H60's radiator. When idle the air is cool. When gaming the air is hot.

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Gnuffi :

H60 is seated properly. Actually my motherboard seems to Overclock it to 4.6Ghz.

Ecky · Apr 22, 2016

Gnuffi :

Which guide? The one on this forum? I read through the articles cited as reference, and could not find any data to back up the "80c" figure.

Notebook CPUs run at 90-100c for years. OEM desktop PCs run at 90-100c for years. Intel warranties their CPUs up to throttling temperature, which is 100c on Skylake; these CPUs will happily run for years at just below throttling.

Intel rates the maximum Tcase temperature, which is the temperature on the surface of the heatspreader, to be 71c. This is a factory calibrated number that is supposed to reflect what the top of the heatspreader is when the cores are at maximum temperature. So, cores @ 71c != heatspreader @ 71c.

I agree that it's not optimal to be up near throttling temperature, in case the CPU actually does throttle. It's also a very good idea to be well away from those temperatures if you start adding clockspeed and voltage, because it's a combination of voltage and heat that cause degradation in CPUs. I additionally agree that 90c is warmer than I'd expect given the chip, cooler, and clockspeed, so something is probably off.

Ecky · Apr 22, 2016

If your CPU is running at 4.6ghz with auto voltage, that temperature actually seems about right. Can you check and see what voltage it's actually getting?

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

LittleMintDrop :

thats prob why, tcheck your voltages
my motherboard did teh exact same thing, it just upped the voltages to something crazy like 1.48, i couldnt turn it down fast enough
bios might say its 4.0ghz and stock voltages, but if it auto overclocks to 4.6 its definitely drawing more voltages too
run hw monitor or aida 64 and check voltages while gaming

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Ecky :

I'm not sure which would be that information. Here's what I think could be:

On HWiNFO64:
"CPU Current: 4634.1 MHz = 45 x 103.0 MHz @ 1.3468 V"

Is that it?

Also updated the question description:

When idle cool air comes from the radiator. When gaming the air is hot only coming from the radiator of the H60. Air coming from the case Exhausts stays cool.

Just testing by playing PlanetSide 2 for a few minutes:
Maximum: 91°C
Average: 69°C

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

yup thats an overclock alright , just glad yours didnt dial up the voltage as much as it did mine

good thing is those voltages are safe, no worries there
what you want is to lower the voltages (should be possible even while staying on 4600Mhz)
What BIOS are you running?, need to tweak those voltages a tad in there so you dont run so hot

Ecky · Apr 22, 2016

Those temperatures seem about right. The Corsair H60 has only a 120mm radiator, and thus has no more cooling surface area than an air cooler of similar size. You'd see similar temperatures with a Hyper212 I'd imagine.

1.3468v looks right for those clocks. Most people throw around 1.4v as being the upper safe limit for Skylake, but this number didn't come from Intel. However, lower voltage is better, because ultimately voltage is what degrades a CPU over time, and temperature goes up exponentially with voltage. See if you can dial that back a little bit, and you'll see your temperatures drop dramatically.

My i5 3570K running at 4.0ghz @ 1.192v stress tests around 80c, for instance, but at the same clockspeed with voltage lowered to 1.064v, I can shave around 10c off of that.

Just don't go so low that you cause instability.

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

also, i wonder why the z170/6700k prefers to autooverclock by going mutltiplier by x45 and BCLK by 103... mine did teh exact same thing.. so strange

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Gnuffi :

I played the game again for a few and the Maximum voltage I got from HWMonitor was: 1.471V.

I believe the BIOS version is: American Megatrends Inc. 1402 as found in the System Information.

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Ecky :

Those temperatures seem about right. The Corsair H60 has only a 120mm radiator, and thus has no more cooling surface area than an air cooler of similar size. You'd see similar temperatures with a Hyper212 I'd imagine.

1.3468v looks right for those clocks. Most people throw around 1.4v as being the upper safe limit for Skylake, but this number didn't come from Intel. However, lower voltage is better, because ultimately voltage is what degrades a CPU over time, and temperature goes up exponentially with voltage. See if you can dial that back a little bit, and you'll see your temperatures drop dramatically.

My i5 3570K running at 4.0ghz @ 1.192v stress tests around 80c, for instance, but at the same clockspeed with voltage lowered to 1.064v, I can shave around 10c off of that.

Just don't go so low that you cause instability.

I've never overclocked myself so I wouldn't know how to do that. I will look into though. Thanks.

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

a good place to start for the i6700k @4600Mhz would be 1.32 volt, now thats ofc if you are going to actually start overclocking it proper,
otherwise for now, just need to somehow change the autooverclcok back to stock, so it doesnt go more than 4.4.Ghz on boost and doesnt do more than 1.3 stock volt (think it was something closer to 1.28 stock tho but chip varies)

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

LittleMintDrop :

yuuup those are near the same nasty voltages my board gave me when it thought it was being funny, that need to change real fast
and sry by BIOS version i mean, Asus, Gigabyte, ASrock,? (what is your motherboard model, who made your motherboard)
because their BIOS layout varies slightly so having the precise one would make it easier to guide you in BIOS and turn it down

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Gnuffi :

LittleMintDrop :

yuuup those are near the same nasty voltages my board gave me when it thought it was being funny, that need to change real fast
and sry by BIOS version i mean, Asus, Gigabyte, ASrock,? (what is your motherboard model, who made your motherboard)
because their BIOS layout varies slightly so having the precise one would make it easier to guide you in BIOS and turn it down

My motherboard is from Asus.

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

LittleMintDrop :

hahahahahaha i should have know,, system acted too similar to not be the same as mine

alright, head into bios, hit F5 to load defaults, start with that, (makes sure it actually saves)
when you are back in windows, open up HWmonitor again/Aida64, and run the game again and see if its still being naughty regarding voltages

LittleMintDrop · Apr 22, 2016

Gnuffi :

I'm getting the same results. I think the motherboard does the overclocking by default. I think it tries to overclock everything one at a time when it is turned on.

Gnuffi · Apr 22, 2016

yea i did suspect that would happen,
try this, in bios, hit F7 to get to advanced screen, then disable SVID in tweaker(AI tweaker or extrme tweaker, name may vary)
that should stop it from sucking that much voltage

i7-6700K Max temps coming at around 90°C while playing a game, is that too hot?

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