i7 4790k running high temps, need suggestions

kearleyboy95 · Jun 30, 2016

At idle its running about 34c, however when I'm playing something like overwatch its cores range from 78-69c max each, with average a few c below. My case is rather small, however I have good air flow ( i think) with 1 intake in the front and bottom, and 3 exhaust, 2 top and 1 back, (right next to the cpu). Are these temps to high for longevity, and what cooler would be ideal? Don't really OC much, not much reason to with the 4790k, but I guess if i could it would be nice (although, does it make much a difference going from 4.0 base to 4.4+ oc?)
Thanks!

n0ns3ns3 · Jun 30, 2016

I have 4770K and it does not really matter if i'm running it at 4.0 or 4.5. get the same gaming performance.
What CPU cooler do you have and what is the ambient temperature ?
regular things to do (unless you have stock/shitty cooler) are:
Test temperatures with side panel open.
Apply new (decent) thermal paste (will also make sure the cooler is mounted correctly).
A bit extreme step (which I did) is deliding - remove HIS and replace shitty TIM with something decent.

kearleyboy95 · Jun 30, 2016

n0ns3ns3 :

I have the stock cooler currently. Speedfan has the system temp at 31c, but im not sure if thats ambient as in you're referring. If you mean room temp, its 21c. I just reapplied thermal paste (Tg-7 from thermal take) 2 days ago,no difference. Running it with the one side panel open seemed to not effect much when i tried it as well. Should i get a cooler? if so what do u recommend, pref cheaper end.

techgeek · Jun 30, 2016

It would be worth it to get a decent inexpensive aftermarket cooler like the Hyper 212 EVO. However to actually suggest a cooler it would be prudent to find out what case you have. Some aftermarket coolers are quite tall and can be incompatible with narrow cases.

n0ns3ns3 · Jun 30, 2016

Well, for the stock cooler your temps are fine. I wouldn't overclock with it much.
The ambient refers to room temperature.
To lower temperatures you need a decent cooler -> 25$ will give you quieter operation with more headroom and better temperature. But you need a 50+ $ cooler to get the most of this CPU.
For air coolers it would be something like:
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/hmtCmG/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rr212e20pkr2
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/WBmxFT/cooler-master-cpu-cooler-rrh6v213pkr1
https://pcpartpicker.com/product/46tCmG/noctua-cpu-cooler-nhd14
I'm not an air cooling expert (sold my soul to liquid long time ago), so there are might be better price/performance options. Those above are just work.

kearleyboy95 · Jun 30, 2016

techgeek :

no idea on the actual case namr, only that it's corsair. I have about 177mm h x 114mm wx 150 mm l avaiblr from some quick measure however testing it in a game of overwatch the temps just went to 97c... help?

n0ns3ns3 · Jun 30, 2016

212 EVO is the least expensive decent option.
It has a clearance of 159mm - fits any case.

techgeek · Jun 30, 2016

Nonsense is correct, the Hyper 212 EVO is 159mm tall. However there are plenty of cases that are too narrow for this tower cooler. I've run into it myself. My son's friend purchased one for his system. When I went to install it for him, it was just a little too narrow to fit properly. We ended up actually bowing the side panel out so that we could put it back on. His case was cheap, soda cans have more rigidity than the steel on his case.

If you don't know the actual name of your case, just measure from the bottom of the stock cooler (which will be the relative height of the CPU heatspreader) to the outside edge of the case. Then subtract a few millimeters to accommodate the side panel. If the remainder is greater than 159mm then you are golden.

kearleyboy95 · Jun 30, 2016

Looks like ill have some room to spare then, thanks. But I'm a little worried about the spike I had in the temp while it not being under 100% load. It spiked to 97c, while at max 60% load with overwatch open as well as chrome/obs. Is there a particular problem that could be causing this?

n0ns3ns3 · Jun 30, 2016

Don't worry about spikes.
A small portion of some FP code will do that easily

Keep in mind that cores can run at 95-100C under load for quite some time. They are designed to do so. Though this will definitely shorten the lifespan of the CPU if done for too long.

techgeek · Jun 30, 2016

I wouldn't worry about a small spike in the short term. However your instinct is correct, you should resolve the heating issue for the longevity your your CPU. Your CPU throttles at around 100C. The throttling will save your CPU from instant combustion. However continually running it to the throttle point won't be good for it in the long term.

kearleyboy95 · Jun 30, 2016

Phew, I was worried for a second. As far as it averaging somewhere between 87-90c for a few days, (week at most) while gaming, will it be safe to do that while I wait for the 212 evo to come in? Depends on shipping, really. Also, is there a specific temp amount that the evo should be expected to help with? Say while under load with it, should i expect 70c or somewhere around there? THanks so much for the help

techgeek · Jun 30, 2016

Actually gaming isn't a particularly heavy load in the grand scheme of things. I would suspect that you'll stay in the mid to high 50's depending on your ambient temperatures and your case airflow. Things like Prime95 (non-AVX versions) would likely have you in the high 60's low 70's. If you run the AVX version of Prime95, then you'd easily push into the high 80's maybe even the low 90's. However these are unrealistic loads for a gaming PC. So I'd take the non-AVX Prime95 temps as a worst case scenario.

n0ns3ns3 · Jun 30, 2016

there is no problem to continue to use the computer as is even a couple of weeks.
You should expect lower temperatures with evo. Though your current temps are a bit high for the 21 ambient even with the stock cooler.
But I have to ask, for how long you have the computer ? Is it new ? do you still have warranty on the CPU ?
This questions are due to the fact that intel were using shitty thermal paste between the die and HIS (that metal thing that you see and attach your cooler to) with haswell but the 4790 was supposed to have a better one. In rare cases that thing is sometimes poorly applied in the factory - that will cause high temperatures even with the best cooler ever.

kearleyboy95 · Jun 30, 2016

n0ns3ns3 :

I bought this cpu and everypart of the computer except HDDs in/around OCT 2014. I reapplied thermal paste 2 days ago, with thermaltake tg-7. However, i fear I put to much on there and am redoing it right now. I'm scared i might of got just a little of the old paste on the side of the cpuwhile cleaning it with 90% alcohol, is this bad?

techgeek · Jun 30, 2016

A bit of old paste on the side of the heatspreader isn't going to hurt anything.

Just be sure to allow the alcohol to evaporate thoroughly before applying your new paste.

n0ns3ns3 · Jun 30, 2016

^ nothing to add about applying thermal paste .
Were you monitoring temperatures before that ?

Dragos Manea · Jun 30, 2016

If you have a small case then best solution for you will be an AIO, as cooler master seidon 120xl, corsair h50 or etc. Take in consideration really well about upgrading the cpu cooler, i had with stock cooler 86 degress in witcher 3, now i have max 50 degrees spikes usually 45-46. In my case i took the cheapest aio cooler the deepcool maelstrom 120, i had from my previous pc a cooler master hyper 212 evo but my case (nzxt h230) has a clearence of 158mm and the evo has 160, i had to get something decent within a low space so i took the decision to go for water cooling(not a fan of water cooling but in this case i was pretty much forced by the case).

kearleyboy95 · Jun 30, 2016

Yes I was monitoring temps before that. I think one of the main problems was I don't think i had the stock cooler properly locked in on all 4 corners lol. This time I was sure of it, as the temps so far actually do seem better! Of course, this is within 5 minutes of testing, so I will need more time to make sure. As for the new cooler ( i want a new one now anyways),i was thinking the 212 evo, as it seems that it will fit rather easily. However, the water cooling options look nice, as sound cool as hell! Are they tricky to set up? Something along the lines of corsair h60?

n0ns3ns3 · Jun 30, 2016

kearleyboy95 :

Watercooling is awesome and those AIO kits are easy to setup.
but there are disadvantages. They have moving parts that might fail - pump and they might leak. If you prepared to deal with it - go for it.
Arctic Liquid freezer 120 and 240 are best performers and among the cheapest options.
Though if you go for 240, it's getting very close to swiftech and EK kits that are in another (way better) league

techgeek · Jun 30, 2016

It doesn't happen often but AiO's leak, I know first hand. I won't go into a huge explanation, suffice it to say, I was fortunate and didn't have any of my components damaged, It took a hair dryer and a few days before I was back up an running.

The other thing about AiO's is they are more expensive than the air coolers we have suggested. The other thing is case compatibility. 120mm AiO's are easy, but 240 / 280 are case dependent. Your case needs to have the correct screw spacing for the fans to mount a AiO. Since you don't know the model number of your case, this makes checking compatibility more difficult.

kearleyboy95 · Jun 30, 2016

Good point,i think I'll stick with a good air cooling system. Fortunately, the problem is fixed! Turns out that reapplying the thermal paste from where i previously had to much, and making sure the fan was on properly fixed the major overheating! Now it never goes above 70 from the game i tested it on for over an hour. Not sure whether it was the paste , fan or both but whatever it was worked

thanks for the help guys!

techgeek · Jul 1, 2016

Glad you got it sorted.

i7 4790k running high temps, need suggestions

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