i5-4690K idle temps too high?

derik72090 · Jul 30, 2016

I just upgraded from the FX-6300 to an i5-4690K and at stock clock speed (3.5 GHz), I'm idling at 40 degrees Celsius. I had to buy a new motherboard so I got the MSI Z97S SLI Krait Edition. I'm pretty unconformable with these temps when idling. I did a stress test with Prime95 for 15 minutes and it maxed at 73 degrees Celcius, mostly staying around 64-65 degrees Celcius. Are these concerning temps and is it possible I screwed up applying the thermal paste? I have the Hyper 212 EVO heatsink cooler and when I used it on the FX-6300, that would idle in the teens.

Trafalgar747 · Jul 30, 2016

Your temps are perfectly fine.

Aladdad · Jul 30, 2016

Temperatures aren't so bad, but definitely can be better. Whats your ambient temps?? hows your case fans set up? hows the airflow? how did you apply the thermal paste?

Karadjgne · Jul 30, 2016

You can't compare the amd to Intel cpu's temps, they are read in a different manner by software because the temp sensors are not in the same place. If you consider that it's physically impossible to run an air cooled cpu at lower than ambient temps, then you'll understand the basics. Figure that air conditioning is usually set around 72-74°F (22-23°C) and at idle, a pc with good airflow is @8-12°C higher than that, most Intel cpu's will idle around 30-35°C with a respectable cooler like the hyper212. That's minimal voltage. Under p95 v26.6 small fft, that's a realistic 100% load and you'll be looking at @ 70-74°C at stock speeds depending on stepping and adaptive voltage.

40°C is a little high for a hyper212 at 22°C ambient, but with funky airflow and higher ambient temp, its perfectly normal. Having p95 fluctuations from 64° to 73° means you probably used a newer version and didn't run small fft. Versions later than 26.6 use high amounts of AVX instructions which are unrealistic so shouldn't be used for thermal testing, especially on a Haswell or newer cpu.

Thermal testing : prime95 v26.6 small fft.
Stress testing : Asus ROG RealBench stress test

derik72090 · Jul 30, 2016

Ambient temp is probably 26 degrees Celcius. The home I live in is 23.8 degrees downstairs but the central air doesn't get upstairs very well. So yea it's toasty in my room. I have the a case fan in the back, and one in the front. The Evo Hyper 212 heatsink fan is set up blowing out the back through the back case fan. "How's the air flow"? Well, I think it's good because I had it set up this way with my AMD processor. I used to have it set up with the heatsink fan blowing through the top of the case but when I switched to blowing out the back, the temps improved. And I applied the thermal paste with a single dab in the middle of the processor (always have done it this way).

derik72090 · Jul 30, 2016

Karadjgne :

This is good to know. As I stated in my reply above, my room is upstairs and is considerably warmer than downstairs because of the crappy central air conditioning. I don't have a thermostat up there but I would assume it's somewhere aroudn 26 and 27 degrees. I'm not sure what constitutes "good" airflow besides having many fans...but like I said above, I have a case fan in the front and back (none on sides or top) with the heatsink fan also blowing out the back. I never felt like I needed any more fans since temps were always good with the 6300.

But it sounds like my temps really aren't bad considering my warm room. I will run a few more tests later tonight (and do the correct thermal test with prime95) and see how they do. Maybe I will test it downstairs too.

Karadjgne · Jul 30, 2016

Changing your fan curves can also help lower temps. At idle the fan is spinning @ 400rpm,which is sufficient to get you 40°, which in your room, with that airflow and case is absolutely normal and acceptable. Bump the lower end of the fan curve up slightly to @ 500 rpm and there will be no change in noise but you will have greater airflow across the heatsink lowering temps. I'd also raise the lower end of the case fan intake and exhaust curves slightly as at idle this'll help with greater amounts of cooler air in and more amounts of hot air out.

anthonyc821 · Jul 31, 2016

derik72090 :

Derik72090,

Your temps are perfectly fine. I have an i5 4690k and I get about the same results with 4.0 overclock. You don't have to worry unless your CPU gets to about 90-100 degrees.

Karadjgne · Jul 31, 2016

Hah. Anything over 70° should make you sit up and pay attention. Anything over 80° should make you nervous. Anything over 90° and you better be worried since you are getting into range of both thermal damage and cpu throttling. If you do manage to hit 100° you best shutdown the pc because if you don't, the cpu will do it for you, right when it's most inconvenient.

Khurram951 · Aug 7, 2016

@Karadjgne my i5-4690k(stock cooler)is reaching a temperature of 72c-73c when i am playing ARMA 3 on ULTRA is it fine?many people say that Arma is totally based on your CPU!

Karadjgne · Aug 7, 2016

Yes, Arma is very cpu dependant and can be quite brutal, depending on the settings. So 60's wouldn't be far wrong, but in your case with an elevated ambient temp, low 70's would be about right. While it's true that ambient temp affects idle mostly, it does have a bearing on load temps too. As the heatsink sees higher temp air across it, it becomes less effective. Case airflow, therefore, becomes more important. At those cpu temps, your case fans should ideally be close to 70-100%. If they aren't, some of that heat from the cooler isn't being replaced with cooler air, its using recycled hot air, further hurting efficiency. Gotta get that air moving.

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