CPU Temperature Concerns - Am I being paranoid?

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Lynx519

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Apr 11, 2017
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Hello

PC Specs, some of these may not be relevant:

CPU: i7-6700K
CPU COOLER: Corsair H60
MB - ASUS TUF z270 Mark 2
GPU: GTX 1070 Rog Strix
CASE: CM Storm Scout 2
FANS: 2 Front intakes, 2 top exhausts, 1 Radiator exhaust fan for CPU Cooler.

Recently I installed a Corsair H60 5 days ago. (I had many questions about that which I made a previous thread on here and had generous help/solved the issue - I wanted to post a new thread because this is a related but DIFFERENT ISSUE)

Basically for the first 3 days after H60 installation, my CPU temps were idling around 26-30C - No problem, I can live with that and it seemed consistent. Yesterday however the CPU temp went up to 40C and today they are even getting up to 50+C. This is idling with nothing going on. And I've noticed the temperature spiking dramatically. For example it will be 45C then spike down to 28C then up to 52C and then back to 46C all in a matter of 5 seconds. It's literally all over the place. I watch the temperature graph while my computer is just idling and it seems totally random with quick spikes up and down all the time. The good news is when I run games on ultra such as Doom or GTA 5, the temperature never goes over 62C (that I've seen so far - have a feeling this could change)

I should mention I'm currently using AI Suite 3 (Thermal Radar Core+) for monitoring my CPU temps. It came stock with my MB. I'm starting to doubt its accuracy because +/-20 degree temp changes in a matter of seconds seems ridiculous to me - although I am a noob to this and I have lots to learn. I was happy for the first 3 days after installing the new cooler but now I'm getting nervous and questioning if I did it right, etc. I cleaned CPU thoroughly and removed the stock thermal paste from the H60, and replaced with Arctic Silver 5 when I did installation. I figured if I did something drastically wrong with thermal paste/installation it would have been apparent in the first 3 days and not have a consistent idle temperature. (Temperature in my house has has NOT changed much - maybe 1-2 degrees over the last week)

Questions:

Is AI Suite 3 actually reliable for monitoring CPU temps?
If not, what would be my best option for an accurate CPU temp reading?
If it remains idling around 50C from here on out, Should I just relax and stop worrying?
Should I reinstall the H60 and apply new thermal paste?
Am I being a paranoid noob? I feel like 50C idle temp seems rather high for a liquid cooled CPU in a Cooler-Master case with 2 intakes and 2 exhaust fans.

Sorry for long post, and thanks for any help you can offer.
 
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Dunlop0078

Dunlop0078

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Are you sure it is indeed idleing? What is cpu usage when the temp spikes occur?

I used ai suite 2 a while back and hated it. I use HWinfo or HWmonitor for temp readings.

What are load temps? Also what is cpu VCORE voltage set to? If it is idling 50c is quite high, I would assume its under some kind of load.

Maybe, but I think you should answer my questions before you go and remount the cooler.

No, its not normal for a 6700k to idle at 50c with an H60. My 7700k which is a hotter running chip does a lot better than that with a cheap 212 evo air cooler.
 
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Lynx519

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Sorry for delayed response, t'was a busy weekend.

Pretty sure it is idling, meaning I'm not doing anything at all. However I do have rainmeter installed and it shows my CPU usage at 10-12% when I'm not doing anything. I checked my task manager to see what was causing the CPU usage and it shows that Windows Defender is consuming roughly 8-10% of CPU usage which would explain this. However would this alone be enough to cause the CPU temperature to be between 40-50 degrees?

I will install HWmonitor and let you know. As I am a noob, what's an accurate way for me to tell you CPU VCORE voltage?

I also did extensive tests with some games. I played GTA5, Star Wars Battlefront, and Doom 2016 all for an hour each on ultra settings, and the AI suite shows my CPU temp only going up to a max of 65 degrees when playing these games - which does not worry me. Would you consider these games enough of a stress/load test on the CPU?

So essentially, my CPU has a high idling temp (Which I think might be due to Windows defender using 8-10% CPU usage) but when I'm playing games on ultra setting, the temp reaching only up to 65 degrees does not worry me. Any thoughts on that?
 
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Dunlop0078

Dunlop0078

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No I wouldn't think that type of load would cause those temps maybe if it was a constant 10% usage across all core but windows defender should not be putting that kind of load on the cpu, maybe if it was running a scan.

Hwmonitor will tell you VCORE voltage just look for CPU VCORE among the sensors.

65C under load is fine, my 7700k with a 212 evo will spike up to 70c in GTAV, mostly sits around 55-60c. Yes thats fine for a stress test, if you were overcloking you might want to use something that will put the cpu under a bit more load than a game if you want to be sure its stable. I wouldn't bother using stress testing software on a stock cpu.

Yeah it does seem to be idling high, defender should not be putting the cpu under a 10% load constantly so I would take another look at that. Could also be caused by poor case airflow, you could try turning up your idle fan speeds a bit in your bios and see if that helps with idle temps. Your coolers pump speed could also be a touch low at idle.

 
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Lynx519

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Looks like it was indeed Windows Defender - specifically the process: antimalware service executable.

I installed Bit-defender as I didn't want to be defenseless and disabled Windows defender and immediately my CPU temps went back down to 25-30 degrees, and my CPU usage went down to 3-6% on average. I monitored them for a while and they hovered around these ranges which I am pleased with - and they are still there now.

Still though, I'll address your concerns - and thanks in advance for the help.

Case air-flow - I have the CM Storm Scout 2 case which is pretty good for air flow. I have two exhaust fans at the top and two intake fans at the front. These adjust depending on temp of the MB or CPU - whichever I choose - I can manually set how they adjust and what speeds to spin depending on temp. I can also set them to a fixed RPM mode if I wish. Needless to say the case has pretty good air flow.

I have one exhaust fan out the back as well which is actually the radiator fan for the Corsair H60 water cooler. The water cooler pump is plugged into the AIO_PUMP header on my MB, so it is always running at 100%

Lastly, in CPUID HWMonitor, under CPU, it shows VID as 0.734 V Min and 1.399 V Max
There is another tab labled VCORE under the Motherboard section which shows it as 0.736 V Min and 1.424 V max

Not sure which of those you wanted? Again pardon my noobness. Either way my CPU temps are coasting under 30 degrees now that Windows defender is disable and this makes me happy.

 
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Dunlop0078

Dunlop0078

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There you go, not sure why windows defender would do that but at least you got it fixed. Bit Defender is a good lightweight anti virus.

You should be okay on case airflow, just was a possibility if defender wasn't causing the high idle temps.

I was looking for VCORE not VID. 1.42v is rather high for a stock cpu, is it running at that voltage under load or did it just spike up to 1.42v briefly? If it is running 1.42v constant under load I would not be comfortable with that, no way it needs that much voltage to run at stock clocks. 1.23v or lower is usually enough for a stock 6700k. You are temps are fine however and I doubt that voltage would ever cause any damage. Up to you if you want to look into it, voltage can be controlled in the bios under the AI Tweaker tab.
 
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Lynx519

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Ah no it's not at that constant, it Spikes quickly then drops back down. For example right it's coasting at 0.720V and spikes up to 1.0+ here and there. Trying to see a pattern in the spikes but it seems random. For the most part though it's hovering at the 0.720V mark as I said.

As for Windows defender I did a ton of research - apparently I'm not the only one who had this problem - and it was much worst for some others. Some accounts were saying Windows Defender was using 70-80% of CPU usage and using all their disk space, causing CPU temperatures to be extremely high even when "Idling." Either way - thanks for your input. The help is much appreciated.
 
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