CPU & Heatsink extremely hot

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lepushominis

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Sep 28, 2018
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I had to resit the RAM in my pc (Based from a HP Z840), and when I turned it back on suddenly the fans went to overdrive. After some investigation it turns out one of the processors & and it's heatsink are getting extremely hot, even without using the CPU much at all. I was told that maybe it was the thermal paste not working, however I thought the purpose of thermal paste was to transfer heat from the cpu to the heatsink and thus that doesn't make sense because the heatsink is extremely hot. Any ideas ?
 
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Darkbreeze
Why did you have to reseat the memory? Sounds like either a memory module is faulty, and has a direct short which is heating up the memory controller and CPU somehow, or you have a module seated incorrectly and pins are touching that shouldn't be.

Something must be different and I'd guess that it was that way before you attempted to reseat the memory, as you should never have to reseat the memory once it's been done correctly to start with.

That, or there is a motherboard failure and something similar is directly shorted on the board. I'd pull all the memory except one stick and see if you still have issues. Keep in mind, that in bios and pre-windows environments, there is really no such thing as "not using the CPU much" as it will...
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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Why did you have to reseat the memory? Sounds like either a memory module is faulty, and has a direct short which is heating up the memory controller and CPU somehow, or you have a module seated incorrectly and pins are touching that shouldn't be.

Something must be different and I'd guess that it was that way before you attempted to reseat the memory, as you should never have to reseat the memory once it's been done correctly to start with.

That, or there is a motherboard failure and something similar is directly shorted on the board. I'd pull all the memory except one stick and see if you still have issues. Keep in mind, that in bios and pre-windows environments, there is really no such thing as "not using the CPU much" as it will get full voltage and no power saving features until it is in an OS environment that supports those features. Likely it will be as hot as you'll ever see it in an idle state.

Also, make sure all fans are operating normally and that the CPU heatsinks are not packed up with dust and dirt.
 
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lepushominis

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Sep 28, 2018
27
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4,535


Thanks for the good ideas. I decided to basically take everything out of the pc. Make sure it was all clean. And then put it all back in. Turned back on the PC and although the problem doesn't seem fully solved - it's still getting a bit on the hot side - at least it is usable now. Although I am yet to try any high intensive programs yet.
 
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Darkbreeze

Darkbreeze

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Jun 24, 2014
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What are you full system specs? How many fans are installed? What have you used to test thermal compliance and what have you used, if anything, to monitor temperatures?

This is what I say on this usually. Download HWinfo. Use that for thermal monitoring. Or Core Temp. Core Temp is probably easier to use but HWinfo (NOT HWmonitor or another utility) offers information on a lot more system components. When running HWinfo always choose the "Sensors only" option.

Then, download Prime95 version 26.6, and only version 26.6. Install it and run the Small FFT torture test option WITH HWinfo or Core Temp open and see what the max temps are.
 
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