I5 760 reaching 90C under load. (Pics + Much info)

[111uminate]

Alright, firstly, I strongly believe in helping people help me, so if you guys have any questions for me or need more information please don't hesitate. I would say my Tech level is mediocre, and my experience with actual nuts and bolts hardware is fairly low compared to most. I've installed video cards and RAM, and aside from cleaning out my machine regularly that's about all the experience I have in terms of what goes on inside my machine. Now, onto the issue.

Specs
i5 760 @ 2.80ghz (No OC)
4 gigs of DDR3
1 TB HD
GTX 560 Ti (No OC)
700 watt XION PSU (Crappy I know)
Liquid cooled
1 Front intake, side case fan, rear exhaust fan

I bought this system from iBuyPower (Maybe a bad decision?) a little over two years ago, so it's got some age to it. The only thing I upgraded in it was the video card a few months ago, which went well without a hitch. Up until now I've never had any problems with the system as far as temps go, it's always ran fairly cool as long as I keep it cleaned out. About a week ago I started to hear a low rattling type sound that's been there since. As soon as I turn it on the sound is there, and under load the sound becomes faster and louder. It's not high pitched or anything, just a low grating almost similar to how an HD sounds while working only much louder.

I removed the case with the power on and listened in, and it sounds like it's coming from the heatsink that covers the CPU (If that's what it is?). It definitely isn't any of the fans, as they're squeeky clean and the noise just doesn't originate from them. So I'm wondering if combined with the noise and the high temps I get under load could it be my liquid cooling beginning to fail? I don't really know much at all about liquid cooling, but I did go ahead and order some Arctic Silver CMQ2-2.7G Céramique 2 Tri-Linear Ceramic Thermal Compound from Newegg due to the low burn in period. Anyway, some pics comin' at'cha.

Idle temps taken 15 mins after powering on.

Temps taken after about an hour in GW2. Scary ..

Inside of my case. That liquid cooling setup confuses the hell out of me.

Questions

1. How could my idle temps be so low, yet my load temps be so high?
2. Should I worry if the cores sometimes show different temps?
3. In SpeedFan, do I not actually have a fan spinning or is that a bug?
4. I heard about CPU throttling at dangerous temps, can I still damage or fry my CPU if it's at 90c for too long?
5. Aside from reapplying thermal compound (Which I'm set to do in a few days), what else can I do in the interim?

Thank you muchly for your time and if you need any more info please ask. I'm kinda' paranoid in using this thing right now, especially for gaming. I really hope when I get the ceramique it'll lower those load temps.

 

[lilotimz]

At this point and time; if you've already reseated the heatsink along with dpomg the proper thermal paste placement; i'd just invest in some good quality budget heatsink like the hyper212+/evo and see if it fixes the heat issue. From what i understand, heatsinks prepackaged in premade custom gaming computers are usually no name brands and very unreliable compared to the better made ones.

 

[111uminate]

Thanks for the reply! I haven't reseated the heatsink yet, as I was waiting to get the thermal paste first. I may try reseating it to see if it helps in the mean time, but I've never done that yet. I've moved quite a few times over the years, so maybe all the movement budged it further away from the CPU.

Question about reseating, since I haven't done it yet. The heatsink is that thing in the center with the four screws right? I'll probably make a new thread when I get the paste in a few days and ask about the process there.

Can I even clean that heatsink if I take it off? I really want to but I'm not even sure. No idea how liquid cooling stuff is.

 

[delluser1]

rear exhaust fan

http://i.imgur.com/11wOk.jpg

One part of the problem, that fan is setup as an intake

 

[111uminate]

One part of the problem, that fan is setup as an intake

Ah yeah, didn't mean to take that pic when I had it like that. I was experimenting with it like that just to see how it would effect my temps. I was pretty desperate. It's correctly seated now, but my temps are still quite bad.

Can anyone field the questions I asked in the OP?

Also, I'm beginning to suspect my liquid cooling has completely failed. It's as though the CPU isn't being cooled at all, as my idle temps are 50-60c now, and even one core being at 50% load will put temps up to 80-90c, so the thing isn't being cooled at all. That would certainly explain the noise .. I think the pump has died on me.

 

[lilotimz]

As I said earlier, if all other options and possibilites are exhausted, go purchase an excellent but well priced Cm Hyper 212+ / Evo for ~$30 and call it a day. Guranteed to have idle temps around 30-40'c and load temps under 70 in a moderate climate area (location and ambient temps also matters).

 

[111uminate]

Best answer selected by 111uminate.