CPU overheating issues

The title pretty much gives it away—my CPU temps are hitting 96 degrees at most. I'm just running the stock cooler right now, but the thing is, they haven't always been this high. I tried swapping out the thermal paste, and I even had a buddy lend me his stock cooler for a bit—but honestly, it didn't make much of a difference. I'm planning to pick up a new cooler this fall, but I really need a fix before then—unless there's absolutely nothing else I can do, in which case I might just go ahead and buy one now.

Thanks in advance!

feralrider92 said:The title pretty much gives it away—my CPU temps are hitting 96 degrees at most. I'm just running the stock cooler right now, but the thing is, they haven't always been this high. I tried swapping out the thermal paste, and I even had a buddy lend me his stock cooler for a bit—but honestly, it didn't make much of a difference. I'm planning to pick up a new cooler this fall, but I really need a fix before then—unless there's absolutely nothing else I can do, in which case I might just go ahead and buy one now.

Thanks in advance!

Hmm, you aren't the only one dealing with this. CLICK CLICK
Try touching the heatsink, but be extremely careful. If it feels genuinely over 90 degrees, then that heatsink is running incredibly hot. If it doesn't feel hot, there are two possibilities: either the heat isn't transferring properly to the heatsink because it isn't seated correctly on the CPU or the paste is bad; or the second possibility is that your readings are just wrong.
Even though a stock cooler isn't ideal for an Intel Sandy Bridge i7, if you're saying it wasn't running this hot before, it shouldn't be doing this now. You definitely need to grab an aftermarket cooler, though, as soon as possible.

I might actually grab a new cooler sometime this week—since everyone’s saying this summer is going to be the hottest one yet, and honestly, nothing beats the frustration of thermal throttling. 😁

Just wanted to get some thoughts. I've already decided on getting the NZXT Kraken X61, but since they're mostly just available at Best Buy around here, I was wondering if they're actually reliable? From what I've gathered online, they seem solid, though it feels like everyone talks about smartphones instead of actual hardware.

P.S.—before anyone comes after me for picking a cooler for a locked CPU, I'm planning to pick up a 6700K this fall, so the upgrade should definitely pay off eventually. 😛

Tia Mobile is a solid outfit. They pull everything from stock in Germany, they actually pick up the phone and answer emails, and they’ve got a physical storefront just outside Naperville where you can swing by to grab your gear if you don't feel like waiting on shipping.

They aren't some massive corporation—they basically fulfill orders as they come in—but my experience with them was decent enough.

BTW, the cooler is your call, but honestly? You don't need to drop that kind of cash for a 6700K. A cheaper AIO or even a beefy Noctua would handle the job more than well enough.

Look, you don't really need liquid cooling, especially for a Skylake build like yours. Just go with the Noctua NH-D14; you honestly can't go wrong there.

Look, I get it, really—but since I already have an NZXT case and I’ve always wanted to try liquid cooling, I think I'll just go with that one. I like for my PC to feel pretty, don't judge me 😁
Anyway, thanks for the advice 👍

feralrider92 said:Look, I get it, really—but since I already have an NZXT case and I’ve always wanted to try liquid cooling, I think I'll just go with that one. I like for my PC to feel pretty, don't judge me 😁
Anyway, thanks for the advice 👍

Fine, just be ready to deal with pump hum that's usually louder than something like a Noctua NH-D14 air cooler.

Just pointing out you're basically halfway to a Broadwell-E build with that budget.

So your setup would run about

Intel Core i7 6700K $917
Z170 Motherboard $383
That NZXT Kraken X61 cooler 1350
----------
Total=5250

While you could get a hexa-core for $333 more. For me, that's a no-brainer.



It shows how much of a waste it is to pay $333 way too much for a cooler. An Intel Core i7 Skylake isn't exactly hard to cool; you could pull some serious overclocking even with a $100 cooler.

You can push this Intel Core i7 6800K pretty far on that Noctua NH-D14, or just pick a prettier cooler if aesthetics are your priority.

edit: not halfway, more like almost there. 😲

You don't necessarily need to go with a Skylake hexa-core; I guess the Intel Haswell 5820K might actually be the better value here, which would also help lower the cost for $183.

Forget the NH-D14. That's old news. You really need to check out the reviews for the Scythe Ninja 4; it's a total game changer $123 right here in this link

crimsonstag84 said:You don't necessarily need to go with a Skylake hexa-core; I guess the Intel Haswell 5820K might actually be the better value here, which would also help lower the cost for $183.

Since he's already committed to going with the last generation anyway.

Kimberly Gomez34 said:Forget the NH-D14. That's old news. You really need to check out the reviews for the Scythe Ninja 4; it's a total game changer $123 right here in this link

It's overpriced as hell, but those ugly-ass Noctua dual fans? I can't stay away from them.

Sure, they used to be top-tier, but when you factor in how much mass you actually need—plus adding two fans just to get close to the performance of a Ninja 4 that costs half as much...

Honestly, the most efficient option out there is the Cryorig H7. It sits at over 140mm in height, making it a clear step up from the Hyper 212 EVO.

Do you have a link comparing the Ninja against its competitors?

Anyway, since we're talking about CPU overheating,

if I’m planning to overclock an Intel Core i7 920 by bumping up the voltage after 6 or 7 years, should I swap out the thermal paste as a precaution?

Right now, I've only overclocked via the base clock. These are my temperatures on P95 Small FFTs, and it's pretty warm in the room right now.
The cooler is a Scythe Kabuto (blowing air downwards).

http://www.pcper.com/reviews/Cases-a...and-Conclusion
http://www.overclockers.com/scythe-n...atsink-review/

Look, after all this time, it would definitely be a good idea to swap out the thermal paste.

thanks 👍, does this look alright?
http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/spire-term-past...-93-w-m-k.aspx

BTW, looking at one of these tests, the Ninja runs about 4°C warmer than the Noctua, though both temps are actually fine. It’s totally acceptable for a standard i5 or i7K, but if someone is dropping cash on a 140W stock processor, they’re probably planning to overclock it. They'll likely want to look into a beefier cooler instead.

It’s definitely better than some generic option, for sure.

But which specific test are we talking about? The reality is that there aren't really any significantly better coolers out there—even if you count liquid cooling—yet the price tag just keeps skyrocketing.

Regarding that PCPER link you posted

And yeah, it's true—prices are absolutely skyrocketing. These days, if you push an i7K to its limit, it’ll probably pull as much power as a beefier 45nm chip running at stock settings. Cooling a quad-core isn't the struggle it used to be, but manufacturers still need to turn a profit, and they'll always find a few suckers willing to pay whatever price they set.

BTW, I wasn't a fan of how they ran that test. They tested the Ninja at Low (50.2), Medium (45.3), and High (40.3), but then just slapped the Noctua NH-D14 on PWM (40.8).
Those are the temps I pulled from their test using an i5 6600K @4.3GHz under stress.

The problem is, you can't tell how fast the Noctua is actually spinning. The noise level is basically the same as the Ninja at high, but since the Noctua has dual fans, it doesn't mean the PWM was cranked to the max. A temp of 40.8 with similar noise levels doesn't guarantee it's running at full speed unless they explicitly stated that—which they didn't.
That's why I think there are discrepancies here. When I was reading a Noctua review a while back, they mentioned it performs great even at low RPMs (I think they even have one of those low noise kits, if I recall correctly).

wiredotter14 said:Fine, just be ready to deal with pump hum that's usually louder than something like a Noctua NH-D14 air cooler.

Just pointing out you're basically halfway to a Broadwell-E build with that budget.

So your setup would run about

Intel Core i7 6700K $917
Z170 Motherboard $383
That NZXT Kraken X61 cooler 1350
----------
Total=5250

While you could get a hexa-core for $333 more. For me, that's a no-brainer.



It shows how much of a waste it is to pay $333 way too much for a cooler. An Intel Core i7 Skylake isn't exactly hard to cool; you could pull some serious overclocking even with a $100 cooler.

You can push this Intel Core i7 6800K pretty far on that Noctua NH-D14, or just pick a prettier cooler if aesthetics are your priority.

edit: not halfway, more like almost there. 😲

I thought about that too, but I figured I didn't really need the 6800K since the 6700K performed better in gaming—not by a huge margin, maybe just a few FPS, but that's enough for me, I guess. Plus, I don't render videos that often, so I don't really need those extra cores. I'd rather grab a nice NZXT Kraken X61 instead of going for the 6800K, and honestly, I've been using a stock cooler for three years now, so I won't miss the pump. It might sound a little silly, but I like having a good balance of aesthetics and performance, and I'm just not a big fan of how air coolers look.

If money isn't an issue, just go for it.
You could always grab a smaller NZXT Kraken; they look pretty much the same anyway.

I was pretty much set on grabbing the Intel Core i7 6700K, but now I’m kind of stuck in this dilemma between that and the Intel Core i7 6800K—I guess both have their own little pros and cons. It looks like the overclocking potential on the 6800K isn't too bad compared to the 6700K, though the temperatures can get pretty high. I mostly use my PC for gaming, with just a bit of rendering here and there—not super often, really—so maybe the 6700K would actually suit me better, but I'm still feeling drawn toward the 6800K. It feels a bit silly to drop the extra cash on a 6800K only to realize a month later that I basically threw money away.

Are you running an i7 2600? Honestly, if I were in your shoes, I wouldn't even be thinking about an upgrade just yet.

Besides, the 6800k isn't priced very competitively right now. If you're looking for better value, a hex-core 5820k would be a much smarter investment.