CPU overheating issues - any help most welcome!

[stemeg]

Good morning all and thank you in advance for any light you may be able to shed on this situation. I am experiencing some overheating issues with my PC that I have had for 4 years. The main characteristics of the problem are:

• The CPU temps seem to idle in the 40s
• Low load (<10%) causes temperatures in the 50s or even low 60s
• When I am playing games (even one that are not resource intensive), the temps will often by up in the 80s. Once CPU load goes over around 30-40%, I’m hitting 100c
• Most times I restart the computer I get a CPU overheat warning. If I need to restart, I have to switch it off and leave it for a few minutes

Some specs:

• The CPU is an Intel Core i7 6800K
• The cooling system is a Corsair H100i v2
• The PSU is a Corsair CS Series 650W
• The motherboard is an ASUS X99-A II

It might be notable that I had some issues with cooling about a year and a half ago. A very similar problem (high idle temps, hitting 100c when under even a little load, CPU temp warning on restart), except slightly different in that back then the temp gradually increased to 100c over the course of a few minutes after starting Windows (even when CPU is idle). After that, it would gradually lower back down to the 40s/50s over the course of another few minutes. I don’t have that problem this time; it tends to be around 65c in Corsair Link when I first open it on startup, dropping to the 40s after a couple of minutes on idle. I got in touch with PC Specialist at the time and we weren’t able to solve the problem, having tried cleaning the heatsink, changing the connector for the cooling block to a different header on the motherboard and switching the cooling pump and fan from quiet to performance. They concluded however that the temperatures weren’t that concerning (surely that’s not right?!). Ultimately I solved the problem almost by accident: I noticed that the issue wasn’t occurring when I had switched the PSU off manually at the back between uses. So, since then, we switch off the PSU power after shutting down every time, and we’ve had nice low temperatures (20s idle, up to 50s when gaming) until very recently, when the latest problem started occurring. Whether this was anything to do with the current problem or not, does anyone have any idea why switching off the PSU at the back would have solved those overheating issues from before?



I am inclined to think I don’t need to reapply the thermal paste; we use the Arctic MX-4 compound which the manufacturers say should last for 8 years before reapplication is needed. Are there any other solutions anyone might suggest? The pump and fans seem fine, pump tends to stay around 3150rpm, the fan around 1800rpm. I’ve noticed the air coming out of the top (where the heatsink is) feels quite cool, although I noticed that also during the last issue mentioned above, so maybe that’s normal.



Is the cooling system simply failing? If so, was the issue a year and a half ago likely just a coincidence?

Thanks so much for any help anyone might be able to provide and sorry for the barrage of information!

Steve

 

[Martinr36]

is this a pc specialist build if so then please post the full specs from your orders page, if not then try an open forum such as Tom's hardware as this is a dedicated PC specialist forum & we can't advise on competitors or self builds

 

[stemeg]

Hi @Martinr36 , yes it's a PC Specialist build and thanks @Nursemorph for posting the full spec for me!

 

[stemeg]

Hello all, just an update, the issue is still happening, although the temps seem to vary from day to day. Some days I start up the PC and it idles at around 26c, other days around 45c. I'm monitoring CPU usage and there is no difference from day to day, and the ambient temperature is no different either. Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

 

[Scott]

The first thing I would do would be a repaste personally. It depends who applied the paste as to how well it was done. It's a tricky thing to get spot on but absolutely key to having good temperature control.