Intel CPU getting too hot too quick

coolingcpu

I have had my build for about two years now and in the past six months I have noticed my CPU temperature gets a bit too hot in relation to what I am actually doing.

The heat sink is extreamly hot to the touch too. My old Pentium 4 used to overheat until I disabled hyper-threading, I hope this isn't the case now.

Any help is greatly appreciated. To protect my system I am running in low power mode until I find a fix. Cheers.

Here are the stats and information:

  • The procesor is an Intel i7 930 2.8Ghz Bloomfield LGA1366.
  • The motherboard is an ASUS Sabretooth x58.
  • My current heatsink is an Arctic Freezer 7 PRO Rev. 2
  • My case is a Coolermaster HAF X with all available fans installed and running at 100%
    • 1x 140mm Front Intake
    • 1x 200mm Side Intake
    • 1x 120mm Inside Fan (Blows air onto GPU from the front)
    • 2x 140mm Top Exhausts
    • 1x 120mm Back Exhaust
    • 1x 96mm CPU Heatsink Fan (Intake from bottom, exhausting at the top)

So here are the temperatures:
Room Temperature is about 25C.

At stock speed (2.8Ghz)

03% = 56C
20% = 84C
100% = 84C (After running Prime95 for 10 seconds - processor clocks itself down to prevent damage to about 2.1Ghz)

At low power mode (1.5Ghz)

3% = 42C
20% = 48C
100% = 58C (After running prime95 for 30 minuites)

Best Answer

According to Intel, this CPU has a Tcase of 67.9°C, so as you already mentioned, these temperatures could be dangerous for your chip.

Your case seems very well cooled, so the issue is not there. These are the two things that are most likely to be the cause (and your potential fix):

  • Make sure you are running on stock voltages in the BIOS.

  • The heatsink might have accumulated too much dust. Turn off your computer, unplug it and use a can of pressurized air to clean the heatsink as well as possible.

  • If that doesn't make a significant difference, you will have to re-seat the heatsink.

    1. Purchase a small syringe of thermal grease
    2. Turn off your computer, remove the heatsink, clean the previous thermal grease off both the CPU and the heatsink using cotton and alcohol.

    3. Apply a tiny amount of the new one (the size of a grain of rice, or a tad more) and re-seat the heatsink.

      If you are not familiar with this process you can refer to videos that demonstrate it.

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