Too hot? and cause?

[Cheex18]

Hi Ladies and gents,

I am trying to upgrade an old gaming PC i have sitting around for guests to use and my kids friends when they come over. It's older hardware but i like to tinker and it's fine for the low-end games we/they play. it had an i5-680 in it but i upgraded to an X3470 but now i think the temps are too high, wondering it it's the cooler i choose (mini-itx build limited on option) or if these chips just run hot. Here are the specs:

 

Motherboard: Intel Dh57jg

CPU: Intel X3470

Cooler: Reeven rc-1001b brontes

 

the board was designed for a 73w chip as i've came to find out and i got a warning on boot that intel was not responsible for damaged because of a lack of cooling, however it boots fine and runs windows and games ok. the temps i'm getting are 80C during cinibench and approaching 90C with sustained gaming on open air bench. Assume higher in ITX case. 

 

is that too hot?

is the board/cpu combo to blame?

is the cooler not strong enough?

 

 

[Votivee]

90C is pretty warm. Has it been re-pasted in a while? That will help out a lot if you have never done it.

[Cheex18]

yup fresh thermal paste application with Noctua paste.  

[Votivee]

It's probably the cooler then. I don't think I've ever heard of a motherboard causing a CPU to run hotter. Are your fans at max?

[Cheex18]

yeah i have a few spare coolers sitting around i can try but it's an ITX build so the cooler i go with in the end will have to fit, i know the Cryorig c7 (i think it's called) is the defecto cooler for ITX so i might have to spring for this it's just a shame to spend money on a "junk" PC like this. i will hook up a CM 212 EVO tonight and see it it helps. BUT!!! can we rule out the motherboard being the cause? 

 

Question: Can a motherboard be the cause of a CPU overheating? maybe poor VRMs, or power delivery? is that a thing? 

 

ALSO: the CPU is not overclocked (i think this model has an unlocked multiplier)