High CPU temps at low load, very common spikes to even higher

[baybolin12]

Hello everyone, I've been battling this issue I have for two days now, and I found myself here, desperate for help.

 

Here's what is happening.

 

I've recently added a Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB to my system and while I was at it, I dusted the tower, upgraded the bios to the latest version and installed a fresh windows to my new SSD (removed all data from the older drives) from a USB drive which I made with the tool from Microsoft. It is Version 2004, OS Build 19041.450. After this, I noticed that my CPU temperatures are a little crazy. I idle at 40-45 degrees celsius with incredibly common spikes to 60,70 and even 95 degrees that last no more than a second.

 

So I started checking stuff. First up was the AIO I have been running over 2 years. It is a Cooler Master Masterliquid 240 Pro with the blue static led. I reapplied paste and reseated the cooler 4 times since I was not sure of myself if I did it correctly, but the results were exactly the same every time. So I decided that maybe it was going bad, so I picked up a brand new Cooler Master Hyper 212 Spectrum, but after seating that 3 times as well, the results were the same.

 

Maybe it was not the hardware, but the software? I started fiddling with all the windows programs that run in the background. Disabling some weirdly named things that are apparently related with windows defender and such did help me drop a couple of degrees, but the spikes were still there. The one suspect left was the bios now. I had only enabled the XMP profile for my ram when I got the pc, and had never done any overclocking. I fiddled around with what I found on the internet that did not involve voltage manipulation such as Intel Speedstep but I got nothing again. I attempted to revert my bios to a 2017 version which was what it was on before the update, but I was not allowed to do so.

 

I decided that I should completely reinstall windows and see what happens. I am writing now on the second fresh install, and all that's installed on the pc is HWMonitor and Chrome. Nothing's changed. I could really use a hand with this, as it is ruining my mood and sleep. I have no access to hardware such as a different Motherboard or CPU for testing. 

 

I am starting to suspect the newly introduced SSD to be the culprit.

 

My Specs:

i7 8700K (Stock)

Cooler Master Masterliquid 240 Pro / Cooler Master Hyper 212 Spectrum

Asus Z370-E Gaming

Gskill 2x8GB 3000Mhz

Corsair RM750x

ROG STRIX 2070

Cooler Master Mastercase Pro 5

 

Please note that NOTHING else changed, the tower is in the same room at the same location, and it has only been 2 days now. Same ambient temperature. Also, I am noticing that if I stay on bios for a while, my CPU sticks to 38 degrees and stays there with no spikes as far as I have noticed.

 

Edit: The temps of 40-45 with spikes are at 20-30 percent load with steam, mouse/keyboard software and some chrome tabs open. I can easily reach consistent 90-95 degrees in less than 5 minutes in Prime95 default settings, and spike to 85 degrees in Star Wars Battlefront 2 Ultra Settings in a 40 player match. 

 

Edit 2: I've added a screenshot from HWMonitor for min and max values on the CPU after a couple of hours of idling and light browsing.

 

Edit 3: I am noticing now that the screenshot's temps are much better, and right now those are the same numbers I have. I don't know what changed, but I prefer not to consider this as "solved" as I did not locate the source of the issue and it might happen again at any moment. 

[Bombastinator]

So the way I am reading this, is the machine was doing well.  Updated bios and windows version and now there are problems.  Seem to be unable to revert (either bios or windows version or both?) to new settings. Does this sound correct?

 

win10 versions, especially very new ones are known to occasionally have problems. The specific windows and bios versions involved may be pertinent.  Would need both old and new possibly. 

[baybolin12]

47 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

So the way I am reading this, is the machine was doing well.  Updated bios and windows version and now there are problems.  Seem to be unable to revert (either bios or windows version or both?) to new settings. Does this sound correct?

 

win10 versions, especially very new ones are known to occasionally have problems. The specific windows and bios versions involved may be pertinent.  Would need both old and new possibly. 

Pretty much, I had no problems with my setup before the updates. I don't think my bios will allow me to revert to a 2017 build anymore and I don't even know if I can downgrade a fresh, up-to-date version of windows.