i9 CPU reaching 80+ C while gaming, should i be worried?

[SMAQ]

Specs:

• Intel i9 12900K (CPU)
• Nvidia GTX 1080 (GPU)
• Corsair rm750x 2021 750W (PSU)
• Cooler master MasterLiquid ML240? (not 100% sure which version since I won it from cooler master and it came without a manual or name) (CPU cooler)
• 2 x 16GB of 5200mhz ddr5 (RAM)
• ROG STRIX Z690-F gaming wifi (motherboard)

Hi,

I recently build my first ever PC and was checking the temperatures of my pc while stress testing and gaming. I use CPUID and NZXT to check the temps. It seems like my temps go up almost immediately when my CPU is starting to be used but go down as soon as I stop using it. Here are 3 pictures of what I mean, first picture is temps before I start total war Warhammer 3, the second is temps after 3 mins of playing, and third is 15 sec after closing the game down. should I be worried?

 

 

 

[Shimejii]

240 AIO is not enough cooling for a 12900k, You may have to tune your cpu to use a bit less voltage until you get a better cooler.

 

Overall 80C isnt too unexpected, the 12900k is one of the hottest chips consumers can buy so its quite hard to properly cool it. Its one of the big reasons why i pretty much only recommend 12600k/12700k, and not the 12900k just due to how much hotter it gets.

[SMAQ]

12 minutes ago, Shimejii said:

240 AIO is not enough cooling for a 12900k, You may have to tune your cpu to use a bit less voltage until you get a better cooler.

 

Overall 80C isnt too unexpected, the 12900k is one of the hottest chips consumers can buy so its quite hard to properly cool it. Its one of the big reasons why i pretty much only recommend 12600k/12700k, and not the 12900k just due to how much hotter it gets.

But it seems like the heat does not even have time to get dissipated into the AIO, otherwise the liquid inside the AIO would get hot as well or am I getting something twisted here? I also tried to stress test it with Cinabench for like  1 min and the temps went from 40 C to 100 C instantly and as soon as I turned it off it went back to like 50 C. (and when I say instantly I truly mean instantly)

[PDifolco]

4 minutes ago, SMAQ said:

But it seems like the heat does not even have time to get dissipated into the AIO, otherwise the liquid inside the AIO would get hot as well or am I getting something twisted here? I also tried to stress test it with Cinabench for like  1 min and the temps went from 40 C to 100 C instantly and as soon as I turned it off it went back to like 50 C. (and when I say instantly I truly mean instantly)

The Cinebench experience confirm your cooling isn't enough...

Change the cooler for a 360mm rad (or at least 280), or reduce voltage or clocks in BIOS

[OhioYJ]

6 minutes ago, SMAQ said:

But it seems like the heat does not even have time to get dissipated into the AIO, otherwise the liquid inside the AIO would get hot as well or am I getting something twisted here? I also tried to stress test it with Cinabench for like  1 min and the temps went from 40 C to 100 C instantly and as soon as I turned it off it went back to like 50 C. (and when I say instantly I truly mean instantly)

"Normal" on the 12900k. Cinebench is one in particular that will make it jump straight to 100 C generally. I undervolted mine, didn't reduce my clock speeds, or hurt my performance at all.

[SMAQ]

5 minutes ago, OhioYJ said:

"Normal" on the 12900k. Cinebench is one in particular that will make it jump straight to 100 C generally. I undervolted mine, didn't reduce my clock speeds, or hurt my performance at all.

Ok I will check out how undervolting works and do it then. I'm not worried about getting full performance out since I'm just gaming on it, just scared something will break. Thanks everyone!

[IkeaGnome]

With stock settings my 12900k will still thermal throttle in Cinnebench on a 360mm Liquid Freezer 2. 

14 minutes ago, SMAQ said:

1 min and the temps went from 40 C to 100 C instantly and as soon as I turned it off it went back to like 50 C. (and when I say instantly I truly mean instantly)

The CPU heats up fast. It takes time to move enough water over the copper cold plate to warm up the water. 

[OhioYJ]

1 hour ago, SMAQ said:

Ok I will check out how undervolting works and do it then. I'm not worried about getting full performance out since I'm just gaming on it, just scared something will break. Thanks everyone!

If you do it right you won't lose performance. I dropped 23 C on my temps on my chip just by dropping voltage, without not touching  clock speeds. My benchmark scores and game performance did not change. I was actually able to keep dropping voltage further and pass most tests / benchmarks but it wouldn't run Prime95 after that, so that was my clue to stop at that point (at the point it would run Prime95). Plus my gains were decreasing.

 

I don't know about on your Asus board (I have an MSI board), perhaps you can find similar settings (keeping in mind every chip is different too), but this is where I had good luck (stability) on my 12900k:

 

Core Voltage Mode: Adaptive + Offset

Core Voltage: 1.210

Core Voltage Offset: -0.120 (The minus is actually a separate setting)