4790K + NH-U14S - weird temperature behaviour

[peterpepo]

Hello,

yesterday I have completed my first build (actually second, but this one is my personal ).

As for the CPU I have i7 4790k cooled by Noctua NH-U14S (that noctua almost didn't fit my Obsidian 450D, I had to lower the fan a bit more on the fins.

 

But back to the topic - temperatures for CPU are in my oppinion weird. I have used Noctuas bundled NH-T1 thermal paste - I made a blob with diameter around 4-5mm as Noctua suggests, put heatsink on and tightened with screws. I hve always been spreading, but I wanted to give a try to "pea-size" method.

The temps:

 

At idle - the temps are 30-33 deg. Celsius for all four cores, for package it is 35 deg Celsius. That seems perfectly right, right ? My ambient temperature is about 24,5 deg. Celsius.

But then comes temp spikes: whenever I open ZIP file - i noticed it for example during driver unpacking - the cpu load wasn't even 20%, but temps jumped to around 50 degrees.

Same for the idle at night - I left openhardwaremonitor open during night, to make temperature plots and capture max temp. Again, around 50C was max temp during night idling !

But now, after 5 hours of idling, the temp is mentioned 30-33 for cores, 35 for package.

 

I also tried Prime95 - first method (maximum heat), temps didn't raise above 75 degs after 5 minutes.

 

Is this behaviour ok, or shoudl I worry, or redo my thermal paste ? I would like to avoid this, as mounting the heatsink on Secufirm was already a bit difficult to me - I coudln't get second screw "catch the screw", so my heatsink was moving a little bit. But I think, i haven't lifted it since putting on paste, maybe once.

I have everything tightened for max (i am notoriously famous for destroying things, as I tend to overtighten screws )

 

Also, there is strange behaviour in temp monitoring. On my MSI Z97 gaming7 board BIOS in main window I get CPU temp 35C and when i switch to hardware monitor, it shows 42C.

[loccilucas]

-snip-

.

Them temps look

Fine, tbh they arnt gonna affect the life span of the CPU by anything noticeable, the load temps are good, which means everything else is good.

Also idle temps are always inaccurate anyway, so them 50c spikes probably arnt as bad as you think.

[peterpepo]

Them temps look

Fine, tbh they arnt gonna affect the life span of the CPU by anything noticeable, the load temps are good, which means everything else is good.

Also idle temps are always inaccurate anyway, so them 50c spikes probably arnt as bad as you think.

Ok thanks,

and is 5 minutes ok, or should I torture the CPU for more ?

Can you recommend me program / settings / duration after which I can say "these are my temps during load" ?

[loccilucas]

Ok thanks,

and is 5 minutes ok, or should I torture the CPU for more ?

Can you recommend me program / settings / duration after which I can say "these are my temps during load" ?

Yeah 5 mins will be fine, sorry there is another stress program that is good but my mine has just gone blank lol. But if they are your load temps on p95 then your actual real load temps will be abit lower, so you have nothing to worry about

[peterpepo]

Yeah 5 mins will be fine, sorry there is another stress program that is good but my mine has just gone blank lol. But if they are your load temps on p95 then your actual real load temps will be abit lower, so you have nothing to worry about

These are results / temperatures after 1 hour of running Prime95 Blend test.

So, can we say, that these are ok ?

Can I manage cables, tie them up, close the pc and "forget" about it ?

What I am a bit surprised, that noctua wasn't even ramped up. The cpu probably considered those temps ok, and didn't feel need to speed fans up.

[fringie]

The fans on your cooler probably aren't spinning very fast at 20% load which is fine as they auto-adjust themselves.

 

Just so you're aware five minutes of time stress-testing isn't enough time as the heatsink needs to actually heat up. Usually heating the heatsink/radiators up only takes around fifteen minutes (assuming the person doesn't have an obscene value of radiator).

 

Edit: Those temps in the post above are fine. You should stresstest with a better utility, I use Intel burn test V2.

[LogicalDrm]

Even small load will raise CPU temp, no matter which cooler you use. I got mine around 45C when I got just youtube or any other video player going on. Something like Heartstone is bit lower with 43C. Byt that time my fan is running with only 35% of full speed. If it would be full, temps might be lower. But you don't get Noctua just for lower temps on small loads. You want less sound.

[Robbieboy]

Don't worry mine goes up just a bit to about 42-44C when the Screensaver comes on, but normal use its 28 to 34C and idle is 24-26C.....

 

So don't worry all is good...If it idled at 50C or load temps go up to 90's then you should redo it.

[peterpepo]

Don't worry mine goes up just a bit to about 42-44C when the Screensaver comes on, but normal use its 28 to 34C and idle is 24-26C.....

 

So don't worry all is good...If it idled at 50C or load temps go up to 90's then you should redo it.

My never run below 33 in idle, actually my idle temp is 35 for most of the time.

But i don't want to remove whole board from the case. And i am affraid, that i will not be able to reattach the cooler in such tight space, and then the fan.

[Robbieboy]

My never run below 33 in idle, actually my idle temp is 35 for most of the time.

But i don't want to remove whole board from the case. And i am affraid, that i will not be able to reattach the cooler in such tight space, and then the fan.

 

I have a de-Lidded Chip and an extra NF-A15 fan on my NH-U14S... that why it idles so low.... and full load i have temp's of 47-49 with Peaks of 54-56..

 

But them Temps you have there are good....

[peterpepo]

I have a de-Lidded Chip and an extra NF-A15 fan on my NH-U14S... that why it idles so low.... and full load i have temp's of 47-49 with Peaks of 54-56..

 

But them Temps you have there are good....

Btw, I didn't even use "Silence adaptor". Do you use one in your system ?

[Robbieboy]

Btw, I didn't even use "Silence adaptor". Do you use one in your system ?

 

Yes as i have a second fan on the cooler...

 

The fan that comes with the cooler has a max RPM of 1500 and the NF-A15 you can buy is only 1200 so i use the LNA to slow the 1500 one to near the 1200's fan Speed....

 

i have the one that comes with the cooler (with the LNA on it) running at 850RPM  and the other one running at 750RPM as it's plugged into the OPT CPU fan Header

[peterpepo]

Now, the temps during watchdogs gameplay was 60C.

So you are saying, these temps are ok, and I don't have to worry about it, right ?

[peterpepo]

Can someone please confirm that the spiky behaviour is ok ?
Because my previous pcs never did that. Also on brother's build - 4770k with CM 212 EVO S, the temperatures are stable, not jumping up and down...

[peterpepo]

So I removed the heatsink to check thermal paste spread.

This is, what I found.

It seemed little more than ideal - on the photo it looks worse than in real world.

So i cleaned both - heatsink and cpu with isopropyl alcohol, leaved residue to evaporate and reapplied bundled NH-T1 paste - little lesser than last time.

 

Idle temps (according to Realtemp 3.7) are 31/32/29/32 degrees Celsius, according to mobo display - 33 degrees.

 

I ran Intel Extreme Tuning - Stress Test - CPU for 30 minutes, and results are attached.

• no throttling at all
• intel extreme tuning - max temperature 72 C
• RealTemp 3.7.0 - max temperatures 71/75/70/67

So it seems to me, that I have really nothing to worry about.

[LogicalDrm]

@peterpepo, that amount of thermal paste on pic isn't too much. Its about what I have. And I've changed my coolers orientatio without changing thermal paste.

[peterpepo]

@peterpepo, that amount of thermal paste on pic isn't too much. Its about what I have. And I've changed my coolers orientatio without changing thermal paste.

It was a bit over the edge of cpu -> so after cleaning, i put just a very little lesser, as I was affraid of paste "dripping" into the socket over the time.

Temps still jump sometimes higher, but I don't care anymore. In idle it sits on 32degs. After proper heatup (2 hours watchdogs), and letting it cool it settles on 35C, which now seems perfect to me.

Now, my new worry -> can the cooler fall off after the time ? I have feeling, that i tightened it just too much yesterday I was turning screws until they "stopped", but then i give it just a little more turn (less than quarter of turn). Now I am affraid that, when metal expands, it will crack and fall off, but I really, really don't want to open up the case :D

[LogicalDrm]

It was a bit over the edge of cpu -> so after cleaning, i put just a very little lesser, as I was affraid of paste "dripping" into the socket over the time.

Temps still jump sometimes higher, but I don't care anymore. In idle it sits on 32degs. After proper heatup (2 hours watchdogs), and letting it cool it settles on 35C, which now seems perfect to me.

Now, my new worry -> can the cooler fall off after the time ? I have feeling, that i tightened it just too much yesterday I was turning screws until they "stopped", but then i give it just a little more turn (less than quarter of turn). Now I am affraid that, when metal expands, it will crack and fall off, but I really, really don't want to open up the case

 

If that would be case, it would happen over maybe 10 years or really rough handeling. Since they are screws, you need cooler to move around in order to loosen them.

[peterpepo]

If that would be case, it would happen over maybe 10 years or really rough handeling. Since they are screws, you need cooler to move around in order to loosen them.

I mean cracking due to too much torque.

In past, i managed to break screw due to massive overturning. It just split in half :D