Bad Processor temps, even with good cooler!

[TomTheMinecraftian]

Hi there folks! I was wondering if anyone had suggestions to help me with an issue I've been having with my PC since I built it in January. I'm using an Intel 3570k being cooled by an H100i. Currently have it OCed to 4.1GHz at 1.16v. These seem like very minor adjustments and I know the cooler is supposed to be excellent yet testing the CPU with Prime95 reveals that even with this minor overclock using a high end cooler, the temps of the cores are as follows:

 

Core 0: 81°C

Core 1: 87°C

Core 2: 83°C

Core 3: 78°C

 

I am using Arctic Ceramique 2 which I have replaced three times and have tried a couple of other TIMs and yet I still seem to be getting crappy temps. It's very frustrating to have spent the money on this CPU and cooler and be so limited with temperatures. Even with the CPU completely at stock frequency and Vcore, the temps are in the high 70s.

 

Should I replace the CPU/motherboard/cooler? I don't think the cooler is a DOA since the idle temps are as expected in the high 20s/low 30s and corsair link detects the pump spinning at 2200RPM.

[ologiic]

Well what was your temps before you installed the cooler?

[TomTheMinecraftian]

Well what was your temps before you installed the cooler?

Not sure, the cooler was installed when I originally built the PC, so the temps have always been bad. I just figured I wanted to do something about it so I should ask some experts on the forum for help

[Guest Gazzer96]

Not sure, the cooler was installed when I originally built the PC, so the temps have always been bad. I just figured I wanted to do something about it so I should ask some experts on the forum for help

Have you tried changing the thermal compound? Make sure you do not use cheap crap.

[TomTheMinecraftian]

Have you tried changing the thermal compound? Make sure you do not use cheap crap.

As I wrote, I was using Arctic Ceramique 2 which is by no means cheap. I don't think the thermal compound is to blame

[ologiic]

Have you tried changing the thermal compound? Make sure you do not use cheap crap.

Read the OP...

[grayperview]

could simply be  your chip isn't a good overclocker...

[crudefallout]

How tight is the H100i? I remember reading somewhere that some of their blocks face issues if they don't have enough pressure, even if it seems tight. Also, just to make sure, you are only using a small, pea-sized amount of thermal compound, correct? Also, what are your temps on stock?

[Judahnator]

some chips are just hot. Me and a friend both have the exact same CPU and cooler, but his load temps are much higher then mine. My chip is overclocked, and is still a good 10C cooler then his under full load.

 

Its possible you just got a bad chip.

[nukem]

is your h100i backplate seated correctly? i almost made the mistake of putting mine on upside down LOL!, before i tightened the thumb screws on the cpu blobk i realised the heatsync wasnt sitting flush.

[leipero]

Monitor temperatures of VRM's, maybe those are the cause of high CPU temps.

[Ribozyme]

Probably a crap job of intel applying TIM. I mean it is crap with every ivy and haswell cpu but maybe more so with your sample. Delid is your only path son. I also have a hot chip around those temps and will be delidding with a razor. Steady hand and everything will be fine, be sure to check some youtube vids on it. Report back to us if you have delidded your chip.

[pierrelucsav]

Delid that motherf***er. There's a ton of video guides on youtube like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXs0I5kuoX4

[SkilledRebuilds]

Something to note of late I've noticed, I had a Z68 Asrock Pro3 for my 2600k, had to push a LOT of volts to hit 4.5, maintained a 4.0 daily.

Now I changed it up to z77 and a decent board, I'm doing 5.0 at the higher voltages and 4.5 easily at lower voltage than the VID says it should be:)

Temps seem to climb instantly, however lower voltage = lower highend temps, using my Hyper 212 with 2 fans, I'm not going over 70*c with 4.5ghz and staying @ 83*c @ 5ghz with HT enabled, 79*c without HT.

 

Sometimes its not about the CPU being bung, but the motherboard (to which my asrock pro3 was 4 years old at this stage and using 2133mhz ram would see text corruption in bios.

Tinker around trying to lessen voltages and maintain stability stresstesting and find a happy medium.

[TomTheMinecraftian]

How tight is the H100i? I remember reading somewhere that some of their blocks face issues if they don't have enough pressure, even if it seems tight. Also, just to make sure, you are only using a small, pea-sized amount of thermal compound, correct? Also, what are your temps on stock?

To my knowledge, the cooler is attached securely. I even tried using the washers Corsair supplied to try and make a tighter fit but that didn't help. The stock temps are anywhere from 75-81°C across the cores. I only used a small amount of thermal compound and I've watched plenty of reputable videos on how best to apply it for Ivy Bridge CPUs.

[TomTheMinecraftian]

some chips are just hot. Me and a friend both have the exact same CPU and cooler, but his load temps are much higher then mine. My chip is overclocked, and is still a good 10C cooler then his under full load.

 

Its possible you just got a bad chip.

Yup, I must have just got a dud chip. Is it too late for me to purchase Intel's overclocking plan and wait say, 30 days before making a claim that the chip is unstable or something? Interesting to hear about you and your friend's chips, shows that it really is luck of the draw when it comes to overclocking modern chips.

[TomTheMinecraftian]

is your h100i backplate seated correctly? i almost made the mistake of putting mine on upside down LOL!, before i tightened the thumb screws on the cpu blobk i realised the heatsync wasnt sitting flush.

Yeah I'm pretty sure the backplate is on correctly, I completely removed the cooler and backplate, consulted the manual and re-attached it as it was before with no difference to the temps.

[TomTheMinecraftian]

Monitor temperatures of VRM's, maybe those are the cause of high CPU temps.

You may very well be correct! I know the Extreme4 is a popular board but personally I hate it. I may have to look into a different board altogether. My plan is to drop my CPU into my buddies Gigabyte Z77X D3H and apply the same voltage/overclock and monitor the temps.

[TomTheMinecraftian]

Probably a crap job of intel applying TIM. I mean it is crap with every ivy and haswell cpu but maybe more so with your sample. Delid is your only path son. I also have a hot chip around those temps and will be delidding with a razor. Steady hand and everything will be fine, be sure to check some youtube vids on it. Report back to us if you have delidded your chip.

Yup, I still don't understand why intel went from the known and loved solder to low-quality TIM, other than to save some pennies. I have been looking into delidding but I can't afford to replace the chip should things go pear-shaped. I will have a think about it.

[TomTheMinecraftian]

Delid that motherf***er. There's a ton of video guides on youtube like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXs0I5kuoX4

I'm tempted but the process of delidding still nerves me a little

[TomTheMinecraftian]

Something to note of late I've noticed, I had a Z68 Asrock Pro3 for my 2600k, had to push a LOT of volts to hit 4.5, maintained a 4.0 daily.

Now I changed it up to z77 and a decent board, I'm doing 5.0 at the higher voltages and 4.5 easily at lower voltage than the VID says it should be:)

Temps seem to climb instantly, however lower voltage = lower highend temps, using my Hyper 212 with 2 fans, I'm not going over 70*c with 4.5ghz and staying @ 83*c @ 5ghz with HT enabled, 79*c without HT.

 

Sometimes its not about the CPU being bung, but the motherboard (to which my asrock pro3 was 4 years old at this stage and using 2133mhz ram would see text corruption in bios.

Tinker around trying to lessen voltages and maintain stability stresstesting and find a happy medium.

Interesting to hear! From my experience, I shan't be using ASRock boards again. I want to look into a different board and see if it makes a difference. The thing about trying to maintain stability etc. is that even at stock speed and voltage (around 1.05v in my CPU's case) the temps still rocket up to 80°C, so it's not even worth my time trying to reduce them with the overclock.

[crudefallout]

Interesting to hear! From my experience, I shan't be using ASRock boards again. I want to look into a different board and see if it makes a difference. The thing about trying to maintain stability etc. is that even at stock speed and voltage (around 1.05v in my CPU's case) the temps still rocket up to 80°C, so it's not even worth my time trying to reduce them with the overclock.

 

Its not Asrock boards, its just the z68 vs z77. My Asrock exreme6 performs extremely smoothly, 4.5 at about 1.2v with a hyper 212. Lower end boards or older boards just aren't quite cut out for overclocking. Your extreme4 should perform swimmingly. 

It might be a bad chip. If you do re-install the cooler again at some point, could you try fishing out the stock cooler if you still have it?

[leipero]

You may very well be correct! I know the Extreme4 is a popular board but personally I hate it. I may have to look into a different board altogether. My plan is to drop my CPU into my buddies Gigabyte Z77X D3H and apply the same voltage/overclock and monitor the temps.

That's the best way to know it for sure, also ASRock boards are good for all platforms, it must be chipset or maybe that board in particular or CPU.