AMD A8-7600 Safe Temperatures?

[Ostardva]

This is my first topic post on these forums, so bear with and hello!

 

I've been running an AMD A8-7600 in my rig (and previous) for about... 2 years. It's always been hot, but recently I've had hot weather and experienced what I think is thermal throttling for the first time on my system?

There's always been the worry that my APU isn't good enough (at select times) and this throttling confirmed it for me, but I want to ask here to be sure (and troubleshoot).

 

Under web-browsing and media load (YouTube or Soundcloud) it runs at 63 - 65 degrees. Idle at around 58 - 61. Under load anywhere from 68 - 80 (when I play Final Fantasy XIV, lower settings, DX11, no frame limit). That's in 24 degree weather. It was hotter the other day the 7600 was idling at 64 degrees without touching my PC. When gaming on FF again it hit 80 degrees+ and I was getting severe frame drops in-game whilst doing nothing intensive at all.

 

I took the lid off my case and felt that my AiO's tubes were... above warm (but not hot). I use a Corsair H55i. My case has a 140mm BitFenix Spectre intake, a Noctua Radiator fan and 2 Noctua out-take fans in the rear. The MoBo was also pretty warm on this hotter day, but de-lidding the rig did relieve it of some stress and saw a couple of temp drops except on the APU.

 

Since posting the pictures below my APU now reads at an average temperature of 66 degrees. That's now up and down this is.

I have check and confirmed these figures with CPUID HWMonitor as well.

I've been tempted to replace for awhile, and I'm not *quite* sure if:

A. It needs replacing?

B. What I can replace it with in this socket as it's all APUs or AMD x4 CPUs/

C. If it's something else like the AiO or just the fact I run ITX.

D. What the actual safe temperatures of this APU are, and if mine is operating as it should/can be?

 

See attached my whole rig at a glance through Speccy and then the CPU stats window.

I have not fiddled with any hardware at all since installing it in this rig. All as-is.

 

If I can improve my topic or the information provided, let me know for future reference.

Look forward to hearing from y'all ^__^!

[Nena Trinity]

1. Use AMD Overdrive to measure.

2. Anything under 68c will not throttle and should be safe.

[dantayy]

Wow that's pretty hot, the weather in my place is usually 32-33°C  in the morning and 30°C at night with constant 70-80% humidity all year round, which means no high TDP cpus for me lol

[kalious78]

might be worth redoing the thermal paste I have no idea on amd cpu temps tbf but seems high to me using an aftermarket cooler.

 

its only a 65w cpu and ur not even using the gfx in it.

 

gotta go out but can fire the kids fx 6300 up with a h55 n see what temps that gets for you when I get back.

[Ostardva]

35 minutes ago, Nena360 said:

1. Use AMD Overdrive to measure.

2. Anything under 68c will not throttle and should be safe.

Ah right. I'm hitting 68c almost every time I launch a game. Tis an issue then.

I'll look at Overdrive.

32 minutes ago, Ernest_L said:

Wow that's pretty hot, the weather in my place is usually 32-33°C  in the morning and 30°C at night with constant 70-80% humidity all year round, which means no high TDP cpus for me lol

I wondered if things were making themselves worse because it's an ITX rig, but I do have adequate cooling (trying not to be modest) at least as described? 

31 minutes ago, kalious78 said:

might be worth redoing the thermal paste I have no idea on amd cpu temps tbf but seems high to me using an aftermarket cooler.

 

its only a 65w cpu and ur not even using the gfx in it.

 

gotta go out but can fire the kids fx 6300 up with a h55 n see what temps that gets for you when I get back.

I re-did the thermal paste about 6 months ago when I built the A8-7600 into my current rig. Was cleaned and re-applied from an older rig. It's always worth a shot though definitely. My partner ran an FX chip in his old rig and saw much cooler temps than what I'm getting. Would be grand to know though, so thanks!

 

Now resting at 70c and I'm web-browsing. It's humid alright and I'm using an AiO? Buh.

[Nena Trinity]

Just now, Ostardva said:

Ah right. I'm hitting 68c almost every time I launch a game. Tis an issue then.

AMD Overdrive is matching what Speccy and HWMonitor are showing me.

I wondered if things were making themselves worse because it's an ITX rig, but I do have adequate cooling (trying not to be modest) at least as described? 

I re-did the thermal paste about 6 months ago when I built the A8-7600 into my current rig. Was cleaned and re-applied from an older rig. It's always worth a shot though definitely. My partner ran an FX chip in his old rig and saw much cooler temps than what I'm getting. Would be grand to know though, so thanks!

Okay make sure your BIOS settings are okay. (disable any over-clock!)

Also what CPU cooler are you currently using? The default one? If so then your only hope is to make a more aggressive fan profile!

[dantayy]

1 minute ago, Nena360 said:

make a more aggressive fan profile!

Yup, crank up the pump and fan RPM and see how it goes, it shouldnt be this hot in 24 degree weather while browsing the web

[Ostardva]

2 minutes ago, Nena360 said:

Okay make sure your BIOS settings are okay. (disable any over-clock!)

Also what CPU cooler are you currently using? The default one? If so then your only hope is to make a more aggressive fan profile!

Cooler is a Corsair H55i AiO with a Push/Pull configuration on the radiator (intake 140mm BitFenix Spectre, outtake Notcuta NF-S12B Redux). The APU isn't overclocked and can't be to my knowledge.
Any idea what BIOS settings I'm looking at? My BIOS experience is nil, only changing boot priority.

[kalious78]

overdrive+afterburner both give 25-30c idle (margins of 50+) that's with a h55 using a single fan pulling the air through on an fx-6300 no oc, it is a full size case though corsair carbide spec-01.

 

apu's may be totally different but do think yours is running a lil hot on an aftermarket cooler.

[PCGuy_5960]

34 minutes ago, Nena360 said:

1. Use AMD Overdrive to measure.

Though, it should be noted that Overdrive doesn't show the temp, but rather, the thermal margin...

[Nena Trinity]

44 minutes ago, Ostardva said:

Cooler is a Corsair H55i AiO with a Push/Pull configuration on the radiator (intake 140mm BitFenix Spectre, outtake Notcuta NF-S12B Redux). The APU isn't overclocked and can't be to my knowledge.
Any idea what BIOS settings I'm looking at? My BIOS experience is nil, only changing boot priority.

Make sure nothing is set to over-clocking, and well since you got a AIO make sure it works properly!

[Nena Trinity]

23 minutes ago, PCGuy_5960 said:

Though, it should be noted that Overdrive doesn't show the temp, but rather, the thermal margin...

Yes which means higher is better!

[Ostardva]

It might help to know that this thing has been bottle-necked whilst gaming for about 6 months.
Just read this lovely bottle-necked guide on here and saw that under a "normal" gaming load my CPU is hitting over 90% usage. Under normal media and browsing loads it's between 40% and 65%.

[kalious78]

probably wont help or change much and u seem pretty savvy so its likely already done but have you fully disabled the graphics in the bios ? not left it on to help with encoding etc ?

 

just read this when u said about bottlenecking

 

"It would be a lot better disabling the APU. AMD have power control in their APUs. The CPU can stay at a certain speed (4.1ghz in my case) while using things like office programs but as soon as graphics heavy programs start running such as games, the GPU kicks in and then lowers the frequency of the CPU to around 3ghz so theirs power for the GPU and so it also doesn't overheat. This limits many games with the AMD APUs and the CPU gets bottlenecked"

 

anyway good luck sorting temps/with an upgrade.

[kalious78]

ooopps double post thingy

[Ostardva]

2 minutes ago, kalious78 said:

probably wont help or change much and u seem pretty savvy so its likely already done but have you fully disabled the graphics in the bios ? not left it on to help with encoding etc ?

 

just read this when u said about bottlenecking

 

"It would be a lot better disabling the APU. AMD have power control in their APUs. The CPU can stay at a certain speed (4.1ghz in my case) while using things like office programs but as soon as graphics heavy programs start running such as games, the GPU kicks in and then lowers the frequency of the CPU to around 3ghz so theirs power for the GPU and so it also doesn't overheat. This limits many games with the AMD APUs and the CPU gets bottlenecked"

 

anyway good luck sorting temps/with an upgrade.

I remember disabling or at least seeing those settings in the BIOS. I'll take a look. Didn't know about the power control issue. May help me. Probably looking at an upgrade, though probably not on the board sadly. D: Thanks very much for your input Kalious!

[SpaceGhostC2C]

 

1 hour ago, Ostardva said:

Cooler is a Corsair H55i AiO with a Push/Pull configuration on the radiator (intake 140mm BitFenix Spectre, outtake Notcuta NF-S12B Redux). The APU isn't overclocked and can't be to my knowledge.
Any idea what BIOS settings I'm looking at? My BIOS experience is nil, only changing boot priority.

CPUs going extremely hot by getting old doesn't sound like it. My main suspect is the cooler. Perhaps a dead pump? Can you check if it's working, and the rpm it is working at? There was a similar issue in the forum recently, and it was basically the cooler not making the water flow. How long have you had the H55i? Being an "i" version, you probably have it hooked to a USB header? You can check measured rpms for the pump with Corsair Link software in that case.

[Garett1]

If I were you I would re do your thermal paste. I was having idle temps about where your at, I took off my CPU cooler just to realize my thermal paste was half gone and not covering the whole CPU evenly. I re applied more thermal paste and my idle temperatures went back down to 26C. Give it a shot.

[Ostardva]

20 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

 

CPUs going extremely hot by getting old doesn't sound like it. My main suspect is the cooler. Perhaps a dead pump? Can you check if it's working, and the rpm it is working at? There was a similar issue in the forum recently, and it was basically the cooler not making the water flow. How long have you had the H55i? Being an "i" version, you probably have it hooked to a USB header? You can check measured rpms for the pump with Corsair Link software in that case.

Okay so maybe it's not a H55i... couldn't remember if it had an i on the end. I say this as it has no USB connection. 3-pin header on the pump is what it has. Motherboard also runs above 60c gaming.

 

Quote

If I were you I would re do your thermal paste. I was having idle temps about where your at, I took off my CPU cooler just to realize my thermal paste was half gone and not covering the whole CPU evenly. I re applied more thermal paste and my idle temperatures went back down to 26C. Give it a shot.

Yeah, I think I'm going to as a precaution when I next get the chance, especially now I know I've been throttling it regularly, accidentally, against my will (I'm sad about this).

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 minute ago, Ostardva said:

Okay so maybe it's not a H55i... couldn't remember if it had an i on the end. I say this as it has no USB connection. 3-pin header on the pump is what it has. Motherboard also runs above 60c under gaming load.

OK, either way make sure that pump is churning or you'll just have a tube-shaped kettle  

[Ostardva]

10 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

OK, either way make sure that pump is churning or you'll just have a tube-shaped kettle  

How can I do this? I feel like it possibly is. I've touched the pipes and they're getting warmer/cooler which tells me (correct if I'm wrong) that the liquid is warming up from the heat off the APU? My fans are spinning. They are Noctuas if that makes a difference. I'm not sure I really chose the right type of fans for this build but it stays cool and quiet... for the most part.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

7 minutes ago, Ostardva said:

How can I do this? I feel like it possibly is. I've touched the pipes and they're getting warmer/cooler which tells me (correct if I'm wrong) that the liquid is warming up from the heat off the APU? My fans are spinning. They are Noctuas if that makes a difference. I'm not sure I really chose the right type of fans for this build but it stays cool and quiet... for the most part.

Carefully touch the top of the pump/CPU block of the water cooler to feel if it vibrates. Switch off all fans and other obvious sources of noise and try to see if you can hear the pump (keep an eye on temps, turn the fans back on if anything climb too much). I must say I hardly hear my AIO pump, but since everyone lists pump noise as a con for watercooling, I'd say it must be audible  I guess a more indirect way is to check the tubes for homogeneous warmth: if they are warmer near the block, it could mean water it's not circulating enough. The problem is, the "return" hose will be cooler if everything works correctly, so it's more about the radiator and the other hose being considerably cooler at the radiator end than at the CPU block end. But that isn't a very precise check.

 

If you have an alternative cooler, or an alternative PC to mount the cooler on, you can always try that (even if it's the stock cooler). It's more work, but you also get to re-seat the cooler, something others have suggested (you said you reapplied TIM 6 months ago, but just in case).

[Ostardva]

15 minutes ago, SpaceGhostC2C said:

Carefully touch the top of the pump/CPU block of the water cooler to feel if it vibrates. Switch off all fans and other obvious sources of noise and try to see if you can hear the pump (keep an eye on temps, turn the fans back on if anything climb too much). I must say I hardly hear my AIO pump, but since everyone lists pump noise as a con for watercooling, I'd say it must be audible  I guess a more indirect way is to check the tubes for homogeneous warmth: if they are warmer near the block, it could mean water it's not circulating enough. The problem is, the "return" hose will be cooler if everything works correctly, so it's more about the radiator and the other hose being considerably cooler at the radiator end than at the CPU block end. But that isn't a very precise check.

 

If you have an alternative cooler, or an alternative PC to mount the cooler on, you can always try that (even if it's the stock cooler). It's more work, but you also get to re-seat the cooler, something others have suggested (you said you reapplied TIM 6 months ago, but just in case).

After spending a few minutes groping my AiO I can tell you:

- The AiO CPU block is hot to touch, or very warm I guess. Not dangerous to touch anyway.

- It's making a noise. My fans are virtually silent but I stopped them regardless.

- See the picture below to help - The top end of the tubes (nearest where the case ceiling would be) is where the most heat is. Both tubes are warm, but one is definitely warmer than the other.

[SpaceGhostC2C]

1 hour ago, Ostardva said:

After spending a few minutes groping my AiO I can tell you:

- The AiO CPU block is hot to touch, or very warm I guess. Not dangerous to touch anyway.

- It's making a noise. My fans are virtually silent but I stopped them regardless.

- See the picture below to help - The top end of the tubes (nearest where the case ceiling would be) is where the most heat is. Both tubes are warm, but one is definitely warmer than the other.

 

It seems to be working then. Back to searching for suspects  

[Ostardva]

For now this is solved... just did a few things myself. Like you all said my build seemed to be working fine.

The thermal paste and front 140mm were the issues.

 

1. I didn't apply the thermal paste originally. It was CAKED on and when pressed down upon by the AiO head it left barely any paste in the middle of the APU. Reapplied with the pea-size and gentle circle motion method.

 

2. I had (past-tense) a BitFenix Spectre 140mm fan in the front. Although utterly SILENT it produced no air flow at all through the case. Alongside 3 Noctua fans the case had no air being moved well. As the front fan wasn't pulled a good amount of fresh air into the case, the rear 2 80mm fans (and 120mm rad) weren't pulling much. The whole thing feels far better now I've put the Thermaltake stock 140mm fan back in the case, even though I get a humble humming (not that loud really) from the PC.

I've also enabled a feature in the BIOS for the motherboard which will turn the PC on if it detects high humidity and just pull some of the air out, even when I'm out and what not.

All in all a bit embarrassing to learn it was MAINLY the thermal paste, but hey ho, I learnt a lot in this thread.

Temps are now no more than 65c under load, and have gone as low as 45c idle. That's a 20c reduction at idle.

 

It's still running rather hot, but in a mid-tower case with more air-flow on an mATX board it ran similarly.
I guess it's just this APU in particular as googling showed I'm not the only one worried about it's high temps in general.