Troubleshooting an overheating CPU

I & my father just recently put together a new PC. Specs below.

From the very beginning, on boot it will often complain that the CPU is too hot. If I sit in BIOS and watch the CPU, it'll drop back down from red to blue (<72C), at which point I've tended to just boot into Windows...and haven't had any problems. In fact, I've played a couple hours straight of Skyrim at max settings, and not had any visible issues.

That said, I've occasionally walked away & come back to find that it's crashed. Yesterday, it crashed (while idle) twice in 12 hours, which shifted the balance from busy-with-life to nervous-I'm-about-to-melt-something.

I just installed Core Temp which is showing my 4 cores fluxuating between 70-98C.

I'm guessing at this point that the CPU fan may be incorrectly installed or defective. My first thought is to either (a) add water cooling (which the case supports) and / or (b) replace the CPU fan with an after-market one. That said, I'm very open to suggestions. A note, while I certainly don't want to burn money here, I have a baby coming any day now and am still unpacking from a recent move so if I have a choice between an option that costs money and another that takes a while...I'll happily spend a bit extra.

Side question: Should I be nervous to even have this on at this point?

Let me know if there's something useful I could add to my report. Otherwise, I'm looking forward to your suggestions! Thanks.

CPU

Intel i7-2600 CPU w/ stock fan

Other HW

ASUS P8Z68-V Pro motherboard
64G SSD boot drive
4 older SATA HDs
GIGABYTE ATI Radeon HD6950 1 GB DDR5
8G Kingston T1 Series RAM
Corsair 650W Gold Certified power supply
Antec P280 case

Jeff Fry

Posted 2012-02-14T00:22:50.553

Reputation: 133

Is the 2600 or the 2600K CPU? If it's the K series, are you overclocking at all? – Andrew Lambert – 2012-02-14T00:40:48.917

1Have you tried using isopropyl and a lint-free cloth to remove the thermal paste and reseat the CPU? – John H – 2012-02-14T00:55:41.287

What is the speed of the CPU fan? It should be reported alongside the CPU temp, so you should be able to see if it is spinning fast enough (or at all; though you should be able to hear that). And yes, 70-98°C is too hot. I would make sure to address the overheating before running it again to avoid damaging the CPU. Also, does the case have fans? It has space for one on the back and two at the top, so put one at the top.

– Synetech – 2012-02-14T01:09:05.673

If this is your case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129154 - it looks like PSU is on the bottom? This is unusual, and may play a small factor too. I know they vent out, but it might be worth experimenting tilting it on its side. Like others said, case fans venting out from the cpu fan section is important. Also use a cpu thermal compund like Arctic Silver (Just a drop, following their web site instructions).

– jdh – 2012-02-14T01:24:08.313

@jdh, no that’s the P180, not the P280. This is his case. (Same PSU placement though). The P280 is actually more roomy than the P180.

– Synetech – 2012-02-14T01:43:21.107

@johnh not yet, but I think it's time. I'll get some new thermal grease and give it a go. – Jeff Fry – 2012-02-14T04:59:39.430

@synetech yes, both top fans, back fan, video card fan and power supply fans are all running. Seem fine. – Jeff Fry – 2012-02-14T05:00:59.757

Answers

I just installed Core Temp which is showing my 4 cores fluxuating between 70-98C

According to this thread comment in the Intel Forum:

The processor should not be above 72.6 degrees Celsius

Ref.: http://communities.intel.com/thread/27692?wapkw=i7-2600%20temperatures

According to this other thread a user experiment an overheated CPU and the solution was to change for an other another i7-2600k and a new P8P67 board...

now my Cpu is running at a good 30-35 celsius

Ref.: http://communities.intel.com/thread/26038

Now what to do?

1) Check (and recheck) the Fan (running?), the thermal paste and the heat sink.

2) Ask a second advice at Intel forum and AsusTek forum

3) If nothings works and the CPU still showing high temperatures change for another unit... and run a 30-35 celcius CPU like the other guy... ;-)

Hope this help. Let us know. :)

climenole

Posted 2012-02-14T00:22:50.553

Reputation: 3 180

To find more detailled information for CPU overheating you may check the hardwaresecrets web site (for example)... :) – climenole – 2012-02-14T01:32:24.860

Thanks @climenole. I strongly suspect that reinstalling the heat sink will solve this. I'll pick up some Arctic Silver and give it a try. – Jeff Fry – 2012-02-15T00:25:28.093

Good idea. Tell us if this fix the problem :) – climenole – 2012-02-15T00:48:33.127

My father and I had the same problem. We had bought a computer from an electronic store. We had moved a long way after we bought it. When we opened the PC it booted just fine but when explorer.exe runs, it shut down.

Here is how we solved the problem...

We reinstalled the CPU fan, and what we noticed was that the thermal grease was applied incorrectly, and/or the thermal grease had worn off. So check your fan installation and use thermal grease.

utkumaden

Posted 2012-02-14T00:22:50.553

Reputation: 21