High temps
High temps
I purchased an ABS PC around a year ago and noticed the pump was acting odd. This was my first water-cooled build. Eventually, the pump failed and the system stopped working. I swapped it out for a new Corsair water cooler. Over time, the PC still struggled to stay cool—idle temps reached 55°C, and gaming temps neared 70°C. One day, while using the Corsair cooler, the RGB lights started flashing red, indicating a problem and making the machine very hot. I then bought a Noctua NH-U12A. For a few days it performed well, with the CPU peak at 53°C. Now my idle temps are around 54°C, and during games they hit 75°C. I’m unsure what’s happening; could adjusting settings help? My motherboard is a Gigabyte Altus, equipped with an i7-10700K, 16GB RAM, and the air cooler is also a Noctua NH-U12A. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
70C performs well, it's unclear why the aio was changed. 75C is also fine.
Yes, but room temperatures around 54°C are quite high. Using a 12700KF with Thermal Grizzly bracket, everything fits well and is cooled by an NH-U12A unit. My readings stay between 30-35°C during idle, usually about 25°C in winter. With a moderate overclock of 5GHz (and slightly undervolting), it might be due to insufficient airflow or poor thermal paste application. I’d investigate that. Alternatively, the mounting hardware could be faulty—consider replacing it and reapplying paste. If you’re in a hot area, these temps are typical; in a cold climate like mine, indoor temps can drop to 15°C or lower during peak heat.
It's problematic because the fan curve is likely optimized for low idle speeds, resulting in a cool down to around 50°C. At higher speeds it can drop to 35-38°C, but if cooling isn't proper—like poor mounting or thermal paste—the maximum temperature could rise significantly, potentially reaching up to 100°C, as seen with the 10700K model.