i7 9700 can hit high 70s even when using an AIO.
i7 9700 can hit high 70s even when using an AIO.
I'm using an i7 9700 with non-K paired to a b365m board and a deepcool 120mm AIO. During gaming it hits 77-80°C at clock speeds of 3.9-4.2ghz, with room temperature around 30°C. It feels quite hot even though it's summer. I still feel these temps are high for that speed range.
With an ambient room temp of 30c and using a small 120mm AIO, I think these temperatures are expected. The temperatures are well within safe limits so you have nothing to worry about though You can try to increase the pump speed and fan speed if you want a bit lower temperatures. A small 120mm AIO is quite poor even compared to a dual tower air cooler. But nothing is dangerous here, continue game without worry
You might want to try reapplying the paste again, though it probably won’t help much. This unit is a 120mm AIO, which has limited cooling compared to bigger air coolers or larger models. The 120mm AIO tends to struggle with heat dissipation, and your room temperatures are high. Consider boosting the pump and fan speeds.
The 120 AIO is really lacking. Most people buy a 360mm model because it usually outperforms air coolers. You’re using a subpar cooling solution for an older Intel processor. I own a 360mm unit with a 9900k and can still get it to break the 90°C mark easily. Even then, temperatures stay comfortably under 105°C at best. So you’re not overheating much, but your cooling is quite inadequate. Not great, but not terrible either.
Could the issue stem from trapped air in the system? Adjusting the AIO block during installation might have introduced pockets. Combined with lower clock speeds, it seems the CPU isn’t drawing much power to maintain efficiency, even with a 120mm unit.
I completely understand what you're asking. Go through every step, eliminate any possibilities, and once you confirm the AIO is struggling with cooling, it makes sense that Intel released hotter chips back then since nobody could handle them at the time.
The room temperature is currently 30°C. You're already facing a significant challenge when it comes to maintaining CPU coolness. Here’s a guide on CPU cooler performance. At full fan speed, the top-rated cooler on this list reaches 52°C in a 30°C environment. At 30°C itself, the best option would hit around 82°C under those conditions. Your 120mm AIO doesn’t match the Peerless Assassin in performance. I wouldn’t label it as "poor," but it would likely sit near the bottom on this chart. Perhaps Pure Rock 2 levels could handle it at 60°C for a 123W workload. I don’t know your CPU’s power settings, but if the motherboard doesn’t stick to Intel’s baseline, the 9700 might draw about 125W under full load. This chart reflects what your CPU would actually experience in that scenario. Your cooling setup is fine—perfectly aligned with expectations.