My CPU is getting too hot when it's not working
My CPU is getting too hot when it's not working
I recently bought a new CPU, an Intel Core i7 7700K, to replace my old one. Before this upgrade, I had an older i5 with voltages around 1.25V that were fine for gaming but crashed in games like Warzone. To fix the crashes and boost performance, I slowly increased the voltage. Now I am running at about 4.8GHz and 1.30V. For some reason, my temps stay cool while gaming—never more than 65 degrees—but when I turn on the PC to get things ready, the idle temperature jumps up to around 33-34 degrees Celsius. Then, if I start using apps, temperatures spike to about 70 degrees on just one core. I have a liquid cooler called Kraken X62, and even though this CPU is supposed to run hot, when I stress test it with AVX tests, the temperature goes up in the 80s Celsius range. So, is this all just about my specific CPU?
I see nothing wrong here, just because it's not broken don't try to fix it. When you start a program, the CPU goes faster and gets hotter. Then the PC notices the extra speed isn't needed for that program and slows back down. Gaming makes more steady changes in heat than normal use.
We need more details from you. Please tell us about these things: CPU, Motherboard, RAM, Hard Drive or SSD, Graphics Card, Power Supply Unit, Operating System. Because of the upgrade, write down what changed with each part. What BIOS version do you have on that Z170 motherboard? Did thermal paste get applied correctly? How hot are your room air temperatures right now?
Here are the computer specs: The CPU is an Intel Core i7-7700k, and the motherboard is a Z170 X gaming board. There is no specific BIOS version listed. My RAM is Corsair's CMK16GX4M2A2666C16R Vengeance LPX, which holds 16 GB total (two sticks of 8 GB) using DDR4 storage. For speed and capacity, I added a Samsung EVO SSD that is 500GB in size, but I also have an older HDD from Seagate called BarraCuda with 2TB inside for extra space. The hard drive is a 3.5-inch internal SATA one that spins at 7200 revolutions per minute and has a storage speed of 6 gigabytes per second. My graphics card is the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1080, and I use an EVGA power supply rated at 650 watts for my needs. The operating system running on this PC is Windows 10 all.
The only thing I changed recently was swapping out my CPU cooler because it got too hot. I bought a new NZXT Kraken x62 fan that is very quiet and works really well. When I applied the thermal paste, I used Artic MX4 gel-based cooling paste. Although I don't know the exact temperature of my room right now, it is quite hot in the UK today since it is summer. However, because I have an air conditioner running most of the day, the room should be fairly cool otherwise.
It feels strange just like I said that when I play video games, the computer never gets hotter than 60 degrees Celsius (140 degrees Fahrenheit). But when I open a program like Chrome or Steam, it spikes up to about 66 degrees, and then suddenly drops back down to around 30-35 degrees.
I am not seeing any problems here. If something isn't broken, why fix it? When you launch a program, the CPU speed goes up and the temperature rises because the computer thinks the power used is too much for that task. Once the program finishes, the system slows down again to save energy. Regular PC usage usually stays at a steady load rather than spiking like gaming does.