Questionone core running hot
Questionone core running hot
I have a 9950x with an MSI Carbon motherboard and a nzxt 360 water cooler. At idle, all cores are around 20-30 degrees, but under load they rise to 40-50 degrees. One core stays hot, ranging from 60-85 degrees based on the workload. Is this something I need to be concerned about? The thermal paste I applied seems to have worked initially, but I'm thinking it might not have been applied properly and could benefit from a reapplication. I also noticed the CPU cooler only shows an average temperature of about 30 degrees, which didn't stand out until I checked the board's maximum current temperature. I used HWMonitor to check the actual readings.
Review your bios and check the CPU section. It seems the motherboard might have aggressive settings for PB (turbo) or even PBO (overclock) single core boost, which could cause the core to overheat if pushed beyond its stock limits. Have you confirmed that the same settings are consistently used? CPUs typically have their best and preferred cores, and the operating system assigns workloads to those cores—usually two.
Based on your activity or game, several apps may operate with just one main processor, which could cause issues when under heavy use.
You're welcome!
I tried disabling performance boost and game boost, but it's still running hot.
I also loaded each core with a load and they stayed around 90+ degrees — I'll need to adjust the settings to control temperatures.
It wouldn't affect gaming, but I run simulations for about a day at a time on all cores, so I'm worried about the heat.
The 9950X will reach 95°C in normal conditions, meaning restricting the CPU to 75°C could greatly reduce performance during intense usage.
I've tested my 7950X with all cores at temperatures in the high 80s to low 90s Centigrade for 36 hours straight while rendering 4K videos—perfectly functioning at over 170W.
Temperatures between 60 to 85°C are normal, still about 10°C below the 9950X's maximum heat output. In contrast, my older PhenomII X4 965 will fail if it surpasses its 60°C limit. Contemporary processors are built to handle higher temperatures safely. Intel CPUs can operate up to 100°C.