CPU SPIKING i9-14900k

[Jrose143]

I recently upgraded my PC from a Z890 MSI Carbon Wifi MB / Ultra 9 285k CPU

to a ROG Maximus Dark Hero Z790 / I9-14900K 

the Cooler is a Kraken 360 Elite triple 120mm 

GPU is RTX 4080

Before upgrading I had tempatures around 44-72 degrees when i would go under load and gaming and had no issues. I wasn't a fan of the 285k so i wanted to switch to a 14900. Now that i have switched my tempatures spike from 35 to 55 then back to 38 while under MINIMAL load. When i go to boot up a game it spikes to 90+ and then immediately back down to 65 range and will fluctuate between 65-85 back and forth. I have checked to make sure everything is seated properly and i applied the adaquate amount of thermal paste, my voltage is maximum of 1.421 and my fans are on CUSTOM high. 

I can feel the AIO working properly and have updated my BIOS to the latest version as well. 

any ideas as to what is causing these CPU spikes? 

[PC1997]

The Intel Core Ultra 9 285K uses considerably less power than the 14900K. The 285K is built using TSMC's 3 nm (CPU cores), and the 14900K is built using Intel 7 node (10 nm).

First, the temperature spikes you see during and after booting up your PC are completely normal. These temperature spikes are due to a combination of turbo boost and thermal velocity boost. Thermal velocity boost is designed to take advantage of thermal headroom (if any) and will intentionally boost the frequency of your cpu all the way up to 100°C. Now if your cpu cooler is superior enough, the CPU will boost to its maximum multiplier frequency and stay under 100C.

Second, you need not worry about temperature - think of it like the redline of a car engine. Whether you have poor cooling or excellent cooling, the CPU is never going to overheat to the point of damaging itself. It's simply the maximum allowed operating temperature. So the reason we want good cooling is so we can take advantage of the maximum frequency (performance) the CPU has to offer. Obviously how the cpu cooler is mounted, thermal paste quality and application, plus case air flow and fan configuration, combined with room air temperature, affect the performance of the cooler. Pump speed also - which should be set to 100% at all times. You can set your fan curve however you like, but obviously more airflow is better.

And finally, make sure you're running the latest microcode with 'Intel Default' power plan settings in your BIOS. Also run the balanced power plan in Windows 11 control panel settings, and if you'd like, go into system settings > set it from balance to performance. The control panel power plan will still say balanced, it is a subsetting within the system settings of Windows.

Note: the maximum operating temperature of the CPU is just that - how much power (current) you can safely run through the CPU for the same 100C maximum operating temperature determines both performance— AND, if run outside of spec, aka overclocking, then potentially cause degradation. All the problems you've been reading about are due to past microcode and motherboard vendors running power plans far outside of specifications, which caused them to degrade. So as long as you have the latest microcode and the proper power plan set within the BIOS, you literally do not have to worry about temperature. Again, you just need good cooling to take advantage of the performance Raptor Lake has to offer.

I'm not an Intel representative or employee, just an enthusiast like yourself.