Thermal sensor issue i7-7700k?

[CK7]

I have a brand new build; EVERYTHING NEW. i7-7700k is running at stock speeds. I have the RAM set to XMP for DDR4-2666. Motherboard is Asus Maximus IX Hero Z270.

I have found that the i7-7700k reports a momentary (a second or less) temperature spike +25 > 35 degrees Celsius anytime a program is opened, a webpage is opened, a background app runs etc. The temperature blip cascades through the cores in random order; not the same every time. This causes my heatsink fan to constantly cycle up and down. Temperatures otherwise report as steady, normal increases. Peak temperature under Prime95 blend test is 71 degrees Celsius.

Attempted solutions:

I have re-installed my heatsink and thermal paste with no change.

I have tried to manually set my fan speed in the bios. The only setting that avoids this issue is setting the temperature / fan at a constant (and loud) 80-100%. I've tried PWM and DC mode.

I have found a few user reports elsewhere on the web, all reasoning that it's just the way it is. I don't accept that. Opening a folder or browser should not spike temps +30 degrees. Not only is the fan cycling annoying, it puts undue stress on my fan; possibly shortening its lifespan.

What's the answer, if any? RMA?

[MKans2]

Hello Jonemac! If u only notice the cpu jumps while looking at the numbers I wouldnt worry too much about it. If the temps stay under the allowed max while the cpu is stressed its fine. If, however, you are being annoyed by fan spins, I would suggest downloading speedfan and making a custom fan curve to get rid of this

[FComm]

Interesting enough because I was planning to build a new rig based on i7 7700 or i7 700k...but reading everywhere people saying that their CPU are spiking like crazies.

Am flabbergasted to see some customers using water rigs or even THE top of the line air cooling like Noctua D-15 having "heat spikes" while doing almost nothing with their i7 7700 -7700k while my old i7 920 never passed 57C even when I was video editing , photoshop'ing, 3D rendering or gaming and this with modest air cooling solution

As an engineer, i know a lot about thermodynamics and the long terms effects of heat spikes (especially repetitive ones) on any materials or systems........and how they shorten their lifespan

There is something about a lots of people all over saying the same thing -versus- a corporation that says the opposite (or nothing): the people are generally the ones who where right.

What other thing that makes me raise an eyebrow: having to make an investigation for such thing!? Don't you know how your CPU behave before launch? (and sell) Don't you have intensive QA? or did you simply rush this one before i9?

Am suspicious, so ill wait couples of months before buying and see where this thing goes. or go AMD.

[ASušt]

Intel has screwed up completely with this 7th gen CPUs.

And now sitting quiet, hoping that we will forgive them.

I think not a lot of people here are thinking about buying i9, especially after this 7700k $h!t issue.

I have spent a lot more on this PC than on any of the previous. And this one is the worst.

All this "pro/oc/extreme etc" stuff is just a waste of money.

[DA1]

while my old i7 920 never passed 57C even when I was video editing , photoshop'ing, 3D rendering or gaming and this with modest air cooling solution

This is not fair comparison.

i7-920 does not have AVX instruction set, but 7700K does even AVX2. This instructions very frying.

In addition, the 920 has a very low clock speed (compared to 7700k - there are 2.66 vs 4,20 base and 2,93 vs 4.50 in boost).

Third is die size: 263mm2 vs 122mm2 (which CPU is about half one, another half is GPU). The heat flux through IHS is much stronger. Even littlie issue with thermal interface will increase heating. No any cooling system can fix it, only delid.

In the fourth, on tiny process (45nm vs 14nm) we're have much notable positive feedback: as the temperature rises, currents leakage increase, which leads to a further temperature increase.

At the last is mobo overvoltaging.

[BNms]

Hi,

I did it, and it's crazy !!!

i7 7700K @4,8 GHz 1,30V

(All in C° Celsus)

HyperThreading ON + NON DELIDED

Core Temp => Average Mini rest : 33° | Average Max rest : 59°

Average Max CineBench R15 : 78° Average Max Prime95 : 93°

HyperThreading ON + DELIDED (with Thermal Grizzly Conductonaut)

Core Temp =>Average Min rest : 29° | Average Max rest : 51°

Average Max CineBench R15 : 59° Average Max Prime95 : 70°

A gain of -19° on CineBench R15 and -23° on Prime95 !!!

[ASušt]

What are you doing!!??

It's not recommended to delid or overclock!!!

Stop decreasing your CPU's temp!!! This may result in less money spent on cooling and longer CPU lifespan!

[JMcIl]

Okay, I guess I'm pretty rusty with hardware tweaking. I forgot the one guiding principle - only change one element at a time!

So I reset absolutely everything to 'Auto' apart from VCCPLL OC, which I left at 1.050V - and it still hung. So I've increased that up to 1.070V and it seems to be stable enough so far. Stable enough, in fact, for me to nudge the Vcore back down to 1.200V instead of the 1.250V the motherboard seems insistent on giving it...

So far, so good - but I'll report back with an update in the days ahead.

Thanks to all again for your help.

Regards,

John

[rkrie3]

In regard to the original topic:

In the last 2 days I built an i7-7700 based system that uses a Gigabyte GA-Z270-HD3 board and runs Windows 10, Home. I am using the stock cooling fan (see below for reasoning). The first thing I noticed was the high pitched whining of the fan as it wound up and then down again. Yikes.

Today, I installed Speccy and am now seeing that the CPU temp is spiking from 37º C to 52ºC during those noisy fan events, even with mundane tasks, or no activity at all. The fan naturally responds by revving up and down to satisfy this sudden cooling need. These episodes last only a few seconds each time, however...

My problem is that I built this computer for professional audio recording and I NEED it to be silent. So what's my solution if I can't have a noisy computer within range of my monitor speakers? Oddly enough, my previous audio PC build, which used an Intel 9400S with a stock CPU fan, was whisper quiet. In fact, it still runs silently to this day ( Win 7 system). This is why I didn't buy an aftermarket cooler right away — I was expecting the best outcome, not the worst. However, it seems that a new fan/cooler won't help me if this is actually a CPU issue.

I'm glad I found this thread — at least I know it's not an isolated problem. I'm joining in the chorus to say that I'm also being adversely affected by this seemingly common issue with 7th Gen Intel processors.

I may still send mine back — not I'm not sure what to exchange it for... Instead, I'd like to hear if there is a genuine fix for this yet. Anyone? Intel Moderators, what do you recommend I do?

[ASušt]

Anyone? Intel Moderators

I'd like to hear if there is a genuine fix for this yet.

No . (big period)

Nobody cares anymore about your (our) outdated CPUs.

I would send it back if I was in your place. Oh, if only I could....

[rkrie3]

Can anyone suggest what CPU to get in exchange if I send the i7-7700 back because of its noisy fan situation? I know that sounds so silly because normally you would say "get a new cooler" but apparently that is not the issue here.

Note, I'm not a gamer or an overclocker, just a "vanilla" basic install guy needing a more powerful and up to date processor for my audio production needs. As such, which processor would you suggest I look at as a replacement? Is it a matter of "ONLY SOME" 7700 series being noisy, while others are not? Or are they all inherently flawed because of a design problem?

Again, I've got a GA-Z270-HD3 1151 Gigabyte board, so I can use both generation 6 and 7 Intel processors. I bought the 7700 right now because it went down in price. DOH! Wish I'd found this forum first.

Intel Moderators? Any suggestions? Board members (sounds impressive when I say it that way, doesn't it?) your input is of great value to me as this noise issue is a new problem for me (although I once replaced a noisy power supply for the same reasons). I still have time to make returns on my purchases at this point. I don't see why I should be paying off my credit card on a purchase that does not work as advertised, or expected. That's just plain logic.

[AMads3]

Got my new rig up last week with relevant components being:

7700k cooled by NZXT x61 Kraken 280mm AIO

MSI Z270 M7

16GB DDR4 Corsair 3200 MHz

Temperature spikes during idle or trivial tasks are observed from baseline 30c up to 45c every so often.

Prime95 (v26.6 without AVX instructions) small FFTs the CPU reaches 75c within a second and stay there with AIO cooler fans at 100% for hours.

These temps are not very inviting to attempt overclocking.

My experiences + observations from reading this thread and others

• Even though you're on a stationary rig, Windows 10 Power options by default throttle and may reduce CPU clock speeds down to 800 mhz. Disabling this may rid you of some temp spiking, i.e having your 7700k run at it's set minimum (default 4,2 ghz) in idle/desktop.
• Liquid cooler AIO settings: I was fiddling with settings and ended up setting Pump RPM to max for all CPU temps, whereas Fan RPM is curved vs CPU temp. If you have this brand cooler and experience fan acceleration/deceleration noises with the 7700k temperature spikes, the NZXT CAM fan tuning software includes an option you can enable by one click called "hysterics" or something, which averages the CPU temp for the last ~5 secs when calculating what Fan RPM should be. Very useful feature if your fans are constantly spinning up/down due to millisecond cpu temp spikes.
• VCORE = heat. Auto VCORE BIOS: check to see if mobo is auto overclocking (>1.200V). Mine was and still is, according to HW Monitor the mobo is still modulating VCORE even though there is no reason to.
• Relation to RAM overclocking (XMP): My mobo set my RAM to run default at 2133 mhz, so I enabled XMP profile to get it to 3200 mhz. Keep in mind that Kaby Lake processors were never meant to be stable with >2400 mhz RAM, and this presses the internal memory controller (IMC) in the CPU. This may prompt the mobo to up the voltage on the CPU and generate heat. If you're experiencing high 7700k temps, try disabling XMP and check what difference it makes. I'm not clear on the priority here, whether CPU>RAM clock speeds should be favored in a tight temperature overclocking setup.

[jgary]

it seems its a issue underneath the i7 7700k lid shell where the TIM paste Was Poorly used

a recall to replace the i7 7700k cpus affected with new i7s made where the TIM is fixed

[jgary]

i ment if there was a recall of all the i7s affected to get a free replacement from a new built one that has that spike issue fixed

[jtayl16]

Hi im having same issues with my cpu just while browsing web my cpu is hitting 81c i have msi z270 gaming pro carbon /nzxt kraken x52 cooler

[TGrab1]

johnnybt wrote:

Hi im having same issues with my cpu just while browsing web my cpu is hitting 81c i have msi z270 gaming pro carbon /nzxt kraken x52 cooler

Hi Johnny,

If you are having temps hit 81c while just browsing the web then I would say you have something else going on here as well. Try to reseat your cpu heatsink. If you reseat it and the temps are still to high I would check your motherboard bios to make sure it is not overvolting your chip.

If you are still seeing those temps while browsing after doing both of the previously suggested steps then I would suggest contacting Intel for an RMA. While your temps are still within the limits of the chip.. to get that hot while just browsing leads me to believe you have a poor quality chip.

[rkrie3]

TGrable, this is not directed specifically at you, but more just a commentary on the troubleshooting approach that is generally being suggested.

The assumption, it would seem, is that the user is always doing something wrong. The last resort is blaming the CPU chip itself. This is pretty standard thinking in many business enterprises in dealing with customers. For example, when something is wrong with the phone service, the customer is always blamed first. Similarly, when Honey Bees began dying off, those companies that produced Nicotine-based poisons were quick to suggest that they should be last on the list of suspects — maybe the bees were becoming disoriented due to mites, a shift in the magnetic poles — or weather conditions caused by el Nino. You get my point.

However, this thread exists not because people are too incompetent to put on a cooler. Nor do I believe that the default settings on a functioning motherboard are at fault, at least not in my case.

I have been around computers now for 25 years. Mostly Apple computers. Their G4s HOWLED like vacuum cleaners. Customers had to deal with it. G5s were plagued with fans that suddenly revved to maximum speed and often required a full shut down as the software became inoperable. Again, customers had to deal with it. Here, the problem is that my fan is revving up noisily from initiating ANY task. Yesterday I was also seeing 20º C jumps during those tasks. My CPU and motherboard are not gaming pieces, they're pretty standard issue. I put my system together with great care — and even a wrist strap this time.

What troubles me is the lack of response from Intel. I know that there's no pride in admitting fault, but to let this fester for as long as it has can only do damage to the brand and loyalty of its customers. Unfortunately, there's not exactly a vast field of computer chip manufacturers from which we can democratically choose. Still, I use both Apple and Windows-based computers here. I have enough experience to know when a machine is acting out of character. I think we all do. And maybe that's the problem.

I think we're seeing a pretty clear pattern here of a defective product behavior that does not require us to distract ourselves further with adjustments and CPU reseatings, etc. I understand the logic of troubleshooting, but I think it's also logical to assume that we have found a manufacturing/design/quality issue that needs to be addressed and Intel's silence on the matter is deafening.

However, I would surely be grateful if anyone could suggest a correction to my default BIOS setting that can make my CPU temperatures stop spiking 20ºC from just moving my mouse or downloading an update. It's a GA-Z270-HD3. Are they known to ship with settings already over-volting the chip? No idea. I'm just an artist. (And full disclosure, I don't play computer games at all…).

[TGrab1]

Hi Rolandk,

So first it is always standard practice to try everything on the users end before blaming the hardware. You cannot know it is truly a hardware fault UNLESS you try all other options first.

Second, Intel has responded to this issue and most are just unhappy with the response. The spiking issue is not exactly an issue, but the way the architecture of these chips behaves. It tries to immediately shift from idle to full speed to complete a task as quickly as possible so this generate those 20c spikes you are referring to when opening a browser tab for example.

Now Intel did skimp on the TIM used and there are some quality issues around that aspect, but the major point here is that these chips are safe up till 100c. They were designed to withstand more heat that previous generations and as such the temps we have grown use to being alarmed by are now temps that are within reason for the chipset.

[rkrie3]

Hi TGrable. My issue is more with the noise of the fan. I haven't isolated it yet, but there's a high frequency whine inherent to the fan itself (which a replacement might solve). But, there's also the issue of the computer pushing that fan because of temperature spikes that I'm seeing which make no sense because they don't seem to be based in real world physics.

I'm seeing both RealTemp and Speccy readings quickly "flickering" between 40º0 C and 70ºC in under 100 milliseconds or so. Point is, IF the CPU IS that hot, then it can't cool down in under a second and then reheat 30ºC again in under a second, like a yo-yo.

It's a strange behavior that does not seem to be based on actual HEAT but perhaps the CPU sensor interpreting some activity and translating it into heat readings. Not sure if that makes sense…or if that's possible. Point is, I can't see the CPU chip bouncing back and forth 30ºC in temperature in under a second, and doing it for several seconds. That just seems like weird, unexpected behavior. And it makes for a noisy computer right now — at least with the stock Intel fan. (I think the thin metal blades are the source of the whining frequency.)

I'm doing some ambient sound testing between my old 9400S chip PC and this i7-7700. I'll be running identical software (except the 9400S is Win7), plugins, sampled instruments etc. and see how the 2009 technology holds up, sound wise, to the 2017 technology. Point is, I can't have a lot of noise around me, otherwise I'll think that the fan is part of the song.

Then again, maybe that's the new sound that everyone's after: Industrial-Fan.

[ARoss4]

Rolandk, just set BIOS values as I sayd. It will drastically reduces your temps and spikes.

[ARoss4]

I will explain you what you call the "yo-yo effect":

This kind of CPU reduces its multiplies to 8x, working in 45x-8x range. So frequency goes from 4500mhz to 800mhz. At same time voltages goes from 1.200v to 0.670v.

So what happens: when you are idling voltages and multiplier are really low, but when you open your browser vcore rises in 100milliseconds to his max value. This causes hot spikes.

Then voltages and multipier reduces againg, so you see temps lowering againg in some millisecond.

Usually spikes must be under 10° range, but motherboards overvolts the cpu, so vcore and cpu pll oc are higher then normal. CPU PLL OC is out of specs, and also your vcore goes over 1.200v, for example it goes from 0.670v to 1.320v, and it can cause 30/40° spikes.

Fixing BIOS settings as i sayd will drastically reduces temps and spikes.

Delid (changing termal paste between IHS and PCB with some liquid metal) will lower temps and spikes even more.

[jtayl16]

i have updated my bios and i haven't seen it jump past 50c all is good so far