i7-4790k temp problems, stock cooler temps?

[SYu14]

I was wondering if I can get some information on what range the stock i7-4790k cooler is suppose to provide. I currently have 2 machines with i7-4790k both purchased in different months both from Newegg. The one I seem to be having problems with is the first CPU. The temperature with stock cooler is: 91c 86c 88c 85c vs the other i7-4790k purchased in November with the stock cooler 79c 82c 78c 76c. The first CPU was purchased the month the i7-4790k was released and the second was on black friday in November.

TL;DR version

1. Motherboard is a MSI Z97-G55 SLI with latest Bios with Broadwell support

2. Memory is set to 1600 Mhz default speed not XMP

3. Cores are set manually to 44x 44x 43x 42x

4. CPU voltage is set to offset - 0.040 any higher will cause the computer to blue screen due to low voltage

5. CPU Z shows 4200 Mhz @ 1.125v when all cores are active any lower voltage causes instability and bluescreen

6. Running Intel Extreme Utilities with the settings shown in the picture causes the computer to instantly bluescreen

7. Heatsink was removed, cleaned and applied with Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste.

8. Case vents were checked and CPU mount was double checked to make sure everything was snugged.

9. Yes I did read the other topic, but some used after market coolers. I wanted to know what stock coolers is suppose to average around

Before I attempt an RMA request, does anyone have an idea what the temperatures the stock cooler is suppose to average in between? Note: Not overclock temps, we brought the K version because of the 4.0Ghz default clock speed which should be good enough for us not to touch for a while. If I RMA I want to make sure the new CPU will fall between Intel acceptable temps. I think low 80's or upper 70's is fine, but that is just what I think but don't know if that is considered "normal"

The story:

After reading the huge topic on the i7-4790k overheating thread I decided to look into the i7-machines we just built recently to see if we had that problem. Instead of running applications like Prime95 or Intel burn test which is unrealistic to me. I decided to run Cinebench R11.5 and Wprime 1024 calculate. The one I have purchased in November came out to upper 70's low 80's temp which I thought was reasonable for a stock cooler. Voltage was showing about 1.10v for CPU-Z.

I decided to ask my brother if he was experiencing overheating problems, at first he said No but recently he said Yes because while playing a game Guild Wars 2 in a heavy populated area he received a message from Core Temp that a processor was hot. The CPU was hitting 100c and throttling. Apparently single threaded or few multithreaded games it was hot but did not hit the limit. Games that utilizes all 4 cores and 8 threads is when he started to notice the problem. I took the weekend looking at his computer and discovered the first problem was his Bios was outdated. The i7-4790k was showing TSX instruction. I updated his Bios and ran Cinebench and Wprime and found that the motherboard was running at 4.2 Ghz on all 4 cores but using 1.250v! I thought I found the reason why it throttle.. To much voltage!

I install Intel Extreme utility and put in the settings shown, but when I hit applied the computer instantly blue screen on me. I went into the Bios and began to manually entering things like manual core ratios and performance per core. In the CPU voltage section I began to offset - voltage. The good one in November had an offset of - 0.025v I started with that. I rebooted and reran Cinebench and Wprime to find that it still hit 100c but it took a bit longer to instead of almost instantly. I then raised it to - 0.030v and it booted and ran got the CPU not to hit 100c but the cores were all at 96 - 98c. At offset - 0.035 I managed to get it into the low 90's but still over 90c . I have currently offset - 0.040 and it still touches low 90 on the first core the rest are in the high 80's. If I try to raise the offset to get the voltage higher I would get bluescreen.

I decided to next check the case fans and to remove the intel heatsink, clean it and apply some new thermal paste. I used Arctic silver 5 and reinstall everything. The only thing it did was drop the temps by 1c that was it. The temps are still upper 80's near 90's. I then took a tower fan and left the side case open to manually force air into the side of the computer... That did 0 in terms of temperature changes.

Does that mean my brothers i7-4790k the one purchased the month it was release is a problem CPU or is the temps considered normal for Intel stock heatsinks? These computers are suppose to replace our "out dated" computers which were Pentium 4 3.2Ghz w HT Prescott CPU with 3 GB of DDR2 memory. We only decided to finally upgrade thanks to EOL support for Windows XP and didn't think Windows 7 / 8 / 10 would be any good with single core machines. The LGA 775 board was an early board so did not support Core2Duo... Both our power supplies are Bronze certified. His power supply is a Cooler Master GX II 750w power supply.

Having CPU temps constantly reaching upper 80's and 90's is bad, I should know I had a Toshiba A665-S6065 that died in 3 years because the CPU temps were always hitting 100c and throttling when I was playing games that supported multithreading.. I don't know if the CPU died or if the motherboard died.. The CPU was an i7-720QM running windows 7 ultimate... I miss that laptop.

[Hans_B_Intel]

Hello Simon26501,

Regarding your question as to what range the stock cooler should provide, there is no specific range for this, there is only the Tcase which is 74.04°C and this is the max temperature that needs to be dissipated by the fan. Regarding the temperatures, in most of the cases that high temperatures have been reported, these have been due to the motherboard settings; mainly core voltage is usually set too high or some other features of the board are causing some kind of over clocking.

Please check the following thread, here you will some suggestions that will help you find the proper settings:

https://communities.intel.com/message/260210# 260210 https://communities.intel.com/message/260210# 260210

[SYu14]

Hi, thanks for getting back to me.

I already sent in a RMA request and got a number for the 1st processor. The I can't get below 90c. I plan to go to UPS to send it back for them to test and send another CPU to us or they fix whatever was causing the overheating problem. Unfortunately I don't know how long it will take for them to receive it, test and send it back.The second one I believe is ok as only 1 core exceeds lower 80c the rest are in the upper 70's.

I did read that article and when I hit applied with the highlighted settings shown in the picture it Blue Screen of Death on me instantly. Yes originally I found the motherboard to provide to much voltage to the CPU with its stock settings and began to lower it. The default setting was trying to run the CPU at 4.2Ghz with 1.250v, why did MSI decide this was a good voltage I don't know. I began to lower and set the voltages manually and got it from instantly hitting 100c under full load, to hitting 100c under a full load for a few seconds, to hitting 90c with the lowest voltage I can set. If I try to set a lower voltage the computer would be unstable and blue screen on me. The lowest I could get the CPU voltage down to was 1.125v @ 4.2Ghz(4 cores active) if I try to lower it any more to 1.120v it would blue screen on me because it was unstable.( when you sign in from the login screen the computer would blue screen while loading stuff to get the computer ready)

I did swap the CPU from one motherboard to another and I found the "good" CPU to perform basically the same minus the cure time for the thermal paste for the temperature readings. When I first turned the computer on the BIOS reset everything but was running the last known settings 1.125v @ 4.2Ghz. I lowered it to 1.110v and it didn't crash. The better i7-4790k I have runs 4.2Ghz @ 1.110v on both motherboards without complaining. When I installed the questionable CPU onto the other motherboard I did get it down to 1.121v but still had the overheating problem.

Where I live there is no decent computer store and I was planning on getting a Pentium g3258 20th anniversary edition since it is only $70 and my brothers computer the one with the problem. I was hoping to have something to keep it up and running that wouldn't cost so much. The only nearby computer store around where we live is Best Buy and I think they only carry i5-4690k and i7-4790k, so I guess I have to tell my brother to be patient and hope for the best. The compUSA closed up many years ago and the nearest other computer store is a Microcenter is an hour and a half drive away in Cambridge, MA

The high temp CPU:

MSI Z97-G55

Team Elite 1600 Mhz DDR3 RAM CL-9

Cooler Master GX II 750W Bronze power supply

The good CPU:

Asus Z97-A

Team Elite 1600 Mhz DDR3 RAM CL-9

Rosewill Hive 750W Bronze power supply