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High Temps with Water cooling 7700k

TGrab1
New Contributor III
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So as the title says something is up with my 7700k. I installed a new 7700k a few weeks a go and immediately fired up both p95 and intel burn test. Almost instantly I saw my temps jump to the mid to high 70's at stock clock speed and voltages.

Thinking maybe I didn't apply the thermal paste perfect I removed cleaned and reapplied my water block trying a different paste (Artic Silver) Unfortunately the temps remained the same.

Thinking that maybe the problem was my 280mm radiator water loop being too small I decided to upgrade my system with another 280mm radiator.. So now I have a total of 560mm of rad space for JUST my cpu. To speak to the efficiency of this system my room temp averages 22-24C the loop at idle is sitting at 27-32C. I have checked the pump and flow is still good at a decent 1.5 gpm.

So with all that I booted up and did another p95 and intel burn test. Once again my temps jumped up into the 70's luckily they are in the 70-75 range now at least.

Now these are stock temps mind you at stock voltage. If i wanted to overclock the slightest bump in voltage will sky rocket me into the 80-90C range which I feel is unacceptable. I was running a 2600k at 4.8ghz for 5 years and the load temps on it were high 50's to low 60's on the same system with 1 less radiator.

So is the problem bad TiM between the CPU and Internal heat spreader? I see people claiming a 20-30c drop by replacing this, but I refuse to void my warranty and try something so risky. For the money these chips cost there is no reason my stock temps should be THIS bad expecially when my cooling solution should be overkill for the amount of heat this cpu produces. I am left to think that maybe the TIM under the IHS is either applied incorrectly or has a air bubble or something.

I am looking for possible solutions or even explanations to this issue. Once again for a chip that costs close to 400 bucks I would expect it to perform as it should. I do not feel this is a silicon Lottery issue, but an issues with the TiM itself used on these chips and the IHS.

Thanks,

Thomas

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idata
Employee
1,906 Views

Hello TGrable:

 

 

Thank you very much for providing that information.

 

 

To answer your question, when you overclocked the processor or change the clock frequency or voltage that may damage or reduce the useful life of the processor and other system components, and may reduce system stability and performance, so for the processor to get overheated is expected.

 

 

According to the specifications of the processor, it says that the processor can reach 100°C, so the fact that you get 70's or even 80-90°C is actually expected, here you have the link to confirm that information:

 

 

http://ark.intel.com/products/97129/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_50-GHz?q=Intel%C2%AE%20Core%E2%84%A2%20i7-7700K%20Processor%20(8M%20Cache,%20up%20to%204.50%20GHz) http://ark.intel.com/products/97129/Intel-Core-i7-7700K-Processor-8M-Cache-up-to-4_50-GHz?q=Intel%C2%AE%20Core%E2%84%A2%20i7-7700K%20Processor%20(8M%20Cache,%20up%20to%204.50%20GHz)

 

 

About replacing the heat spreader, you are right, please do not try that since you do have 3 years of warranty on the processor and that will avoid the warranty.

 

 

When the processor is overheating the PC will get freeze, it will start to throttling and eventually it will go off by itself, is your PC having those problems?

 

 

We do have a tool that does an overall test on the processor, including a temperature test, if the processor passed the test, it should be working fine:

 

 

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

 

 

Please run that tool and let us know the results.

 

 

Any further questions, please let me know.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Alberto

 

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TGrab1
New Contributor III
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Just because the thermal Maximum is 100c doesn't mean I should be remotely close to it. This post just makes me lose faith in intel who I have supported for 15+ years.

You are selling K line processors which are MEANT to be overclocked. So to release one that runs this hot which from reports seems to be due to the cheap TIM used on the IHS is just ludicrous. I am talking about temp at stock speeds mind you. I just replaced a 2600k which was running at 4.8ghz (pushing more voltage than this btw). That is a 26.5% Overclock!!

Yet the temps on it were mid 50's on the same stress tests with 1 less radiator!

So here is my next question. I am considering sending this chip back to intel for a full refund. If this is considered acceptable and you are happy with this type of product that is fine, but I will just return this chip and wait to see what AMD's new Ryzen has going for it. Which is saying a lot since I have been a diehard intel fanboy for most of my life.

Also I want to add, that same 2600k is sitting in another machine now which is using a measly hyper212 air cooler. It is running at a more modest 4.5ghz overclock (same as this chip) but despite all of that manages to be in the 65ish C range on these same stress tests.

So why is a 5 year old chip able to run at the same and/or higher clocks as your top of the line brand new chip... Yet it is also able to maintain much cooler temps even though the % overclock is pretty big.

Does that speak quality product to you? A 7700k that is hotter and slower (ghz) than a 5 year old chip?

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idata
Employee
1,906 Views

Hello TGrable:

 

 

To answer your question, the newer the processor the more and better features it supports, since the components being used around it are better and more demanding in regard to the processor performance, that can translate on temperatures being higher than on previous generations, specially if you are doing overclocking, besides the fact that every processor is and behaves different.

 

 

As long as the processor does not exceed the maximum temperature it should be working fine, specially if the PC doe not show the symptoms described above.

Now, going back to the issue I just wanted to check if the PC is getting freeze, throttling or if it went off by itself?

Also, this could be a defective unit, which in that case we can always replace it under warranty, but I need t let you know that once you get the new processor there is a chance the behaves the same way.

 

I sent you a private message, please check your inbox.

 

 

Any questions, please let me know.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Alberto
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idata
Employee
1,906 Views

Hello TGrable:

 

 

I just wanted to check if the information posted previously was useful for you and if you need further assistance on this matter?

 

 

Any questions, please let me know.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Alberto

 

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TGrab1
New Contributor III
1,906 Views

To be honest, NO it hasn't. Then again I do not expect intel to admin they release yet another line of cpu's with cheap TIM and with a inconsistent bead of silicon to secure the IHS that in return makes the temps overly high on most chips.

It seems the only solution to make this chip operate at a decent temperature is to delid it and supply a better TIM material. Which unfortunately intel voids the warranty for. I just find it amazing that these are the types of things we can expect from our so called leader of chips. I really hope AMD brings some competition to the table with their new line so that maybe your quality and performance gains will be forced to improve further.

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idata
Employee
1,906 Views

Hello TGrable:

 

 

Thank you very much for providing that information.

 

 

We are sorry to hear the problem persists, and just to let you know, Intel really appreciates and respects the comments, suggestions and feedbacks provided from all of our peers in our community.

 

 

So, I will send your opinion to the proper department so they can be aware of your feedback and suggestions.

 

 

If by any chance you need our assistance in the future, please do not hesitate in contact us again.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Alberto

 

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LSøre
Beginner
1,906 Views

I experience close to the same.

Yesterday I installed a brand new 7700k in an ASUS Maximus IX Code with NZXT water cooling with 2x140mm fans.

I experience idle temperarure between 45 and 60 degrees centigrade.

the average temperature is about 55 degrees.

I started to think there was something wrong with my installation of the cooler.

So I took them off, applied new thermal paste, and was very careful when attaching the cooler.

But it has not helped.

Have updated BIOS to see if it helped. but oh no.

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idata
Employee
1,906 Views

Hello TGrable:

 

 

Thank you very much to for providing the comments above.

 

 

As you mentioned before, this procedure is done at customer's own risk, and it will avoid the warranty on the processor.

 

 

And once again we apologize for any type of inconvenience you might have experienced using the Intel products.

 

 

To gulvballe:

 

 

I just wanted to let you know that we are currently running an investigation on how the temperatures behaves on the Intel® Kaby Lake processors, in order to verify the latest updates from our research please keep checking the following thread:

 

 

/message/450049# 450049 https://communities.intel.com/message/450049

But actually the temperature you are reporting is expected for this processor, when the processor is actually overheating it reaches 90 or 95, and the PC will start throttling, getting freeze and then it will go off by itself. So as long as your PC is not showing those symptoms, then it is not overheating.

 

Regards

 

 

Alberto
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TGrab1
New Contributor III
1,906 Views

Just a quick update and something to prove my point.

First I do not recommend anyone do this so if you do this is *at your own risk!*

Second it is a terrible shame that warranty is now gone for something that is basically not optional if you intend to overclock your cpu at all.

That all being said, I finally got my tool in and Delidded my CPU. Upon getting the lid off it was apparent that there were big air pockets between the DIE and IHS. There was a ton of TIM in there, but it did not do a good job of completely covering the die. One of the problem people pointed out before was that the silicon not being even would lead to problems too, but my silicon seemed to be applied very nicely.

So I cleaned off all the glue/silicon. Reapplied Liquid Ultra and then used RTV gasket Maker to reseal the IHS to the CHIP. So if you were to look at it you would not know it had been delidded in anyway. The area you would notice though is the temps.

Before even at clock speeds a stress test (p95) would instantly throw my chip in the high 70- low 80c range. This was absurd seeing my ambient temp was only about 22C and I am on a custom watercooling setup that should be overkill!

After the Delid my temps on that same test at stock dropped to mid 40's C!! We are talking 25-30C temp drop from just replacing the TIM used between DIE and IHS. I can overclock my cpu to 5.1ghz now and my temps are lower than they were at stock before! Why should this even be possible.

Intel skimped on the TIM used on these Processors and for the price of them I find this completely unacceptable. I find i unacceptable that users have to resort to warranty killing modifications to get these chips to perform at good temps and to reach acceptable levels.

Hell even the newest AMD chips Ryzen are soldered on. So Shame on you intel. Shame on you!

idata
Employee
1,906 Views

Hello TGrable:

 

 

I just wanted to check if by any chance you have further questions about this matter, and also as a reminder to please keep checking the thread provided previously in order to see a possible resolution for this problem.

 

 

Any questions, please let me know.

 

 

Regards

 

 

Alberto

 

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