Could my CPU be damaged?

So awhile back I spilled beer on my computer runing everything. I replaced most parts except the CPU, my SSD, HDD and DVD drive. Everything works great while just using non graphics intensive games like Diablo III. However, when I try to play something like Battlefield 4 it keeps chugging, so bad just getting to the menu is a pain. I checked my CPU temps and in BIOS it is good but in speed fan and core temp it shows core 0 and 1 as blazing hot.

I even tried adding fresh new thermal paste and making sure the heatsink is on well. Only thing I could think of is that I did damage my CPU but while it kinda works with just desktop stuff and lower graphical games it doesn't with heavy stuff, could that likely be the culprit?

Azureth said:

So awhile back I spilled beer on my computer runing everything. I replaced most parts except the CPU, my SSD, HDD and DVD drive. Everything works great while just using non graphics intensive games like Diablo III. However, when I try to play something like Battlefield 4 it keeps chugging, so bad just getting to the menu is a pain. I checked my CPU temps and in BIOS it is good but in speed fan and core temp it shows core 0 and 1 as blazing hot.

I even tried adding fresh new thermal paste and making sure the heatsink is on well. Only thing I could think of is that I did damage my CPU but while it kinda works with just desktop stuff and lower graphical games it doesn't with heavy stuff, could that likely be the culprit?

Click to expand...

Sounds more like you may have messed up something on the motherboard. The CPU itself would be hard to damage from liquid. And even then it would show more signs than GPU stuff.

Does your laptop have a dedicated GPU?

I am on my desktop.

Motherboard: MSI Z87-GD65
Processor: Intel Core i5-4670K
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 8GB (2 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1333 (PC3 10666)
Graphics Card: GTX 770
PSU: SeaSonic EVGA 600 B
Heatsink: stock
OS: W7 x64

Also, I am not sure if it matters or not but originally when I put my parts together my friend put the stock HS on but apparently not enough, when I booted it up it kept rebooting and I checked my BIOS and the temp was through the roof. I checked and saw that it was barely hanging on so my other friend removed it and we used a paper towel and cleaned off the paste that was on the CPU and the HS and bought some new thermal paste and he put some on and used a bag with his finger and evened it out.

Sounds like your computer is drunk.

Can you check the cpu in another system? Are you running the cpu stock speed?

I highly doubt the CPU was damaged from the beer. If it was it wouldn't make certain cores hotter either. What do the core temperatures reach?

I have used SpeedFan and Core Temp.

Speedfan: Core 0: 73 C, Core 1:69C.

CoreTemp: Core 0: 89C, Core 1: 84C, Core 2: 81C, Core 3: 81C.

All idle temps

Temps look pretty normal for a stock heatsink in a moderately ventilated case, especially since we don't know what ambient you're at. Either way, 8C spread between coldest and hottest isn't uncommon for haswell chips.

1: Get a better air cooler.
2: Make sure you use a high quality thermal paste, and you install it correctly.
3: Report back when you're done with updated numbers, and we'll reevaluate the situation.

mhenley said:

Temps look pretty normal for a stock heatsink in a moderately ventilated case, especially since we don't know what ambient you're at. Either way, 8C spread between coldest and hottest isn't uncommon for haswell chips.

1: Get a better air cooler.
2: Make sure you use a high quality thermal paste, and you install it correctly.
3: Report back when you're done with updated numbers, and we'll reevaluate the situation.

Click to expand...

Um what? the op says that the core temps are 80+ Celsius at IDLE, there is no way that is normal, throttling kicks in on my CPU at 90 Celsius and one of his cores is at 89C IDLE

That is not normal AT ALL, something is up with your temps. Back in the day CPU HSF came with a plastic piece to protect the thermal interface material, you are supposed to remove it before installing the HSF, make sure you don't have something like that between your HSF and your CPU.

I remember the last Thermalright HS I purchased had something like this to protect the finish on the bottom of the cooler.

Just a quick comparison for you, my mail server running an X3330 Xeon has an idle temp of 35-37C with a stock cooler.

>50C is not and has never been okay for an idle temp.

25-35C ideal idle, <50C usually fine, >50C not okay at idle

Deimos said:

Um what? the op says that the core temps are 80+ Celsius at IDLE, there is no way that is normal, throttling kicks in on my CPU at 90 Celsius and one of his cores is at 89C IDLE

That is not normal AT ALL, something is up with your temps. Back in the day CPU HSF came with a plastic piece to protect the thermal interface material, you are supposed to remove it before installing the HSF, make sure you don't have something like that between your HSF and your CPU.

I remember the last Thermalright HS I purchased had something like this to protect the finish on the bottom of the cooler.

Click to expand...

Trust me, I read his post right, and stand by my statements. With Haswell's known core->IHS gap issues and the pathetically small HSF they provide, it's almost impossible to get respectable results even in a high flow case. The mounting pins they use are incredibly weak and on more than one occasion don't hold the HSF like it should to the IHS. Considering the number of documented cases surrounding high temps, including those who reach throttle temps using the stock cooler, I am not surprised in the least.

Make no mistake, I did not say that those were ok temps, and if that were my system I would be downright scared to run it until I fixed the problem. The answer is a proper HSF with correct TIM usage and mounting, and then we can move onto other potential issues like ambient temps, voltage settings, etc...

Perhaps there is a background process stealing OP's cpu cycles (and heating cpu up), checked for malware recently?