14600KF one core run very hot

Not sure if I should care, system is stable and has been for months running full load.

Got a 14600KF, bios is updated and in fact was before this CPU was installed since I went from a 12600KF on the same board. updated before the swap.

I'm running on water, heat killer 4 block. No overclock or increased power. Overall the CPU is doing just fine. full load all cores are generally around 70C, blips up in to low 80s and jumps back down.

Except core #3....yes it's a P core. for some reason this single core just makes an ass of itself. Normal full load temp is more like high 80s, was constantly jumping up to 100C and throttling.

In response, I limited the boost clock for that core from 5.3 GHz down to 5.1 GHz . I didn try undervolting but I found that this was a negative impact on the CPU as a whole. Would only boost to around 5Ghz. I also lowered the throttling limit to 90C for an extra safety margin. It's better. But it still routinely hits 90 and throttles.

What do you guys think? Any advice on settings I should be looking at? I have an MSI board for what it's worth.

I think that is normal behavior on a leaky chip, but that's just coming from someone who doesn't really understand how all this works.

You got a firecracker core which leaks a lot and goes brrr, so windows puts the most demanding tasks on it, they get done fast, and the core gets hot. The consequence is the other cores can't or don't need to go as fast, because the processor is hot and that core is handling the most demanding tasks.

Enjoy it while it lasts?

You could try repasting (which is about the only thing that might make a difference, imo), but I don't think it will help.

clean and repaste, with more paste. if its still like that, its just the way it is....

Could be uneven contact with the heatsink. Best to remove the heatsink, clean and repaste, and try again. If you don't have a contact frame, that might help.

pendragon1 said:

clean and repaste, with more paste. if its still like that, its just the way it is....

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Yeah that was one of the first things I tried...

Do you have a contact frame? It made a massive improvement for me with my 14600k. I repasted it several times and it was always hot. First try with contract frame and it fixed the issue.

Contact frames are a must have for LGA1700 CPUs. Prevents MB flex and excellent contact with the HS every time. If you haven't played with the core levels in the mainboard you can always adjust your voltage settings. However, what I was thinking is that there's typically one core (or more) that is "preferred" because it will clock higher than the others and it's likely that one is handling all your Single Thread operations. On paper the 14600k is superior to the 12600k in efficiency, however, it can pull just as much power if not more than it's 12th gen counterparts..

Also, make sure you are running the latest microcode. That should, in theory, resolve the majority of issues that plague the 13/14th gen parts with the Vmin shift issues. Could also be a big contributor to issues there. The 14600 also suffers from Vmin shift, that the entire list of issues the higher end parts do, but usually to a lesser degree.

bigdogchris said:

Do you have a contact frame? It made a massive improvement for me with my 14600k. I repasted it several times and it was always hot. First try with contract frame and it fixed the issue.

Click to expand...

I will absolutely look into this. Thanks.

Edit: quick search and I'm sold. Not difficult to install, but needs to be done carefully. A lot of us here have done some goofy computer stuff over the years. This is nothing. Potential to dump temps down hard. I'm so in. I'll report back as to how it goes.

Any brand recommendations?

I feel like this should be another thread (and may yet be) but here's my list of stupid stuff done in the name of better computing:

Voodoo3 attached a fan, cut and attached my own ram heatsinks out of old 386 aluminum heatsinks. OC to the moon.

Built my own water block out of a bar of copper with a drill press and a Dremel.

Took the heat spreader off an opteron 165 with a razor blade (classic). Same with an Intel 6600K with a 3d printed tool.

Soldered two variable resistors and test ports to two 7900 GTOs so I could overclock them harder. Had to use a multimeter to test the voltage. They were on water. One resistor for RAM the other for GPU.

THRESHIN said:

Any brand recommendations?

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I bought this one - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CXF16317?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title

The install is very easy.

bigdogchris Is correct, I have this exact one on both my rigs.

YMMV on the frame. For me it did absolutely nothing. But they are cheap and easy to install, so worth a shot.

Dreamerbydesign said:

YMMV on the frame. For me it did absolutely nothing. But they are cheap and easy to install, so worth a shot.

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It might not change your thermals, however, what it's supposed to do it what it does very well. It prevents your mainboard from flexing at the CPU contact points. This was more of an issue on 600 series motherboards but It certainly adds some much needed rigidity to the area around the CPU.

Have to agree with you, this may not solve his issue. But it will eliminate at least 2 potential issues from the list. Board flex and CPU contact uniformity.

thanks guys. hadn't followed things closely enough to be aware the the frame. It's cheap, i don't mind doing this and understand that it might or might not help. Like you guys i feel that it's at least worth a shot.

already ordered....i'll report back when i get it installed. never know, might work.

i completely forgot about those, didnt deal with 13/14th gen much. worst it will do is keep your board straight. worth a shot.

So for the bargain basement price of $20 CAD I got the plate installed.







Pretty and all, things fired up just fine.

But what we all came for is RESULTS!

Using core temp, x265 encoding load and FAH load. As I write this the worst temp is still that SOB core #3. It's also not exceeding 77C!

That's a huge improvement from throttling at 100C!

Still more testing to do, but THANK YOU! Silly little thing I didn't even know about.

I pretty much use a contact frame for all builds that need heavy cooling. Glad it helped!

El_Capitan said:

I pretty much use a contact frame for all builds that need heavy cooling. Glad it helped!

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i think i will from here on too. for what little it costs I see no reason not to. i don't find installing it scary in the least, easy stuff.

looks like after a few hours i had a momentary blip to 84C....oh noes. average temp is actually less than the others. far better than hitting to 100C ceiling.

but damn...looking at my own photos. my shit is dusty.

THRESHIN said:

i think i will from here on too. for what little it costs I see no reason not to. i don't find installing it scary in the least, easy stuff.

looks like after a few hours i had a momentary blip to 84C....oh noes. average temp is actually less than the others. far better than hitting to 100C ceiling.

but damn...looking at my own photos. my shit is dusty.

Click to expand...

Radiator dust build-up will also affect cooling. I like to put an air filter next to mine, but eventually dust will still get in. An air duster outside is the best solution, but sometimes I just have a vacuum pulling in the dust while I air dust on low.

THRESHIN said:

So for the bargain basement price of $20 CAD I got the plate installed.

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Pretty and all, things fired up just fine.

But what we all came for is RESULTS!

Using core temp, x265 encoding load and FAH load. As I write this the worst temp is still that SOB core #3. It's also not exceeding 77C!

That's a huge improvement from throttling at 100C!

Still more testing to do, but THANK YOU! Silly little thing I didn't even know about.

Click to expand...

The contact frames aren't magic, they just tend to force your colling to have a better contact surface and prevent any flexing of the mainboard around the CPU. I haven't really taken a microscope to my core behavior on my 14700K, however, I do know that 14th gen tends to run hotter than even 13th Gen. You're looking at nearly the same architecture with minor improvements, pushed HARD-er and harder with each iteration after 12th. Whereas 12th Gen had some hard limits in place 13th and 14th kinda took the brakes off and in a manner of speaking, cut some corners that ended up biting them in the ass in the short term. You don't see 12th gen deteriorate like 13th or 14th gen parts do/ did.

It's not uncommon to have a better binned core on the 14th gen parts that draws more juice, performs slightly better and cooks heat wise.
The beauty of 13/14th gen parts is the "new" 5 year ish warranty on boxed CPUs. All due to the Vmin shift issues. But you gotta tweak em even after all the microcode mitigations from Intel. Well, at least IMO you should tweak the voltages and try to undervolt em to get them to run cooler and "hopefully" maintain a higher sustained frequency.

Also, while water cooling is preferred method of cooling these power hungry beasts... once your liquid gets hot it remains hot. It's harder to cool liquid once it's temperature is saturated. I am no scientist like some of the guys on here. However, some liquid cooling setups will perform worse than their air cooled tower counterparts.

Here's a quick google search on the matter:

Liquid coolers have high thermal inertia. This means that while water takes longer to absorb heat than metal fins, it also takes much longer to cool down once it gets hot. Once heat soaks into the fluid, the radiator fans must work consistently to reject that heat out of the system.

The Mechanics of Thermal Inertia
The primary reason liquid cooling takes longer to cool down comes down to specific heat capacity and mass.

• Heat Soak: Water absorbs large amounts of heat before its temperature rises significantly. However, once the entire loop (the liquid, copper block, and aluminum radiator) reaches a high equilibrium temperature, it acts as a massive thermal battery.
• Energy Transfer Rate: Dissipating that heat requires the radiator fans to push the heat outward. If the heat is generated faster than the fans and radiator can exhaust it, the water temperature will continue to rise.
• The Airflow Difference: Unlike air coolers which transfer heat directly to the air almost instantly, liquid cooling relies on a multi-step process: CPU → Copper Block → Liquid → Radiator Fins → Air.

How to Speed Up the Cooling Process
If you feel your liquid cooler is staying hot for too long after a heavy gaming session or heavy workload, you can tweak a few settings to improve the cool-down time:

• Optimize Fan Curves: Adjust your cooler's fan curve in your motherboard's BIOS or via manufacturer software (like Corsair iCUE or NZXT CAM). Set the fans to ramp up aggressively once the liquid reaches a specific temperature to force that heat out of the radiator quicker. [
• Set Pump Speed to Constant: Ensure your liquid pump is running at a constant speed (usually 100% or above 2,000 RPM). Running the pump slowly when the system is hot prevents the coolant from circulating through the radiator efficiently.
• Check Intake vs. Exhaust: Make sure your liquid radiator is receiving fresh, cool air from the outside of the case. If it is mounted as an exhaust, it is dumping the case's ambient hot air through the radiator, making it much harder to cool down the coolant.
• Inspect for Blockages: If the cool-down time is drastically long or your idle temperatures are very high, you may have a failing pump or air bubbles trapped in the CPU block.

SO, cleaning your rig will help.

Make sure you have the latest microcode (something I also need to do as well).. update your BIOS.

You can undervolt slightly, though it takes some trial and error to get it dialed in with out crashing. As per Google: Undervolting your CPU safely reduces operating temperatures, lowers power draw, and minimizes fan noise without sacrificing performance

fwiw, it's harder to cool water than metal, but it's not harder to cool hot water than cool water. As long as your radiator and fans are sufficient, you should never run into overheat conditions.

Even if they aren't quite enough, if you don't run cpu heavy tasks constantly it can be okay because of how much thermal mass is in a water system. But in this state, once it heats up it will never cool down while under load.