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CPU temperature question

J

jonwil

n00b
Joined
Dec 29, 2014
Messages
45
I have a Core i5-9400F with the stock Intel cooler, ASUS Prime B365M-A motherboard and stock BIOS settings for everything (memory speeds, CPU settings etc).
According to HWMonitor it hit 100% max utilization across the 6 cores with a max clock speed of 3994 MHz and and a max temperature of 100C. Is this a sign that it was thermally throttling?
Is this dangerous to my system?
Could this indicate something is wrong with my PC (e.g. old thermal paste not working as well as it should, too much dust clogging up the CPU cooler etc) or is this normal for a 9400F?
 
Yea you are very likely thermal throttling. Will it hurt the CPu? Not really but it will throttle more and more over time. I would check and replace the thermal paste.
 
jonwil said:
Could this indicate something is wrong with my PC (e.g. old thermal paste not working as well as it should, too much dust clogging up the CPU cooler etc) or is this normal for a 9400F?
Click to expand...

That could very well be the case... How long ago was it you installed the stock Intel cooler? Paste could be dried up and pushed out as well...
 
You might also want to check the power limits in the BIOS. I have no idea about that specific board, but it's common for boards to default them to "off". I ran into this with an i7-10700 a few years ago doing a build for my dad. Fired up Prime95 to do a stability test and boom, 100C thermal throttle. All that said if PL1 is defaulted to 65W you have a cooling problem. Check your rig for dust & broken fans and repaste if that doesn't fix it.

Generally speaking you want to tune power limits to whatever your cooling can handle. If it starts throttling clock speed will drop for a bit, then go back up after it cools off a bit. Then you get janky behavior, stuttering & slowdowns in games, etc. Better to set the limit so it doesn't overheat. I did this by running a Prime95 on all cores/threads with AVX enabled using different PL1 settings.

To check or set the power limits, go into the BIOS and find the power limit settings. There should be 3 of them - PL1, PL1 time and PL2. PL1 is the long term average - what your cooling can handle. PL1 time is how long the CPU is allowed to exceed PL1. PL2 is the short term turbo boost power limit, so the CPU can run at up to PL2 for PL1 time seconds. On a 9400F stock settings are 65W PL1, 28s PL1 time and PL2 = PL1 * 1.25 = 81.25W. Aftermarket coolers will allow you to crank these up quite a bit and probably run with power limits off on a 9400F, but stock is a good place to start testing with an Intel stock cooler.
 
Yes you are thermal throttling. First thing I would check is to see if the CPU cooler fan has failed. Have your idle temps also gone up?
 
The fans are all spinning. I bought the CPU in January of 2020 (before the whole world went pear shaped) and I don't think the cooler has been taken off since then so yeah it probably is a case of "old thermal paste" and its time to change it (and get rid of any dust from the machine at the same time).
 
jonwil said:
I have a Core i5-9400F with the stock Intel cooler, ASUS Prime B365M-A motherboard and stock BIOS settings for everything (memory speeds, CPU settings etc).
According to HWMonitor it hit 100% max utilization across the 6 cores with a max clock speed of 3994 MHz and and a max temperature of 100C. Is this a sign that it was thermally throttling?
Is this dangerous to my system?
Could this indicate something is wrong with my PC (e.g. old thermal paste not working as well as it should, too much dust clogging up the CPU cooler etc) or is this normal for a 9400F?
Click to expand...
The Intel stock cooler is inadequate. I suggest replacing it.

Here is a very good cooler, for low cost:

https://www.amazon.com/Thermalrlght...865636&sprefix=thermalright+si,aps,194&sr=8-5
 
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jonwil said:
The fans are all spinning. I bought the CPU in January of 2020 (before the whole world went pear shaped) and I don't think the cooler has been taken off since then so yeah it probably is a case of "old thermal paste" and its time to change it (and get rid of any dust from the machine at the same time).
Click to expand...
if you know this, do it, no need to ask us....
 
jonwil said:
The fans are all spinning. I bought the CPU in January of 2020 (before the whole world went pear shaped) and I don't think the cooler has been taken off since then so yeah it probably is a case of "old thermal paste" and its time to change it (and get rid of any dust from the machine at the same time).
Click to expand...

Seems odd but worth a try.
 
 
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Small update here, a few months ago I replaced the thermal paste with some Noctua stuff and that seemed to help a little bit but then yesterday I rebooted to try and fix an internet issue and got dumped into the BIOS with a "CPU temperature error". Turned off the machine, opened it up and it turns out some of the plastic things holding the stock cooler in place had broken and the CPU cooler was not making complete contact and that was causing my issues. Bought a Silverstone KR03 tower cooler (the cheapest option I could find at the one shop that I could get to on Easter Saturday that was open) and now my system is running great with no thermal throttling even under load.
 
I know the OP solved his issues, but I just want to chime in here for anyone who runs across this thread. People have a tendency to "diagnose" the most severe and unlikely things as causes for the issues people post about any rarely are these far fetched or edge case scenarios the case. This thread has some good examples of it.

You guys know thermal paste can last a decade or more right? Most of it does. Yes there are pastes that don't (some by design) but generally it isn't a problem. The stock Intel cooler actually uses decent paste. A lot of times the retention mechanisms leave a lot to be desired and if one of those corners comes up that's all it takes to make your temps suck ass. Beyond that, the cooler is inadequate in situations where the case has improper ventilation or the entire system sits in a $99 Wal-Mart desk in an enclosed cabinet. This kind of thing is super common as I've seen many a thread where people post their $6,000 computer and monitor combo with hundreds of dollars in peripherals all sitting atop a $99 Wal-Mart desk.

There are a lot of reasons his temps might suck that are all infinitely more likely than dried thermal paste.
 
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