causes of potential cpu oveheating and solutions

first off I figured I'd post this here so it doesn't get lost in the HO.
A little background recently I suffered a few bsods which I believe I have resolved. with the last bsod I grew concerned about cpu heat as I am currently going through a heatwave my room gets hot during the day with no real way to mitigate the heat I've taken to turning off my pc due to concerns of overheat and to try and reduce the temps in my room during this time.
with my rambling out of the way I will ask these questions to solve my problems and to gather info for others that may have similar issues.
what could be causing a cpu to overheat?
what are normal operating temps?
what solutions are there?
are the solutions cheap(dirt cheap)or free?

Possible Causes:
dusty heat sink
bad thermal past
improper heatsink mounting
bad or inadequate heatsink
overclocked cpu

Solutions:
clean dust
replace thermal paste
check heatsink for proper mounting
replace heatsink
replace/add case fan(s)
underclock cpu

I am personally and currently recommending artic mx 6 thermal paste and enermax brand heatpipe cpu heat sinks and artic brand case fans.
I am currently using all 3 and seeing huge improvements on my cpu temps about 100f degree difference.

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Originally Posted by Grouch

what solutions are there?
are the solutions cheap(dirt cheap)or free?

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Turn your computer off when it's hot out :trollface.jpg: But you're already doing that.

You don't still have a crappy stock cooling system, right? I swear they only include those because they assume everyone will replace them. A cheap whatever brand/size heat pipe works wonders. You can usually find one for $20 on Amazon. Last one I bought came with two fans when fans often cost $10 a pop.

Edit: Check out this piece of crap. $15, 92mm should fit in smaller cases.
https://www.amazon.com/ID-COOLING-SE...dp/B0CJY5LH65/

Or this enormous monstrosity with two 120mm fans for $28.
https://www.amazon.com/upHere-Cooler...dp/B0CRDX9F1V/

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Originally Posted by Ragnar

Turn your computer off when it's hot out :trollface.jpg: But you're already doing that.

You don't still have a crappy stock cooling system, right? I swear they only include those because they assume everyone will replace them. A cheap whatever brand/size heat pipe works wonders. You can usually find one for $20 on Amazon. Last one I bought came with two fans when fans often cost $10 a pop.

Edit: Check out this piece of crap. $15, 92mm should fit in smaller cases.
https://www.amazon.com/ID-COOLING-SE...dp/B0CJY5LH65/

Or this enormous monstrosity with two 120mm fans for $28.
https://www.amazon.com/upHere-Cooler...dp/B0CRDX9F1V/

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I probably do but it's been fine for a while. since I wrote my first post I had been looking into a new cpu cooler. the ones I seen on amazon have good prices but are being shipped from china and I don't have very good experience with that and it wouldn't do me much good to wait months to get a new cooling fan when it's summer now :wacko:
I was also thinking of getting another case fan but if I get one of these coolers I don't know if I could fit it in my case but I could replace my current case fan with a better one.
I have seen a couple pci slot fans are those any good?

Silly question, have you popped off the CPU cooler and changed the paste recently? Cause if it's 5-10 years old that's probably a good idea. If it's just a couple years old, it's fine.

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Originally Posted by Grouch

the ones I seen on amazon have good prices but are being shipped from china and I don't have very good experience with that and it wouldn't do me much good to wait months to get a new cooling fan when it's summer now :wacko:

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Oh yeah, always look if it's being shipped by Amazon. If it is it'll be at your door in a couple days, even when it's a weird 3rd party seller. Amazon just has those guys ship their stock to their warehouses, so all the fulfillment is done by Amazon locally. I can't really see the shipping options on .com cause it keeps telling me about the options to ship stuff to Canada...

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Originally Posted by Grouch

I was also thinking of getting another case fan but if I get one of these coolers I don't know if I could fit it in my case but I could replace my current case fan with a better one.
I have seen a couple pci slot fans are those any good?

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I can't imagine a PCI slot fan would be worthwhile. You just need a nice case exhaust fan, ideally with CPU and graphics cards fans directing their air towards it. And maybe a case inlet fan so there's a sensible flow through the case.

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Originally Posted by Ragnar

Silly question, have you popped off the CPU cooler and changed the paste recently? Cause if it's 5-10 years old that's probably a good idea. If it's just a couple years old, it's fine.


Oh yeah, always look if it's being shipped by Amazon. If it is it'll be at your door in a couple days, even when it's a weird 3rd party seller. Amazon just has those guys ship their stock to their warehouses, so all the fulfillment is done by Amazon locally. I can't really see the shipping options on .com cause it keeps telling me about the options to ship stuff to Canada...


I can't imagine a PCI slot fan would be worthwhile. You just need a nice case exhaust fan, ideally with CPU and graphics cards fans directing their air towards it. And maybe a case inlet fan so there's a sensible flow through the case.

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no the thermal paste isn't even a year old. I have a couple that I'm looking at on ebay. my gfx cards fan vents down toward my psu the psu fan vents out the back along with my one case fan. I have an external desk fan that I've been using to push air into the case.
the bitch with my case is I don't see a place to mount a fan on the the front but have two spots on the top.

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Originally Posted by Grouch

the bitch with my case is I don't see a place to mount a fan on the the front but have two spots on the top.

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Some cases just suck, but there's usually some point on the front. Is there an annoying plastic face over the front on the thing? Sometimes if you peel that plastic face open you discover a hidden fan attach point between the case and plastic.
Never liked top fans myself, I guess it makes sense to put a fan on the bottom to suck in and the top to vent. But in my experience the space under my PC gathers dust so it'd get plugged up, and I always put shit on top of my PCs so that'd block vents. In/front out/back makes the most sense IMO.

What temps is it hitting in use?

You could underclock during the summer and play less resource intensive games. Try using Throttlestop as software if hardware is not a solution in your case, Grouch.

https://www.techpowerup.com/278547/t...p-9-3-released

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Originally Posted by Ragnar

Some cases just suck, but there's usually some point on the front. Is there an annoying plastic face over the front on the thing? Sometimes if you peel that plastic face open you discover a hidden fan attach point between the case and plastic.
Never liked top fans myself, I guess it makes sense to put a fan on the bottom to suck in and the top to vent. But in my experience the space under my PC gathers dust so it'd get plugged up, and I always put shit on top of my PCs so that'd block vents. In/front out/back makes the most sense IMO.

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my case does have a plastic face plate with a dust filter and a dust screen behind it on the case there's no mounting spot on the front behind the screen but it could be possible to jerry rig a fan there the bigger problem would be if the cable is long enough to reach a power connector.

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Originally Posted by Slacker Magician

What temps is it hitting in use?

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it has been varying at idle it's been at 167f-175f sometimes in the 180's (when I say idle I mean I'm not doing much I currently have 2 folders open image viewer pj64 and my bt client) under load it's been at 208f that's when using my browser with only a couple tabs open.

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Originally Posted by Till

You could underclock during the summer and play less resource intensive games. Try using Throttlestop as software if hardware is not a solution in your case, Grouch.

https://www.techpowerup.com/278547/t...p-9-3-released

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that's an interesting solution. I have been avoiding playing any pc game lately as I've been messing around with snes and some n64 stuff

I did also want to ask about thermal paste. what is the best kind and brands to use? I believe I used artic silver when I put this together.

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Originally Posted by Grouch

I did also want to ask about thermal paste. what is the best kind and brands to use? I believe I used artic silver when I put this together.

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The best options include Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut for its excellent thermal conductivity, making it ideal for overclocking and high-performance builds; Arctic MX-5, known for its great performance, affordability, and ease of application; Noctua NT-H2, which provides a well-balanced upgrade from the popular NT-H1 with good thermal conductivity; Cooler Master MasterGel Maker Nano, featuring nano diamond particles for high-performance cooling; and Corsair XTM50, which offers reliable thermal performance at a balanced price point.

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Originally Posted by Till

The best options include Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut for its excellent thermal conductivity, making it ideal for overclocking and high-performance builds; Arctic MX-5, known for its great performance, affordability, and ease of application; Noctua NT-H2, which provides a well-balanced upgrade from the popular NT-H1 with good thermal conductivity; Cooler Master MasterGel Maker Nano, featuring nano diamond particles for high-performance cooling; and Corsair XTM50, which offers reliable thermal performance at a balanced price point.

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I did a little lookup artic mx-5 has been discontinued and replaced by the mx-6 line. currently thermal grizzly and artic mx-6 are the cheapest options.

Sounds like the cooler isn't making full contact. One of the prongs was damaged on the one I sent, double check that they're all through the holes, and the cooler is firmly mounted and locked.

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Originally Posted by Slacker Magician

Sounds like the cooler isn't making full contact. One of the prongs was damaged on the one I sent, double check that they're all through the holes, and the cooler is firmly mounted and locked.

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I did check that earlier this week one of them wasn't secured so I tightened it back down. I am planning on ordering a new heatsink and thermal paste next week. so I'm limiting my up time for now.

Sounds like a good plan. The stock cooler sucks but it shouldn't hit 90 - 100C on light loads or idle that hot.

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Originally Posted by Grouch

I did also want to ask about thermal paste. what is the best kind and brands to use? I believe I used artic silver when I put this together.

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Some years ago my brother bought like a 500 gram tub of "Cooler Master" thermal paste for like $20, it's for automotive use. Shortly after we were cleaning up one of our PC's and needed some new paste, he looked at his random tub which was still 90% full, and we slapped that stuff in there... There was no discernible change in temps from the fancy Arctic Silver whatever I was running before. We've slapped that random paste into a half dozen builds since with no issues.
My conclusion is all thermal paste is basically the same. Better kinds might only cause a change of like one degree. Proper application would be far more important than what kind it is.

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Originally Posted by Slacker Magician

Sounds like a good plan. The stock cooler sucks but it shouldn't hit 90 - 100C on light loads or idle that hot.

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Yeah that seems high. But not the end of the world if on heavy loads, a CPU is designed to take that. Modern CPUs will automatically throttle themselves if they run too hot... But you shouldn't ever hit throttling, assuming it's properly cooled.

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Originally Posted by Ragnar

Some years ago my brother bought like a 500 gram tub of "Cooler Master" thermal paste for like $20, it's for automotive use. Shortly after we were cleaning up one of our PC's and needed some new paste, he looked at his random tub which was still 90% full, and we slapped that stuff in there... There was no discernible change in temps from the fancy Arctic Silver whatever I was running before. We've slapped that random paste into a half dozen builds since with no issues.
My conclusion is all thermal paste is basically the same. Better kinds might only cause a change of like one degree. Proper application would be far more important than what kind it is.



Yeah that seems high. But not the end of the world if on heavy loads, a CPU is designed to take that. Modern CPUs will automatically throttle themselves if they run too hot... But you shouldn't ever hit throttling, assuming it's properly cooled.

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a little update after I shut it off for the day yesterday I checked the heatsink again and found one of the posts was loose so I think I might have accidentally loosened it the last time instead of tightening it as this morning my temps are lower by about 10 degrees there's no change in the outside temp it's about the same as this time yesterday morning.
I did a little looking on newegg yesterday the artic mx-6 line has a lot of overall positive reviews but the thermal grizzly has more overall reviews but lower overall score so from what I'm seeing it seems it's more about brand quality then the paste itself this was comparing the low cost suggested brands.
I think I'll go with the artic mx-6 because of the positive feedback and low price unless I can find something else that's cheaper but still has good reviews I am however seeing a lot of conflicting reviews as well so it's difficult to judge.
one of the heatsinks I'm looking at buying comes with it's own thermal paste but I'm not sure what kind it is so it may be worth using that instead of buying some or at least as a temp solution.

Paste might make a few degrees difference but another cooler should be much more effective.

Something like this, for example, should be a significant improvement: https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master...SoldByNewegg=1

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Originally Posted by Slacker Magician

Paste might make a few degrees difference but another cooler should be much more effective.

Something like this, for example, should be a significant improvement: https://www.newegg.com/cooler-master...SoldByNewegg=1

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I was looking at this one https://www.newegg.com/enermax-ets-n...82E16835214072

The CM is a couple bucks less with the promo code, either should work. Both are listed as compatible with LGA1150.

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Originally Posted by Slacker Magician

The CM is a couple bucks less with the promo code, either should work. Both are listed as compatible with LGA1150.

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the coolermaster has some pros over the enermax but I don't know about the fan clips that hold the fan to the radiator they don't look reliable.

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Originally Posted by Grouch

the coolermaster has some pros over the enermax but I don't know about the fan clips that hold the fan to the radiator they don't look reliable.

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Looking at those two, IMO the Cooler Master is better. Clips over screws for fan mounting. They're a bit springy, so they'd absorb a minute amount of vibration on a thing that may generate some. They aren't weak or anything like that.

Edit: Oh crap. Looked a little more at that second one and it isn't screwed onto the heatsink. It's screwed onto a weird plastic housing that snaps onto the heatsink, that's waaay worse.

Edit 2: Not to disparage it entirely, I'm sure it *works*. But metal springy clips over plastic clips

I guess if it's still available by thursday I'll get it. coolermaster is a better brand I really don't want or need the rgb crap though but that's a minor thing.

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Originally Posted by Grouch

I guess if it's still available by thursday I'll get it. coolermaster is a better brand I really don't want or need the rgb crap though but that's a minor thing.

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You might want to look into evaporative cooling for your computer room, can be done with household items and there are inexpensive products for sale.

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Originally Posted by Till

You might want to look into evaporative cooling for your computer room, can be done with household items and there are inexpensive products for sale.

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never heard of that before. is that like dehumidifying?

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Originally Posted by Grouch

never heard of that before. is that like dehumidifying?

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It's using physics to cool the air with water evaporation.

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Originally Posted by Till

It's using physics to cool the air with water evaporation.

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I will have to look into that as it sounds like it could be helpful in the summer this house sucks for heat retention in the summer my room in particular.
I haven't done too much looking as of yet but what would a good low price 120mm case fan be? I have looked at 2 or 3 one in particular I was looking at was scythe kaze flex 2.