New i9 10900K reaching hellish temperatures at stock settings and in idle state

[Darth_Shader]

I am having severe issues with my newly built desktop computer. Temperatures are reaching what I would regard as a hot day in hell.

I can add that I have been having other problems with this build although I can`t see how the issues would be connected. The other issue I encountered was that my RAM was not detected/deemed incompatible during post, this was despite that the RAM was listed as a qualified vendor for that specific motherboard. Anyway, some friendly folks at Kingston did provide another set and that solved the problem. I could then use the computer for two weeks before running into this issue.

The overheating started the day after doing some benchmarking/stress testing using Time Spy. I started my computer and it started throttling like crazy and making lots of noise (fans spinning wild) when I was working in Photoshop or Blender (can`t remember exactly). The computer became unresponsive and I could not close the program or do anything. The computer then shut down. After doing post I got the message CPU Fan Error. I entered BIOS and could see temperatures quickly reaching the high 90s degrees Celsius. I ensured that BIOS settings were set to default but it didn`t help. I checked that all fans were running, and they all were spinning. I turned off the computer and checked that all cables and screws where properly  connected and they were. I tried changing wich pins the AIO was connected to (AIO, CPU Fan, CPU Opt etc) with no success. Then I disconnected the CPU cooler which is an AIO water cooler: Fractal Design Prisma S36 Celsius+. I checked if there were irregularities in the pattern provided by the thermal paste, but could not see anything noteworthy. I removed the thermal paste from CPU and cooler using 95% isopropanol and a cloth. I then applied some fresh Arctic Silver MX-2 thermal paste evenly on the CPU and connected the AIO cooler to the CPU, ensuring it had proper pressure and mounting the screws in a criss-cross pattern. I started up my computer and got the CPU Fan Error message again. I also updated the motherboard BIOS but that did not help either.

I have reached out to Fractal Design since I notice a very small “dent” in the AIOs plate surface when I was removing the old thermal paste. Although, I would assume that this minor unevenness would be filled by thermal paste, after all it had been working for several weeks before and had remained untouched since I finished assembling my computer. I am still awaiting their reply though.

I now have run out of ideas for what to do so I would really appreciate any help/advice…Can it be a faulty CPU? Is it possible that it has something to do with the motherboard or PSU? It is really hard to test these things since I don’t have a compatible CPU cooler, motherboard or extra PSUs laying around. This issue is really bad since I need the computer for work and I already am lagging seriously behind my schedule because of this.

[Alberto_Sykes]

Darth_Shader, Thank you for posting in the Intel® Communities Support.

In order for us to provide the most accurate assistance on this topic, we just wanted to confirm a few details about your system:

What is the model of the motherboard?

What is the model of the power supply and what is the wattage of it?

What is the model of the memory RAM? Please provide, speed, voltage and quantity of sticks.

For how long have you been working with this computer?

Was it working fine before?

Did you make any recent hardware/software changes?

Which Windows* version are you using?

If the computer is booting to Windows*, please attach the SSU report so we can verify further details about the components in your platform, please check all the options in the report including the one that says “3rd party software logs”:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/25293/Intel-System-Support-Utility-for-Windows-?product=91600

Any questions, please let me know.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Darth_Shader]

Thanks for the reply!

Specs:

Motherboard - Asus ROG Maximus XII Hero (Wi-Fi)  Z490

PSU - Corsair HX1200i ATX 80+ Platinum, 1200W

RAM - Kingston Hyper X Fury 4 x 32 GB (128GB) 3200MHz, CL16, 1.2V, Product No. HX432C16FB3K4/128, Model No.9905734-129.A00G

Other hardware:

GPU - ASUS ROG Strix LC AMD Radeon RX 6900 XT OC Edition Gaming Graphics Card

Main storage - CORSAIR MP400 2TB M.2 PCI Express 3.0 x4 (NVMe)

Additional storage - CORSAIR MP400 2TB M.2 PCI Express 3.0 x4 (NVMe)

HDD - Seagate Expo HDD 8TB 256MB Cache 7200RPM ST8000DM0004

Case - Cooler Master Cosmos C700P

Operating System - Windows 10 Professional 64-bit

I have used the computer for a total of 2-3 weeks since I got it assembled in the middle/end of February this year. It seemed to work fine in those few weeks after I got the new RAM from Kingston. I haven`t done any hardware upgrades or anything else apart from what I described in my previous post.

I have not installed the support utility since I would have to disable all the BIOS warnings in order to boot. Temperature is rising extremely fast so I am not sure if running it in that state is a good idea. But if you think it should be safe to do so then I can try.

BR

[Alberto_Sykes]

Darth_Shader, You are very welcome, thank you very much for providing that information.

Just to let you know, as you mentioned, we always recommend to use the computer at stock configuration with the default BIOS settings.

The T-junction of the Intel® Core™ i9-10900K processor is 100°C, which means that any temperature value below that degree is considered normal and expected.

Also, the memory controller is located in the processor, so the processor is the one that indicates what type of memory RAM to use regardless of the specifications of the board. I can see that the memory RAM being used goes up to 3200Mhz, the processor works with DDR4-2933, so please make sure that the memory RAM speed in your system is not higher than 2933MHz:

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/199332/intel-core-i9-10900k-processor-20m-cache-up-to-5-30-ghz.html

When you boot into Windows*, is the computer throttling, getting freeze or going off by itself? Do you see any thermal warning messages?

The Intel® processor designed to do that, when it detects that the unit is getting overheating you will notice those symptoms, it has a feature to turn the computer off when it is getting overheated to avoid damage to other components and it will give you different warning messages in reference to thermal problems.

We do have a tool, the Intel® Processor Diagnostic Tool, that does an overall test on the unit, if it passes the test it means it is working properly, this tool works only once you boot into Windows*:

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

And also we have another Windows* application, the Intel® Extreme Tuning Utility that it will allow you to monitor the temperature in realtime to confirm if in fact the system is getting overheated, If you have the chance to boot into Windows*, please run those tools and let us know the results:

https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/29183/Intel-Extreme-Tuning-Utility-Intel-XTU-

Also, try to get in contact directly with ASUS to gather the instructions on how to do a BIOS update to the latest version to make sure that is the version currently installed:
https://www.asus.com/support/

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Darth_Shader]

Hi again,

I managed to run the tests and the results show that all tests were passed (see attachments). However, I am still having the same issues as before. So it seems the CPU, memory, PSU, and all the fans are working. Which leaves the motherboard and AIO as the only possible culprits? BIOS is up to date and I can feel cool air coming from the fans on the AIOs radiator.

Do you have any other suggestions?

Either way I am grateful for the service and swift response, I wish all manufacturers could be of similar responsiveness but alas…Still no response from either Fractal Design or Asus.

EDIT: I also managed to install XTU, and I will check the temperatures this evening and update this post when I have the numbers.

Also, the fans are running at full speed. I get the CPU fan error message each time I boot, but I am able to bypass the error by taking a detour in the bios and “manually” launching windows. Performance is pretty poor as it takes a while to do even simple stuff as opening a browser window. BIOS settings are set to default which means that the memory modules are running at only 2400MHz and XMP is disabled. Will do some tests now and report back.

BR

TESTRESULTS.TXT (8.99 KB)

[Darth_Shader]

I ran XTU this evening and temperatures on all cores seemed locked at 100 C. I have attached the monitor log and several screenshots of the readings. Appreciate if you could take a look! Thanks!

BR

GPU-Z Sensor Log.txt (20 KB)

MonitorLog2021-05-29_01-58-30-951.txt (250 KB)

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Darth_Shader, You are very welcome, thank you very much for providing that information, the report, and the screenshots.

Perfect, excellent, it is great to know that the Intel® Processor passed the Intel® PDT test because that lets us know that the unit is working properly and that there is no hardware problem with it.

After looking at the pictures, we can see that in fact, the temperature remains at 100°C, and even though it is a good sign that it is no passing that value, it is not good for the unit to stay at that temperature all the time, we can see also on the Intel® XTU pictures that where it says “Thermal Throttling” it shows yes, that might be the reason why the performance is poor.

So, we can confirm the Intel® Processor is working fine, but as you mentioned, “Which leaves the motherboard and AIO as the only possible culprits?” the problem could be related to the board or any other component such as HDD/SSD.

So, at this point, if you have the option, of course, we suggest either test your Intel® Processor on a different board or test your board with a different processor, this is mainly to rule out a possible hardware issue with the board itself. If you have the chance, test the computer with one memory stick at a time on different memory slots and also test the device with a different HDD/SSD, that will let us know for sure if the problem is related to one of those components.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

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

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Alberto_R_Intel]

Hello Darth_Shader, Since I have not heard back from you, we are closing the case, but if you have any additional questions, please post them on a new thread so we can further assist you with this matter.

Regards,

Albert R.

Intel Customer Support Technician