Intel Core i7 8700 CPU Overheating.

[syednizamudeen]

Hi,

Mine is an Aug 2019 build

Intel Core i7-8700
ASUS Prime B360M-A Mobo
Gigabyte RTX 2060 Super Winforce OC Dual
Gskill 2 x 8 GB DDR 4 RAM kit
Corsair VS550 PSU

My cpu cooler is Noctua Nh-u9S. My GPU isn't overclocked, I primarily use my pc as HTPC, photo editing (Capture One & Photoshop) and light usage of Handbrake to encode videos and game occasionally.


My GPU temps seems quite normal while gaming (Horizon Forbidden West). It's between 65 to 75 c max.

But, my CPU temps get to 80 c and above while the game loads (shader compilation) and in few parts of the game during gameplay. But, the temps drop to 65-70 c in a matter of seconds though and stays there for most of the time.

The PC even restarts sometimes while playing this game as the cpu temp is probably reaching its maximum 100c.

My PC even crashed once while I was working on a small project on Photoshop just with 4 layers.

I tried repasting the cpu and the cooler once with a new noctua Nh-t1 thermal plaste and the problem still occurs. But, rarely.

My cpu doesn't drop clocks in the game even though it's reaching higher temperature.

I tried stress testing with Intel Xtreme Utility app for 10 minutes. It passed even though the temps reached to 85c. But, my pc couldn't complete stress tests with AVX and AVX2 instruction set and restarts abruptly.

I understand I have cheaped out with a bad PSU and a cheap motherboard to begin with. My idle cpu temps are 35-45c on average.

I think my Noctua U9S is plenty enough for my CPU. I didn't stress test with the XTU app when I first built the PC on 2019. Is it my PSU or my Mobo causing my cpu to overheat?? But, my GPU doesn't seem to be affected.

My case has two intake 120mm fans from the front and one 120 mm fan for exhaust.

Please help.

[emitfudd]

It's not your PC. It's the game. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. I am having CPU temp spikes up to 85C with a 360mm AIO cooler. This is the only game that I have ever played that got that high. You can search for other posts about high CPU temps including mine. It's a mystery why certain areas of the map cause high CPU temps. I even did a test and after ending up in a specific spot on the map where my temp went to 85C I exited the game. Turned down my FPS limit from 160 to 60. Made zero difference. Turned down my settings from ultra to very low. Again, no difference. Tried reloading the game 4 times and each time it would spawn me at a nearby campfire. Normal temps. The moment I went back to the exact same spot it went up to 85C.

There are a lot of posts about this issue and it's obvious whatever is causing it will never be fixed.

My best advice, if you end up in a hot spot on the map just finish your business there as quick as possible and move on.

My GPU temps are also nice and cool so this game is definitely CPU heavy. Seems they could have done a better job. HZD didn't have this issue.

[syednizamudeen]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

It's not your PC. It's the game. Don't let anybody tell you otherwise. I am having CPU temp spikes up to 85C with a 360mm AIO cooler. This is the only game that I have ever played that got that high. You can search for other posts about high CPU temps including mine. It's a mystery why certain areas of the map cause high CPU temps. I even did a test and after ending up in a specific spot on the map where my temp went to 85C I exited the game. Turned down my FPS limit from 160 to 60. Made zero difference. Turned down my settings from ultra to very low. Again, no difference. Tried reloading the game 4 times and each time it would spawn me at a nearby campfire. Normal temps. The moment I went back to the exact same spot it went up to 85C.

There are a lot of posts about this issue and it's obvious whatever is causing it will never be fixed.

My best advice, if you end up in a hot spot on the map just finish your business there as quick as possible and move on.

My GPU temps are also nice and cool so this game is definitely CPU heavy. Seems they could have done a better job. HZD didn't have this issue.

Many thanks for your time. I appreciate it.😊

[Madi92]

Yes, my 13600k also reaches 85C sometimes, but only 1 or 2 core, the rest is around 75C.
But still, 85C is not a big deal, i also did unervolt my cpu. That helps too probaly.

But it must be said, that Cyberpunk is still one of the most demanding games out there. And with the updates, it got more CPU heavy.
Maybe try undervolting your cpu for lower temps, or clean your pc from dust.

You also probably aware that your pc is the bare minimum to even try to play this game.

[vivan]

Your CPU or MB is the issue, they can't handle the load. That first guy have no clue how any hardware works, just ignore him.

PSU, I dont't think so. Your GPU has a TDP of 175W (and they actually respect that), 8700 (with 65W TDP) can consume 130W at max. So plenty of room here.

Intel was notorious for using thermal paste under IHS (between actual cpu and metal cpu cover). With 9th generation they finally switched to solder. That means that it was just impossible to cool it down when it's under heavy load. The real solution was deliding and replacing thermal paste with liquid metal. It reduces temps by as much as 20 degrees (under heavy load with good cooler). I did it with my overclocked 8700K but I don't think it's worth the trouble for you.

i7 8700 is supposed to have a TDP of 65W (max power consumption = heat generated) which is not a lot, even cheap MB can handle that. But the thing about Intel and Asus is that they ignore their own limits to lead the charts... Under heavy load it consumes over 120W and that changes everything. Unfortunately cheap MB don't expose VRM's themal sensor, otherwise you would see temps way over 100C.

Now to why you are only now starting to have problems.

AVX is the thing that allows CPU to perform specific tasks much faster. But it requires much more power (equals heat). It's not easy to use it and not all CPUs had it, so it was rarely used. Was. Today you have issues with this game, tomorrow with some emulator, then with encoding (try x265), then even with photo editing. It's like having an extra gear in your car that makes it go even faster but also explodes it.

This game uses AVX, sometimes, but heavely.

Luckily Intel at least thought of that and they have a thing called "AVX offset" that you should have in BIOS (maybe in XTU). Higher offset means lower clocks (lower heat, lower performance) when there's AVX load on cpu. 1 point is 100 mhz.

So the easiest fix would be forcing your cpu back in spec by increasing "AVX offset" by few points.

Your goal is to have your hardware stable for at least 10 min under AVX stress test (also try Prime95). Other than CPU temps monitor it's power consumption. Bringing it back to 65W under heavy AVX load would be perfect, but that might be too much downclock for you.

Undervolting could also help (to reduce power cosumption), but could also reduce stability as well, it's a very complicated topic.

[emitfudd]

Originally posted by vivan:

Your CPU or MB is the issue, they can't handle the load. That first guy have no clue how any hardware works, just ignore him.

PSU, I dont't think so. Your GPU has a TDP of 175W (and they actually respect that), 8700 (with 65W TDP) can consume 130W at max. So plenty of room here.

Intel was notorious for using thermal paste under IHS (between actual cpu and metal cpu cover). With 9th generation they finally switched to solder. That means that it was just impossible to cool it down when it's under heavy load. The real solution was deliding and replacing thermal paste with liquid metal. It reduces temps by as much as 20 degrees (under heavy load with good cooler). I did it with my overclocked 8700K but I don't think it's worth the trouble for you.

i7 8700 is supposed to have a TDP of 65W (max power consumption = heat generated) which is not a lot, even cheap MB can handle that. But the thing about Intel and Asus is that they ignore their own limits to lead the charts... Under heavy load it consumes over 120W and that changes everything. Unfortunately cheap MB don't expose VRM's themal sensor, otherwise you would see temps way over 100C.

Now to why you are only now starting to have problems.

AVX is the thing that allows CPU to perform specific tasks much faster. But it requires much more power (equals heat). It's not easy to use it and not all CPUs had it, so it was rarely used. Was. Today you have issues with this game, tomorrow with some emulator, then with encoding (try x265), then even with photo editing. It's like having an extra gear in your car that makes it go even faster but also explodes it.

This game uses AVX, sometimes, but heavely.

Luckily Intel at least thought of that and they have a thing called "AVX offset" that you should have in BIOS (maybe in XTU). Higher offset means lower clocks (lower heat, lower performance) when there's AVX load on cpu. 1 point is 100 mhz.

So the easiest fix would be forcing your cpu back in spec by increasing "AVX offset" by few points.

Your goal is to have your hardware stable for at least 10 min under AVX stress test (also try Prime95). Other than CPU temps monitor it's power consumption. Bringing it back to 65W under heavy AVX load would be perfect, but that might be too much downclock for you.

Undervolting could also help (to reduce power cosumption), but could also reduce stability as well, it's a very complicated topic.

Thanks for the rude comment. Did you bother to read all the posts on here and Reddit with people having CPU overheating issues with this game. Intel, AMD, doesn't matter. If the OP is having overall overheating issues he should be posting somewhere like Tom's Hardware. If it is specific to this game everything I said is 100% accurate.

[Alcator]

Are you limiting your framerate?

If you are not, then your CPU may be generating more 'physics/simulation frames' than is needed, and that causes overheating.

[vivan]

Originally posted by emitfudd:

Thanks for the rude comment. Did you bother to read all the posts on here and Reddit with people having CPU overheating issues with this game. Intel, AMD, doesn't matter.

People are complaining about everything. High CPU temps, high GPU temp, crashes, in every popular game. So what?
Both Intel and AMD release hardware that runs at it's limits from the box (that's why overclocking now is completely pointless). Most people don't understand how their hardware is designed to run. Most people never confirm that their system is stable, they just choose to believe so. Most people don't even know that 13 and 14th gen Intel cpus are broken. I've even seen people complaining that they have 100% gpu load with some game...

I've completed this game and all others that people are complaining with 0 issues. You know why? Because my system is stable under full load. I even had almost the same CPU as OP has, and solved its issues. And so can everyone else.

Yes, this game is demanding. So what? It's not the first one and in future games will be even more demanding.

Originally posted by emitfudd:

If the OP is having overall overheating issues

Yes, he has, as he wrote in his first comment that you didn't bother to read.

Originally posted by syednizamudeen:

But, my pc couldn't complete stress tests with AVX and AVX2 instruction set and restarts abruptly.

And probably he should go to hw forums. At least there're no idiots who believe that overheating is software issue and they should whine about it instead of fixing it.

[Trantor]

The Intel Core i7-8700 overheating is not a game issue - I'm pretty sure of this.
Do you get high temps in demanding games? - yes, at times.
The OP even admits that his system does crash with "a small project on Photoshop" and with other tasks.
My guess would be the weak PSU.
I played for +100 hours on my old box, i7-6700, OC, AMD 5700 XTX, 32GB ram,
max. settings and only 2-3 crashes of the game - no PC reboot.

[emitfudd]

Weak PSU doesn't cause high CPU temps.

OP, my best advice is to go to Tom's Hardware forum to get professional advice for your cooling issues. I'm done with this post.

[syednizamudeen]

Originally posted by vivan:

Your CPU or MB is the issue, they can't handle the load. That first guy have no clue how any hardware works, just ignore him.

PSU, I dont't think so. Your GPU has a TDP of 175W (and they actually respect that), 8700 (with 65W TDP) can consume 130W at max. So plenty of room here.

Intel was notorious for using thermal paste under IHS (between actual cpu and metal cpu cover). With 9th generation they finally switched to solder. That means that it was just impossible to cool it down when it's under heavy load. The real solution was deliding and replacing thermal paste with liquid metal. It reduces temps by as much as 20 degrees (under heavy load with good cooler). I did it with my overclocked 8700K but I don't think it's worth the trouble for you.

i7 8700 is supposed to have a TDP of 65W (max power consumption = heat generated) which is not a lot, even cheap MB can handle that. But the thing about Intel and Asus is that they ignore their own limits to lead the charts... Under heavy load it consumes over 120W and that changes everything. Unfortunately cheap MB don't expose VRM's themal sensor, otherwise you would see temps way over 100C.

Now to why you are only now starting to have problems.

AVX is the thing that allows CPU to perform specific tasks much faster. But it requires much more power (equals heat). It's not easy to use it and not all CPUs had it, so it was rarely used. Was. Today you have issues with this game, tomorrow with some emulator, then with encoding (try x265), then even with photo editing. It's like having an extra gear in your car that makes it go even faster but also explodes it.

This game uses AVX, sometimes, but heavely.

Luckily Intel at least thought of that and they have a thing called "AVX offset" that you should have in BIOS (maybe in XTU). Higher offset means lower clocks (lower heat, lower performance) when there's AVX load on cpu. 1 point is 100 mhz.

So the easiest fix would be forcing your cpu back in spec by increasing "AVX offset" by few points.

Your goal is to have your hardware stable for at least 10 min under AVX stress test (also try Prime95). Other than CPU temps monitor it's power consumption. Bringing it back to 65W under heavy AVX load would be perfect, but that might be too much downclock for you.

Undervolting could also help (to reduce power cosumption), but could also reduce stability as well, it's a very complicated topic.

Thank you Vivan.

Your last line had the solution. I ruled out the issue. It was the new BIOS update that caused the Mobo to pump way over 1.43V to my non-k processor. 8700 non K pretty much stays at 4.3 GHz on all cores even at 1.31V. Brought down the CPU core voltage down in the BIOS and viola. The cpu does not get over 75 c now in 100% when stress tested now. In Forbidden West, it very well hovers around 60-65c now. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't restart abruptly.

[syednizamudeen]

Thank you everyone. It was the BIOS update just before installing the HFW has caused the issue. The motherboard seemed to pump way over 1.4V to the CPU. Dragged the CPU voltage down. Now, My pc stays between 60-70 c avg in FW.

[Trantor]

Originally posted by syednizamudeen:

Thank you everyone. It was the BIOS update just before installing the HFW has caused the issue. The motherboard seemed to pump way over 1.4V to the CPU. Dragged the CPU voltage down. Now, My pc stays between 60-70 c avg in FW.

Thank you for the update, which is a rare thing sometimes.
BIOS, chip set drivers, it seems they have been much more tested before releasing them a few years ago. ASUS seems to have become pretty bad in this regard.
So far, I'm fine with Prime X670 board.

[syednizamudeen]

Originally posted by Trantor:

Originally posted by syednizamudeen:

Thank you everyone. It was the BIOS update just before installing the HFW has caused the issue. The motherboard seemed to pump way over 1.4V to the CPU. Dragged the CPU voltage down. Now, My pc stays between 60-70 c avg in FW.

Thank you for the update, which is a rare thing sometimes.
BIOS, chip set drivers, it seems they have been much more tested before releasing them a few years ago. ASUS seems to have become pretty bad in this regard.
So far, I'm fine with Prime X670 board.

Yeah..it's super rare. That's why I didn't suspect the BIOS settings in the first place. Leaving the CPU Cache Voltage in Auto in the latest BIOS is causing this instability. Set to manual and went to 1.18 V. Tried checking with prime95 for over two hours. The temperatures kept up well under 72 C on blend, small fft and large fft tests and no more crashes after that. It hits around 1.38-1.39V at the very max and doesn't get over that.

Thank you.

[tipsy]

i had to reset the bios while playing this game because of a failed RAM swap. anyway after the bios got reset, the computer started blasting the fan on and off, and this game was running better, but outright crashed my pc because the cpu was overheating.

the solution:
- the cpu had "boost" on by default, which was apparently turned off by the company that sold me the device. i turned boost "off" and the cpu stopped overclocking and device became much cooler.
- i lowered the voltage to the cpu. this caused game to run slower but the cpu was even cooler again.
- i lowered the fan curve for quieter fans

this was going great but i wanted more performance back, and my computer even gave me a warning because the fanspeed was too low, so i set the fan curve to "standard" and set the core voltage to "default" (which didnt change it for some reason). anyway pc is back to normal.

HOWEVER, i find that forbidden west still pushes my cpu to 85 celcius during spikes. it seems to be a product of the game's loading.

it's not something to be worried about as long as it isn't constantly running at that temperature.

if youre really worried you should manually cap your framerate using "exclusive fullscreen" mode.

[Viper]

Its a hot CPU. It was prior to when they started putting liquid metal instead of paste inside the CPU between the plate and heat spreader. One of the hotter Intel CPUs. Not as efficient at carrying heat internally as more recent CPUs.