Cpu High Temperature

Thank you for taking the time to open my thread. A little background: I built this PC myself about two years ago and have not really used it all that much for the past year because of school. After slow performance over the past week I decided to do some research and found out that this could be due to high CPU temperature, sure enough after checking BIOS my CPU temp was at 88 Celsius. I do not have the exact specs on my computer on hand but if you think they will help diagnose/fix the problem I would be glad to figure out the exact hardware pieces I have.

I have opened the case and cleaned out all the dust and made sure the stock fan, motherboard fan and two graphics card fans are sturdy. This has done nothing to change the CPU temperature.

Once again I opened my PC up and this time felt each piece to see which was the hottest, and after being on for no more than 10 minutes my graphics card was by far the hottest piece of equipment. At first I thought this meant that the graphics card fans were not functioning properly, so I plugged my PC back in, turned it on and saw all 4 fans moving (stock, motherboard and two graphics card fans). The reason I thought these fans weren't working is because after opening my BIOS settings I noticed that the overlay that monitors the fans RPM only showed one fan RPM, i'm guessing the stock fan.

As of right now I am at a loss of what to do, I have noticed that the graphics card fans point directly into the power supply (about 2 inches apart), combining that with summer maybe that is why the card is so hot? If any of you have any theories or things for me to try out please let me know, I can't even load chrome without massive delays let alone a game like Dota 2.

Thank you again for your time, I really hope these forums can shed some light onto my problem, this is the first PC i built by myself and I would hate to reduce its lifetime because I ignored a fatal error in my construction. Would it be wise to take my PC in so a "professional" can take a look at it?

 

I'm not really familiar with these forums and didn't realize that there was a time limit for editing threads but I have an update even though I don't think it has any relation to my problem, but I figured I would throw it out there just incase.

After further inspection of other components in the computer I have found that the wireless LAN card (the card that grants my PC WiFi) seems to be installed "incorrectly". The best way i can describe it is if you lay a PC down on its side, take the cover off and look straight down, the prongs which attach to the motherboard on the right side seem to be pushed too far in and the prongs on the left seem to not be pushed in enough, as if someone slammed one side of it in. The card didn't budge after I tried to gently remove it and considering I use ethernet connection anyways I decided it was best to leave it as is to avoid further harm, I'm assuming that this has nothing to do with my computer speed as it's just a wireless card, it shouldn't affect anything as far as I know.

 

I reckon some photos of the PC internals would help us get a handle on any possible faults here.

Many cases with bottom-mounted PSUs like yours have the intake at the bottom, so your PSU might be incorrectly fitted (fan upwards), resulting in the PSU and graphics fans all fighting to pull the 'same' air, increasing fan speeds/noise.

Check whether your case has a perforated section below the PSU (it often has a quick removal air filter, sucking cool air from a carpet usually results in rapid blockage from dust, best to sit the case on a board if it's on the carpet).

Is your case side panel perforated around the section closest to the graphics card, to allow easy ingress of cool air?

Assuming the stock case fan is at the front and pulling cool air into the case, you really ought to fit a rear fan near the top to exhaust the hot air, you should be able to buy one that connects to the 'board fan connector, enabling it to be controlled by the BIOS (PWM). If using a 3rd party tower cooler on the CPU, ensure all fans are moving the air in the same direction, preferably front > rear.

If you're not using a piece of hardware, disconnect and store it, it might improve the airflow, reduce the # of updates needed, even reduce the chances of blue screen errors.

 

Some system specs would help too. Speccy can help with that.

Running the BIOS Setup Menu is about the least demanding task we can ask of our computers so if you are seeing 88°C in the BIOS Setup Menu, that is not good at all.

I agree with satrow (as is typically the case) and you need to look at case cooling. It is the case's responsibility to provide a sufficient "flow" of cool air through the case. So consider adding a case fan.

Contrary to what many believe, TIM (thermal interface material) does not need to be replaced just because it is X number of years old. But it does need to be replaced if the cured bond between the CPU and heatsink mating surfaces has been broken. And that can happen during transport or other rough handling (kicked), or by the user twisting to hard to see if tight. So if you have good front to back flow through the case, all fans are spinning, the interior is clean of heat-trapping dust and your temps are still too high, you may need to replace your TIM. Just be sure to unplug the computer from the wall and touch bare metal of the case interior before reaching in. Then clean the mating surfaces thoroughly before applying a fresh, thin, new layer.

 

The graphics fans are pointing down towards the power supply so I don't think that is the problem, but i'm not entirely sure since i'm relatively new to this.

My case does have a perforated section and it is set on a hardwood floor, however the carpet is a few inches away from the case so I will try and remove the carpet and see if that helps at all.

Yes it is.

I think I may have described the stock fan incorrectly, there is a fan at the very back of the PC which now that I think about it is probably used to pull hot air out of the case, the back of the case is facing directly to a wall however so I'm going to pull it sideways so it shoots out into straight air to see if that helps the flow of air. There must be stock case fan somewhere i'm just not seeing it.

I would disconnect the wireless LAN card but even after a few good tugs it resfuses to move and i'm afraid if I pull it too hard I might damage something.

Thank you for both of your responses but unfortunately i think i'm going to find a place to bring the PC in and have somebody look at it, I boosted by GPU fan speeds from 29% to ~74% and I still get overheating issues after turning the PC on for about 10 minutes. Instead of continuing to tinker around with it myself and potentially further damage it i'll just let someone who knows that they're doing take a look. Again thanks for all the help I appreciate it!!