100°C is fine? Ummm, not in my book.
Of course one of the biggest problems with CPU temps is there is no industry standard for where CPU makers place the sensors, how or where motherboard/chipset makers place and monitor their sensors, or how stress programs stress and report those temps, or even which sensor they use.
We do know if a particular sensor reports a specific numeric value, that will convert to a specific temperature. But not all sensors are alike.
So absent any other technical data provided by the CPU maker, all we can go on is what the CPU maker publicly reports. And for the Intel i5 4690k,
Intel reports the "
maximum temperature allowed at the processor Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS)" is
72.72°C. So with that, 100°C is smoking hot and definitely not "fine". If FreedomEclipse can show us any official Intel documentation that reports 100°C is "fine", I will be happy to retract my statement with apologies.
thermal paste well applied
You say the TIM (thermal interface material) was "well applied". What does "well applied" mean? It is important to note the the most efficient transfer of heat occurs with direct metal-to-metal contact. The purpose of TIM is to fill the microscopic pits and valleys in the mating surfaces in order to displace any insulating air that may get trapped in between. This means a "proper application of TIM would be a layer that is "as thin as possible" while still providing complete coverage of the die. Any excess TIM is
in the way and
counter-productive to the efficient transferring heat.
nguyen just beat me to the point of curing time some TIMs need to reach maximum efficiency. And yes, AS5, according to the manufacturer, may take "up to" 200 hours. I personally think that is extreme and in the real-world takes about 12 hours with several heat-up and cool-down cycles. In any case, the improvement is typically only about 5°C which is not really enough to improve your situation.
Last,
RoboX said:
The case is open being a test.
Bad idea! The side panel is not there to keep cats and mice out of our computers. It is there to "
channel" the "
flow" of cool air through the case. By removing the side panel, there is no pressure to create the flow. Proper case cooling involves a good "front-to-back" flow of cool air for the CPU cooler to toss the CPU's heat into. The side panel should ALWAYS be properly attached - ESPECIALLY when stress testing.
The only exceptions are when you don't have a windowed side panel and you are
quickly inspecting to ensure your case fans are spinning, or if you
blast a desk fan into the open case, perhaps when troubleshooting heat-related problems.
