I built my first PC about two years ago by following a guide, so I'm still learning how everything works. Recently, the CPU temperature has started fluctuating between 80 and 90°C while doing light tasks such as watching videos. During games like League of Legends and Genshin Impact, it usually reaches 95–96°C. Is that temperature range normal, and what should I check first? Could the thermal paste need replacing, or might there be a problem with the liquid cooler?
My system has a Ryzen 9 7950X, GeForce RTX 4070 SUPER, Gigabyte X870E Aorus Pro Ice motherboard, and a Corsair iCUE Link H150i 360mm AIO cooler. The case has three top exhaust fans, one rear exhaust fan, and six intake fans split between the side and bottom.
4 Answers
The fan arrangement is worth checking, but having many fans doesn’t automatically cause a serious problem. Make sure air is entering from the bottom and side and leaving through the top and rear, rather than having fans fight each other. More importantly, confirm that the AIO pump is detected and actually running; if the pump has failed, replacing thermal paste won’t solve the temperature issue.
If these temperatures only became a problem recently, a failing or weakening AIO pump is one of the first things I’d investigate. Check the pump speed in the monitoring software and make sure the tubes and radiator are behaving normally. Two years usually isn’t enough by itself to require new thermal paste, and the number of case fans probably isn’t the main issue here.
Before taking the cooler apart, check software and firmware too. Update the BIOS, chipset drivers, and CPU-related drivers, then check whether a background process is using the CPU. Some systems have shown odd temperature or boost behavior after updates, and the issue can sometimes be corrected by later BIOS or driver releases.
The cooler could also be loose or making poor contact with the CPU. If the pump is running but temperatures remain unusually high, remove the block, clean off the old compound, apply fresh thermal paste, and reinstall it evenly. Also check that any protective cover was removed during installation. High 90s under gaming load aren’t ideal for light games, although the 7950X is designed to run hot under heavy workloads.
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