Hey folks! I'm looking for some advice regarding my i9 14900K CPU. I bought my PC before the news about Intel's degradation issues during the 13th and 14th generations broke. Since then, I've manually set my CPU to Intel's default settings. Lately, I've been experiencing instability in some of my games, but I can't determine if it's due to the degradation issue or other reasons. For instance, I recently set an undervolt of -0.70 and used LLC mode 3 because I was worried about high temperatures. However, while playing Warhammer 3, I kept crashing, and my event viewer had WHEA errors. After turning off the undervolt and resetting everything to auto, I played for about four hours without any issues or errors. I even tested each CPU core individually with OCCT, and there were no errors reported. My main concern is whether I should be worried about my CPU hitting nearly 100°C whenever I'm gaming. Given my cooling setup—a Corsair H150i Elite 360mm—which I've read is good enough, is my concern justified? Was my undervolt too aggressive? I'm still within the 5-year warranty, but I'd like to avoid any RMA hassle if possible. Any thoughts?
1 Answer
It sounds like your undervolt might be a bit too aggressive for your setup. However, hitting 100°C regularly while gaming does raise some alarms. The i9 14900K is quite demanding on power, but ideally, your 360mm AIO should keep temps down. Have you checked the thermal paste on your cooler? Also, what's the pump speed when you're gaming? That could play a significant role in your cooling performance.
I updated my BIOS back in January and set it to Intel defaults recently, but I forgot to check the thermal paste. My pump speed goes up to around 2648 RPM when playing Warhammer 3, though.