I've had my PC for about three years now, and I'm concerned about my CPU temperatures. They reach 100°C during Cinebench tests and sit between 50-60°C when idling, even while just browsing the internet. The temps fluctuate a lot when gaming, ranging from 65°C to 95°C, which doesn't seem normal. Sometimes, the CPU will drop down to 35-40°C when idle, but that's rare. I'm using an i9-12900KS with a Ryou III 360 AIO cooler. I also realized I've never cleaned my AIO, and it's gotten pretty dusty. I've removed as much dust as I could but plan on getting it professionally cleaned because I really don't want to deal with redoing cable management right now. The voltage during Cinebench tests hits a maximum of 1.208V, which might be relevant too. Is this power consumption normal, or should I be worried? Would reapplying thermal paste make a difference?
1 Answer
Definitely worth trying! A lot of people don’t realize how much thermal paste degrades over time. Also, did you check if you removed that CPU cooler coldplate sticker? Sometimes little things like that can lead to overheating too.
If the sticker was left on, wouldn’t the temps just shoot to 100°C immediately? My CPU usually doesn't go above 50°C while idling, even hours later. I switched to power saver mode, and while multitasking is tricky, I didn’t experience any stuttering in games. Guess I’ll just have to wait for the thermal paste application!