Alder Lake - Temperatures

Liquete

New member
Hello,

I recently changed my computer because my 4770K died.
I have moved to an alder lake, but at first the temperatures were very erratic, I updated the bios and they improved but still, I have my reservations.

I have used the Intel ETU app to monitor the processor, along with CPUID HWMonitor.

I have observed that when opening, launching any app / process, there is a temperature spike, without an excessive peak of cpu usage, but if frequency.

Do you think these temperatures are correct with this cpu usage?

What could I check?

I have checked, the heatsink placement, and the eisblock xpx documentation, and it is LGA1700 compatible.

with the previous equipment never exceeded 50-60ºC at full load operation.

Thanks for your help.

Equipment data

chassis: NZXT Phantom 630
motherboard: asus z690 hero
processor: i9-12900k
cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Blizzard Copper 45 2x140mm - complete kit



temp_3.png

Max CPU: 19%
Max Temp: 57ºC
 

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Eddy

Iceman
Staff member
The peaks are normal. The heat transfere from the CPU die to the heatspreader is not very good. So it takes a short time until the cooler can take away the waste of heat.
 

Liquete

New member
Good morning,

Thank you for responding so promptly.

Is there anything that can be done to improve it?
or is it a consequence of the LGA1700 design?
 

Eddy

Iceman
Staff member
We are working on a new backplate for our coolers. In a few weeks we will offer it. With the new backplate you will get better temperatures. Right now there nothing you can really do.
 

hargan3

New member
Hello,

I recently changed my computer because my 4770K died.
I have moved to an alder lake, but at first the temperatures were very erratic, I updated the bios and they improved but still, I have my reservations.

I have used the Intel ETU app to monitor the processor, along with CPUID HWMonitor.

I have observed that when opening, launching any app / process, there is a temperature spike, without an excessive peak of cpu usage, but if frequency.

Do you think these temperatures are correct with this cpu usage?

What could I check?

I have checked, the heatsink placement, and the eisblock xpx documentation, and it is LGA1700 compatible.

with the previous equipment never exceeded 50-60ºC at full load operation.

Thanks for your help.

Equipment data

chassis: NZXT Phantom 630
motherboard: asus z690 hero
processor: i9-12900k
cooler: Alphacool Eissturm Blizzard Copper 45 2x140mm - complete kit



View attachment 3514

Max CPU: 19%
Max Temp: 57ºC
With your mainboard and Asus FanXpert you can set the response time of the fans as a function of the processor temperature ... even in real time
 

Liquete

New member
Hello again

I have already received the new backplate, installed it and tested it.
Temperatures have improved, but there are still peaks, and at times they are not low enough.

The truth is that the processor has almost no load and the temperatures oscillate quite a lot for what I was used to with the 4770K (which used this same equipment).

Attached is data extracted from intel ETU, and a screenshot.

As you can see the processor workload is low <20% (maximum peak 30%), in freshly booted IDLE a temperature of 27ºC can be reached, sporadic peaks are usually around 50 - 75ºC.

The thermal paste I use is from Noctua.

What can I do to improve these temperatures?
Should I put another radiator and change the box?
Could it be a problem with the pump? (Right now it is at 3500 RPM).
Is it a contact problem?

Thank you for your help.
 

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Thomas_S

... the nice marketing guy next door
Staff member
Hi,

Should I put another radiator and change the box?
-> difficult to say! For this we need pictures of your setup to see where improvements are possible.
Could it be a problem with the pump? (Right now it is at 3500 RPM).
-> rather not, when it is running it is one of our most powerful pumps & completely sufficient for the system. Do you know your flow rate?
Is it a contact problem?
-> Proper contact pressure is important. But we can only see that from pictures of the cooler with the thermal paste.
 

Liquete

New member
Hello Thomas

I answer your questions and add information

No, i dont know the flow rate.

Attached photo of the thermal paste.
Seems that have a little more underneath and in the both sides, but seems that all zone have thermal paste.


Setup

1x back fan Noctua
1x front fan (original NZXT Phantom 630)
1x side fan (original NZXT Phatonm 630)
2x top radiatos fan (original alphacool kit)
I couldnt put it under radiator for lack of space

1x radiator 280mm alphacool
1x 5"25 bay pump + deposit

I could add also

2x bottom fans
1x inside fan
+ remove hdd holder bay to improve the air flow, but the other components are not as hot as the CPU

Graphic Card - (30 - 40ºC)
RAM - (23 - 32ºC)
HDD - (20 - 25ºC)
The others SSD are in the backplate side.

Thank for you help.
 

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Liquete

New member
I add more information in case it is of use
I have done the cinebench test (not without fear), to check if the temperatures are correct in extreme environments.

The result was that in single core it gets to about 60ºC and stays there, but with the multi-core it jumps up to 90 - 100ºC easily, from the beginning, and it doesn't seem to go down.

I have not done this complete, because I did not want to degrade the micro, I have waited a little (about 30 sec), and when I saw that it did not recover I have stopped it.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
 

Thomas_S

... the nice marketing guy next door
Staff member
I can't see any problem now from the pictures either. What is the flow direction in the circuit? Have you assigned the XPX connection on the left with IN and the connection on the right with OUT?
 

Eddy

Iceman
Staff member
Leave out the nuts during assembly. If they are not screwed in far enough, they may rest on the motherboard and you cannot generate any contact pressure. We have omitted them from the newer kits because this error has occurred from time to time with customers. Or you screw them on so tight that the spring already compresses significantly.
 

Liquete

New member
I tried it, but it does not improve the contact, neither the temperatures.
I am quite stuck with this issue.
 

Eddy

Iceman
Staff member
Does the hose at the exit of the CPU cooler also get really warm? Can you see a good flow?
Otherwise, I would guess that the cooling fins in the CPU cooler are clogged by something and so is not cooled properly.
 

Liquete

New member
I havent checked it, if the outlet hose gets very hot.
I seems that the flow is correct, but i am not sure. I dont have any sensor to measure it.

If the cooling fins in the CPU are clogged, what i should do? How i can fix it / check it?
 

Eddy

Iceman
Staff member
There are 4 screws on the cooler bottom. You have to open them, then you can disassemble the CPU cooler. The fins can be cleaned well with a toothbrush. You can take some washing up liquid here.
When reassembling, you only have to make sure that the jetplate and the O-ring do not slip during assembly. You have to pay close attention. But actually it's not that difficult.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Liquete

New member
Good night,

I update the status

I have done cleaned the CPU Water Block, and the temperatures has been improvement a lot.
I hadn't cleaned it for a year and a half, I did change the liquid, but I forgot about the block and I thought it was OK to wait a bit longer.

Temperatures in Cinebench R23 single core are around 47 - 52ºC, in multicore around 79 - 84ºC.
The pump during these tests is at 3913 RPM (I had left it this high, as a precaution).

I have to try lowering it to 3000RPM, to see how it behaves.
The fans are also a bit turned up a bit as a precaution.
I'm sure that as soon as I turn them down a bit, the base temperatures will rise.

What I have observed is that in IDLE or with programmes stopped, temperature peaks are observed, reaching up to 40ºc, and then it gradually goes down again (at low CPU load <15%).

With no load when just started it is around 24ºC.
With almost no load and after a while it can be around 27 - 29ºC.
As soon as you use it a bit and it stabilises it stays at 31 - 34ºC.

Can you think of anything else I can do to improve these temperatures?
Thank you for your help, really.
I wouldn't have thought that going beyond the year would affect the block so much.

I add screenshots of the temperature monitoring.
2x of the IDLE peaks
1x of the single core test (end of the graph)
1x of the multi core test (end of the graph)
 

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Eddy

Iceman
Staff member
You can just play around with the contact pressure a bit, but in general Alder Lake is a pretty crappy CPU when it comes to cooling. Firstly because the socket and the heatspreader are crooked, and secondly because there is an extremely high heat dissipation per mm². The heat must first be transferred from the CPU via the soldering to the heatspreader, then via thermal paste to the cooler base. There are physical limits. At a certain point, neither more radiator surface nor a higher flow rate helps. Every CPU is different. You can use the 12900 5 times and achieve 5 different temperatures with the same cooler. We have internal differences of 5-8k with the same CPUs and the same cooling. We've never had that before with other CPU series.
 
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