6700k Temperatures spiking significantly

aceridgey,

Welcome to Tom's!

Your screenshot looks similar to one of these thermal signatures.



Core temperatures respond instantly to any changes in workloads. All very normal and expected.

Shown above from left to right: Prime95 Small FFT's, Prime95 Blend, Linpack and Intel Burn Test.

If your workload is fluctuating, your Core temperatures will fluctuate.

If your workload is steady, then your Core temperatures will also be steady.

It's also normal for temperatures spikes to intermittently or regularly occur at idle, which depends on what background processes and services are running.

Here's the normal operating range for Core temperature:

80C Hot (100% Load)
75C Warm
70C Warm (Heavy Load)
60C Norm
50C Norm (Medium Load)
40C Norm
30C Cool (Idle)

If you'd like to get yourself up to speed on this topic, then please read this Tom’s Sticky:

Intel Temperature Guide - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

CT

What is your CPU's Vcore?

Run CPU-Z while the CPU is at full load and post the image here in this thread.

I would expect he CPU case temperature to reach a maximum of 63.7°C or lower at stock clock speed.

ko888,

You've obviously read the Datasheet, however, and with respect, it's not quite so straight forward. For the benefit of our readers, as well as yourself, allow me to provide a detailed explanation.

Tcase is CPU temperature, not Core temperature. Here's the difference:

Tcase is measured on the surface of the Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS), which is not in close proximity to the heat sources. Core temperature is measured at the transistor junctions directly on the hot spots inside the Cores, which are the heat sources.

Most of the heat dissipates from the Cores inside the Die through the internal layer of Thermal Interface Material (TIM) to the IHS. Heat then dissipates through the external layer of TIM to the cooler. Some heat also dissipates from the Die to the substrate, package, socket and motherboard.

At 100% workload this causes a 5C thermal gradient from the transistor junctions where Core temperatures are measured, to the surface of the IHS where CPU temperature (Tcase) is measured. A good analogy is that it gets hotter as you get closer to the flame.

Ah ... but there's more. From the Intel Temperature Guide - http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-1800828/intel-temperature-guide.html

Section 7 - Tcase and TDP

Although Intel measures Tcase on the surface of the Integrated Heat Spreader (IHS), they also calculate the value based on a reference design stock cooler. There are several models with different Thermal Design Power (TDP) which is expressed in Watts.

Certain TDP coolers are packaged with different TDP processors. For example, several Generations of Quad Core processors with TDP’s from 77 to 95 Watts have been packaged with a universal 95 Watts TDP cooler. With few exceptions, this is primarily why the Tcase specifications shown below in Section 8 vary from 63C to 74C.

The i7 6700K and i5 6600K don’t include a stock cooler. Tcase is instead based on Intel’s new cooler which is sold separately: Intel’s Skylake Cooler - http://vr-zone.com/articles/this-is-what-intels-first-cpu-cooler-for-skylake-looks-like/97189.html - Unlike the small and familiar 95 Watts cooler packaged with earlier Quad Core processors, Intel’s large new cooler is 130 Watts for overclocking the 91 Watts 6700K and 6600K. This is why Tcase is only 63C compared to earlier processors.

Intel’s silicon fabrication has been very consistent for the past decade across dozens of processor variants. This means regardless of Tcase specifications and TDP values, we know with respect to thermal tolerance that the following holds true:

Core temperatures in the mid 70's are safe.

Section 8 - Relative Temperatures

The relationships between CPU temperatures, Core temperatures and Throttle temperatures are shown below for several popular Quad Core processors. All values are based on Intel documentation.

-> Core i

6th Generation 14 Nanometer: 6700K / 6600K (TDP 91W / Idle 2W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 64C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 69C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 100C

5th Generation 14 Nanometer: 5675C / 5775C (TDP 65W / Idle 2W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 71C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 76C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 96C

4th Generation 22 Nanometer: 4790K (TDP 88W / Idle 2W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 74C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 79C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 100C

4th Generation 22 Nanometer: 4690K (TDP 88W / Idle 2W)
4th Generation 22 Nanometer: 4670K / 4770K (TDP 84W / Idle 2W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 72C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 77C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 100C

3rd Generation 22 Nanometer: 3570K / 3770K (TDP 77W / Idle 4W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 67C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 72C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 105C

2nd Generation 32 Nanometer: 2500K / 2600K (TDP 95W / Idle 8W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 72C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 77C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 98C

Previous Generation 45 Nanometer: i7 920 D0 (TDP 130W / Idle 12W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 67C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 72C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 100C

-> Core 2

Legacy 45 Nanometer: Q9650 E0 (TDP 95W / Idle 16W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 71C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 76C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 100C

Legacy 65 Nanometer: Q6600 G0 (TDP 95W / Idle 24W)

Tcase (CPU temp) = 71C
Tjunction (Core temp) = 76C
Tj Max (Throttle temp) = 100C

CT