I7-10700KF reaching 100°C in gaming

Hi

This topic has been discussed many times on technical forums; water cooling is not reliable, it's just flashy and it's too expensive for what it is, that's all.

See here, same issue: https://forums.commentcamarche.net/forum/affich-38180764-surchauffe-du-processeur-pc-fixe#dernier

thank you for your response

a small mistake on my part, it’s not the h60 but the h100x which is supposed to be a very good aio. it dates from 2020 and the pc has been running a lot (almost every day non-stop during the day)

So the recommendation is to buy a cooler which should solve the problem?

I made a purple diagnosis: https://userdiag.com/id/6afJzgperf

Your AIO is dead.

Hello

Well, it didn't crash, the processor and graphics card are very powerful. Not as catastrophic as the silent loop 2 full of algae.

It's true that you didn't do a long test; usually, defective water coolers cause a drop in CPU performance during a long test, but it's a bit less obvious than other water coolers.

The only issue is the temperature at 100° which is too high, and I thought it could consume 125W on the CPU, which only consumes 110W.

You’re used to it; it has worked for a long time, so we can assume that the temperature measurement is accurate, and flo88's opinion is based on many cases.

You have an H100x with very effective but noisy fans, and it's white; I don't think it has multicolored LEDs, but it's cheaper. It's 5 years old now, so if the liquid is "rotting" well in an AIO.

So I see the Thermalright Peerless Assassin 120 SE, not illuminated, a little cheaper at €40, if you want to try a cooler and if you have the space.

https://www.amazon.fr/dp/B0B53B1BLS/?smid=A1K0HRPQTHRQOO&tag=idealofr-ysm2-21&linkCode=asn&creative=6742&camp=1638&creativeASIN=B0B53B1BLS&ascsubtag=2025-04-18_0fb0e9dcd27b4a6e3025503c34f72eb3317d2ff4a5e75f7f339bc7d13dbc7739&th=1&psc=1

I discussed it on another forum and I am convinced that it is better for me to buy a new cooler.
I noticed that there are several versions of the Phantom Spirit and the Peerless Assassin.

Can you advise me on which model would be the most suitable for my setup?
If possible, could you share the exact link to the recommended product?

1/ Thermalright Phantom Spirit: I saw 5 or 6 different products with that name https://www.amazon.fr/s?k=The+Phantom+S ... nb_sb_noss
2/ Thermalright Peerless Assassin: likewise, several products that look very similar https://www.amazon.fr/s?k=Thermalright+ ... _sb_noss_2
3/ Perhaps another model?

And do I need to add fans at the top of the case? Because if I remove all the water cooling, I will no longer have any fans at the top.

Hello

We're starting from a PC model that's a bit too old, and we only want to improve one parameter. We haven't fully proven or tested the gains from the cooler; it's still a gamble to prolong this configuration for a piece that costs €40 to make it work again.

I'm neither a seller nor a specialist; my link was meant to keep the fans from the "Thermalright Peerless Assasin 120 ARGB," which is well-ranked by GUILLAUME, by removing only the lights that actually heat up in the Christmas tree PCs, sometimes matching the remaining power consumption of the cooling equipment, which is €10 less between €50 and €40. while keeping the "Power265 Watts" clearly stated in the seller's description.

I specified the details of my choice.

Within a few euros, but it can go up to €60 on your link; I don't have the ability to do a full comparison across the entire range. It's only sellers' descriptions that are not always complete on Amazon, not the manufacturer's ones; I have no tests to rely on.

_____________

Replace air cooling with cooler; we don't have any starting descriptions in front of us.

Generally, with the cooler, you must extract all the air from the case at the back and the top, so if you install fans at the top directed outside, it's only between the cooler and the back of the case.|measure if the hot air expelled doesn't re-enter from the top to the front of the cooler|. To let the cool air pushed into the case enter the cooler and cool something. We're trying to envision more or less slight local pressure differences that are only validated during the actual test.

To fine-tune, you'll have some additional slightly different fans that you can test one by one in different locations.

I set up the phantom 120 SE and a new Corsair RAM 2x16GB (3200MHz). I also enabled XMP in the BIOS.

The temperatures during gaming are much better! I max out at 65°C and I still experience a bit of stuttering in the game (Returnal), but that's probably because I have set all the graphics to epic (DLSS = balanced).

Finally, do you see any other issues in the test results or settings to optimize my PC?

I have provided a screenshot of everything that seems helpful (HWinfo64 after playing Returnal, MSI BIOS settings screenshot, Cinebench CPU & GPU, 3D Mark Steel Nomad test, performance test in the game Returnal)
https://imgur.com/a/v9MxKrN

Hello

All good, he's doing his job. The PC is back up for a while