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Fluctuating CPU core temps causing very loud Noctua fan noise!

AdladUK

AdladUK

AdladUK

Associate
Joined
6 Jan 2007
Posts
1,509
Hi,

I just finished my new build and unfortunately I'm having a serious issue with the CPU fan. Firstly, here are the specs: https://i.imgur.com/jm9yCUA.png

The fan is a Noctua NH-D9L and the CPU is an i7 7700K 4.20GHz with zero overclocking, fully stock.

I've noticed in Speccy that cores are fluctuating 1 by 1 from the 40s to 60s:

https://i.imgur.com/39IIHtt.png

https://i.imgur.com/8xiUcNp.png

I believe this is what's making the fan go crazy as the loud noise seems to correspond to the jumps in temp.

Has anyone experienced something like this? I'm thinking perhaps the seating of the CPU fan on the CPU itself is bad? Although I was extra careful when applying the thermal paste and attaching the fan.

Also Noctua have always been incredibly silent for me, even under load, so for this to be so loud with zero load and zero overclocking makes absolutely no sense.

Would appreciate any help. Thank you!
 
Just as a comparison, here's my current system with a ton of programs open and having been on for the last 2-3 days non-stop: https://i.imgur.com/Eo2j9Db.png

All CPU cores are stable around 30c (a full 10c cooler than my new system). This old system also uses a Noctua fan and is completely silent. You cannot hear a thing from it
 
I'd suggest a re-seat of the heatsink and new paste just to be on the safe side everything is correct.a

Also check fan speed/profile is set correctly in the bios. As dependent on the cpu temperature will be what fan speed it is requiring.

If say it's set to 50% at 50c and its spiking above then it will speed the fan up to compensate.

Re-seat and If necessary adjust to a more conservative fan profile.
 
Thank you for the reply.

I'll do a reseat tomorrow then and use some new paste.

It's really strange though as I've built a lot of PCs and never had this problem. I actually took extra care with this one too.

The profile right now in the BIOS is set to silent, so I don't think that's the problem. It's the sudden momentary jumps from 40 to 70 that's sending the cooler into disarray.

Have you ever seen these sort of temp jumps before? Happening on all 4 cores but at different times and intervals, usually lasting for 1-2 seconds
 
You know you can screw with fan curves in windows and in bios on even the cheapest motherboards. Set a fan curve that is more pleasing to the ear. Also re mounting is recommended. Use quality thermal paste. Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut blows away Noctua's NTH1, though it is a bit more on the expensive side as pastes go. Worth it.
 
Your multiplier is at 45x so you are overclocked check your bios there is probably core enhancement enabled I think that normally asus mobos are like that out of the box
 
+1 to what solidair said, disable MCE and switch to a manual overclock.
Asus seems to do some weird "enhancements" on their boards, because even my AM4 Asus board has a Performance Bias option which if you turn off eliminates the temperature spikes:
Ldfe6ir.png
vs
C2Qc19h.png

Similar thing happened with my old Asus Z77 board which had MCE and temps fluctuated a lot because of it.
 
solidair said:
Your multiplier is at 45x so you are overclocked check your bios there is probably core enhancement enabled I think that normally asus mobos are like that out of the box
Click to expand...

You're spot on. I've been messing about with this thing for the last 3 hours... Changing the CPU, graphics card and even the motherboard... Tried everything and then was staring at Speccy and noticed the multiplier thing too.

How ridiculous of them to turn this on by default!

Anyway I can't seem to find what you mentioned in the BIOS. It's a Gigabyte GA-Z270N-Gaming 5. I went to M.I.T. and then Advanced CPU Core Settings and turned off Intel Turbo Boost Technology. That didn't work, but I couldn't find anything named Core Enhancement or MCE... Any idea what it might be called on a Gigabyte board please?
 
The other problem is it's not constantly at a 45x multipler. One moment it will be at 45, then drop to 11, then to 13, then back up to 45.

And it's just usually 1 core that is high in temp, jumping from say 35 or 40c to 60-70 for 1-2 seconds and then dropping back down to 35-40c.

So the fan is constantly starting up and then going silent. It's so annoying! It will be at 800 RPM and then jump instantly to 1,500 or something and then back down to 800.

I really don't get it. I was building 2 identical systems and it's doing it even when I've changed the CPU and the motherboard.

Never had such a stupid problem before when building my own system
 
It might be an option called "CPU Upgrade" or "Performance Upgrade" on Gigabyte? I'm not completely sure.
You can try setting the power plan to "high performance" in Windows and see if that does anything.
 
Check for "Performance Upgrade" too, there should be an option that automatically overclocks on the Gigabyte board, most of the Intel boards have it, some even on by default.
 
Oh wow it's fixed... The Windows setting did it! In "Processor power management" > "System cooling policy" it was set to active. Now I set to passive which says "Slow the processor before increasing fan speed" and the fan is completely silent.

Can't believe I completely took apart my system for this and changed everything. My god I'm stupid!

Thank you for the assistance guys
 
AndreiD said:
Check for "Performance Upgrade" too, there should be an option that automatically overclocks on the Gigabyte board, most of the Intel boards have it, some even on by default.
Click to expand...

I will take a look for that too, because on my older system the multiplier is a constant 8, whilst this one is jumping about the place non-stop. I'd prefer it just stay at 8 whilst idle
 
Doesn't that system cooling policy option just downclock the CPU too much? Though if it works and you're happy with it, guess that's one way to fix it :D
 
Try looking through the BIOS, alternatively check the motherboard manual since they should explain every BIOS setting in there.
I'm guessing it's an option that pushes the all core clocks to 4.5Ghz like MCE (7700K shouldn't have all cores clocked at 4.5Ghz by default in any scenario), and with it also sets some pretty high vcore voltages by default, reason why your temps are jumping so hard.
 
The problem is that the option in the bios is overclocking and overvolting your chip, which will overwhelm your D9L.
 
AndreiD said:
Try looking through the BIOS, alternatively check the motherboard manual since they should explain every BIOS setting in there.
I'm guessing it's an option that pushes the all core clocks to 4.5Ghz like MCE (7700K shouldn't have all cores clocked at 4.5Ghz by default in any scenario), and with it also sets some pretty high vcore voltages by default, reason why your temps are jumping so hard.
Click to expand...

Will do. Thank you for the help.

Something quite interesting, I was looking more on my older system and the multiplier does act in the same manner, however the CPU temps don't jump like my new 7700K.

For example here is my old system at idle: https://i.imgur.com/eN01a6H.png

And here it is when under stress (watching a YT video in HD): https://i.imgur.com/RvgBZPM.png

But you can see the fan speed stays pretty much the same RPM and none of the cores are jumping to 60-70c+
 
It depends on the motherboard, Gigabyte might be pushing for some very high voltages since if they add some kind of MCE/Performance Upgrade option by default, they have to account even for the worst 7700K samples.
If you find the option and turn it off, you should be fine.
 
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