Hardware does running the C.P.U. at 100% usage for long periods damage the PC ?

[hooky1992]

Hi all,

I have a basic PC setup for gaming (see below for specs) which runs most games OK, however some titles push the C.P.U. usage up to 100%, which can only be remedied by reducing the quality of the graphics (reduce to 30 fps, set shadows to low, etc ...).

My question is: does running the C.P.U. at 100% usage for long periods damage the PC ?

The Intel website says modern CPUs are designed to run safely at 100% CPU utilization: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/how-to-fix-high-cpu-usage.html

I have also read online that 100% usage doesn't damage the CPU as long as it is not running at high temperatures over 95C, with the optimal temperature being just under 80C.

I could always upgrade to an i7 processor and/or get a better cooling system, but would rather invest the money in a better PC instead further down the line. All feedback is welcome !

My PC set up consists of:

• Lenovo Thinkcentre M93P SFF desktop computer
• Windows 10 Pro (64 bit)
• Intel i5 4570 (quad core 3.2GHz)
• 24GB RAM (DDR3)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 LP graphics card (4GB GDDR5)

 

[Reploid]

Prolly not. If it works - it's fine, if it'll overheat it'll shutdown. Theoretically you can fry your CPU if you overvolt it extremely, but prolly hard to do with modern hardware.

 

[Kazesama]

Haswell CPUs are known to be hot. But it should be fine, as long as your temps are acceptable. The CPU will throttle if it gets too hot anyways.

 

[zamastyle]

Its not the running at 100% that potentially does damage. Its the heat byproduct created by that level of performance. If your system is able to effectively keep the cpu cool under full load, then you should be fine.

 

[Hayato213]

Hi all,

I have a basic PC setup for gaming (see below for specs) which runs most games OK, however some titles push the C.P.U. usage up to 100%, which can only be remedied by reducing the quality of the graphics (reduce to 30 fps, set shadows to low, etc ...).

My question is: does running the C.P.U. at 100% usage for long periods damage the PC ?

The Intel website says modern CPUs are designed to run safely at 100% CPU utilization: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/gaming/resources/how-to-fix-high-cpu-usage.html

I have also read online that 100% usage doesn't damage the CPU as long as it is not running at high temperatures over 95C, with the optimal temperature being just under 80C.

I could always upgrade to an i7 processor and/or get a better cooling system, but would rather invest the money in a better PC instead further down the line. All feedback is welcome !

My PC set up consists of:

• Lenovo Thinkcentre M93P SFF desktop computer
• Windows 10 Pro (64 bit)
• Intel i5 4570 (quad core 3.2GHz)
• 24GB RAM (DDR3)
• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 LP graphics card (4GB GDDR5)

The max temperature for i5-4570 is 73 C, so you might want to check the cpu temperture, as it been stated already running at 100% isn't the problem, overheating is the problem if you don't have proper cooling.

 

[hooky1992]

The max temperature for i5-4570 is 73 C, so you might want to check the cpu temperture, as it been stated already running at 100% isn't the problem, overheating is the problem if you don't have proper cooling.

thank you for confirming max temp of 73C (as does Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...to-3-60-ghz/specifications.html?wapkw=i5-4570), I will run some tests to see what sort of temperatures I can hit when maxing out the PC

 

[hooky1992]

thank you for confirming max temp of 73C (as does Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/www/u...to-3-60-ghz/specifications.html?wapkw=i5-4570), I will run some tests to see what sort of temperatures I can hit when maxing out the PC

So .... I cranked up my modded version of Grand Theft Auto 4 to 60 f.p.s and triggered a max stars police chase, and the CPU usage shot up to 100% and hovered around the high 90s thereafter.

The temperature of CPU itself gradually creeped up to over 72C after less than 5 minutes (see image below) so I will therefore either have to degrade my graphics settings or invest in new cooling system ....

 

[AkikoKumagara]

so I will therefore either have to degrade my graphics settings or invest in new cooling system ....

It's not always this simple. Often, increasing graphics settings actually reduces the load on the CPU (as it then leverages the graphics card more). This is especially true when it comes to settings like anti-aliasing and render resolution.

 

[Ryab]

So .... I cranked up my modded version of Grand Theft Auto 4 to 60 f.p.s and triggered a max stars police chase, and the CPU usage shot up to 100% and hovered around the high 90s thereafter.

The temperature of CPU itself gradually creeped up to over 72C after less than 5 minutes (see image below) so I will therefore either have to degrade my graphics settings or invest in new cooling system ....


View attachment 404555

CPUs will throttle themselves if they get too hot.

 

[ganjo]

As long as the system isnt overheating its perfectly fine. Throttling is fine but if its always at the limits you need better cooling. Could be as simple as more/better intake or exhaust fans or a better CPU cooler. Do you have the stock cooler?

Id use HWINFO instead of speccy to monitor temps. There are numerous temp sensors and some apps dont use the correct one. HWINFO will show you all of them including temps of other critical hardware in your PC.

The 4th intel is 10 years old. Id bet the IHS needs to be de-lided and the thermal replaced. That would probably be the biggest help.

 

[Hayato213]

Air flow is important, tower PC have better air flow than small form factor PC, if you haven't change the thermal paste in years it is time to change it.

 

[Armadillo]

So .... I cranked up my modded version of Grand Theft Auto 4 to 60 f.p.s and triggered a max stars police chase, and the CPU usage shot up to 100% and hovered around the high 90s thereafter.

The temperature of CPU itself gradually creeped up to over 72C after less than 5 minutes (see image below) so I will therefore either have to degrade my graphics settings or invest in new cooling system ....

I wouldn't be worried about that.

Listing that Intel give for anything before 7th gen is Tcase (spot where the ihs meets the heatsink). There's no sensor there.

Temperature software gives is either:
Tjunction (the cores, temperature sensor in the Silicon).
Package (256ms average of all cores)
Something like "CPU" (could be labeled tcase, could be anything, depends on board). A temperature sensor vaguely near the cpu or just some sort of calculation based off core temps. Also fairly useless when you have the actual core temps available.

Tcase is such a useless measurement for the end user, Intel even stopped using it for 7th gen and switched to tjunction (an actual useful measurement for the end user). 6th gen went from 72 max (tcase) to 7th gen 100C max (tjunction), nothing changed between 6th and 7th to warrant that jump between gens other than Intel starting to use tjunction instead of tcase.

Tjunction is also what is used by the processor for thermal throttling. CPU will throttle well before any issues as well.

Unfortunately Intel don't give Tjunction for older processors. Coretemp and hwinfo will show you a max Tjunc, which is based on when the cpu throttles.

If you're not throttling, I wouldn't be stripping down and messing around to chase a Tcase temp that you can't even read, that was so useless to the end user, even Intel changed to listing Tjunc.

 

[hooky1992]

As long as the system isnt overheating its perfectly fine. Throttling is fine but if its always at the limits you need better cooling. Could be as simple as more/better intake or exhaust fans or a better CPU cooler. Do you have the stock cooler?

Id use HWINFO instead of speccy to monitor temps. There are numerous temp sensors and some apps dont use the correct one. HWINFO will show you all of them including temps of other critical hardware in your PC.

The 4th intel is 10 years old. Id bet the IHS needs to be de-lided and the thermal replaced. That would probably be the biggest help.

I replaced the thermal paste a few months back, didnt make any difference

Post automatically merged: Nov 21, 2023

I wouldn't be worried about that.

Listing that Intel give for anything before 7th gen is Tcase (spot where the ihs meets the heatsink). There's no sensor there.

Temperature software gives is either:
Tjunction (the cores, temperature sensor in the Silicon).
Package (256ms average of all cores)
Something like "CPU" (could be labeled tcase, could be anything, depends on board). A temperature sensor vaguely near the cpu or just some sort of calculation based off core temps. Also fairly useless when you have the actual core temps available.

Tcase is such a useless measurement for the end user, Intel even stopped using it for 7th gen and switched to tjunction (an actual useful measurement for the end user). 6th gen went from 72 max (tcase) to 7th gen 100C max (tjunction), nothing changed between 6th and 7th to warrant that jump between gens other than Intel starting to use tjunction instead of tcase.

Tjunction is also what is used by the processor for thermal throttling. CPU will throttle well before any issues as well.

Unfortunately Intel don't give Tjunction for older processors. Coretemp and hwinfo will show you a max Tjunc, which is based on when the cpu throttles.

If you're not throttling, I wouldn't be stripping down and messing around to chase a Tcase temp that you can't even read, that was so useless to the end user, even Intel changed to listing Tjunc.

Thanks for your suggestion ! so I downloaded HWINFO and ran it side by side with Speccy with no game running to get a baseline:

then I played my heavily modded GTA4 just at normal 30 f.p.s and got the cops to chase me:

seems very similar to me, quick look on the internet gives the following:

Speccy - CPU Average Temperature = the temperature reading of the hottest core only
HWINFO - CPU Package = a 256 ms average of the hottest temperature among all sensors in CPU

 

[Kazesama]

imo those are acceptable temperatures, at least it's not thermal throttling. You could undervolt your GPU to lower the case's ambient temps.