MSFS instant thermal throttling in new 13700k build

[steve310002 1,198]

I just bought a new prebuilt PC for MSFS with 13700k and an RTX 4090 (asus z690 tuf gaming plus wifi motherboard and 32gb ddr5 ram). I notice in MSFS that if I fly in a demanding areas like Chicago or NYC on default ultra settings, my CPU instantly thermal throttles back to 4.5ghz. I notice my temperatures are hitting around 100 degrees forcing this to happen. Is this normal? In TimeSpy I notice my score is really low for my CPU (17,218) and I can see the temperature shoot up to 100 degrees celcius in the tests as soon as the CPU test is run in the benchmark. I have even tried undervolting the cpu today and it made my results far worse.

The PC comes with an MSI MAG Coreliquid P360 water cooler and my idle temps are at 41 degrees which feel a little high. I can find ni info online at all of this particular water cooler being used with 13th gen cpus which makes me suspicious. It appears to date back to 2020 but there is very little info on it. I have a feeling that this water cooler is not sufficient enough for cooling my 13700k and may be the source of the issue. Can anyone weigh in if this is indeed the case. If so what would you recommend to do? Reapplying the thermal paste to see if that helps or simply buying a new cooler (and if so which one)? Any help or advice would be much appreciated so I don't go wasting a load of money needlessly.

Edited December 27, 2022 by steve310002

[Jim Harnes 13]

Tom's Hardware has a recent article on the Best AIO Coolers 2022.  There is a specific recommendation for a 13700K cooler.

[steve310002 1,198]

3 minutes ago, Jim Harnes said:

Tom's Hardware has a recent article on the Best AIO Coolers 2022.  There is a specific recommendation for a 13700K cooler.

Thanks but first it would be great if anyone could confirm if my existing cooler is likely inadequate or not?

[wiggum 9]

I have seen reviews of this CPU and it gets to 100 °C with multi core load (and throttling will start, which seems to be by design).

It seems there are two different BIOS settings or wattage limits you can set and they define when throttling starts. There are threads on reddit about this that go into details, just google "13700k thermal throttling"

Edited December 27, 2022 by wiggum

[steve310002 1,198]

13 minutes ago, wiggum said:

I have seen reviews of this CPU and it gets to 100 °C with multi core load.

It seems there are two different BIOS settings or wattage limits you can set and they define when throttling starts. There are threads on reddit about this that go into details, just google "13700k thermal throttling"

I have seen that too but surely it wouldn't instantly throttle in MSFS? What would be the point of having a boost of 5.4ghz if it immediately throttles back to 4.5ghz? Would a better cooler than what I have prevent this and why would my time spy CPU score be so low with my current cooler? My timespy result overall is 31165 (bottom 22% when compared with similar spec PCs) and my time spy CPU score is only 17218.

Basically I want to at least try first to rule out if my MSI MAG Coreliquid P360 cooler is inadequate or not for this CPU? Advice on that single point would be a great starting point. I know there are lots of folk on here with far more knowledge of CPU coolers than myself and might be able to tell me if this cooler is inadequate amd the likely cause of the thermal throttling and high temps. Here is the MSI website for the specific water cooler in question...

https://www.msi.com/Liquid-Cooling/MAG-CORELIQUID-P360

Edited December 27, 2022 by steve310002

[grandfred29 180]

How do you past the cpu?

i see you should use 5 cross X points for this generation of cpu and that I use with last grizzly extrem past for my 13900k

be careful with default motherboard settings too

[vrdubin6 184]

A 360mm AIO is plenty to cool a 13700k even in stress testing scenarios where it would actually have a high power draw. The fact that it's hitting 100c while playing MSFS says something is wrong. That chip should only be pulling around 100w in MSFS which a standard air cooler could handle. If it's a prebuilt are you able to contact the company/person that built it and have them take care of the issue? If that's not an option you could always pull the block off and reapply new thermal paste like you said, since it could be poor mounting. 

[steve310002 1,198]

3 minutes ago, grandfred29 said:

How do you past the cpu?

I didn't apply the paste as it was built by a company.

[wiggum 9]

As long as there are no crash or FPS issues I would say there is nothing wrong with your system. These "boosts" are very aggressive and thermal throttling is normal and by design. I also would not care much about benchmark results as long as games run great. 

If you bought a pre-build you should have warrenty. So if there are actual issues you should be save.

Edited December 27, 2022 by wiggum

[steve310002 1,198]

15 minutes ago, vrdubin6 said:

A 360mm AIO is plenty to cool a 13700k even in stress testing scenarios where it would actually have a high power draw. The fact that it's hitting 100c while playing MSFS says something is wrong. That chip should only be pulling around 100w in MSFS which a standard air cooler could handle.

I see during loading the package temperature goes from 97 C to 100 C and sitting on the runway in TBM at Chicago O'Hare, it is hovering around 82 C. After takeoff it is at 80 to 90 C and frequently thermal throttles hitting 100 degrees then bouncing back into the 80s. I am using FS Dreamteam KORD.

Edited December 27, 2022 by steve310002

[grandfred29 180]

11 minutes ago, steve310002 said:

I didn't apply the paste as it was built by a company.

Use a good thermal paste and no the word not allowed paste already apply on the cooler 

[vrdubin6 184]

Just now, steve310002 said:

I see during loading the package temperature goes from 97 C to 100 C and sitting on the runway in TBM at Chicago O'Hare, it is hovering around 82 C. After takeoff it is at 80 to 90 C and intermittently thermal throttles. I am FS Dreamteam KORD.

I can assure you that's not normal. Watch any 13700k build or benchmark videos on YouTube if you need reassurance. Most people pair it with a 360mm AIO like yours and gaming temps are 50-70c in most cases. I have a similar AIO and my 13600k is overclocked, pulls ~200w during stress testing, and can hold in the 70s. In MSFS it pulls 80-100w and stays around 50c. 

I would check your pump speed for starters. MSI should have some software for their coolers where you can adjust pump/fan RPM. I know NZXT's AIOs will run their pumps at the minimum RPM unless you have their software installed and actively running. Their pumps can drop as low as 800-900 RPM which will really hinder it's ability to dissipate heat. If that's normal then I would move toward remounting the pump.

[steve310002 1,198]

51 minutes ago, vrdubin6 said:

MSI should have some software for their coolers where you can adjust pump/fan RPM.

Thanks for your advice. I had a look online for MSI software but I can only see their Dragon control center software which when I install it, doesn't seem to recognise my system probably because my motherboard is from ASUS? Do you know if there is any other specific MSI software to control the fans or should I just use the ASUS control center.

EDIT: I just checked in the Asus Armory app and it lets me choose a fixed RPM speed of my CPU fan but for the AIO pump it only lets me choose 'smart mode' and says 0 RPM!! I don't know if it is not reading the RPM of the actual AIO Pump because it is made by MSI but it is weird it would say 0 RPM and not let me adjust it. I assume the AIO pump should have an RPM reading right?

Edited December 27, 2022 by steve310002

[JimBrown 596]

8 minutes ago, steve310002 said:

I had a look online for MSI software but I can only see their Dragon control center

You want their MSI Center software: https://www.msi.com/Landing/MSI-Center

...jim

 

[Daytona125 225]

Make sure your bios is up to date, I’ve had this problem on a few past builds and updating the bios has helped me in the past. That internal temp does seem quite high, turn up your exhaust fans maybe, it might help. I’ve got a 12900 k and mine runs quite hot too. Having that high of an internal temp tells me your thermal paste is working, I think, you just have to get rid of the heat in the case itself. Maybe.