Question Intel Core i9-9900KS

[karambas]

Greetings, I need some advice. Before I got all old and stuff I would be the one answering this question instead of asking it, but I have not kept up with technology the last couple decades or so the way I did to previous few decades (I was over-clocking my Celeron in the early/mid '90s.)

Background: A few years ago my teenage gamer son purchased a used system with an
Intel Core i9-9900KS CPU that had been de-lidded with a Cooler Master water-cooling system attached. Pretty much from the day he got it, (which is probably the reason it was so affordable), it was running hot. He tried adjusting voltages and stuff but couldn't get anything stable that fixed the overheating so gave up and just ran it that way. So, many many hours followed Overwatching and other games with the fans cycling on and off running around 100*C. It would drop down to 60ish while idling but when processing it would average around 100. When he retired the system and pulled his GPU a couple months ago it was still preforming about the same as it always had so I thought maybe there might be some life left.

So, is it worth messing with?

Should I attempt to relid it and see if it will run cooler with a convention heatsync?

Is it possible to find a replacement lid since he doesn't have the original?

Leave the lid off and try a different cooler?

Anyone been down this road before with this processor?

I appreciate any help on this and thanks in advance.

FYI I'm still using the last system I built using a Xenon X3480 so it's only up from here.

 

[burninatortech4]

Greetings, I need some advice. Before I got all old and stuff I would be the one answering this question instead of asking it, but I have not kept up with technology the last couple decades or so the way I did to previous few decades (I was over-clocking my Celeron in the early/mid '90s.)

Background: A few years ago my teenage gamer son purchased a used system with an
Intel Core i9-9900KS CPU that had been de-lidded with a Cooler Master water-cooling system attached. Pretty much from the day he got it, (which is probably the reason it was so affordable), it was running hot. He tried adjusting voltages and stuff but couldn't get anything stable that fixed the overheating so gave up and just ran it that way. So, many many hours followed Overwatching and other games with the fans cycling on and off running around 100*C. It would drop down to 60ish while idling but when processing it would average around 100. When he retired the system and pulled his GPU a couple months ago it was still preforming about the same as it always had so I thought maybe there might be some life left.

So, is it worth messing with?

Should I attempt to relid it and see if it will run cooler with a convention heatsync?

Is it possible to find a replacement lid since he doesn't have the original?

Leave the lid off and try a different cooler?

Anyone been down this road before with this processor?

I appreciate any help on this and thanks in advance.

FYI I'm still using the last system I built using a Xenon X3480 so it's only up from here.

This might be better placed in the "Computer Building" subsection.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

This might be better placed in the "Computer Building" subsection.

It's more of a cooling question so I'll tag our resident expert @aigomorla

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I'll offer some advice while waiting for someone with better experience with delidded Intel CPUs.

Keep it delidded, heat dissipation will be superior. Especially since you don't have the original IHS.

Great price on a excellent AIO, and he should have the hardware for mounting your socket. https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/haswell-barebones-kit-pc-parts-speakers.2617618/

 

[DrMrLordX]

Intel Core i9-9900KS CPU that had been de-lidded with a Cooler Master water-cooling system attached.

Got a model # for that Cooler Master unit?

 

[mikeymikec]

IMO your son has been scammed. Some guy sold him an unstable system after trying everything they could to fix it. Whatever is done to the system now is in the hope that people who know more than the guy who likely broke it in the first place can make it work. As such, I would consider limiting the amount of time spent on it and treat it purely as a pet project. Being optimistic for a moment, it might be the case that the system is stable at factory settings but the original owner wasn't satisfied with that, but it seems to me in that case that the least they could have done was sell it in a stable condition, and the reason they didn't do that was because they've damaged the CPU with unsafe amounts of overclocking and now it won't run properly even at stock settings, so they thought "in for a penny, in for a pound".

I would assume that it's still overclocked. After confirming that the boot drive isn't encrypted by Windows (and if it is, disable encryption and wait for it to finish decrypting the drive), I would reset the BIOS to the default settings to get rid of the OC. I would then trawl the BIOS to confirm default settings.


Probably overclocked: https://www.techpowerup.com/review/intel-core-i9-9900ks/18.html

 

[aigomorla]

I can think of several issues you may be seeing.

1. The delid and the liquid metal used underside probably all rolled down, or the TIM applied between the bare die and IHS is all dryed up, unless the cpu ran Lidless, which then has other problems like the retension clip being too high for a proper cpu cooler mount.

2. The 9900 series had a notoriously bad IHS and would not have firm contact with the DIE. This lead many running hot.

You can not run a intel Die Lidless (IHS removed) because of how heatsinks are mostly designed now with a concave approach. You will crack the die when you tighten most heat sinks onto it, unless you do a flat line test on the reflection and can say its perfectly flat.

If you can easily remove the IHS, i would attempt that and see what is left on between the die and the IHS.
The 9900K is still a good chip for most things, and would not merit an upgrade unless you were looking at higher end GPU's which then you may benifit from the better pci-e lanes to the cpu.

 

[tcsenter]

Hey are there not some good potting type high performance thermal compounds, the kind that cure/harden, he could put a big blob onto or around that die and fashion a 'lid' from?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

I can think of several issues you may be seeing.

1. The delid and the liquid metal used underside probably all rolled down, or the TIM applied between the bare die and IHS is all dryed up, unless the cpu ran Lidless, which then has other problems like the retension clip being too high for a proper cpu cooler mount.

2. The 9900 series had a notoriously bad IHS and would not have firm contact with the DIE. This lead many running hot.

You can not run a intel Die Lidless (IHS removed) because of how heatsinks are mostly designed now with a concave approach. You will crack the die when you tighten most heat sinks onto it, unless you do a flat line test on the reflection and can say its perfectly flat.

If you can easily remove the IHS, i would attempt that and see what is left on between the die and the IHS.
The 9900K is still a good chip for most things, and would not merit an upgrade unless you were looking at higher end GPU's which then you may benifit from the better pci-e lanes to the cpu.

Unfortunately the CPU is already delidded and they do not have the IHS.

 

[blckgrffn]

How about one of them fancy thermal pads? Wouldn't that be a one stop sanity check with no "Did I do it right?!?" factor?

My issues with delidded stuff tended to be more about making sure the cooler was actually making good contact with the surface. It was so nerve racking like the old days that I swore off of it. I am sure it's "fine" but I decided my sanity was the better option.

At the very least, strong Z390 boards (I am making an assumption) and the 9900KS - assuming you can get it to behave nicely - are still worth a surprising amount on second hand markets and you might be able to recoup a tidy sum by selling them.

The 9900KS is the best in socket option for those boards and so will forever be worth a premium.

Also, like has been posted - reset bios options to default, leave "multicore optimization" and XMP disabled (or disable them) and see what the temps are.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Just an observation, but if the Cooler Master unit is an AiO, the pump may be worn out and failing, hence the higher temperatures.