Sometimes, it’s the little things that cause the biggest problems. Like recently one small change stopped my computer from working.
It was a CPU fan “upgrade” for the lights. Bling, I know. But hey, it’s fun to see different colors in the case.
The problem is that I forgot that CPU coolers need to do more than fit the socket and spin.
The cooler was rated for 95W TDP and fits perfectly in an LGA1700 socket.
It even works fine with a 65W TDP Core i5 from Gen 13.
That’s because 13th Gen CPUs run cooler. Their base power stayed lower, and even during turbo boost, they didn’t push the limits like newer CPUs.
But Gen 14 CPUs? A whole different story.
Did I check about the power difference before deciding on the RBG? Spoiler. No.
They’re designed to run hotter. The base TDP is 125W. When turbo boost kicks in, power spikes can hit up to 214W. Why? Performance upgrades. Intel pushed Gen 14 hard.
They cranked up the clock speeds, so the CPU cores work faster. But faster cores? More heat.
Some of the higher-end models also have more cores. More cores mean more heat to deal with.
And then there’s turbo boost. Gen 14 pulls more power when it kicks into beast mode than Gen 13 ever did. That extra power means even more heat.
Here’s the catch: that 95W cooler isn’t built to handle those higher power spikes.
When the cooler can’t keep up, the CPU overheats. To protect itself, the CPU activates thermal throttling, slowing down performance to lower the temperature.
What’s the result? Slower speeds and sometimes system instability. All because a cooler that fit the socket didn’t meet the CPU’s thermal requirements.
From the outside, everything looked fine. It seemed like it would work. The fan even came with RGB lighting. Bonus points for the bling.
It had the looks. It seemed like it was doing its job. I mean, it fit, and the fan was spinning madly.
Nope.
It wasn’t cooling the CPU.
Such a small thing turned out to be the computer’s fail point.
Replace the fan with one that can handle the heat.
Problem solved.
It makes me wonder what else goes off the rails due to my inattention.