Aurora R11, what temp should my i7-10700F be running?

@PapaKhan    However, I may have been led to believe my CPU is running a little high.

I'm not sure if I am the one that led you to that belief . . . but 45C idle temp is a little warm . . . even for an air cooled CPU, depending on ambient temps, of course.  If you are interested in maintaining the health and optimum performance of your cherished rig . . . you should install liquid cooling for your CPU. The H60 Hydro Series AIO cooler is only around $100. You might also consider getting some better quality thermal paste to use in place of the pre-installed patch. Also you will need one Corsair ML120 Pro (no LED, no RGB) fan for the top exhaust position to avoid the BIOS startup error.

Buy yourself some early Christmas presents 

This is a screen grab of my temps as I type this forum response @ 22.5C ambient. Both my CPU and GPU are liquid cooled. You can decide how you feel about 45C idle temps.

"The H60 Hydro Series AIO cooler is only around $100."

I bought mine from bestbuy for $45 a while back.

I just checked best buy and the H60 is $59.99 right now.

$100 is pricey even for an H75.

@r72019    $100 is pricey even for an H75.

I was including my 25% commission 

Yes . . . many good sales for the Holiday Season 

YouTube is your teacher. Actually, if you can afford a licensed PC technician, they will do a night-and-day better job installing the CPU liquid cooler for you, than any YouTube amateurish hack ever can.

Buy yourself some early Christmas presents  

    Looks like I have some extra shopping to do! I'll definitely be heading into my local and most renowned PC shop to check out your suggestions. I would like to buy and install this all myself, but I'm still pretty green. Makes me wish I had friends who are tech savvy to watch over my shoulder while I attempt to learn. I mean I actually opened up my PC for the first time to really look at where I need to begin and install a cooler (with a little help from youtube.) However, when I opened/ closed the power source I accidentally unplugged the SATA cable that connected my 1TB HD and I thought I ruined my PC lmfao. After a few bad words and anxiety ridden moments passed I was at least able to find the common sense to identify the issue and plug it back in... Needless to say this was a reality check and I will need supervision from someone with experience to continue with this. If you guys have any outlets or suggestions on learning the anatomy of these magic boxes, don't hesitate to let me know! 

Thanks for the helpful suggestions, I'll be a pro some day... maybe.

@PapaKhan    I'll be a pro some day... maybe.

Doing it yourself is the best way to learn.  There is a wealth of information in these forums. Many have done this exact mod and posted photos for guidance. Do your research first, so you have some ideas of what to expect. Ask questions of this Community before, and during your mod, as necessary.

Good Luck!

i just got through doing this and i'm not really seeing better temps. i also put a ml120 pro in the front fan. i also still get the startup error with the 120 pro. no idea how to diagnose this either. this is the first time that i've done anything more than install RAM. 

i'm running zoom right now with the below system temps and it's no better than it was air cooled. here's a stupid question, but what direction should the two fans be pointing?

@hawkhandler    but what direction should the two fans be pointing?

Top exhaust fan (ML120 Pro) up through the radiator and out the top of the case. Lower front intake fan pulls air from the outside and into the case.

Something is wrong if you are getting those temps.

@hawkhandler    i'm running zoom right now with the below system temps

Did you connect the pump to SATA power from the PSU?

ML120 Pro goes on the radiator, connected to TOP_FAN to avoid startup error.

Pump tach to PUMP_FAN

Switch to performance and see what readings change (it will be louder)

pic below of the setup. i'm pretty sure that i have it all done correctly but i'm still getting the startup error. temps are better now by the way since i swapped the fan and radiator around. it's also been pointed out that it's weird that there are no rvm heatsinks. is that something i can find and install?

@hawkhandler    i'm pretty sure that i have it all done correctly but i'm still getting the startup error.

VRM heatsink for left side of CPU  VRM heatsink 

May need to use thermal glue to stick one above the CPU 

The startup error is peculiar, as it appears you have the correct ML120 Pro fan.

Note how the CPU water block is oriented in this photo, such that the hoses are clear of the VRM heatsink.

(photo by r72019)

wanted to follow up here. i purchased the heatsinks you linked to and unfortunately they do not fit. they are too short. you have a part number? 

I might be late to the party and you may have already caught this but I am almost certain that your corsair fan mounted in the top fan location is oriented incorrectly, meaning that it is blowing air into the case instead of blowing it out. The Corsair logo is on the front of the fan with the air flowing from behind it. The back of the fans are where the cords are and have the regulatory info. In short: air flows through the fan from cord side to logo side.

https://ark.intel.com/content/www/us/en/ark/products/199318/intel-core-i7-10700f-processor-16m-cache-up-to-4-80-ghz.html

TJUNCTION100°C

What matters the most is the temperature under load. How it looks when it is idle is of little consequence, unless it is abnormally high. 

To determine if it is abnormally high, I have my own rule of thumb that if it is below the maximum temperature -50 Celsius it is good. (100 - 50 = 50)

CPU's will clock up and down, even when idling. You might see spikes up to 60 Celsius under no load conditions, but those would only exist for a very small period of time. It should average out below 50.

@K1tt3nb0i the fan is correctly mounted I think ML 120 Pro from the inside