Overheating problems with new i5 build

[fuo]

Specs:
Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4
2x 2GB Corsair Dominator 1600mhz DDR3
Intel Core i5 (with stock cooler)
ATI HD4870 1GB
Antec 300
Coolermaster TX650

Hey guys,

I'm having some overheating problems with my new build. The first boot worked fine, except it didn't notice my DVD drive. Whilst trying to think why it wouldn't detect the DVD drive, I decided to reboot, only to have it switch itself off just after it POSTed.

I gave it a few minutes to cool down, booted it up, and went into the BIOS. Went to PC Health and saw that the CPU temperature was 88*c.

I re-installed the CPU and cooler about 3 times. The third time was the most successful, it stayed at ~55*c for about 3 seconds before shooting up to 83*c in increments of 3-5*c, at which point, I switched off the PC.

Today, I removed the motherboard from the case, and reinstalled everything from scratch. All four corner pins of the cooler clicked in perfectly and evenly - it all looks fine on the back of the motherboard. It recognized my DVD drive this time, but it was still overheating. It started at 50*c, and slowly crept up to 75*c again in increments of 3-5*c. Shut it off at that point.

The vcore was between 0.097 - 1.070, PCH temperature was at 39*C, System temperature was at 33*c and the BLCK speed was at 133. I couldn't find the memory speeds, but it did detect 4GB of my RAM. It also said my CPU was running at 2.66ghz - i5 760's are supposed to run at 2.8ghz. Probably downclocking itself to prevent overheating, I guess. The fanspeed was around 1900RPM.

I'm going to contact SCAN tomorrow for a replacement of the CPU and motherboard. I bought the Scansure insurance as well. I'm guessing it's either a faulty cooler/heatsink, a faulty temperature probe in the CPU, or possibly a fault with the motherboard.

Here's some pics:
http://imgur.com/XlINp.jpg
http://imgur.com/5FyzZ.jpg (cable management is a bit of a mess at the moment whilst I'm troubleshooting, I'll worry about that after my processor isn't dangerously hot)
http://imgur.com/Es2gC.jpg

Has this ever happened to anyone before?

I know Intel stock coolers are terrible, but surely not this terrible..

[mikemikemi]

Could be a faulty temp sensor.

Seeing as you've re-seated the block so many times, it's unlikely you've not had one good mount.

I doubt the heatsink/fan is faulty as long as the fan spins it should be fine. I've had some not entirely flat sinks in my time and as long as there was pressure and some contact they still managed to do the job.

If you have a temp probe it could be worth checking if the CPU is really 88c

[scaryjim]

Is that pic of the bottom of the heatsink *after* you'd installed it? If so, that thermal interface material on the bottom looks far too neat and tidy, and suggests that something is stopping the cooler seating properly on to the CPU. You must have mounted the CPU properly if you've got into BIOS, but check that you've clipped the retaining frame down properly and that nothing is protruding into the space around the CPU socket.

As to the clock speed, it's possible that your BIOS is simply set to run at one multiplier less than the stock. It seems to be quite a common issue with Intel processors - I had it with my Q6600 and someone else on Hexus reported a similar thing recently too...

[fuo]

That pic was after my 2nd or so mount. There's some thermal paste that has spread onto the CPU. It's gotta be touching it at least a bit, otherwise it would just fry near instantly, wouldnt it?

but check that you've clipped the retaining frame down properly and that nothing is protruding into the space around the CPU socket.

I've pushed the mounting pins down as hard as I can and I've got my brother who's a bit stronger than me to check as well - it's definitely not going in any further. Check the pic of the back of the motherboard - it looks alright, doesnt it?

I'll try re-mounting it again.

I also don't have a temperature probe at the moment, no.

[Terbinator]

TBH, looking at your first pic i don't think you've pushed the pins through far enough - it looks just short of being completely tight.

Re-seat and make sure the groove of the pin is completely through the otherside of the board.

[fuo]

TBH, looking at your first pic i don't think you've pushed the pins through far enough - it looks just short of being completely tight.

Re-seat and make sure the groove of the pin is completely through the otherside of the board.

Reinstalled it again, instead of temperatures rising quickly, they rose about 1*c per 2 seconds or so - still, it went up to about 74*c after about 40 seconds, where I stopped.

Some pix:
http://imgur.com/z8P1S.jpg
http://imgur.com/K2lXx.jpg
http://imgur.com/v2cmw.jpg
http://imgur.com/aTZO9.jpg

Would anyone like to ask me to check any settings in the BIOS? Like the RAM and FSB or whatever it is speed? (I'm not exactly a prime overclocker, in case you couldn't tell. )

[Domestic_Ginger]

WRT to the CPU speed it probably thinks its an i5 750 which runs at 2.66.

Perhaps a bios flash is in order? Of course this is probably only advisable if your system is stable but I know my GB has a second Bios or suming. Not sure how this explains the temp rises. Perhaps contatc scan and see if it invalidates your scansure as it may be better to just return it.

Stock bios settings should be fine. You can always check your RAM settings against your specs. Your CPU should throttle if it overheats so you *should * be okay but check something reliable to be sure. Never owned anything intel so can't really help with the cooler I'm afraid.

[sadbuttrue]

As Terbinator says, your heatsink is not fully secured. That thermal compound will become a nice squishy mess when the correct amount of pressure is applied. The stock securing pins are rather scary on first ever use. I had to google some time ago when I first came across them, due to fear something was about to break

[Lee H]

As Terbinator says, your heatsink is not fully secured. That thermal compound will become a nice squishy mess when the correct amount of pressure is applied. The stock securing pins are rather scary on first ever use. I had to google some time ago when I first came across them, due to fear something was about to break

Nice explanation

When I first built a PC using these lugpins, it took some force to push them in and the noise it made filled me with horror. Once they are in, they are a royal pain to remove so I agree with this and its not pushed down hard enough.

[killie99]

heatsink is definately not fitting properly. Can you remove all the paste from the CPU and heatsink, re-apply a very thin layer of paste ONLY to the CPU, fit the heatsink as you have been, remove it and take pictures of the CPU and the base of the heatsink. That should let us see the contact area pattern on both.

[fuo]

There's no way the cooler can go any further in the motherboard. I reapplied it today using my brother and me working as a team to push them all in at once, as hard as we can. The amount of pressure we're putting on the motherboard is causing it to bend. Perhaps there's a problem with the cooler's security pins?

I would love to remove the thermal paste and put a new coat on, but I don't have any, and if I'm going to be waiting for delivery, I may as well just buy a Corsair H50 and have all these problems gone.

I've contacted SCAN and the man I talked to asked me to update the BIOS before trying anything else - I've tried two flash drives (both FAT32) and my phone (the phone recognized the PC and I put it into file transfer mode) and it's not recognizing any of them as drives in any USB port. Sigh.

Is it worth trying a replacement cooler?

EDIT: Phoned up SCAN again, they asked me to try applying Arctic Silver 5. That's their solution. Applying AS5. They also said that the thermal paste doesn't have to spread because Intel's stock paste is made like a clay substance and not a paste. I have a very good feeling I'm going to get the AS5, apply it, and it's going to be exactly the same as it is now since the cooler isn't making proper contact with the processor. /wrists

I must have re-mounted it about 9 times now. Is it really likely that I would have not applied enough pressure to get a good mount yet?

The only option other than getting it RMA'd is taking it to a local PC repair store where I did my work experience and playing around with it there.

I'm not going to bother RMAing it to be told that there's no problem with it and to pay out the reshipping + non-faulty software charge just in case it's a problem on my end, or if they don't actually notice that the temperature is rising over time.

EDIT2: My current plan of action is taking the PC to the PC repair store tomorrow and seeing what they can do, and if they can fit a different 1156 socket cooler to it to see if there's any difference. If they want to charge me for it or we just can't fix it, then I'm going to order a Corsair H50.

[Terbinator]

In all seriousness, you may still not be pushing it through properly.

When i first put my Pc together i had really bad temperatures - it was only when i bought a third party cooler to fix the 'hot' chip that i realised i hadn't mounted it right in the first way.

As you push the heatsink in make sure the other pins aren't popping out of place.

Also, every good motherboard should allow some flexing.

[fuo]

Well, I've pushed it as hard as I can, me and my brother have pushed it as far as we can and spent about half an hour every re-build making sure they're all pushed in, there's nothing more we can do. If it's a problem with it not being pushed in enough, then we can fix that tomorrow at the PC shop.

I really do appreciate all the help, it's just such a weird problem.

EDIT3: CPU cooler was the problem! Bought a £30 cheapo one that sounds about the same as the Inte Stock cooler but stays below 29*c idle. Installing W7 now, thanks lads!