AMD Phenom II 955be, 8gb RAM (4x2gb), Arctic Freezer 7. Nearing 60 degrees!?

[Ultima2876]

So I've built my machine (again, thanks to everyone who helped pick the stuff that went into it!). Here's what I have:

AMD Phenom II 955BE, stock speed with Arctic Freezer 7 Cooler
8GB RAM - 4x2gb sticks, Corsair XMS3 rated at 1600mhz, running at 1066mhz
Gigabyte GA-870A-UD3 Motherboard
3 case fans; one at the front pulling air in, exhaust at the back and exhaust at the top

System idle temp is about 30 degrees. After running Prime95 for a few seconds, temps jump to 47c, then after about 10-15 mins they've reached 56c. I got this sytem with a bit of an overclock in mind, but I don't really want to push it especailly since that temp seems fairly high already...

I've tried the following:

-Reseating the AC7
-Applying Antec Formula 5, and reseating again
-Stock cooler with Antec Formula 5 - idle temp 40c load temp 56c (the same)

I'm now considering two possibities; the 4 sticks of RAM are raising temps because of the IMC, or I just plain need a better cooler.

All voltages are the default, so are all clock speeds except for RAM being at 1066...

EDIT: Update. I've tried running it with just 2 ram sticks - exactly the same. It's not the 4 sticks doing it..

Any ideas, guys?

[dangel]

Is 60C really that high for a p95 test on this cpu? You're probably still below cutoff and ramming all the cores like that isn't a typical situation most of the time. Checked the cooler is fitted OK? Got decent paste?

[Ultima2876]

Yep, checked and rechecked the fitting of the cooler, and tried the stock AC7 paste (Arctic MX-2) and Antec Formula 5. Same results each time...

Maybe I'm worrying too much; maybe 56 is fine for stock volts/clock speed. Maybe someone who knows better than I do can advise?

[ehhhhhhh]

Considering the capabilities of your cooler, 56C is completely fine, there's nothing to worry about.

Afaik, you would have the same temps with a stock cooler, though it would be much noisier.

If you want to do some OCing I would consider investing in a better cooling solution

[Ultima2876]

Yeah, stock cooler is the same temps, but louder. A lot louder actually - sounds like a jet engine!

I dunno whether to get another cooler, the stock one is LOUD...

http://www.overclock.net/air-cooling...ks-advice.html

This topic says that the Arctic Freezer 7 sucks for AMD. Some people are suggesting that having an exhaust fan at the top fixes the problem, but this is how I've got it set up and it doesn't really do much. Is it possible that it's simply not aiming to keep it cooler than 60 degrees or something? I've noticed that the stock fan is going at about 4500rpm whereas the Freezer 7 goes up to a max of about 1800...

[ehhhhhhh]

yeah, basically it does what it meant to do...I wouldnt worry about it...last time I've checked this cooler was 12 pounds on scan or something like that.

if you want to overclock then I would look at coolers in the £35-70 price range...

There are some decent ones out there which do their job quietly and you can reach around 3.8Ghz without problems.

The Corsair h50 is quite nice though I would get 2 good fans for it (<15dba Scythes or fractal design fans)

from my experience the Coolermaster V6GT and V8 coolers are brilliant too.

[ik9000]

I researched coolers when I was buying my stuff at Christmas/new year and the Prolimatech Megahalems scores very well - remember to buy a decent 120mm PWM fan with it though. Cooler is £40, decent fan £12-£20 depending on your want. Fans like the Akasa Apache, Noctua NF-P12 etc are all good.

I haven't stress tested my CPU yet - if I get time I'll try it this w/e and see what temps I hit. I get 39-42C on idle depending on room temperature, and 50C running a few games. I do only have an i3 though so not the hottest of CPUs

[ik9000]

make sure your case can accommodate whatever cooler you go for though - some of them are pretty large

[Ultima2876]

Scan currently have the Corsair H50 for £46... very tempted.

[ik9000]

yeh i looked at the H50 too - some reviews suggested its pump was audible and slightly annoying if trying to do a silent machine (though this will be down to personal preference). I'd be interested to hear one in action... maybe I'll get one for my next build.

[watercooled]

Have you checked the fan is running at full speed? Some motherboards will control their speed by default, and the trigger temperature may be at 60C on your board. Just have a look through the BIOS options and either disable fan control if the fan is quiet enough or lower the trigger temp. I would be concerned with that temp though as the spec max for that CPU is 62C.

[Ultima2876]

I can't find any fan control speed setting on the BIOS - I can only enable/disable smart fan or cool n quiet. I've tried both - the RPM maxes at 1700ish either way.

Is it really something to be concerned about? It's only running that hot under extreme conditions; how often will I really be stressing this CPU to the point that Prime95 is? I ran Prime for 8 hours and it maxed at 63 degrees but was stable (no errors or crashes).

Still considering whether the water cooling or simply better cooler is really worth binning a £15 cooler and buying a new £30-50 one - everything is running stable and I don't know how often I'm going to be running anything that's going to be stressing all 4 cores of the CPU to 100% solidly for more than a few minutes - I'd probably count on 'never'. If I run Prime95 with 3 workers instead of 4, I get about 54 degrees.

Thoughts?

[watercooled]

Cool n quiet should be on, or your CPU will be using near full power all the time.

Err, well I'd be concerned about it personally, but only because I like everything to stay cool regardless of load. It may say 63 max if the CPU has started to auto-throttle by that point.

The Freezer 7 should handle a 125w stock CPU fine from what I remember reading, I'll check that in a bit, but I'm not sure I'd be comfortable OCing a 125w CPU on it. Even so, it sounds to me like there's something up with the mounting or amount/application of TIM.

[this_is_gav]

I'd say for quad core running Prime95, 56c is more than acceptable for a budget cooler.

The AF7 isn't a fantastic cooler, but it is a fantastic value cooler. You cannot realistically expect it to compete with the coolers which cost 3 or 4 times more.

I wouldn't be at all worried by a load temp of 56c on any cooler, never mind one which cost £15.

[Uriel]

When I first unlocked an athlon X2 5000+ to a phenom FX-5000 (essentially a phenom II x4) my overclock was limited by temps on a freezer pro 64. That's nearly identical to your cooler.

IMO the freezer pro 64 and freezer 7 are fine for quiet cooling at stock but you're pretty much at their limit. If you want to overclock and up the voltage at all, you need something better. I switched to a Scythe Kama Angle. It knocked about 5-10 degrees off my Prime Blend temps.

The Kama angle is an odd shape though. I have it in a GA-870A-UD3 now and it sits partly over the nearest RAM slot, preventing the installation of anything with tall RAMsinks. My Geil Value plus are just about small enough to squeeze under it though.

If you just want to go cooler for free, you could try undervolting the CPU. I'm now running another unlocked CPU at equivalent of Phenom II X4 on 3.3 GHz at only 1.2v on this motherboard.

[watercooled]

It's the max temp that's a cause for concern: http://products.amd.com/pages/Deskto...f10=&f11=&f12=