Please help me sort out my own CPU temperature mess

[acrobat]

I've been putting this off for 5 months, but now that I've sorted everything else out in my PC, and the summer is coming... I need to figure this out once and for all.

I've got an E6600 running at stock speed. I'm using an Arctic Cooling 7 Pro. I've tried fitting it about 6 times, each time with varied amounts of thermal paste. I can never seem to get a decent temperature.

Currently my temp averages 47C idle in IntelTAT (and CoreTemp). Under full load, it averages about 63C. I am pretty sure these temps are too high considering it is stock speed, and its an Arctic cooler. I want to overclock it and thats not gunna happen with these temps.

I had trouble fitting the HSF originally, but I've taken the whole motherboard out, and the little plastic connectors are all the way though the motherboard, so it seems to be securely fastened on. Also, the stock Intel HSF gave me almost the same temps.

So what do I do? I was going to buy a bolt through kit and try to use that instead of the horrible plastic fasteners on this Arctic cooler. But I'm not sure the bolt through kit would work properly, and it would be more hassle to find the right screws and stuff for that, so I'm thinking about just getting a whole new cooler. I could try RMA'ing this one back to Scan, but I'm not sure they would let me do that seeing as its 5 months old now. But either way, I could just buy a Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme or something. I could do without spending £50 odd quid... but it would be worth my peace of mind, if it made my temps really good, and let me overclock finally. The only thing stopping me from doing that, is that it seems kind of insane considering I already have an Arctic Cooling 7 Pro. (And also the Thermalright is out of stock at kustompcs )

Any advice greatly appreciated. I've learned quite a lot reading all these forums for months, so I know for sure my temps are pretty crappy now, and although my PC is perfectly stable, I want to get good temps so I can overclock.

[mosherben]

Try using a thermal pad? Kinda easier to put on, plus you dont need to worry about whether you have used too little or too much thermal paste

[DratUK]

Hi M8
Funny I was talking to a m8 of mine the other day about this. I have a E6300 and an E6600 both fitted with AC Pro 7. The E6600 runs at 30 deg idle the 6300 at 39 idle. True case conditions are different with the E6300 in a smaller case but still with good airflow.

My m8 also has a similar issue, but in reverse. We came to the conclusion that there are variations in the coolers and obviously how good you apply the paste etc. The telling moment was when he swapped the coolers over and got a reversal of temps. The cooler cpu was now hotter and vice versa.
So in this particular case the cooler is whilst not faulty it isnt as efficient as his other AC Pro

[acrobat]

Thank you both! The thermal pad idea is fantastic really. I did think about that, but I bought some really fancy thermal paste so I originally thought I should just make do. But seeing as that stuff was only a couple of quid.... I mayaswell get some thermal pads. Because they are fool proof.

Really though, I am thinking what Drat was saying, is probably true in my case. Because I tried fitting it with tons of thermal paste on, almost oozing out the sides, and I tried it with so little that even when I tried spreading it around... it only covered about a third of the cpu surface - reeeeealy thin. So I've tried different amounts, and nothing made much difference.

So maybe my particular AC Pro 7 is just not a particularly good one. Or perhaps my CPU is just warmer than most. The annoying thing though.. is that its hard to know if I should just return the AC Pro 7 for another AC Pro 7... Because it would be a lot of hassle and may end up being exactly the same. But if I was go for a different one.. it would cost me a fair bit, because I'd only bother going with a good one, and they are about £50. Argh.

So I'm not sure what to do. I'm tempted to just buy a really good new HSF like the "Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme", and if that worked well, I could ask Scan if they will let me return the AC Pro 7. The only problem with that idea is the £50 odd it will cost me for the Thermalright. Its not a huge amount of cash on its own.. but combined with how much I've spent on this PC... it makes me itch. (But I really need to get it sorted, because my temps are pretty bad really)

[kalniel]

Sounds like 'user misapplication of thermal grease'

You should have just stuck with the pre-applied stuff that comes with the AC pro.. but it's a bit late for that.

Clean everything off. Fill in the microbumps on the HSF surface (apply small amount of grease then polish off gently), then put a grain sized amount of grease on the CPU IHS and do NOT spread it around. Put the cooler ontop of this and attach normally. Despite the IHS being a big square, the heat is still very much produced in the centre above the chip itself, so don't worry about the edges!

Finally, you are cooling with air.. no matter how good the HSF, you need proper airflow to and from the cooler within your case as well. What are your case temps like?

[acrobat]

Sounds like 'user misapplication of thermal grease'

I'm not so sure about that. Like I said, I've fitted it about 6 or 7 times now. Once with tons on, once with hardly any on, and like 5 times with everything in between. The most the temperatures varied was by about 5 degrees.

You should have just stuck with the pre-applied stuff that comes with the AC pro.. but it's a bit late for that.

Mine didn't have any on. The stock intel fan did though, and that had bad temperatures too.

Finally, you are cooling with air.. no matter how good the HSF, you need proper airflow to and from the cooler within your case as well. What are your case temps like?

Not particularly good but not too bad. My motherboard/chipset is usually around 40C, and my hard disks are around 31C. This is because my room is fairly warm, and I've been using the Sharkoon 1000 fans which are pretty slow. But I just got brand new fans (Noctua NF-S12 1200 RPM 120mm), which I'm about to fit in a bit. So that will hopefully help my CPU temps. Although I'm still thinking that they will still probably be too high? Because 47C when idle seems waayyy too high?

I think I'll do that now, and then I need to think about maybe fitting the heatsink again. Like I said, I could swear its not user misapplication of grease , although I didn't do what you said about filling in the micro bumps. I just put on a rice grain sized bit and then spread it with the spreader card.

[acrobat]

Hmm I just installed two brand new "Noctua NF-S12 1200 RPM 120mm" case fans.

I originally had two Sharkoon 1000's and I thought they where a bit slow. The Noctuas where meant to be 2Db quieter but much more air flow. So I put them in and the temps are only about 2C lower (Motherboard, CPU, hard disks). But its noticeably noisier. I'm not sure why the hell fans with less decibels are louder.

So I need to decide if I'm gunna bother with them.. For a couple of degrees, I mayaswell put the Sharkoons back in. And I'm still going to need to do something about my CPU's heatsink+fan.

[Flewis]

Fan manufacturers generally lie about the noise ratings. They all measure the noise from different distances away so the only way to know is to read an independent review.

[acrobat]

Read a review that said they where amazing and really quiet

[Flewis]

were they comparing them to the sharkoons though? Also 2C lower probably corresponds to a fair increase in airflow.

[acrobat]

Well I read a few reviews. Some of them where just commenting on the fans alone, but with other fans in mind. And some of them compared them to other popular fans. The general concensus was that they are totally amazing.

Unfortunately, I think they sound like a boiling kettle

They are maybe better than other fans with the same airflow though. But based on my temperatures, the increased airflow has done almost nothing for my PC

Gutted. I'll probably just buy a fan controller, or send them back.

Heres some of the reviews by the way:



Final words and conclusion

Noctua impressed us at Driver Heaven greatly a few months back when we reviewed the CPU coolers NH-U12 and U9, and now they have done it again! Not only did the NF-S12-1200 keep up with the YS-Tech 120mm fan performance wise, it did so without any noise. This is honestly something we thought impossible.

The NF-S12-800 was able to maintain our case temperatures at more than acceptable levels, it actually didn’t let the temperatures get any higher than when using the cooler master stock fans. To think a short while ago I considered the cooler master fans quiet!

Is there anything we did not like about these fans? I am pleased to say that this is a rare occasion when I can not find fault with the product in our labs. It has it all, it pushes a substantial amount of air (81 m³/h for the 1200, and 59 m³/h for the 800), and it does so at the lowest level of sound I’ve experienced with fans at this performance. The only thing I could imagine people complaining about would be the choice of colouring.
http://www.driverheaven.net/reviews/...ans/index2.htm


And this place, who compared about 6 of the top fans:
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article695-page1.html

[Clunk]

Didnt spcr take back what they said about the Noctua fans because their tests were flawed?

[DratUK]

Running 4 Noctua fans 1200's and they are quiet. I just get a hummmmm in the background. Bear in mind I have a top blower fan as well.
Also you have to take background conditions in to consideration, amount of furniture in the room ceiling height etc.
I would go for it. They are a very decent fan.

[acrobat]

Dont know. Their review seemed to like it though. I might give it the rest of the day to see if I get used to it. Going to turn the heat on too, to see if they do better than the old fans when my room is warm.

Not lookin good though. The Sharkoons where basically completely silent, and although didn't move as much air... 2-3 degrees isn't worth losing the silence.

ps. Dont know if its my imagination or what... but they seem to be getting quieter? Maybe im getting used to it?

[acrobat]

What should my chipset/motherboard temperature be? Its a Gigabyte DS4 (revision 2).

I've done some tweaking with the fans, and all three hard disks are 33 degrees now. But my chipset/motherboard seems to have gone up to 44 degrees

CPU temp is still far too high aswell, but I think I'm just going to buy a new heatsink and fan for that and write of this AC Pro 7 as a bad one.

[acrobat]

Ok I sorted out my motherboard and disk temperatures now

All I need is a CPU cooler, so if anyone can tell me where I can buy a "Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme", please let me know! I want one as soon as possible, but the couple of places I've tried are out of stock.