Cooling problem

[AD-15]

hello,

I recently assembled a new system, and have been having problems with my CPU temperature. It will reach 58C under load (just a game, not stress testing). However, when the CPU is throttled under idle conditions using intel speedstep, the temp goes as low as 29C.

The problems maybe due to something I noticed when I came to install the (intel stock) cooler. I saw that the arctic silver 5 paste I applied looked a lot thinner than normal, and seemed to have a lot of fluid in it.

In addition, when I installed the cooler, the first push pin went in fine, however, I heard no clicks when pushing in the other 3. Looking at the back of the motherboard, I found that the little black male part of the push pin was not as far "in" on two of the pins as the others. Is the cooler seated correctly?

[GoNz0]

you need to take the cooler off and check, also push through the tube of as5 until its a thick paste

[Tonka777]

I had a similar experience when i first fitted my stock cooler. I had high temps due to 3 of the push pins not being pushed hard enough, i found i really had to push hard until i heard a faint click to get them to lock.

[AD-15]

hello,

Thanks for your advice guys.

I removed the cooler, and found the thermal paste in what looked like almost a "puddle". There seemed to be an excessive amount of suspension fluid in the paste I applied, so I removed it, and added a new application of paste.

This time, installing the cooler, I could only not hear a click from one of the pins. But it seems seated ok anyway, as I get good temps. It reached a maximum of about 50C in orthos, which is massively better than before at least.

[GoNz0]

i would also give the heatsink a slight twist while mounted to allow it to spread better, do it sooner rather than later b4 it cures, temps will drop over the 1st 200 hours of use.

[Pob255]

In addition, when I installed the cooler, the first push pin went in fine, however, I heard no clicks when pushing in the other 3. Looking at the back of the motherboard, I found that the little black male part of the push pin was not as far "in" on two of the pins as the others. Is the cooler seated correctly?

Good move and the answer is, No, it's not in correctly.
If you just play around with the push pins you should see how they work, with the central black pin pushing the white pins apart to grip the holes, if the end of the black pin is not level with the white pin then it's not through full and you need to push on it some more.
I've found that the stock coolers can be very very tight and can requlre a lot of force that will leave the motherboard bent.
If you don't get them through fully and locked then the cooler will work lose over time, I've not had one fall off but I have had a system that was overheating because the top two pins where not locked and all the paste had worked it's way down to the lower half of the cpu, thurver lifting the cooler away so only half of it was makeing contact with the cpu.

On the thermal paste, sounds like its a bit old and is starting to seperate, I've had this happen before.
It still works but the problem is that the thiner oil tends to flow out before the more viscus solids.
What I've done was put on a larger than normal amount of paste, stired it with a coctail stick to mix it back together then removed the excess.
Best way I've found for removeing excess paste is to push the heatsink down by hand, then remove and wipe off the paste from the heatsink but not the cpu.
You should now have a nice thin coating on just the cpu
(note this was not done with a 775 but a 478 with the clip removed from the heat sink, so the push pins may get in the way )

[Lee H]

This is the issue I had with my arctic freezer - that and 1 of the plugs came off in my hand.

I removed all the push-pin connections and replaced them with the thermalright bolt-through kit and this ensures that it is connected correctly, securely and looks a lot more secure than the flimsy mountings that were orginally with the cooler.

[GoNz0]

bolt through kits are good as most come with an x-plate to support the baord and stop the warping.