Need some help with my PC - Temperatures and stuff :(

[acrobat]

Hi all. I had trouble fitting my "Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro" first time around, so I used the stock heatsink and fan that came with my E6600.

My idle temperature was about 42 degrees, and it went up and down a bit. Not sure what it was when it was being stressed because I kept forgetting to check and I figured it wouldn't be too good. When my room was cool the temperature was about 35 degrees idle. 42 is when I have the heat on.

Also, I was running the fan at maximum speed... and it was a bit noisy.

So I decided I should sort it out. So today I bought some proper thermal paste remover, and some lint free paper things. I wiped all the gunk off, and used the paste remover as the instructions told me. I cleaned both the CPU and the new heatsink and fan. Then I used some Akasa AK-TC5022 compound - just a tiny dot of it right in the centre.

I fitted the heatsink and fan as instructed and it seemed like a good fit and it was pressed down in all corners with the white plastic bits touching the motherboard.

Anyway, I have booted up with the new "Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro" fitted, and the idle temperatures is 1 degree higher Also, when I let the CPU/Motherboard pick the speed, it runs slow and very quiet, but the temperature goes up to about 45 degrees, even when its sitting in the bios... So I have it running at full speed and it sounds like a tornado, and now that im in Windows, the temps say 43 degrees in SpeedFan, and 48 degrees in "CoreTemp" (which evidently tests the hottest part of the core).

Both temperatures are about 1 degree higher than the stock Intel fan, and the fan is running at full speed too, but is a bit noisier than the intel fan.

What have I done wrong? Im sure its seated properly, and I think I used enough compound. The temps seem a bit high, and for a full speed fan... they are way too high I think. I'm pretty concerned about it From what I've read, the temps ideally should be below 40 degrees, and some people even have it below 40 degrees even when its fully stressed.

Im scared to do anything on the PC besides use the internet or it will go above 50 degrees and I heard thats not ideal.

Please help.


----edit----

eek... my hard disk is doing something. Im not sure what. And the temp in SpeedFan is the same but the temp in "CoreTemp" has gone up to 54 degrees. Im panicking now.


----edit----

Oh god.. its up to 59 degrees now.

---edit---

And now its down to 52... *confused*

(The hard disk was working cause windows defender decided to do a scan. I stopped that now)

----edit----

Ok, I just checked my temps against some people on a forum I searched for. They are talking about 45 idle and 59 full load! If thats normal... then Im doing ok. But Im still concerned because this fan is on full blast. Sounds like a jumbo jet about to take off. I might try lowering the speed and see what it does to the temp. I was also expecting the temps to be amazingly good with this fancy thermal compound and fancy heatsink and fan. At the moment its about 1 or 2 degrees worse than the Intel one

----edit----

Having second thoughts about whether I used enough compound now... Last time I did it, I used too much and it came out the sides of the CPU. So I only used a little dot this time.

---------edit---------

FINAL UPDATE

Ok, so I downloaded "Intel Thermal Analysis Tool" which is meant to give the most accurate reading. It certainly seems to be and its very fast with that digital sensor. The idle temp is 50degrees (38 in SpeedFan). When you make the tool use 100% CPU usage on both cores, the temp goes to a maximum of 74 degrees after about 5 minutes. (66 in SpeedFan).

If this was with the fan working at its usual speed, I would probably accept it. But the fan is running at full speed, so I think I'm gunna have to take it all apart again and check that I put enough thermal compound on Its such a hassle to do.. but I wont be happy until its more in line with other people. And that seems to be about 63 degrees 100% load, using Intel TAT. So I am basically 10 degrees over what it should be, and the fan is at full speed.

[ultim8um]

There are lots of factors that affect your CPU temperatures...

1) Case cooling and throughflow. If you only have small fans or maybe a single large fan then perhaps your case is not allowing hot air to escape easily enough.
2) Location of the PC. If its stuck under a desk (with a back) or bang up against the wall then hot air will not dissipate as quickly.
3) Other components. Is the motherboard passively cooled? Video card(s)? Hard disks etc. All of these will be adding heat to the inside of the case...

Yes using to much or to little thermal paste will affect your temperatures... I normally use a spreader to get a thin even layer on (an old debit or credit card is ideal).
The arctic coolers are normally pretty good but are focused more on cooling quietly than out and out performance. I personally would recommend the Scythe Ninja or similar as these beasties can shed a lot of heat and at reasonable noise levels...

[acrobat]

I have an Akasa Eclipse case which seems pretty srubbishrubbishrubbishrubbishy. It only has 2 slots for fans though, but I have the 120mm Golf Ball fans. One in the front and one in the back.

The motherboard is a DS4 so has a good cooling method with its heatsinks all over it.

The GPU is an 8800GTX, not sure how much that is contributing to overall heat. The heat inside the case I am not sure about, but I THINK its about 38 degrees. But im not sure about that.

I have 2 hard disks, both 320gig SATA 2 Seagate Barracudas. One of them (the main one) is located behind the front fan. I did that on purpose so the front fan can help keep it cool, but the side affect may be that its heating the air coming into the case.

The case is pretty close to a wall, so I think the heat isn't dissipating as well as it probably should. I can try to fix that a bit, but I dont have a whole lot of room to work with.

I have set the fan at its usual speed now in the BIOS and let it speed up when it gets hot. Its completely silent now, and then I've been monitoring temperatures. The Intel TAT is still saying 50 idle and about 74 at full load. So I am starting to think that may be ok seeing as the fan is working silently now.

I am not really happy about the 74 full load though. I know its more intense than it ever usually will be, but people say its about 10 degrees more than normal full load when gaming etc. But thats still 64 degrees which is about 5 degrees more than I really want it to be.

I am wondering if moving it further from the wall, and giving it time for the thermal compound to settle, and it might get me that 5 degrees. If not, I think I might have to take the damn thing off again, and check that I put enough compound on.

If I didn't, would I be ok to just add a little bit? Or would I have to wipe it all off and start from scratch again?

And does anyone else have any other suggestions? And does 74 degrees at full load using Intel TAT seem reasonable or too high? I know its higher than some people and probably higher than average, but is it so high that it will likely to shorten the life of my chip?

Thanks in advance

p.s. I could consider the Scythe Ninja, but I already bought the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, and on another forum, I saw someone with the same CPU and same cooler, running idle at 33 degrees, and full load of 48 degrees. Thats basically over 20 degrees better than me If that was with SpeedFan instead of Intel TAT then that would make the 20 degrees... but if that was with Intel TAT then I'm WAY above the norm.

[this_is_gav]

I wouldn't normally be worried, but if TAT is showing 74c under load on an system that's not been overclocked, then something, somewhere is very wrong.

[acrobat]

I wouldn't normally be worried, but if TAT is showing 74c under load on an system that's not been overclocked, then something, somewhere is very wrong.

Damn I think I will take it apart and check my thermal compound then.

Whats an average score for full load in TAT? (on a none overclocked E6600)

[this_is_gav]

Mine is overclocked, and it's not touched 60c with a Scythe Infinity and Sharkoon 1000.

[Chunkers]

I have a very similar set-up, same case, CPU, cooler.

Your temps are too high, mine are much lower and my system is oc'ed. 74C is way too hot. You can see my temps in this post :

http://forums.hexus.net/showthread.php?t=88669

Check your cooler is seated correctly with the clips rotated all the way round and the fan is fitted to the correct side to blow the air away.

Check your case fans are blowing in the right directions (sorry if it seems obvious)

I think it is worth removing and reseating your cpu cooler, make sure its not resting or caught on anything and that the paste is properly distributed.

Chunks

[acrobat]

Thanks all. I had to sleep cause I was tired but I'll have a go with it today.

Will take it all apart again (argh..) and take the cooler off. Im 10 degrees lower today. 44 when idle, and 64 when full load in TAT. But I think once my PC heats up and my room warms up, that will go up 10 degrees and i'll be back to the bad numbers

Its really cold in my room at the moment.

So I'll reseat the stuff today.

[DratUK]

Hi m8, sorry to hear of your problems. I have the same set up as u. E6600 8800 GTX only diff is the case Lian Li A10B. Temps 29 deg idle 37 max under load ie playing FEAR 3 hrs.
Anyway to my point, a friend has the same setup but with a P160 case on boot with the Artic 7 Pro on his cpu he was getting Temp issues. He stripped the mobo out and found the Artic 7 although appeared to be in place was not actually seated properly. The white prongs were only partially extending from the bottom of the mobo. Applying more pressure and giving a twist to the prongs ended up with the heat sink fully in place. His temps immediately dropped to something similar to mine. I can only suggest it is one option to check.
Best of luck

[acrobat]

Thanks! I have just finished re-doing it again and things seem much better. I think my heatsink+fan is a bit screwed up from a couple of failed installs.

Its seated QUITE well now, but not perfect. All 3 corners are in solid, but one of them seems to move very slightly when I press harder, and it wont stay down. The white plastic washer is touching the motherboard, but I just think its maybe not as tight as it could be. And when I twist the little black presser thingy, it makes a cracking noise, rather than a "clipping into place" noise the other 3 made. I reckon its on much better now though than it was last time.

Also, I only put a tiny dot of thermal paste on last time in the middle. I read that you should spread it across the chip using an old credit card, so this time I did that with a nice thin, even layer covering the whole middle, with a bit of a gap around the edges for it to spread out a bit.

My temperatures seem to be MUCH better.

Its about 45 degrees when idle which is only about 5 degrees better. But my room is nice and toasty warm. But when I used Intel TAT to put both cores on 100% load, it only goes up to about 57 degrees max after a few minutes. Thats almost 20 degrees lower.

So being below 60 on full load in TAT, im quite happy now, and the fan is silent

I reckon it may come down a few degrees when the thermal paste settles too (Ive only just done it and im using it already). In the future, if I get any high temps, I may get a new fan or try to replace this one for a new one. But I think I'm doing ok now. Would you agree?

[ultim8um]

Sounds like you have it mostly under control now... I would still change that cooler tho

[acrobat]

Thanks mate. Im a bit hesitent to do that cause its such a pain in the arse to change it, and even if Scan replaced it for me, or I bought a new one, I would have to put my stock intel one on for a while, until the new one arrived.

I may still do that though because Id like to overclock eventually, and I would be wanting to get 60 degrees at full load when overclocked, and at the moment its 60 degrees at full load without an overclock..

I think I'll wait and see if the temps come down a bit too once the thermal gel has had some time to settle. And I might try to make the fan run slightly faster cause at the moment its pretty much silent, so it could be a bit faster.

Do you reckon my temps are acceptable though anyway? I know 45 degrees when idle isn't perfect, but at full load it gets to about 58 and I think it touches 60 if I leave it for a while. So I'm thinking thats ok, if only average. Do you think thats ok?

[aidanjt]

Retail CPU HSFs are always pants, Zalman CNPS9700-LED Aero Flower is kick ass, even if it's a bit fiddly to install, it's well worth the bit of effort.

58C for an E6600 is far too high, not dual-core meltdown temps, but concerning. Even my highly energy inefficent P4E is cooler than that.

[acrobat]

This is using an Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro Also, its only 58 when Intel TAT pushes both cores to 100% load. And in SpeedFan and other temperature sensors its only showing about 48 degrees (35 when idle). But intelTAT is meant to show the hottest part of the core.

If thats still bad, what do you think it could be? I reckon if I got a new Arctic Cooler, it may fit on a bit tighter, but its already on very tight. 3 corners are definitely as tight as they go, and the last corner is almost perfect. The thermal paste is all spread out underneath it too, so its definitely got a good connection. But the last corner makes a creaking sound when I press it really hard. So it doesnt seem to go in any further, but its maybe not as tight as it could be. I would have to take the entire motherboard off to look under it.

So do you reckon the last corner could be causing the high temp? Or is it likely to be something else? Perhaps my chip is a bad one or something?

[this_is_gav]

Get that last corner in place. If it won't go it's because either the board or the cooler is faulty, and you shouldn't have to deal with it.

That said, the Core temp isn't bad. It's certainly well within the limits, and as you're using golf-ball fans (especially if they're the 1000s), you won't have exceptional airflow through the case anyway.

Basically, push for that final corner. If it's going to cause you health problems and a visit from the defibrillator, then just leave it, but keep monitoring the situation, both thermally and physically.

[acrobat]

Get that last corner in place. If it won't go it's because either the board or the cooler is faulty, and you shouldn't have to deal with it.

That said, the Core temp isn't bad. It's certainly well within the limits, and as you're using golf-ball fans (especially if they're the 1000s), you won't have exceptional airflow through the case anyway.

Basically, push for that final corner. If it's going to cause you health problems and a visit from the defibrillator, then just leave it, but keep monitoring the situation, both thermally and physically.

Thanks! I dont reckon i'll have health probs, but I just wanna know my chip isn't gunna die in 2 years and someone will say, "serves you right!".

The last corner is in place, but its only like 90% in place.. When I turned all the other 3 knobs, they all clicked into place. But the last one makes a cracking sound like its a bit buggered. But its definitely in the hole and pressed in as far as I can go. I just think its not locked as tight as the others.

(Fans are the sharkoon 1000 by the way I thought they where meant to be good)

I reckon I'll leave it and see if the temps come down a bit over the next few days when the thermal paste settles.

If not, I'll just buy a new cooler. A scythe or something. Just gutted this Arctic 7 pro didn't work out, or I somehow messed it up. I did have a bit of trouble with one corner, but that corner fits fine now. The corner that doesn't seem perfect has never had problems before.