Disparate core temps cause for concern?

[iNGEN2]

I own a pretty basic Q6600 (stock clocks) on an EVGA NF68 mobo with a 9800GTX in an Antec Sonata III case.

My temps seem to run a little high, avg 62c at idle and 64c full load. I'm concerned though I have one core that consistently runs 4 degrees hotter than the others under load. It's running around 68c.

I wouldn't think four degrees is an issue, but only happening to one core it caught my attention. Is this cause for concern?

I use the OEM HSF with the OE thermal pad. Budget is really tight right now, been through (still in) some pretty rough times these last three years. Will $5 of Artic Silver Ceramiq normalize my temps using the same OEM HSF?

Suggestions?

 

[kalrith]

The 4° difference between the hottest and coolest core isn't cause for concern. The 62° idle temp is. I think it's worth it to remove the heatsink, clean all the thermal goup off with rubbing alcohol and a coffee filter (leaves no fuzz), and reapply the arctic silver per the instructions on the website.

What's the rest of your cooling like? Do you just have the 1 120mm rear fan? Do you have it on high? Does your 9800GTX exhaust its heat out the back or dump it in to the case?

There's also the possibility that the temps are wrong. What program are you using? I have a Q6600 at 3.2GHz. With my cheap 120mm HSF and 5 80mm case fans all 7-volted, I still idle at 45° and hit 60° at load. That's the temp for the hottest core as reported by CoreTemp.

Edit: Is your Q6600 the G0 or B3 stepping? Mine's G0, which is the cooler-running one. I'm not sure what the average temps are for the B3, but I know that 62° at idle is much too high.

I just had another thought. Have you blown out the case really well with some canned air? Dust can make a HUGE difference in temps. Be sure to blow out the case vents, case fan(s), power supply, and the HSF on your GPU and CPU.

 

[Elias824]

on my q9550 I have alot of disparity between core temps, somtimes 6c, but at 4ghz I idle at maybe 50c. You need a better heatsink or better airflow, or like above recommended remount your cpu cleanly.

 

[iNGEN2]

With the exception of the CPU, hard drive, and video card, which I thoroughly cleaned before installation, everything in the system is brand new so there is no dust. The vid card does exhaust out the rear of the case. I was careful to purchase one that didn't just recirculate it waste heat right back into the case. The system has been assembled for about 2 weeks.

I have tried changing the fan speed on the case exhaust fan, but the temperature difference between low and high is only 1 degree at load and has no effect on temperature at idle.

The CPU is a B stepping, revision G0. Here's a screen cap:

I've also been unable to get speedstep to disable unless I run the CPU on a out of spec FSB. So my idle temps are actually with CPU stepped down to 266x6. Incidentally the system runs just great at 300x8, but I haven't tried overclocking yet due to my concern over the temperature.

Running the system with the case side panel seems to have no material effect on temperature either. Which is what lead me to question how well heat is moving from the IHS to the heatsink.

Here's a screen cap of Hardware monitor showing some of the lowest temps I've seen at idle. This is about 10 minutes after start-up, just sitting at the desktop the whole time at 1600MHz.

I hit 69 degrees today about 2 hours into a game of Everquest2.

 

[WoodButcher]

That idle temp seems high, point a household fan at the side of your open case, if your temps drop to 35 - 40 C the mount is good and you need to work on case airflow. If the temp only drops a few degrees the cpu mount is bad, tim or maybe the pushpins are not right.

 

[iNGEN2]

I tried keeping a small box fan blowing into a open side of the case last night. There was zero effect on idle CPU temp, and full load temp stayed the same as idle. Incidentally, my 9800GTX temps went down to 59deg at idle and 69deg at load!

I'll order some thermal compound and re-seat the CPU cooler. Anyone have a nice HSF they want to sell cheap? My budget is about $20.

 

[WoodButcher]

Your stock heatsink should perform much better than it is and the fan proves this. You have a bad mount. Unless your looking to OC or quiet your system down more aftermarket sinks are not needed but many are available for cheap. Check the FS/FT forum. Your vid card probably makes more noise so if quiet is your goal this would be the place to start IMO.


edit- A quick search on newegg I came up with this, cheapest high performer.