E6750 as high as 179°C!

[nishiyama]

I just set up a new rig:
MB: ABIT IP35-E
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 Conroe 2.66GHz
Memory: Crucial Ballistix 2GB DDR2 800 (PC2 6400)
Video: POWERCOLOR Radeon HD 3850 256MB
PS: Antec earthwatts EA500 ATX12V v2.0 500W
Case: Antec Solo

I am currently using the stock Heatsink/fan for the CPU but have a new one on order:
ZEROtherm Nirvana NV120 120mm

In set up, I cleaned off the stock thermal paste on the stock heatsink/fan for the CPU and applied some Arctic Silver 5. The mounting of that heatsink was kind of shaky which was the source of a heating issue I had once I started the machine.

It fortunately posted, I installed XP and was installing all the rest of the basic applications when I started to feel a lot of heat coming from the machine. Ran Core Temp 0.95 and the temp was idling at 59°C which I thought was high. Was running the immunization of SpyBot and the temp rocketed up to 85°C - 89°C. At one point it reached 179°C for a second but I thought that was a fluke. It ran at 85°C - 89°C for like 45 mins during load times and I finally restarted the machine and checked the temp again from the BIOS. 79°C - 85°C

I took the heatsink off, cleaned it again, reapplied the thermal paste. This time when I placed it on the CPU I held it firmly in place while I fussed with the mounting pins. This time it stayed around 22°C - 33°C.

My main concern is that I have done irreparable damage to the CPU. It never crashed, but by leaving it running that hot for the 45 mins has me slapping myself as I hope I haven't shortened the life of the CPU significantly.

 

[SlyNine]

Iv heard of GPUs getting up too 120C, But Im pretty sure if you're CPU hit 180C. that'd be it.

But I'm pretty sure if your CPU boots up, You should be fine. Just run some benchmarks on it, and call it a day.

Even if you did shorten the life of it. Im sure you will have 5-10 years out of it. I really wouldnt worrie about it.

 

[nishiyama]

Originally posted by: SlyNine
... Just run some benchmarks on it, and call it a day.

Any decent benchmarking recommendations?
I was going to look into these:

• Super PI
  Sandra 2008
  The Futuremark Series of Products
  Fraps

Even if you did shorten the life of it. Im sure you will have 5-10 years out of it.

Yeah nothing I can do now anyways but try to keep it cool

 

[Miramonti]

Since you knew that temp was way too high, you should have turned the computer off and reseated it much sooner than 45 minutes.

 

[SlyNine]

Sandra's got a good one, Run the Burn in tool and select the multi media benchmark ( for me that increased the heat as much as anything).

3dmark 05 and 06 is more of a GPU benchmarking tool, even 03 can be if you have an older Video card. I might even run Sisoft sandra in the background ( low priority) and run 3dmark 05 on loop. That way you can get a good look at the system with the CPU and GPU generating as much heat as they likely ever will.

I think Super PI is mainly a Memory testing tool ( please correct me if I'm wrong).

I think Fraps just records in game FR.

I really believe that if you damaged it, You will know it and have problems with it. If you run a 24/7 benchmark I would believe every thing is fine and no harm done.

I doubt you hit 179c, And while 85C is hot, its not going to whipe out your CPU. If it did, well you wouldn't be worrying about it because it'd already be done. Just think of it as an Italian tune up .

 

[nishiyama]

Originally posted by: SlyNine
Sandra's got a good one, Run the Burn in tool and select the multi media benchmark ( for me that increased the heat as much as anything).

Thanks!

I really believe that if you damaged it, You will know it and have problems with it. If you run a 24/7 benchmark I would believe every thing is fine and no harm done.

Yeah I will get something going tonight before I go to bed and let it run all night. Hopefully things will go smooth

Just think of it as an Italian tune up .

Eh Tony!

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: SlyNine
I think Super PI is mainly a Memory testing tool ( please correct me if I'm wrong).

SuperPi is a processor benchmark, that happens to also be very memory bandwidth sensitive.

Nishiyama, if it will run Orthos for 8 hours at 2.66 Ghz, then you didn't ruin it. You did use up about 3 years of normal use/temps in those 45 minutes, though.

 

[nishiyama]

Nishiyama, if it will run Orthos for 8 hours at 2.66 Ghz, then you didn't ruin it.

I'll give this a go as well tonight.

You did use up about 3 years of normal use/temps in those 45 minutes, though.

Yeah costly mistake on my part.

 

[mrandtx]

Originally posted by: SlyNine
I doubt you hit 179c, And while 85C is hot, its not going to whipe out your CPU. If it did, well you wouldn't be worrying about it because it'd already be done. Just think of it as an Italian tune up .

I'd pretty much guarantee that he didn't hit 179C. Dual cores have lots of headroom, but they are still CMOS devices. CMOS and heat don't get along really well. It is almost for certain that the 179C temp read was a fluke reading (I have one board I designed that has an unreliable temp sensor reading), or much more likely, it was simply 79C and it was sweat from his forehead that caused him to see a 1 that wasn't really there.

Marc

 

[RanDum72]

You might want to check if the HSF is seated correctly. The stock HSF puts a lot of stress in the board and I have seen it come off on more than a few occasions.

 

[Acanthus]

It has to be a misread on the temp, at 180C the solder would melt.

 

[TheOtherRizzo]

What's all the fuss about. That CPU has a max Core Temp of 100°C. It will run happily 24/7 at 89°C. 179°C is of course another matter but that must be an error.

 

[JAG87]

Originally posted by: TheOtherRizzo
What's all the fuss about. That CPU has a max Core Temp of 100°C. It will run happily 24/7 at 89°C. 179°C is of course another matter but that must be an error.

uh no, 100C tjunction is when thermal protection kicks in and starts throttling to prevent damage, 89C is no where near the safe 24/7 operating temperature. the E6750 has a thermal specification of 72C, and it should not exceed that for safe long term operation, according to Intel. you know, the guys who made the processor.

 

[TheOtherRizzo]

72° is max Tcase not max Tjunction. Core Temp tells you Tjunction. Throttling starts at 95°C Tjunction (I think). There's a reason Intel set it to do that: because below that there is not a problem, which is why I said 89°C is fine.

EDIT: I just saw he also read the BIOS temps (Tcase) which were over 72° (how do you do that without load?) so yes, it is too hot.

 

[JAG87]

you should also know that tjunction should be max +15 from tcase for air cooling, and +10 for water cooling, so 72 + 15 = 87c

89c is borderline unsafe for 24/7, you have to realize that.

EDIT
bios temp is not tcase by the way, its socket sensor. there are 3 temps, socket sensor (bios), tcase (software), and tjunction (software like coretemp)

 

[TheOtherRizzo]

Yeah, I agree that it's hot, I just sometimes get annoyed with everyone shouting "OMG t3h hotz0r" instead of believing what the bloody manufacturer specs. With GPUs it's gone so far that people are complaining that their fans are too quiet and go looking for ways to make them noisier. Just because they think "well that sounds like a big number" when they read the temp measurement.

Oh, and I didn't know that BIOS wasn't Tcase. Is it hotter or cooler than Tcase?

 

[JAG87]

GPUs is a total different scenario. nvidia GPUs for example don't throttle until 127C, which is why if you see 100c you should be worried, but you shouldn't freak out. Best thing to do is not overclock video cards, and keep the stock HSF on it, and you are in a bunker. No matter how hot your GPU runs, you are covered.

Yea BIOS isn't tcase, and it tends to be hotter than tcase (even though its further from the processor really). Its calibrated that way so that the bios protection can kick in before the cpu protection. For example, you set your fan to speed up at 60c cpu temp. If the bios sensor was actually reading 60c, the tcase would be at 70 or 75 already and the tjunction even more. So motherboard makers calibrate the socket sensor to always read a bit higher. Thats the reason why your bios temp will almost always be higher than the CPU temperature your software reports in windows, and also the reason why you should never trust bios temps.

 

[nishiyama]

Update. I have tried two after market coolers and have since reverted back to the stock fan/heat sink that came with my e6750.

Running at 8x400 for 3.2

Ran Prime95 last night with Blend mode on CPU1 and Samll FFTs on CPU2, no crashes.

Temp maxed at 63°. Seems a little high but pretty good for stock cooling imho.

 

[firewolfsm]

I think the abnormally high temp was because the transistor that records temps was so hot that it became unstable and gave off a bad signal. You should alright now though.