Temps too hot?

[moforles]

Hi Guys,

I recently built my rig around a Q6600 B3, and I just installed CoreTemps 0.95.4 beta to evaluate the core temps. Since I wasn't planning on doing any real overclocking, I figured that the stock cooling provided by my CPU and case fans would be enough. The results from CoreTemps seem alarmingly high though.

My core temps idle in the low to mid 50s (50-55). At full load running dual instances of Orthos (With split affinities), the temps go as high as 80-80-75-75 (and I may have even seen an 81 in there somewhere!). I've never used CoreTemps before, but these numbers sound awfully high to me, and since I'll be using my rig for heavy computational work that will stress the cpus and ram, I want to make sure I'm not running everything too hot.

Ok, here's my rig, and note that my cpu is running at stock settings. My RAM is actually running at below rated speed (889 MHz 4-4-4-12), since I'm using 4 sticks. The Wavemaster has its standard two front 80 mm fans and one back 80 mm fans. I'm using the stock Intel CPU fan as well, and the pins are fully fastened/pushed in.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz 2 x 4MB L2 Cache LGA 775
GIGABYTE GA-P35C-DS3R LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard
2 x CORSAIR TWIN2X2048-8500C5D
eVGA NVIDIA GeForce 8600GTS 256MB GDDR3
Samsung SpinPoint HD501LJ 500GB
ASUS DRW-1814BLT (Black 18X DVD+R ?)
Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit (OEM)
CoolerMaster Black Wave Master (TAC-T01-EK)
CORSAIR CMPSU-520HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 520W Power Supply 100


Any advice would be much appreciated, and if you do think I need to invest in a better (air) cooling solution, please give me a few suggestions (this is my first build).

Thanks,
moforles

 

[myocardia]

You'd probably be much better off getting another case, since that one only has three 80mm fans. But, if you don't want to do that, any decent heatpipe heatsink should be fine. The best three are the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, the Sunbeam Tuniq Tower 120, and the Thermalright Ultra 120 (no, I'm not repeating myself). Then again, any $40+ heatpipe will be enough, even with the limited airflow your case has, and the $20 Arctic Cooling 7 Pro would likely be good enough, unless you also have high room temps.

 

[ViRGE]

80 is too high, especially for stock speeds, even with the dinky stock cooler. You should reseat your HSF and make sure the push pins are completely down and secure.

 

[moforles]

Thanks for the advice -- I'll start by reseating and reevaluating, and if the temps are still high, I'll look into another cooler (I can't give up my case!!). The orientation of the stock cooler shouldn't matter right? Since it has rotational symmetry?

 

[mouthwash]

if your case side panel has a fan hole, put a 8cm fan there and a wind tunnel and you will see a considerable drop in temp. also, you could do what the other guys suggest, get any of the cooler they mentioned, it will do the job well.

i am using stock cooler too, and i have install 3 12cm fan + 2 8cm and a pci slot fan to exhaust the heat to keep the temp down below 55'c on load on summer, its a quad cpu afterall

 

[jonmcc33]

It's not even overclocked? That's far too hot.

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: ViRGE
80 is too high, especially for stock speeds, even with the dinky stock cooler. You should reseat your HSF and make sure the push pins are completely down and secure.

A friend of mine is getting same temps with the big typhoon at stock.

I would also check to make sure your heat spreader on the cpu is not concave, cause that could explain the hotter temps.

EDIT: B3 q6600 run hotter, but their TJunction temp is 100C so they should start throttling at round 95C and shut off at 100C.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Bad CPU installation or bad heat spreader. Check flatness of heat spreader and heat sink with a straight edge.

 

[n7]

Actually, contrary to what you guys are saying, if ambients temps are higher, those temps don't surprise me at all.

The prebuilts (HP, Acer) at work w/ the Q6600 basically run the exact temps as the OP mentioned idle & load.

It's not that abnormal.

Obviously, reseating the heatsink with new paste isn't a bad idea just to be sure.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Idle should be around 40 to 42C with 75F room. You'll need room temp north of 90F to idle in the mid fifties.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: n7
Actually, contrary to what you guys are saying, if ambients temps are higher, those temps don't surprise me at all.

The prebuilts (HP, Acer) at work w/ the Q6600 basically run the exact temps as the OP mentioned idle & load.

It's not that abnormal.

Obviously, reseating the heatsink with new paste isn't a bad idea just to be sure.

Woohoo! My guestimate was right when I created a thread in cases and cooling... I just knew those HP's had to idle in the low 50's based on the air coming out of the case. Thanks for that confirmation, it makes my day!

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Idle should be around 40 to 42C with 75F room. You'll need room temp north of 90F to idle in the mid fifties.

It all depends on the air blowing over the heatsink. If you have a standard case, you are looking at a around 5-7c increase over room temperature. So if the air blowing over the heatsink is 35c (BTX Specification for case temperature) or so, your idle is going to be ~45c at Tjunction. It wouldn't matter at that point if you installed a huge ass heatsink, as you can't lower the temperature of the IHS (Tcase) lower than the air blowing on it, and the 4 cores (Tjunction) sitting under the Tcase are ~10c hotter. The simple formula is to simply add computer case temperature + 10c to find your idle temperature. This doesn't always apply as some people have ducts bringing in room temperature air for the CPU, which then, does not play by the case temperature rule. At any rate, just log the temperature of the air being sucked in by the CPU fan and add 10c, that will be your idle. If you have poor contact with the IHS or a concave chip, you may need to add a few degrees.

 

[tranja]

I combined a Thermaltake V1 and Antec 900 case. uguru reports temp right now at 24.

 

[SerpentRoyal]

Add 15C to temp. Not possible for an air-cooled CPU to idle at ambient.

 

[n7]

Originally posted by: tranja
I combined a Thermaltake V1 and Antec 900 case. uguru reports temp right now at 24.

That's extremely cool.

IOW, you either are getting incorrect temps, or you are in a very cool room.

As i've said twenty zillion times now, ambient temps make a massive difference when it comes to CPU temps.

I live in a very warm apartment, & get CPU temps basically 15C higher on idle & load than if i was in a cool basement like many of my buddies.

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: n7

Originally posted by: tranja
I combined a Thermaltake V1 and Antec 900 case. uguru reports temp right now at 24.

That's extremely cool.

IOW, you either are getting incorrect temps, or you are in a very cool room.

As i've said twenty zillion times now, ambient temps make a massive difference when it comes to CPU temps.

I live in a very warm apartment, & get CPU temps basically 15C higher on idle & load than if i was in a cool basement like many of my buddies.

Ouch! What a low blow! Funny though! Althought you might not have meant it that way, but I pictured your buddies in momma's basement... LOL... Anyway... Sorry, don't mean to derail, I just found that very funny.

 

[n7]

Yeah didn't mean it like you're thinking.

Basements truely are ideal for running overclocked PCs IMO

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Idle should be around 40 to 42C with 75F room. You'll need room temp north of 90F to idle in the mid fifties.

It all depends on the air blowing over the heatsink. If you have a standard case, you are looking at a around 5-7c increase over room temperature. So if the air blowing over the heatsink is 35c (BTX Specification for case temperature) or so, your idle is going to be ~45c at Tjunction. It wouldn't matter at that point if you installed a huge ass heatsink, as you can't lower the temperature of the IHS (Tcase) lower than the air blowing on it, and the 4 cores (Tjunction) sitting under the Tcase are ~10c hotter. The simple formula is to simply add computer case temperature + 10c to find your idle temperature. This doesn't always apply as some people have ducts bringing in room temperature air for the CPU, which then, does not play by the case temperature rule. At any rate, just log the temperature of the air being sucked in by the CPU fan and add 10c, that will be your idle. If you have poor contact with the IHS or a concave chip, you may need to add a few degrees.

Mine q6600 B3 sits on 80C full load at 20C ambient and 84C full load at around 32C ambient. So whats the most likely cause of such small diff in load temps from huge temp diff in ambient temps? concave chip?

The heatsink is 120 ultra extreme, 2 fans and as5

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Idle should be around 40 to 42C with 75F room. You'll need room temp north of 90F to idle in the mid fifties.

It all depends on the air blowing over the heatsink. If you have a standard case, you are looking at a around 5-7c increase over room temperature. So if the air blowing over the heatsink is 35c (BTX Specification for case temperature) or so, your idle is going to be ~45c at Tjunction. It wouldn't matter at that point if you installed a huge ass heatsink, as you can't lower the temperature of the IHS (Tcase) lower than the air blowing on it, and the 4 cores (Tjunction) sitting under the Tcase are ~10c hotter. The simple formula is to simply add computer case temperature + 10c to find your idle temperature. This doesn't always apply as some people have ducts bringing in room temperature air for the CPU, which then, does not play by the case temperature rule. At any rate, just log the temperature of the air being sucked in by the CPU fan and add 10c, that will be your idle. If you have poor contact with the IHS or a concave chip, you may need to add a few degrees.

Mine q6600 B3 sits on 80C full load at 20C ambient and 84C full load at around 32C ambient. So whats the most likely cause of such small diff in load temps from huge temp diff in ambient temps? concave chip?

The heatsink is 120 ultra extreme, 2 fans and as5

The quads throttle at 82c, so that is why your temps are not higher than 84c under full load. Load CPU Rightmark and verify this, it will tell you if a core is throttling.

FYI - At 82c it will lower clock speed, if temps still rise, it will cut voltage, if that doesn't work, it will climb until shut off time. (100c Tjunction or Motherboard Thermal threshold). It looks like the thottling was able to stop your temps dead in their tracks at the cost of performance.

 

[Miramonti]

If it runs that hot with the side panel off, it sounds like a mounting or thermal paste issue. Try getting some arctic silver 5 thermal paste from svc (or compusa if you want it asap) before you remount it. The differentiation temp between idle and load isn't absurd, but it would be really nice to get that idle temp down as much as possible.

I don't know if its possible to be running a non-default voltage setting for the cpu right now since you're not tampering with o/c'ing settings etc., but for the heck of it I'd make sure that it is running at exactly what default voltage is as well and not any higher.

 

[F1shF4t]

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake

Originally posted by: ArchAngel777

Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
Idle should be around 40 to 42C with 75F room. You'll need room temp north of 90F to idle in the mid fifties.

It all depends on the air blowing over the heatsink. If you have a standard case, you are looking at a around 5-7c increase over room temperature. So if the air blowing over the heatsink is 35c (BTX Specification for case temperature) or so, your idle is going to be ~45c at Tjunction. It wouldn't matter at that point if you installed a huge ass heatsink, as you can't lower the temperature of the IHS (Tcase) lower than the air blowing on it, and the 4 cores (Tjunction) sitting under the Tcase are ~10c hotter. The simple formula is to simply add computer case temperature + 10c to find your idle temperature. This doesn't always apply as some people have ducts bringing in room temperature air for the CPU, which then, does not play by the case temperature rule. At any rate, just log the temperature of the air being sucked in by the CPU fan and add 10c, that will be your idle. If you have poor contact with the IHS or a concave chip, you may need to add a few degrees.

Mine q6600 B3 sits on 80C full load at 20C ambient and 84C full load at around 32C ambient. So whats the most likely cause of such small diff in load temps from huge temp diff in ambient temps? concave chip?

The heatsink is 120 ultra extreme, 2 fans and as5

The quads throttle at 82c, so that is why your temps are not higher than 84c under full load. Load CPU Rightmark and verify this, it will tell you if a core is throttling.

FYI - At 82c it will lower clock speed, if temps still rise, it will cut voltage, if that doesn't work, it will climb until shut off time. (100c Tjunction or Motherboard Thermal threshold). It looks like the thottling was able to stop your temps dead in their tracks at the cost of performance.

if TM2 Throtling did occur i should be able to see it in cpuz and everest where the frequency and voltage should reduce? That does not happen, and it stays at constant 3.15ghz at proper voltage. I have not noticed performance drop either.

Do q6600 have TM1 throttling like the p4s used to have? where instead of reducing clock speed a duty cycle is introduced.

Plus don't the G0 stepping start throttling at around 80C (their TJunction is only 85C), I read that throttling point for B3 was 95C.

 

[tranja]

OK. I downloaded CoreTemp v0.95.4 and I still show 24-30C for both cores. TJunction is 100C. Room temp is 72F. You guys think this still isn't accurate? I have 2 Aerocools blowing right by the Thermaltake V1 at right angles to each other. The Thermaltake is blowing up and out the 200mm fan of the Antec 900

 

[tranja]

Ok Downloaded CoreTemp 0.95.4. Room temp is 72F. Coretemp is showing my 2 cores at 24 to 30C. TJunction is 100c. I have 2 Aerocool Turbines blowing at right angles to each other toward the Thermaltake V1 and the thermaltake is blowing up and out my 200mm fan in the top of my case.
I would like to get accurate temps.

 

[tranja]

Whoops!

 

[MonKENy]

I also think im running to hot, im running at
Processor Temperature : 126 °C
Processor Temperature (Diode) : 30 °C
Mainboard Temperature : 0 °C
my specs are below. what do you guys think?