Terrible Temps - What's wrong?

[Illidan]

I have an e6300 with good case cooling (intake/exhaust). I originally had the stock fan with a crappy Asrock mobo back when RAM was obcenely expensive, but I saw a good deal on mobo/RAM at newegg recently and picked em up - along with cooler master hyper-3 ($30 something?)

It was rated 5/5 stars, but it is not satisfactory at all right now...

At stock speed (1.87 ghz), I'm getting high 40s celsius idle with 62-63c load (measured with Intel Thermal Analysis Tool.)

At 3.2 ghz or so, I get 50 or so idle and 70+c load (though the system runs fine.) Why are these temps so high? I'm pretty sure the clips are fastened properly, and though the grease might not be perfectly applied, it's on there..

 

[covert24]

take off the HS and see how smooth the bottom is. also there have been some problems with some HS's where you have to lap the bottom of it to achieve a smooth, level surface. dont know if this applies to that but see if the surface of the bottom is flat.

 

[WoodButcher]

I have that heatsink, the L-3 low profile. Yes I lapped, it wasn't bad to start I'm just that way. If it gets fresh air via a duct or a fan blowing to it it works surprisingly well. My 6600 was getting low 30's idle 10 more at load. Check your pins, check the goop, too much? not enough? I use AS5 and apply "by the book" for your proc.

 

[Illidan]

What did you use to measure temps?

 

[covert24]

Speedfan

 

[WoodButcher]

TAT w/ orthos blend

Edit- OCed @ 3.0 on Asus P5LD2-VM

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I used to religiously apply AS5 in a very thin layer -- a rice-grain's-sized-blob. Some people just dump it in the center and use the heatsink to press it, but I put an even layer on the entire heatspreader.

This last go-around in my "diamond-dust" experiments proves that you can put too much gunk between the heatspreader and heatsink-base, and that it will degrade cooling.

But for your stock settings, your temperatures are way, way too high. These processors at stock settings shouldn't show an idle temperature above the low 30's.

For your motherboard, I don't know how good it is, or what chipset it uses, but I suppose there's always the possibility that the sensors are not functioning properly. This sort of thing should be fixed with a BIOS upgrade.

Get a simple digital thermometer or front-panel read-out that has two-pin thermal sensor wires, and tape one on the bottom of the heatsink as close as possible to the edge of the processor heatspreader (and make sure you don't sandwich it between the heatspreader and heatsink, or you'll just cause the same problem you're trying to diagnose).

It will give a reading that is several degrees lower than the actual core temperatures, but you may get an idea of whether the mobo and processor thermal sensors are working properly. Also, check the user-reviews at some place like NewEgg with regard to the motherboard, and see if other people have the same problem.

Also, I assume you have a fan on that cooler -- I'm not familiar with it, nor do I know if it comes with a fan. But while some heatsinks are "passable" at passive-cooling, I'd opt for a fan no matter what the performance reviews say.

 

[drakore]

Keep in mind BonzaiDuck is made of diamond dust...

ummm get some Arctic Cooling MX-1 or Shinestu X23-7783D and take your time applying it, because it isn't the easiest... one good thing is that overapplying isn't the end of the world with this stuff...

Can you sprinkle some diamond dust on my waterblock bonzai?

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, Drakore, I'm conflicted. I have a lot of the stuff left, and I could start selling it in quarter-gram increments for a profit. But I don't know how much I'll need for this project, and I have a friend who'll subsidize the purchase I made -- he needs to get "his cut."

You could use it for your waterblock. It wouldn't hurt; it would only help. I can't say whether it would be a significant difference or an unnoticeable improvement. I'm still experimenting with it.

I've been thinking that I could remove the heatsink again, leave the existing CK4800 and previously added diamond powder on the bottom of the heatsink and on top of the heatspreader cap, and "go again" with the light sprinkle technique -- then to put things back together without spreading it around. The oils in the CK4800 seem to make things smooth out after reinstallation and a round or two of ORTHOS to heat it up.

Anyway, I'm still "testin', testin' -- testin' on a Extreme . . . "

 

[drakore]

hmmm well if you decide to sell it let me know how much. i may be interested in buying some to try out since i gotta remove my block next month anyways to put in a new cpu