i7 920 temps with stock cooling + stock thermal

[backdown00]

Hello all, I just got an i7 920. i have no intention of overclocking it either so I am using the stock heatsink that came with it with the stock thermal paste. I am getting idle temps of around 54c - is that ok?

[DMB2000uk]

That sounds about right.

What are your load temps?

Dan

[backdown00]

That sounds about right.

What are your load temps?

Dan

Have yet to fully use the computer, will try playing some games on it tonight and check that - will post back.

Would a better thermal paste like AS5 or AC mx-2 decrease my temps at all over what came on it stock?

[DMB2000uk]

Probably would knock a couple of degrees off, but if you're not running it overclocked, it should cope fine on the stock cooler and paste.

Dan

[backdown00]

I found this link that came from this site:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/880/11/

It shows a the temp for the stock cooler at 37.5 and that they used thermal grease Artic Silver Lumiere. would replacing the
thermal grease on the stock fan really give such a drop in temp from 55 to 40? I know you said above only a small drop in temp but then how do these tests achieve a 37.5c temp with the stock fan?

Benchmarkreviews.com shows somewhat the same story and they used tunic tx-3 thermal paste. What am I missing or not understanding?

[DMB2000uk]

There are several factors at work here:

- The temperature your pc room is
- How well ventillated your PC case is
- The voltage your CPU uses
- What power saving options are enabled in the BIOS

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure offhand the actual performance difference between intel paste and a decent 3rd party paste, but I'd be willing to look into the things I mentioned first before singling out the thermal paste as the sole issue.

If you already have some, or want to try it anyway, feel free to use some of your own paste in lieu of Intels and see what the difference is.

Dan

[backdown00]

There are several factors at work here:

- The temperature your pc room is
- How well ventillated your PC case is
- The voltage your CPU uses
- What power saving options are enabled in the BIOS

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure offhand the actual performance difference between intel paste and a decent 3rd party paste, but I'd be willing to look into the things I mentioned first before singling out the thermal paste as the sole issue.

If you already have some, or want to try it anyway, feel free to use some of your own paste in lieu of Intels and see what the difference is.

Dan

I have an Antec 902 case which has plenty of air flow. I think the room temperature is around 72 degrees Far. I can check voltage when I am home later but I have not adjusted any settings on anything. I left everything at stock so I am curious how others are getting such lower temperatures - makes me sad.

[backdown00]

To add a note could the processor be "defective hence running hot? I've never really heard, should i consider swapping this for another i7 920? I am new to temperature reading and such and just want to make sure my processor will be fine and last and nothing is wrong.

[DMB2000uk]

It's unlikely that it's defective at those temperatures.

You can check if the heatsink is on securely by lightly trying to wobble the heatsink legs one at a time. If they wobble with little force, they're not locked in place properly; so you need to push down a bit harder on them till you hear a click.

Does the BIOS have any fan profiles for the CPU fan, are they set to quiet or slow?

Do you have settings such as speedstep, EIST, C1E etc enabled in the BIOS?

Dan

[backdown00]

It's unlikely that it's defective at those temperatures.

You can check if the heatsink is on securely by lightly trying to wobble the heatsink legs one at a time. If they wobble with little force, they're not locked in place properly; so you need to push down a bit harder on them till you hear a click.

Does the BIOS have any fan profiles for the CPU fan, are they set to quiet or slow?

Do you have settings such as speedstep, EIST, C1E etc enabled in the BIOS?

Dan

Will check all of that tonight. I know the heat sink is secure as it does not wobble at all. Those pins are a pain but I finally got it in securely when I did it yesterday.

the motherboard is: ASUS P6X58D Premium LGA 1366 - Have not looked to adjust any settings in there either.

will post back later tonight with what I find, thanks again for your help!

[bubba]

If you have not touched anything in the BIOS there is a chance that the "turbo" feature is on. This is giving you a mild overclock out of the gate, its most likely setting somewhere in the area of 2.9Ghz.

To get a true 2.66Ghz temp I turn off the Turbo feature for testing. If the CPU is controlling the fan speed it will run at a lower RPM to be quiet when setting idle, but the idle temps go up. Load temps are what you want to be worried about. Temps in the high 70's with stock cooling is not uncommon, but would be best to look at an aftermarket cooler if you find yourself in that range all the time.

Also gaming wont stress the CPU near what Prime95 does for testing.

[backdown00]

If you have not touched anything in the BIOS there is a chance that the "turbo" feature is on. This is giving you a mild overclock out of the gate, its most likely setting somewhere in the area of 2.9Ghz.

To get a true 2.66Ghz temp I turn off the Turbo feature for testing. If the CPU is controlling the fan speed it will run at a lower RPM to be quiet when setting idle, but the idle temps go up. Load temps are what you want to be worried about. Temps in the high 70's with stock cooling is not uncommon, but would be best to look at an aftermarket cooler if you find yourself in that range all the time.

Also gaming wont stress the CPU near what Prime95 does for testing.

I have seen people post temperatures in the high 30's low 40's as stock temps. Can I expect to get that? I am worried about idle because if idle is starting high, load will be even higher no?

[bubba]

yes and no. If the CPU is controlling the fan speed then at idle the fan is only running at 30-50% speed (if at all, some core2 fans will shut off completely) thus will make a warmer idle temp. Then when the CPU gets closer to running at 100% it will call for more cooling and speed the fan up, in turn trying to keep the temp down. It will do so, but not as fast as if it had started at a lower temp to begin with.

You can force the CPU fan control off in the BIOS, the fan then will run at 100% all the time. This removes the up and down fan speed as an issue and your cooler is running at its peak all the time. lower idle temps to start, easier to cope with load temp as the CPU warms up. Every cooler has a point that is just doesn't work well and can't dissipate the heat any more.

This is where nice quiet aftermarket coolers come into play, the stock cooler fan is not known for being quiet.

[backdown00]

yes and no. If the CPU is controlling the fan speed then at idle the fan is only running at 30-50% speed (if at all, some core2 fans will shut off completely) thus will make a warmer idle temp. Then when the CPU gets closer to running at 100% it will call for more cooling and speed the fan up, in turn trying to keep the temp down. It will do so, but not as fast as if it had started at a lower temp to begin with.

You can force the CPU fan control off in the BIOS, the fan then will run at 100% all the time. This removes the up and down fan speed as an issue and your cooler is running at its peak all the time. lower idle temps to start, easier to cope with load temp as the CPU warms up. Every cooler has a point that is just doesn't work well and can't dissipate the heat any more.

This is where nice quiet aftermarket coolers come into play, the stock cooler fan is not known for being quiet.

Is it worth it to buy some AS5 and use it over the stock intel stuff? My heat sink fan is not loud at all to be honest.

[bubba]

sure wouldn't hurt anything, but I'd start with the settings in the BIOS first. That's a cheap tweak.

[backdown00]

sure wouldn't hurt anything, but I'd start with the settings in the BIOS first. That's a cheap tweak.

I don't really need the fan running at 100% all of the time. I guess I will look for if turbo is enabled and such. Would turbo really drive my temps up that much? i am looking at a 15 degree c differential from what most report to what I am getting.

[bubba]

yup. The raised clock, and the slow fan speed at idle.

I have seen a 2 degree room temp change throw temp readings almost 7*C off. It what makes testing the coolers on real cold/hot days a real pain to get the room to stay at 72*F. Same for if the fan is running full tilt or percentage of what its able to run at. If its not pushing the air then its not removing the heat.

As for the affect of turbo. On my testing to go from 2.66Ghz to 3.5Ghz I change only 1 setting. The host clock. The CPU voltage is the same for both, 1.25v. So with the Turbo option on, its bumping your host clock for you with out having set anything yourself.

First steps are to see what your bios are set to, then adjusting from there.

[backdown00]

Thanks for all the help guys. What I decided to do instead of messing with bios features is pull the stock heatsink, clean the processor off and get aftermarket cooling with new paste. I installed ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro Rev.2 (made it easy since it din have a mounting plate underneath). It came with thermal paste on it, slapped it on and my idle temps are now 33 32ish. I honestly think the paste on the stock cooler was not spread well enough. Thank you for all of your help again!