Overclock.net banner

CPU Fan speed not affecting temperatures.

689 views 4 replies 3 participants last post by  PoisonousRakija 
#1 ·
When overclocked to 3.6 with a vcore of 1.120, my main CPU core temps at idle are around 49 - 56c. And gaming is around 59 - 65c, but sometimes spikes up to low 70cs. At stock speed of 2.87 with a 1.192 vcore the idling temps are 48 c - 53 c. And it sometimes spikes up to about 66c when gaming.

I've tried gaming with max fan speed and minimum fan speed and I see little to no difference in my CPU temps. Shouldn't having the fan on max cause a significant temperature drop compared to minimum? When I increase my 4870's fan speed from 20% to 30%, the temperature quickly drops from the mid 70cs down to the 39c when idle. Not sure of my room temp but it gets pretty hot, but I don't see much difference whether it's day or night in my CPU temps. These are my system specs:

Windows 7 64 bit
Asus P5Q Pro Motherboard
Core 2 Quad Q9550 C1 overclocked to 3.6Ghz at 1.120 vcore
Sunbeam CR-CCTF 120 mm Core-Contact Freezer CPU Cooler
8GB DDR2 800 OCZ Reaper RAM (4x2GB)
Radeon 4870 512 MB
Antec Neo Eco 620W PSU
Antec 900 Case
 
See less See more
#2 ·
Reseat the CPU cooler
 
#3 ·
Quote:
Originally Posted by darien View Post

I've tried gaming with max fan speed and minimum fan speed and I see little to no difference in my CPU temps. Shouldn't having the fan on max cause a significant temperature drop compared to minimum? When I increase my 4870's fan speed from 20% to 30%, the temperature quickly drops from the mid 70cs down to the 39c when idle. Not sure of my room temp but it gets pretty hot, but I don't see much difference whether it's day or night in my CPU temps.
The fan looks a little basic on that cooler if you ask me. Being a larger heatsink, raising the fan speed won't immediately drop the temps on the chip, it might take a little longer compared to a video card because the chip is larger and so is the cooler too.
Are you able to try using a different fan, or even attach another fan to the other side of that cooler?
 
#4 ·
I tried re-installing the heatsink but that caused a lot of problems. The heatsink is very big and very difficult to remove and install, especially having four sticks of RAM installed. I have to apply a lot of force and always feel like I'm going to break the motherboard or CPU. After removing the heatsink I was unable to properly re-install it, although I'm not sure I had it perfectly installed to begin with. It seems some of the plastic pins/screws that connect the heatsink to the motherboard may have been broken or were already broken and so it doesn't stay firmly connected to the motherboard. When I tried booting the PC like this, the CPU was getting too hot because I couldn't firmly attach the heatsink to the motherboard. I've opened the stock cooler that I had never previously used and I am now using that instead; I was amazed at how easy it was to install the stock cooler compared to the Sunbeam cooler, although it is still a bit difficult to remove the top left screw on it from the motherboard.

I tried applying Tuniq TX-2 thermal paste using the length of a rice in the middle of the CPU method, but apparently the stock cooler doesn't do a good job of spreading the paste like the Sunbeam did so the PC kept turning off due to the CPU getting too hot. I then used the credit card method to spread thermal paste over the CPU and now the PC's no longer turning off, but with the stock cooler my temps are about 5c higher on stock speed of 2.87ghz than they were previously when overclocked to 3.6 with the Sunbeam cooler. At 3.4 with the stock cooler I'm getting mid to upper 60cs and sometimes low 70cs while gaming. Also, now Core #3 is the hottest core whereas Core #0 used to be the hottest and Core +3 was the coolest. I'm guessing this has to do with a different application of thermal paste?

Here are some pictures of the heatsink fan's pins/screws that I think may be broken and keeping it from getting a tight grip to the motherboard. Can anyone confirm if they are broken by these pics:






And, if it's broken, should I buy a new heatsink? Or should I continue to use the stock cooler?
 
#5 ·
Reading the feedback for that cooler on newegg, a couple of people didn't seem to like the mounting mechanisms on that cooler either. In the end, some coolers are easier installed than others.
You should never apply excessive force, enough to break anything. If something isn't attaching or joining properly when installing your cooler, jamming it in could easily break something.
If you reckon something is broken and it's not making proper contact then you could replace the part (a fan for instance) or buy a whole new cooler if this one is giving you trouble.

The Cooler Master Hyper 212 is around $35 and works with LGA775, if you're going to do some overclocking, or want a cooler system without spending too much, people tend to recommend it much from what i've seen. Otherwise if you hung onto the stock cooler and it works, then continue using it.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top