New to O/C 920 but this seems hot.....

1034 Views 15 Replies 9 Participants Last post by dkperez, Dec 2, 2009

dkperez

Discussion Starter · Nov 28, 2009

OK, I've JUST started fiddling with the i7 920 system I put together. ASUS P6T, i7 920, OCZ Gold 6GB of memory in an Antec case.

Right now I"m using the stock cooler and things seem VERY warm...

At idle, my temps are 39, 38, 39 , 37. When I turn on Prime 95 they jump into the mid 80s within a few minutes.

Just for grins I made a few adjustments and got it just over 3.6 GHz this evening and when I checked while running Prime 95 it jumped into the 90s almost instantly. So, I shut it down and reset it to stock....

These numbers make me suspect either the cooling unit isn't on right (which I'll check, or the "grease" that was on there (which isn't like any grease I've ever used) isn't working right, or something... Or is it normal for this thing to run this hot at standard settings?

I'd like to get to 4.0 GHz on air, and from what I've read this shouldn't be much of a chore. BUT, I've also looked at several coolers. I'm after something that'll keep this thing cool AND be quiet... The one's I can find around here are:

Cooler Master Hyper 212+
Kingwin XT-1264
Thermaltake CL-P0532

I'm having trouble finding actual data on how effective various coolers are, but I'd prefer not to put in one of those gigantic 120-140mm fan coolers if I can avoid it... Comments?

1 - 16 of 16 Posts

error10

· #2 · Nov 28, 2009

Welcome to OCN! Remember to fill in your system specs and keep them up to date.

First, 90C is quite hot, even at stock. It sounds like you might not have the cooler mounted properly. Check that first (those pins are a pain to get into the holes sometimes). A stock system with the stock cooler should run between 75-85C at 100% load on all 8 threads.

The TIM on the bottom of the stock cooler is run of the mill Shin Etsu, so it's fine.

And, if you want to get to 4GHz on air, and stay there, you're going to have to buy one of those huge steel bricks and a noisy fan.

Or go with water cooling.

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Jaggar

· #3 · Nov 28, 2009

idle temps seem fine.. but WAY TO HOT under stress. try using another thermal paste and reseat that heatsink

4GHZ on stock cooler isnt best

kckyle

· #4 · Nov 28, 2009

prolimatech megahalem(measure your case first) or H50,

Enigma8750

· #5 · Nov 28, 2009

Check out that Hot Cool Corsair H-50

Quote:

The plan is to include the AMD bracket in the bundle going forward, though Corsair doesn't know when this will happen precisely just yet.

Some of the more prominent features:

* Pre-filled, closed-loop system is easy to install
* Copper CPU cooling plate for maximum cooling performance
* Integrated pump and reservoir is sealed for zero maintenance and improved leakage protection
* 120mm radiator for fast heat dispersion
* High-efficiency, low-noise 120mm fan for drawing cool air across the radiator
* Two-year warranty

Quote:

The Verdict

So then, Corsair's Hydro Series H50 left a good impression. The overall cooling performance is good. I won't use excellent here as for that you need to focus on more extravagant liquid coolers. But this CPU cooler definitely does as advertised. The kit looks good from an aesthetic point of view, it cools well and it's fairly silent, and that is a golden combo. As such the kit could be a success when priced right. At this time pricing looks to be roughly 65 EUR (75 USD) and that's still cheaper than say the top of the line Zalman heatpipe coolers. Performance is good, in fact with the unit properly installed you'll certainly be able to overclock your processor as well. That means there's enough reserve in the liquid cooling solution for some extras, and that's always nice to know and have.

Dislikes, well sure I have a few. For optimal performance the radiator fan needs to be pointed inwards, meaning it needs to blow cold air into the system. Typically this is an exhaust point. Now remember this, if you have a somewhat limited chassis where you cannot flip around another fan so it'll blow air outside (exhaust) the PC. That would be an issue. Warm air would be blown inwards to your PC components everywhere, heating up the system. And that's just not okay.

Quote:

Your biggest fear then, leakage. Technology has improved a lot, don't be afraid of leakage please. Times have changed. Now we're not saying leakage can't happen, no Sir... but the reality is that chances are just so extremely slim. Here in my office I like silence and good performance, all and I do mean this seriously, all PCs here are water-cooled. We like liquid cooling alright, that's a sure fact.

http://www.guru3d.com/article/corsai...ooler-review/1

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dkperez

Discussion Starter · #6 · Nov 28, 2009

I"ll have to run up and get some new snot today so I can try different grease. I THOUGHT I had the cooler installed right - fortunately I did the assembly before putting the board in the case, but I'll take it loose and reseat... Although, my plan is when I get to the store for the grease I'm going to see if
I can find a much better cooler at a reasonable price.

As far as the O/C, in my rummaging I found a number of sites with people getting to 4 GHz very easily on air, so I'm hoping I can do that. But, with a decent cooler, I'll take it as far as I reasonably can, and that'll have to do.

Part of my problem is finding cooler specifications. They all hype themselves as "best", but getting an actual heat dissipation rate in watts is difficult.

Specs are filled in (as much as I know)...

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Inktfish

· #7 · Nov 28, 2009

Good/best Air coolers:

Prolimatech Megahalems

Therlmalright Ultra Extreme

Thermalright IFX-14

Water Cooling:

Corsair H50

Note this isn't the best watercooler by far, but it competes with the above 3 coolers.

Get some 38 milimeter fans.

Delta's

Yate loons

San Aces

and a good fancontroller.

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Blameless

· #8 · Nov 28, 2009

The Noctua NH-D14 is currently the top performing air cooler on the market, and it performs well with quiet fans (two of which are included). It's quite expensive though.

Next best is the Thermalright IFX-14 (poor stock mounting method though), which is followed by the Prolimatech Megahalems.

I'd stay away from any low priced integrated watercooling kits, including the Corsair H50. It only performs about as well as a TRUE at higher heat loads, and is more expensive. The best air coolers can beat it in cooling performance and noise for the same, or less, money.

Old Hippie

· #9 · Nov 28, 2009

Quote:

It only performs about as well as a TRUE at higher heat loads, and is more expensive. The best air coolers can beat it in cooling performance and noise for the same, or less, money.

I went from a lapped TRUE with 38mm fan (probably @ 90.00) to a H50 (55.00) and have lower temps and quieter operation.

It's not the uber-end-all-push-pull HS but it will suffice nicely in 95% of builds.

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dkperez

Discussion Starter · #10 · Nov 30, 2009

Went up to the semi-local MicroCenter yesterday and looked at some of the coolers... Came home with a Titan Fenrir, got it set up and in testing with both Prime95 and Sandra running, and Syncback backing up 5 partitions on 2 drives to 2 other drives, CPU temps never got over 54C, even after hours of running. So, temps at stock have easily dropped 25C+. I"m in the process of testing at overclock, but I think the connection to the CPU may need tightening 'cause I"m suddenly seeing higher temps.....

Also, the bottom of the cooler isn't completely flat, so I'm wondering if I should lap the cpu chip and the bottom of the cooler? Has anyone else had experience with this cooler and lapped? Or not?

dkperez

Discussion Starter · #11 · Dec 1, 2009

OK, I CONFESS...... I couldn't help myself... I lapped the new cooler.
Got some 800 grit and 1500 grit and just smoothed, polished, and got everyone to about the same height... It was pretty good, so I didn't have to do much, but as near as I can tell, between that and switching to the CoolerMaster grease, which is quite a bit smoother and lighter, I think I got things together pretty well.

Using the ASUS P6T, BIOS 1.94, i7 920, etc. Here are my settings so far - I've gotten it to 3.8GHz very easily but haven't pushed it to 4.0 yet:

Ai Overclock Tuner: Manual
Turbo Mode: Disabled
Speed Step: Disabled
BCLK Frequency: 190 (gives me 3.8GHz)
PCIE Frequency: 100
DRAM Frequency: DDR3 - 1523MHz (this is for my OCZ 1600 memory)
UCLK Frequency: Auto

CPU Voltage: 1.25 (this one is yellow)
CPU PLL Voltage: 1.96 (this one is yellow)
QPI DRAM Core Voltage: 1.3 (this one is yellow)
DRAM Bus Voltage: 1.6
CPU Differential Amplitude: 800mV

Are there any settings that should be set differently? Anything I HAVEN'T changed from auto that I should? Any settings I should change (like UCLK for example) that may give me lower temps at higher frequencies?

I ran OCCT (Linpack?) today and nobody got over 78C. All the tests passed with no errors. I also ran Sandra and had it do a burn-in. Again, everybody stayed around 80C. The only one that really cranks the temps is Prime95. With that running 8 tests I can put the system at 100% and keep it there, and the temps will get into the high 80s, possibly low 90s after 15 minutes or so.

So, from the above settings, things I should change to cool things off and/or get me to 4.0GHz (if it's reasonable to even try for 4.0)?

Thoughts?

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error10

· #12 · Dec 1, 2009

Set the CPU fan speed to manual in your BIOS so that it doesn't drop to low speed. The noise will probably drive you insane after a few minutes, though, so after that, go shopping for a quieter fan.

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dkperez

Discussion Starter · #13 · Dec 2, 2009

I left the resistor out for the fan, so as far as I know it runs full speed all the time, and I'm very surprised at how quiet it is... Yes, I can hear it, but I've had coolers on other systems that were A LOT louder.....

I just checked, and the CPU fan is running 2400 rpm even though I"m not doing anything, so I think it's staying at full speed....

Although, now that you've mentioned it, my CPU throttles back when things are quiet (like right now while I'm just doing this reply). I presume this is normal, but at the moment as I watch CPU-Z, the core speed is changing from approximately 2800 MHz to 3200 MHz... Do I need to set anything in the BIOS so it doesn't do that or is this a feature?

error10

· #14 · Dec 2, 2009

Unless I'm mistaken, last I checked, the fan that comes with the Titan Fenrir has a nice 4-pin PWM connector allowing the motherboard to alter its speed directly. So if that's the case, you should double check that the fan control is disabled in the BIOS.

As for SpeedStep, yes, you can disable that if you want.

xXLinkageXx

· #15 · Dec 2, 2009

from what ive read and from some personal experience, ull get a better overclock with turbo boost on with the 21x multiplier. i can run 4.0 with 191x21, now if i change it to 200x20 and not touch any voltages or anything i lose stability. the only thing that sucks about it is that ull be underclocking ur ram a little more, but ull never notice it.

EDIT:
i used this guide for the most part, its for an evga board so i dont know if settings are labeled differently on ur board.

dkperez

Discussion Starter · #16 · Dec 2, 2009

Wow, cool article. I'll have to try to absorb some of this info over time......

Now, here's the first silly question of the morning..... I'm running a half dozen syncback operations, so the disk drives are spinning their brains out. I'm concurrently running Prime 95, so I'm using better than 5GB of memory and all the CPUs are pegged.....

AND, I've got Real Temp running as well as the ASUS PC Probe software......

The temps between them aren't even close..... Real Temp has my CPUs up in the 78 - 81C range. PC Probe is at 75C. I've noticed the same thing with the OCCT software... The temps in there are several degrees lower than Real Temp..... So, who's correct? I'm inclined to go with whoever is reading the highest and use that to err on the side of caution, but I'm curious...

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