E2160 high temps/hot air under heatsink yet heatsink pipes/fins are cool!

  • Thread starter Thread starter str
  • Start date Start date

str

str

str

Soldato
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
3,052
I'm starting to believe the IHS on my E2160 isn't properly making contact with the CPU cores which is shocking if true!? :eek:

E2160 @ 333 x 9 with 1.425v (idle temp = 45c, load temp = 75c)
E2160 @ 200 x 9 with 1.325v (idle temp = 45c, load temp = 67c)

When overclocked and running multi-core prime95 CoreTemp 0.95 is reporting 75c. The air underneath the heatsink is very warm so I believe it is 75c but incredibly the Big Typhoon's heatpipes and aluminium fins are cold.

I've checked to make sure the heatsink is properly contacting the IHS and it is, I even took off the metal bracket thing from the CPU socket in case it was slightly too high at the edges but it wasn't as the core temps are the same with or without it.

Anyone got suggestions to fix this problem? :confused:
 
I took the fan off the Thermaltake Big Typhoon and the Core temps quickly increased to 83c so I put the fan back on and slowly the core temps decreased back down to 75c. Next I put a much faster running fan on it and the core temps decreased again down to 68c.

Without a fan the heatsink fins were actually starting to get hot so I guess the Big Typhoon is actually doing it's job of removing the heat from the IHS but I guess it requires a better fan (would be noisy though) to dissipate it properly and I'll also need to improve the case cooling so the warm air isn't just sitting there helping the Core temps reach saturation point! The chipset heatsink is also reasonably hot and it's passive so that is probably contributing to the warm air.

I guess I need a much more efficient heatsink to decently cool the E2160 at 1.425v (at load it's 1.376v in CPU-Z - vdroop?). :eek:
 
IHS have been known to be concave as can the bottom of the heatsink.

may think about lapping them, bear in mind it will void warrenty.

"I even took off the metal bracket thing from the CPU socket in case it was slightly too high at the edges" which metal bracket would you be referring to and did u put it back on when the temps didnt drop ?

cpu-z has a voltage issue as afar as im aware so dont trust that.

try taking the side of the case off and see what difference it makes to the temps.

is the heatsink seated ok, not too much thermal paste ?
 
The metal piece which flips up when fitting the CPU then sits on top of the CPU and I have put it back on again. It was easy to remove so I figured I'd give it a try. Of course the CPU was stuck to the heatsink when I took the heatsink off but I expected that.

It looks likely the IHS is concave and quite significantly too but I don't really want to go to the trouble of lapping it just yet.

Maybe there is there a good thermal pad or something I could use which would be thick enough to create good contact?

I also decided to try a Freezer 64 Pro on it using the Big Typhoon mounting and it idles at 45c just like the Big Typhoon. At load the core temps are much worse though as it was heading towards the mid 80s before I stopped prime95.

With the case side off the temp only reduces by around 3c to 5c.

The vdroop thing does appear to be significant not just because of what CPU-Z says but more that the E2160 needs higher volts to be 3GHz stable yet with less volts it was stable on a DS3 suggesting the DS3 didn't vdroop as much.

I expected a C2D CPU to be very easy to cool and have a reasonably silent system and lowish temps but it doesn't actually seem possible with the setup I have. :(
 
Last edited:
I dropped the CPU back down to it's default speed and voltage and still the CPU was hitting 75c with the Freezer 64 Pro (it was saturated with heat too). So I changed the fan profile to performance (was on silent before) making the case fans and CPU fan run at full speed and with now at stock speed and voltage with the Freezer 64 Pro the core temps at load are only 60c and the motherboard heatsinks are only slightly warm.

I bought the P5W DH Deluxe because it has very good fan control but it's useless due to the high temps requiring the fans to be at high RPM making them very noisy. :(

So now I'm contemplating returning the motherboard and buying a motherboard that doesn't use heatpipes so I can easily fit a Thermalright HR-05 on the SB and HR-05-SLI on the NB to keep the motherboard cool.
 
Last edited:
some mobos tend to vdroop a bit, asus especially in my experience.

not sure that the mobo heatsinks being slightly warm is a problem, better that than too hot too touch.

if you can sort the case cooling out first would be best, when thats performing as well as it can then re consider the cooling options for you're chips.

the hr05 is passive as well (although you can strap fans to it) so it might cool more effectivly than you're current passive setup but you still need to cool it down and get the warm air out, which is where sorting you're case cooling out first will benifit.
 
The case fans and CPU cooling worked great for a DFI EXPERT with a hot running X2 4200+ even when the cooling was set to run silently the temps were excellent so I guess it really is that the CPU cooling is failing resulting in high in-case ambient temps and no doubt it's caused by the concave IHS.

I'll buy a lapping kit and lap the CPU and hopefully see a big difference.
 
Are you getting a full TIM paste imprint over the centre when the HS is mounted and removed?

Try using a blob of paste in the centre, that should minimise the concave effect.
 
I've also tried using a decent amount of paste mate. Doesn't matter what I do it's still reported as high temps in CoreTemp/TAT/Everest. Even the motherboard reported CPU temp is high.

I did an extreme heat test: :o



That's with vcore at 1.5725v which was needed to get it reporting 90c+ (so the thermal monitor would kick in) and I've got all the fans running at full speed.

I had the side of the case off and I don't think it is even close to 90c. I'm still using the Freezer 64 Pro and the NB chipset heatsink is reasonably cool (~40c with a temp probe), the mosfet heatsink is also reasonably cool (~44c with a probe) and the in-case ambient air temp feels slightly warm so now I'm going to put the temp probe on the edge/side of the IHS and do the test again.
 
Last edited:
Was thinking about getting the Big Typhoon myself, now I'm not so sure.

Hope you find out what is exactly happening and why, will keep an eye on this thread.
 
I fitted the temp probe on the side of the IHS and used a decent blob of thermal paste. I've also configured the CPU etc back to stock settings.

Screenshot at idle (probe temp = 28c):



Screenshot after 15 mins TAT workload and multi-core Prime95 (probe temp = 34c):



The front and back case fans are at full speed and the air being expelled by the back case fan is cool as is the air coming out the back of the Corsair HX 520.

The Freezer 64 Pro fan is also at full speed and the heatsink is cool. I also have an Evercool VC-RE on a Radeon X300 SE I use for testing and it's cool too.

The southbridge, northbridge and mosfet heatsinks are also cool to the touch.

So basically the system is at stock and at load it's running very cool yet the CPU temp is being reported by all those programs as being ~60c! :confused:

I'll go overclock it again to 3Ghz (333 x 9) with 1.425v and the northbridge at 1.65v (1.55v is default) and see how it goes.

mart981 said:
Was thinking about getting the Big Typhoon myself, now I'm not so sure.

Hope you find out what is exactly happening and why, will keep an eye on this thread.
Click to expand...
I'll be testing after with the Big Typhoon again so will post the results.
 
Overclocked to 3GHz (333 x 9 with 1.425v) at idle (probe temp = 30c):



Multi-core Prime95 (probe temp = 38c):



The previous post with stock speed testing had the TAT workload test and prime95 running but this time I did only the Prime95 test but when I run both the core temps are ~8c higher.

Everything in the case (CPU heatsink, NB, SB, mosfets etc) is only slightly warmer compared to the testing I did at stock.

I actually suspect the above testing isn't that useful though as I had the side of the case off so I could touch the CPU heatsink, NB, SB, mosfets heatsinks etc to check temps so I'm going to fit the Big Typhoon again and test properly with the case closed.

Still the reported CPU core temps do seem to be a fair bit out.
 
check the processor and cooler bases, felt tip/highlighter the ihs and cooler base then rub it over some paper on a flat surface and see whats left, should give you an idea of how flat they are.
 
My temp probe broke so I'm going to have to buy another before I can do more testing. Here's a 3GHz testing screenshot like the last one except this time I'm using the Big Typhoon instead of the Freezer 64 Pro:



Temps are a little lower although it's probably because of the Big Typhoon's 120mm fan compared to the 92mm fan of the Freezer 64 Pro.
 
mp260767 said:
check the processor and cooler bases, felt tip/highlighter the ihs and cooler base then rub it over some paper on a flat surface and see whats left, should give you an idea of how flat they are.
Click to expand...

Good idea. No more time for testing just now but I'll do it soon.
 
I put lots of thermal paste on the IHS and smeared it around then rubbed it on a flat piece of paper and there was a very thin roundish area of paste left in the middle of the IHS, about the size of a 5 pence.

Doesn't look too badly concave to me based on that test.
 
doesnt sound too bad, how thin was the layer left compared to what you put on the cpu when u seat the cooler ?
 
There was a very thin layer left on it but I was having to put a lot more thermal compound on to get good contact and I finally figured out the problem.

The metal clip thing that sits on top of the CPU is concave so as to put some pressure on the CPU to lock it down. So the heatsink wasn't making good contact at the top end of the CPU where that metal clip was at it's highest. I checked my other socket 775 board and it's metal clip wasn't as concave so I used some pliers and made the P5W DH Deluxe's metal clip almost level which fixed the problem.

I also bought a Tuniq Tower and I'm impressed with it. It cools the E2160 at 3GHz a few degrees better than the Big Typhoon and the Tuniq Tower's fan blows cool air directly at the motherboard's mosfet heatpipe heatsink so the ambient case temp is much lower.

I can now use a very thin layer of thermal compound and at 3GHz with the Tuniq Tower (333 x 9 with 1.375v - needed 1.425v when heatsink wasn't making good contact) the idle core temps are ~42c and multi-core prime95 load core temps reported by Everest and CoreTemp are ~67c (Intel TAT reports ~63c) and I've got the fans running silently. Also the room temp is ~24c.

I still don't believe the reported temps though as the system is running much cooler than is being reported and the air being exhausted by the back case fan and the PSU isn't even remotely warm.

When I first tested this system the CPU would boot into Windows Vista at 3GHz with stock volts (1.325v) and could run multi-core prime95 for a while before erroring whereas it can't do that now and it either blue screens or reboots before Windows has completed loading. I suspect it's due to the excessive heat the CPU was subjected to before I figured out the metal clip issue.
 
Last edited:
I'm running Orthos now as it's got the timer. This screenshot is after 8 hours:



The CPU can boot into Windows at 3.33GHz but isn't very stable and likely needs a big vcore bump to get it stable.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom