Is my i7 too hot?

metalmackey

metalmackey

metalmackey

Associate
Joined
28 Jun 2005
Posts
2,174
Location
Behind you
Hi Guys,

I bought a pre-overclocked bundle from OCUK (specs in sig). The CPU cooler is a Titan Venrir. Idle temps are about 39 to 44 degrees C for the 4 cores and when gaming it goes to maybe 62 degrees max on the highest core. I'm not worried about those temps but when I run Prime95 the temp goes to 85 degrees. Is this too hot and should I be worried seeing I don't get near those temps in games? The CPU fan is sucking air in from the top of my Cosmos S case and blowing onto the heatsink, I have another fan in the top the case sucking air in onto the heatsink fan. I also have a fan at the back of the case blowing air out the back. Any suggestions on if I should do something (and what) to reduce the CPU temps in Prime95?

Ta guys:)
 
Last edited:
I would'nt worry to much, as you say your gaming temps are in the 60's and thats more then fine, not a lot of stuff will reach prime temps, only think really would be F@H.

And don't forget its rather hot atm so that will increase those temps, once its cooler they will drop.
 
gaming temps in the 60's?

that's a tad high, when I was running any game with my i7 @ 3.9GHz with an akasa nero, even for a few hours, temps would only go into the low 50's

the problem is the fan orientation, the heatsink with i7's should have the fan parallel with the back of the case and both case fans as exhaust fans
 
My temps are very similar to yours but I got improved temp by fitting a 5870 which exhausts out of the case and an intake fan at the bottom of the case. At the top, with the CPU it looks like this. (Push/pull Noctua U12)

Fan->Heatsink->Fan->Exhaust fan Above the Heat sink is another exhaust fan venting vertically. At the bottom / front of the case is an intake fan so that the overall flow is in at the bottom front, and out at the top rear.

See my thread and pics here.
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=18035594
 
Did you install the heatsink yourself?
Sure its seated correctly? How much/what paste did you use?
 
well, I'll draw two lines representing the orientation of the back fan and the heatsink+fan

this is how it should be with an i7: ||

you have it like this |_

I was in the same boat once, I didn't know for the first couple months until I wanted to overclock it
 
The fan on the Titan can either go towards the top or bottom of the CPU (not alligned to the front or back of the case as far as I know). I have it near the top of the case blowing air onto the heatsink from the top of the case, which has a fan sucking air in. By "top of the case" I mean the acual top of the case and not the back of the case at the top (if that makes sense LOL).
 
Not even sure there is such a thing as too hot with modern CPUs since they will throttle down the speed instead of killing themselves.

Heck anyone remember the video where they ran a P4 without a heatsink playing Quake 3 and it continued to play just slower?


Those are old CPU's, newer stuff has to be even more reliable.
 
As far as I know with i7 the built in safety measures don't kick in until 100C, so based on that I would say anything under 90C is fine.

With a 4ghz i7 you're always going to struggle to keep it under 80C on air.
 
You're temps are within reasonable limits. 85* is kind of toasty but, as someone pointed out, you should concern yourself with temps during stuff you do constantly. The whole point of prime is to push the CPU to it's limit beyond conventional stress levels. Unless you're, for example, folding 24/7 those prime temps are irrelevant, it's all e-peen.



- Ordokai
 
Last edited:
Those temps are completely normal, every i7 is different some idle lower than others even when at the same voltage I've seen it happen.

60C is nothing to worry about when gaming, you also have a 5970 whic will increase the ambient case temp a lot, I see you have a Cosmos S aswell, I'd try putting some fans in the top if you already haven't done so, that will increase the airflow (blowing in) inside the case.
As said before it is rather hot at the moment, no good for all us enthusiasts!
 
Thanks guys:) I'll give your tip a go NathWraith and put 2 more fans in the top blowing in, and see if I can stand the noise LOL :). The PC is in a very warm room so that doesn't help LOL.
 
Lol sorry im a bit late bruv but glad to see the temps seem normal as i was beginning to get worried in case i had done something wrong.......cheers for the opinions guys i can rest easy once ive added the extra fans on monday lol
 
I have mine running around 50 degrees at idle but I do have the fans on my Noctua HS blowing at a pretty low speed, so I'd imagine I could shave a few degrees off that if I could stand the noise. They ramp up to 1,000 rpm once the temp rises about 55 degrees.

I see 60 degrees when gaming and 80 plus (almost 90) when stressing. I'm not that concerned. Sure I'd like them lower but not enough to unseat the HSF, mess about and ramp the noise levels.
 
Tealc said:
I have mine running around 50 degrees at idle but I do have the fans on my Noctua HS blowing at a pretty low speed, so I'd imagine I could shave a few degrees off that if I could stand the noise. They ramp up to 1,000 rpm once the temp rises about 55 degrees.

I see 60 degrees when gaming and 80 plus (almost 90) when stressing. I'm not that concerned. Sure I'd like them lower but not enough to unseat the HSF, mess about and ramp the noise levels.
Click to expand...


Dont blame ya m8 i was dreading having to mess about with my brothers lol
 
Broken Hope said:
Not even sure there is such a thing as too hot with modern CPUs since they will throttle down the speed instead of killing themselves.

Heck anyone remember the video where they ran a P4 without a heatsink playing Quake 3 and it continued to play just slower?


Those are old CPU's, newer stuff has to be even more reliable.
Click to expand...

Nice vid :) Im old enough to know where the music is from too LOL
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom