q6600 temps

Ferax

Ferax

Ferax

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Joined
25 Jun 2008
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219
Hi all, I have been running a Q6600 at stock with a Tuniq tower cooler for a couple of years. Always meant to OC it when I bought it but never got round to it at the time. I am now getting a shiny new graphics card, so want to clock the Q6600 to make the most of it and hope fully avoid needing a new CPU for a while. My concern is that even with a modest clock to 2.8 the temps go to >80 degrees under load, even with the fan in the cooler running at full whack. This seems a bit high to me. The case is an Antec 300 and has decent air flow - theres a couple of extra fans pushing air in. This is my first real attempt at overclocking, so am a little wary...

Is it likely that I need to resit the cooler? If so, can anyone advise as to the best way to remove the old thermal compound?

Cheers.
 
Sounds like you do need to check the cooler, as over 80c is not good at 2.8.

Clean the old compound off with either lighter fluid (handy to get hold of) or Akasa TIM remover.

What way is the airflow in your case? Do you have more intake than exhaust, or vice-versa?
 
I'm a novice at overclocking too but my Q6600 reaches around 60 degrees under load while overclocked at 2.7GHz so 80 sounds a bit high!

I was getting a lot worse temps but then re-seated my Gelid Tranquillo and they dropped right down! (although I'm by no means an expert at thermal paste etc so my temps are probably a little high too!)

Loads of tutorials on Youtube for applying the paste!

StevieP
 
That is more than high for stock clock speed.
If there's any dust in the CPU heatsink and/or fan clean it out.

The CPU cooler should be blowing air towards either the rear of the case (where the rear exhaust blows it straight out) or the top of the case where the top exhaust fan blows the air straight out.

The TIM may be getting a bit old now and useless, take off the cooler and re-apply. Is your Q6600 B0 or G0 stepping? As B0 stepping Q6600 use more power and get hotter. Use CoreTemp to get the information.
 
Thanks for the advice guys, really does sound like I need to reseat the cooler - I'll have a look at youtube as well, might be that I didn't apply it properly first time around. Good tip on the lighter fluid too!

Air flow in the case is 2 fans at the front sucking in air, then 1 exhaust fan at the rear, with another large exhaust fan in the top of the case, just above the cpu cooler, so given the larger fan at the top it should be slightly more exhaust than input. Is that correct? There's also a space for a fan over the graphics card, but that's an empty hole at the moment. Would it be worth popping an extra exhaust fan in there too?
 
The cooler is blowing air straight out of the rear exhaust fan Emphacy. Just picked up a can of air to give everything a good dusting down as well as after a couple of years there is some build up that the vacuum cant get rid of.

Not certain about the stepping, it's a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM according to my order history, but I'll check that this evening.

I didn't know TIM degraded, how long should it last for normally?
 
Sometimes positive airflow (more intake than exhaust) is better as it forces the cool air through the system, like in my Fortress, but it's not always the case.

Might be worth swapping the large top exhaust around and making it an intake and see what that does for your temps. If it doesn't help, just swap it back around.

I wouldn't bother with the side fan though, unless your graphics card is getting too hot, and normally this would be used as an intake to draw cool air towards the card.
 
Ferax said:
Not certain about the stepping, it's a Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 "Energy Efficient SLACR 95W Edition" 2.40GHz (1066FSB) - OEM according to my order history, but I'll check that this evening.

I didn't know TIM degraded, how long should it last for normally?
Click to expand...

SLACR is G0 stepping, it's a good clocking chip and doesn't produce as much heat, which makes me more wary. TIM life depends on the quality you use.
I'd replace anyway, you may have put too much on, or not enough. Usually the pea-size blob in the centre, then putting on the cooler works very well.
 
When you take the cooler off look at the spread of paste. If it's thin and even, that's how it should be, if it's quite thick or uneven then it either wasn't applied correctly or the cooler wasn't seated correctly. Just be careful when applying the new paste and re-seating the cooler.
 
I'll try swapping the top fan around then, just to see what happens - it';ll mean a lot more cool air going straight onto the HS&fan so it may help.

Good news about the G0 stepping. As I said beforehand, my intention was always to overclock, but the chip was performing just fine so never got round to it. From what I have read on these forums though the system should still have some life in it if I can get a decent OC on it!

Can't remember what TIM I used, but I think it might well be some stuff that came with the Tuniq tower. Any recommendations for something decent to use instead?
 
Really appreciate all the rapid replies!

I'm ordering some bits and pieces at the moment, so might just add some MX-4 then, thanks.

What sort of temps would you guys think are reasonable? Both stock and when clocking?
 
Not sure on good stock temps, but clocked to 3.6ghz, mine levels off at about 69c when Priming. Will get a lot hotter if running IBT, but anything below 70-75c Priming is generally absolutely fine as there is almost nothing you will do that will ever get it that hot in normal use.

Oh, make sure you use something decent to check the temps, like CoreTemp or RealTemp
 
Running at 3.4GHz, idles at around 37/38 degrees celcius using Akasa Venom Nano, which by no means is as good as your cooler OP.
Running Intel Burn Test it reaches about 78 degrees celcius under full load. This is about average and you should be looking within this region.
 
Thanks again for all the replies :)

I'll post again once I've had a go at overclocking and let you know how it all went!
 
Just had a really good clean out of the system with a can of air and the vacuum cleaner. That seems to have dropped the temps by about 4 degrees already. Will try reseating the cpu over the weekend.
 
This is kinda aimed at the folk who have clocked their Q6600 over 3ghz, at what point did you have to raise the voltages on the CPU, and what did you have to raise them too?
 
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