Another 'are these temps OK' thread

SirChumpalot · 7 Jun 2013 at 13:29

Firstly, I apologise. I apologise that I have to post something like this, a thread that some of you have probably seen time and time again. I'll try and make it an interesting read.

Some of you will know that I've recently built a HTPC (the specs of which can be seen in my sig). It's nothing amazing or groundbreaking. I bought the parts with the intention of creating a middle of the road setup. Something that would last perhaps 3 years for what I want it to do - HD video playback, movies, internet and some flavour of virtualisation when I get round to it, plus the odd game here and there.

Last night I had some free time and, after having set the memory a week ago to run at 800mhz and with no issues since I decided to squeeze a little out of the CPU.

The aim is to have a 100% stable overclock whilst maintaining temperatures that won't drastically shorten the life of the CPU. I'm even thinking of undervolting it at it's current speed. Secondly, not only does it have to be 100% stable, but it has to be as quiet as possible.

Now for the overclock. I turned it up to 40 x 100. I figured this would be a nice mild (and well-rounded) overclock that would be ample for what I'm after.

I ran Prime95 for around 45 minutes, no errors. However the temps made me raise one of my small eyebrows...

I realise the AsusAI utility only measures the socket temp. The differences between socket and core temps I've worked out to be roughly 7-10'C.

With that in mind, on idle (and in the Bios), I'm hitting 30'C. The Scythe is going at 600rpm, it's slowest setting. Seriously you can't here the thing, it's great! :cool:

On Load and after 45mins of Prime, AsusAI reported 69'C. So I'm guessing the core temp would have been around the 75-78'C mark. The Scythe was up to 1800RPM.

Now the question: Are these temps OK?

I took the liberty of 'feeling up' the Scythe heatsink whilst Priming. It felt shall we say, luke warm. Not warm, nowhere near hot, I could just about sense some slight warmness on my fingers. This concerned me at first, perhaps not enough contact is being made. Then again perhaps the 2 x 120mm fans blowing directory onto it plus the slimline fan are doing their jobs? I'm not sure.

Could someone shed some clarity on this please? I think it's probably slightly higher than it should be. I also realise I could have run Prime for a lot longer for an even better test, alas I had to go to bed

'Real world' tests indicate no problem with it's current setup, but I'd like to be 100% sure.

What do you guys think? I realise I have to install a different temperature monitoring tool. Which one would you guys recommend?

Thanks

David

RJC · 7 Jun 2013 at 13:33

For General all rounder I use HW Monitor and I use this for my CPU temps as well.

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

At the moment your temps are ok but personally I wold not want to higher.

stuie · 7 Jun 2013 at 13:43

I would have said not tbh ai suite reports cpu temp (tcase) not core temp and for the 3770ks that should be under 67c, fire up core temp and give up the real figures

SirChumpalot · 7 Jun 2013 at 13:46

I should have done this before posting this thread really. I'll give HWMonitor a go and report back.

A quick question. Should there be a quick drop-off in temps when stopping a CPU intensive program such as Prime? If so, how quick are we talking?

Thanks

spixelspixel · 7 Jun 2013 at 14:43

Not all motherboard software report the tcase temperature. My asrock utility matches whatever the highest core reading on coretemp shows.

stuie · 7 Jun 2013 at 14:44

Yes but the aisuite which is asus software for asus mobos reports the tcase

SirChumpalot · 7 Jun 2013 at 15:01

noob question alert. What is 'tcase'?

spixelspixel · 7 Jun 2013 at 15:02

SirChumpalot said:
noob question alert. What is 'tcase'?

Same as 'socket temp'. It's what intels temperature ratings are based on, always lower than the core temps.

SirChumpalot · 7 Jun 2013 at 15:03

spixelspixel said:
Same as 'socket temp'. It's what intels temperature ratings are based on, always lower than the core temps.

Thanks.

spixelspixel · 7 Jun 2013 at 15:08

SirChumpalot said:
Thanks.

Have you checked the coretemps yet?

You should also be able to lower the voltage assuming you left it at auto. Motherboards always set it to more than required, lowering it will drop temps a fair bit.

SirChumpalot · 7 Jun 2013 at 15:09

spixelspixel said:
Have you checked the coretemps yet?

Afraid not as I'm at work. I'll be doing this tonight as the kids are out and I'll be left in peace for a bit

I shall report my findings soon.

SirChumpalot · 8 Jun 2013 at 01:17

OK, kids finally off the PC. Temps with Core Temp are as follows:

Idle
Core 0 34C
Core 1 27C
Core 2 31C
Core 3 29C

Won't have a change to get load temps until tomorrow. It's late. I'm tired. Would welcome your thoughts on these idle temps though.

Have a great weekend everyone

spixelspixel · 8 Jun 2013 at 03:55

SirChumpalot said:
OK, kids finally off the PC. Temps with Core Temp are as follows:

Idle
Core 0 34C
Core 1 27C
Core 2 31C
Core 3 29C

Won't have a change to get load temps until tomorrow. It's late. I'm tired. Would welcome your thoughts on these idle temps though.

Have a great weekend everyone

Very normal idle temps considering its overclocked. Run cpu-z and tell us what voltage it says in idle + under load. Its likely the motherboard is giving it too much if you didn't enter it manually.

The cpu should be able to do 4ghz at stock voltage but when you adjust the multiplier in bios and leave voltage at auto the motherboard increases it.

SirChumpalot · 8 Jun 2013 at 07:57

spixelspixel said:
Very normal idle temps considering its overclocked. Run cpu-z and tell us what voltage it says in idle + under load. Its likely the motherboard is giving it too much if you didn't enter it manually.

The cpu should be able to do 4ghz at stock voltage but when you adjust the multiplier in bios and leave voltage at auto the motherboard increases it.

Ah OK. I'll post these up in a sec...

Stock voltage for the 3770k is 1.025v right?

SirChumpalot · 8 Jun 2013 at 07:58

I'm still getting used to this Turbo thing as well. When idling the CPU is @ 1600mhz. As soon as I run prime things shoot up and I get my 4000mhz, all seems perfectly stable so far.

I'll post up the load voltage and temps now

SirChumpalot · 8 Jun 2013 at 08:09

OK,

Idle core voltage is 0.952v.

Now Priming...

SirChumpalot · 8 Jun 2013 at 08:32

Load voltage fluctuates between 1.176 - 1.184. Haven't seen any other values than these two.

40 x 100.

After 20 minutes of prime. Load temps are as follows:

Core 0 - 69C Max 72C
Core 1 - 72C Max 74C
Core 2 - 73C Max 74C
Core 3 -72C Max 74C

Things really heated up about 20 minutes in. All seem OK though, no errors.

spixelspixel · 8 Jun 2013 at 08:50

SirChumpalot said:
Load voltage fluctuates between 1.176 - 1.184. Haven't seen any other values than these two.

40 x 100.

After 20 minutes of prime. Load temps are as follows:

Core 0 - 69C Max 72C
Core 1 - 72C Max 74C
Core 2 - 73C Max 74C
Core 3 -72C Max 74C

Things really heated up about 20 minutes in. All seem OK though, no errors.

Did you check what the Asus software was reporting then?

The temps are alright but I think you should try lowering the voltage a bit, chances are high that it will still be stable. I was able to overclock my 2500k to 4ghz and still use a voltage lower than stock.

Go into bios and change voltage from auto to offset. Try something like -0.07 to bring it down to around 1.1v. This should knock 5 degrees or more off your load temps. Sometimes it doesn't adjust properly though, -0.07 might take less or more off. Don't worry if it crashes

SirChumpalot · 8 Jun 2013 at 09:00

spixelspixel said:
Did you check what the Asus software was reporting then?

The temps are alright but I think you should try lowering the voltage a bit, chances are high that it will still be stable. I was able to overclock my 2500k to 4ghz and still use a voltage lower than stock.

Go into bios and change voltage from auto to offset. Try something like -0.07 to bring it down to around 1.1v. This should knock 5 degrees or more off your load temps. Sometimes it doesn't adjust properly though, -0.07 might take less or more off. Don't worry if it crashes

Yes, AsusAI was reporting 55 -60C (62C max). Glad I now have something a bit more reliable to go from.

I'll try setting the offset.

Thanks very much for your help, it's greatly appreciated.

David

SirChumpalot · 8 Jun 2013 at 11:28

Not too certain on this offset thing.

In the bios, there's an entry for '+' or '-'. I take it I just select '-' and then enter 0.07 as the value?

I've selected a manual voltage of 1.1v. Whilst idle temps are quite high, load temps look like they are indeed lower.