CPU hot after system build

lucasite · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:10

Hi all,
Ive just finished building my new system, booted up into bios and was surprised by the temperature of the cpu.

Its a new ASUS motherboard, new I7 950 chip.
I used my old Arctic Cooler Freezer 7 Pro heatsink. Started by cleaning the base with tissue, then thermal cleaner using cotton buds. Applied a slim line of thermal silver to the cpu, and put on the heatsink. A little swivel and screwed it in.

But even with the tower cover off, I was getting these temps:
MB: 30c
CPU: 45c

My first thought is I should take off the heatsink, clean it and the cpu. and start again. Maybe I didnt apply the compound properly.

My question is, what temperature should I be expecting?
45c just feels abit too hot for my liking.

Plus, can a heatsink base get damaged over time? I noticed whilst cleaning the heatsink base (with a tissue to remove the previous compound) that it was entirely flat. there are several tiny craters. Could this be a problem?

An alternative is to try the stock cpu heatsink, but I was expecting much better performance from the arctic cooler.

Luca

stulid · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:19

Doesn't sound hot to me, give the thermal paste a day or twp to "cure"

RJC · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:25

45c is not to bad, it's full load temps that are more important.

lucasite · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:26

oh really? I was expecting a cpu temp of 35c. Am I being totally unrealistic then?

Orcvader · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:28

With that heatsink, the temps look normal to me! What temps do you get on max load?

RJC · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:30

Even though the AC7 is a good cooler, I fill it may struggle with a i7 - If you see my point

Also I think the BIOS puts the cpu under a little load.

lucasite · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:37

Havent tried on max load yet. I dont even have any drives plugged in yet. Just wanted to boot into the bios and check memory, cpu, temps.

So are saying I'd get better temps from the stock heatsink, than from the AC7?
Maybe I should put the stock on instead?

RJC · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:49

The AC7 is better than the stock heatsink, but not as great as the Thermalright Ultra or Titan, In fact any heatsink is better than the stock version

Once your fully operational run Prime 95 or equivalent and check full load.

lucasite · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:57

Well I left it sitting in the bios screen for 20 minutes, with the tower case off. And its slowly crept up to 50c now.

Like you say, I'll run it for another day, see if its settles in. If not, I guess I'll try again.

Orcvader · 5 Jan 2011 at 21:59

I don't think SpeedStep applies in BIOS, so it runs at full speed all the time. Hence why it crept up to 50c. Really suggest you install Windows and see the temps from there

.

lucasite · 5 Jan 2011 at 22:22

ok, will do. Thanks everyone.

Blue160 · 5 Jan 2011 at 22:27

I don't think that temperature sounds right. While I was setting up my i5 build with a Freezer Pro 7, CPU temp was at around 29C at idle in bios with the side of the case off. 50C CPU temp at idle sounds like the heat sink isn't fitted properly.

DELETED_83755 · 5 Jan 2011 at 22:30

I think that temperature is reasonable for an i7 950 chip and that cooler. The load temperature is what matters the most, however.

RJC · 5 Jan 2011 at 22:35

Also the 950 pulls a higher wattage than the 760. 95w vs 130w max tdp

Blue160 · 5 Jan 2011 at 22:37

Fair enough. I'll agree that the load temperature is what matters. Surprised an i7 would idle 20C higher than an i5 with the same cooler though.

lucasite · 6 Jan 2011 at 10:06

Im still convinced I didnt do the thermal compound very well. I tried doing a small pea sized blob but the compound is quite sticky so it ended up as a trail across the cpu. I then struggled to line up the heatsink with the screws, so I mustve smudged it quite abit, whilst moving it around.

lucasite · 6 Jan 2011 at 23:11

Ok, so I cleaned up the heatsink and chip, reapplied some grease. And got bios temps of 45-50c.
Installed windows 7, and HWMonitor. From that I saw temps around 50-55c for the cores.

Installed prime95 and ran a blend test. And within about 2 minutes, the core temperatures reached 81c. At which point I paniced and shut everything down.

I know that i7's run hot, Ive read that everywhere. But 81c after 2 minutes of stressing just feels scarey.

Maybe I should replace my heatsink, I saw some good comments for a coolmaster?

And for now, maybe I should remove the AC7 and put the stock cooler on. Because the AC7 just feels terrible from what Ive seen.

sandeep · 6 Jan 2011 at 23:18

I would go as suggested above with a TRUE or TITAN or perhaps a Corsair H70 if you can afford it.

skylineboy · 6 Jan 2011 at 23:31

I think the TITAN is the way to go here. Great cooling performance for the money. I don't think the h70 is worth it in my opinion.

Cycrow · 6 Jan 2011 at 23:34

i wouldn't panic at 80C

its very difficult to damage a cpu thermally.
and most cpus can run without problem upto 100C

which if set right, the pc will auto shutdown when it reachs those kind of temps.

however, 80C does seem abit hot if not Overclocking.

how much paste did u put on when u did it ?
did u remove the paste from the heatsink before applying any more ?
as most heatsinks tend to come with paste already applied

too much paste can trap air and prevent heat from transfering effectivly