CPU running too cold?

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 13:25

Hi, I've just finished my first new build, spec below.

My CPU temp according to AS Rock is 20C, Coretemp reads the same and so does SpeedFan. All my my fans are at the lowest setting and the ambient temp is 18.

I can't seem to find any info whether this is good or bad, everything I read is about running too warm.

Intel Core i5-3570K 3.4GHz Quad-Core Processor
Enermax ETS-T40-TB 86.7 CFM CPU Cooler
ASRock Z77 Pro4 ATX LGA1155 Motherboard
Corsair Vengeance 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3-1600 Memory
Samsung 840 Series 250GB 2.5" Solid State Disk
Cooler Master Storm Enforcer ATX Mid Tower Case
OCZ OCZ600MXSP-UK ModXStream Pro 600W Power Supply

Speed · 10 Feb 2013 at 13:27

Try HW Monitor and stress the CPU with something like Prime95 or LinX. Seems very low so it is likely picking up the wrong sensor.

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 13:30

OK, thanks, will give that a try and report back

panyan · 10 Feb 2013 at 13:33

Speed said:
Seems very low so it is likely picking up the wrong sensor.

+1

NeoVo · 10 Feb 2013 at 13:34

My knowledge of Asrock motherboards specifically isn't brilliant but it might be worth checking for bios updates, sensor related problems can often be caused by old versions.

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 13:42

Ran it for 10 mins:

CPUID HWMonitor Report
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Binaries
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

HWMonitor version 1.2.1.0

Monitoring
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mainboard Model Z77 Pro4 (0x0000024D - 0x00B1DDC6)

LPCIO
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

LPCIO Vendor Nuvoton
LPCIO Model NCT6776
LPCIO Vendor ID 0x5CA3
LPCIO Chip ID 0xC3
LPCIO Revision ID 0x33
Config Mode I/O address 0x2E
Config Mode LDN 0xB
Config Mode registers
00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F
00 FF FF 00 FF FF FF FF 0B FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
10 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF F8 0E 00 00 FF FF
20 C3 33 FF 00 5C 00 00 C0 00 FF 62 00 80 00 00 01
30 E1 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
40 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
50 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
60 02 90 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
70 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
Register space LPC, base address = 0x0290

Hardware Monitors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hardware monitor Nuvoton NCT6776
Voltage 0 1.03 Volts [0x81] (CPU VCORE)
Voltage 1 1.88 Volts [0xEB] (VIN1)
Voltage 2 3.39 Volts [0xD4] (AVCC)
Voltage 3 3.39 Volts [0xD4] (3VCC)
Voltage 4 0.42 Volts [0x35] (VIN4)
Voltage 5 1.69 Volts [0xD3] (VIN5)
Voltage 6 0.79 Volts [0x63] (VIN6)
Temperature 0 24°C (75°F) [0x18] (SYSTIN)
Temperature 1 28°C (82°F) [0x38] (CPUTIN)
Temperature 2 47°C (116°F) [0x5E] (AUXTIN)
Temperature 3 44°C (111°F) [0x2C] (TMPIN3)
Temperature 4 65°C (148°F) [0x81] (TMPIN4)
Fan 0 1088 RPM [0x440] (SYSFANIN)
Fan 1 995 RPM [0x3E3] (CPUFANIN)
Fan 2 1174 RPM [0x496] (AUXFANIN0)
Fan 3 0 RPM [0x0] (AUXFANIN1)
Fan 4 0 RPM [0x0] (AUXFANIN2)
Register space LPC, base address = 0x0290

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F
00 04 50 04 75 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
10 04 73 00 00 00 00 FF FF 40 00 00 00 00 87 00 00
20 81 EB D4 D4 33 D3 63 18 FF FF FF DA 00 00 00 00
30 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 FF FF FF FF FF
40 03 00 50 FF FF 00 3F FF 2D FF FF FF 18 05 00 A3
50 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF C1 FF FF FF FF 00 00 FF
60 00 FF FF FF FF 01 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
70 00 0A 00 2C 80 2C 80 2F 00 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
80 FF 03 1F 0F FF 3C 3C 3C 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
90 0A 00 00 00 00 0A 0A 0A 0A AA EF 80 FF 40 46 C4
A0 0E 01 00 00 FF 00 00 FF 00 00 80 66 66 06 01 01
B0 00 00 00 00 00 00 28 00 1C 00 00 34 28 80 C4 FF
C0 01 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0D 07 FF FF FF FF FF
D0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
E0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF
F0 FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF FF

Processors
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Number of processors 1
Number of threads 4

APICs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 0
-- Core 0
-- Thread 0 0
-- Core 1
-- Thread 0 2
-- Core 2
-- Thread 0 4
-- Core 3
-- Thread 0 6

Timers
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

ACPI timer 3.580 MHz
HPET timer 14.318 MHz
Perf timer 3.320 MHz
Sys timer 1.000 KHz

Processors Information
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Processor 1 ID = 0
Number of cores 4 (max 8)
Number of threads 4 (max 16)
Name Intel Core i5 3570K
Codename Ivy Bridge
Specification Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-3570K CPU @ 3.40GHz
Package (platform ID) Socket 1155 LGA (0x1)
CPUID 6.A.9
Extended CPUID 6.3A
Core Stepping E1
Technology 22 nm
TDP Limit 77 Watts
Core Speed 3600.5 MHz
Multiplier x FSB 36.0 x 100.0 MHz
Stock frequency 3400 MHz
Instructions sets MMX, SSE, SSE2, SSE3, SSSE3, SSE4.1, SSE4.2, EM64T, VT-x, AES, AVX
L1 Data cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L1 Instruction cache 4 x 32 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L2 cache 4 x 256 KBytes, 8-way set associative, 64-byte line size
L3 cache 6 MBytes, 12-way set associative, 64-byte line size
FID/VID Control yes

Turbo Mode supported, enabled
Max non-turbo ratio 34x
Max turbo ratio 36x
Max efficiency ratio 16x
Min Power 60 Watts
O/C bins unlimited
Ratio 1 core 36x
Ratio 2 cores 36x
Ratio 3 cores 36x
Ratio 4 cores 36x
TSC 3400.5 MHz
APERF 3600.6 MHz

Speed · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:01

Temperature 4 65°C (148°F) [0x81] (TMPIN4) - That seems about right for the CPU temp. Looks very much like it is picking up the wrong sensor as CPUTIN should be higher.

Try running HWMonitor and then posting a screenshot after running Prime95 for 10 minutes, it records high, low and current temps.

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:12

I didn't reset it after the previous run so these are after 10 mins

image sharing

Speed · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:13

Not large enough to see any details.

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:16

Apologies, that should be better. Bit rusty!

Speed · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:23

No worries. The core temperatures for the CPU do seem lower than expected, but they are in the right sort of ranges with the difference between idle and load. I suspect they are either calibrated wrong or it is some sort of BIOS issue, I assume you are on the latest version for your board? According to the following link the latest is 1.7: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/Z77 Pro4/?cat=Download&os=BIOS

The RPM reading isn't accurate either, which is likely either a software or sensor issue. I wouldn't worry about it too much, just don't take the readings as being accurate, you could likely add 10c to each and be closer to the real temps.

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:28

My BIOS is V1.40 v the latest 1.70 - I'm a bit wary about doing it as I've heard horror stories. Out of the 3 ways is one recommended over the other?

Speed · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:32

I'd use the instant flash method, if you click on the instructions it tells you how. Basically you download the file, put it on a Fat32 formatted USB stick, go into the BIOS, go to the Smart menu and then the "ASRock Instant Flash" option. It will only list compatible BIOS files, select the one on the USB stick and it will flash it.

After it has completed you go back into the BIOS and put the settings back on any one you changed, save and exit.

You shouldn't have any problems, just don't turn the system off while it is flashing.

joeyjojo · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:33

If there's a windows tool just use that (and don't have a power cut).

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:33

OK, great thanks. I need to nip out, will report back in an hour.

Speed · 10 Feb 2013 at 14:42

joeyjojo said:
If there's a windows tool just use that (and don't have a power cut).

That is the method with the most risk, using the built-in flasher within the BIOS is the safest way of doing it in my experience.

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 15:02

Managed to swerve the weekly shop - a result in itself!

Temps are still the same, I can live with that as BIOS successfully flashed - many thanks, I've always dreaded doing that

host images

Speed · 10 Feb 2013 at 15:06

It is a lot less risky these days thankfully, most boards have dual BIOS chip setups.

Indeed, it isn't much to worry about, even if you add 10c to the temps you still have plenty of headroom for overclocking.

mark.swandells · 10 Feb 2013 at 15:27

Much appreciated, I was surprised how straightforward it was.

I did build it with overclocking in mind but it's all new to me so I'll need to do lots of reading before I attempt it.

Thanks again for all your help.

V F · 10 Feb 2013 at 16:01

joeyjojo said:
If there's a windows tool just use that (and don't have a power cut).

Speed said:
That is the method with the most risk, using the built-in flasher within the BIOS is the safest way of doing it in my experience.

Thats such a horrible thought. Imagine a freak occurrence during the BIOS flash in Windows and Windows takes a spat, hangs, or hangs the flash. So many possibilities for it to go wrong. Or a video black out.