Individual core temperature - 10 degrees?

[therutz]

I get around 87 / 82 / 84 / 78 on my I7 920.

Back when I used MX3 on my previous cooler, I found two horizontal strips 1/3 of the way in from the top and bottom to be the most effective way to apply MX3. I also did the same on my graphics cards and saw huge temperature reductions on both GPUs.

Havnt tried that way

i tried rice grain size in the middle and spread it but this TX-3 is awfully gakky stuff and was pulling it off as i was putting it on the X way i found cover'd the whole CPU up to the ends i will however give your way a go when i next do it

Im using Tuniq TX-3 BTW

 

[Plec]

@ therutz, what type of cooler are you using?

Below advice for exposed heatpipes on the base only:

If you have exposed heatpipes (ridged surface) you could try tinting the surface of the heatsink first to fill in the voids made by the exposed pipes on the base (artic silver 5 advises this but i've used this method with other gunk if i felt the heatsink required it.). You're basically filling the gaps, created by the exposed pipes, but scrape of all the excess so the base of the heatsink only has a very slight tint of gunk (credit card is great for this). The theory is that it fills, the sometimes pretty large, gaps that exposed heatpipes can cause on the base of the heatsink.

After tiniting the heatink you then only need to apply a single line (less than a mm thick) down the middle of the core (vertically) - but don't go from edge to edge leave a 5mm gap at each end.

This method should ensure that the pipe gaps don't suck up all of the gunk on the cpu and allow it to spread as it would on a shiny flat heatsink base.

I will stress that you only need to use this method on exposed heatpipe heatsinks (and even then not all of the time) - there is no need to use this method with perfectly flat based heatsinks.

 

[therutz]

Hey Plec i use a full nickle EK water block

I think i am going to introduce my 2nd rad back in the loop to help with heat

I7 970 @ 4.2gig norm idle temps are 44c 32c 32c 30c 28c 32c

Load temps hit 70 to 78c in IBT i put it down to my 360 rad in the top of my case In a push pull sanerio i will add though the 3 push fans are 120m fans and the two pull fans are 200 x 30mm (big ones ) i am wondering if i should chnge them for another 3 120m fans for the pull side? what you think will it make much differancce and if so what ones should i get as i got 3 120m coolermaster fans and they are noisy as hell (you can hear them rattling inside when revolving)

 

[Plec]

I wouldn't be too concerned about your temps. The only fact i would be concerned about is that you're 'under water' and the process is 'noisy as hell' and comparable to an H70 (although i'm hoping this only occurs during IBT?). Although you do have a very respectable clock (voltage?)

NB: It could well be that you could only achieve the clock you have with water - so my comparison to the H70 is probably irrelevent.

I'm afraid i'm not a 'water boffin' but i would imagine the fan upgrade would have minimal impact on your present temps - certainly not the 'cure all' that you may be after. You could just have a warm running chip - or even dodgy sensors...

Having said that your temps are well within tolerance, especially considering you're punishing it with IBT, and your idle temps are absolutely fine (apart from a slight anomoly on the 1 core). Is the system whisper quiet during idle and gaming? The reason i ask, is that if i had a water setup i would want it quieter than air with better performance. If it is whisper quiet during everyday use i would breath easy and live with the occassional IBT induced noise.

Perhaps you could try a dedicated thread with pics and details as there are plenty of guys on here who will be able to give you far more informed advice on water than myself.

Good luck with it.