I have an i5 2500k with a Xigmatek HDT-S963 which is particually brilliant but it was the best money could afford. At the moment I don't have my CPU overclocked. In idle my cpu temps are around 40C when i run prime95 their going up to 70. Am i going to be overclocking?
Is overclocking a good idea with these temps?
- Thread starter Ludhaa
- Start date
Well you bought the K series, which is made for over clocking, if you are not going too you should have bought the non K version.
If you want to overclock, you might want to get yourself a better cooler than stock, but that depends on how far you want to push it.
If you want to overclock, you might want to get yourself a better cooler than stock, but that depends on how far you want to push it.
![[Damien]](/styles/overclockers/avatars/4.png){kind=avatar}
I'm not familiar with that cooler but so long as your case cooling is sufficient you should be ok. Just take it slowly and test after each increase. Also the power management features like speedstep and C1E etc can help with your temps due to throttling down the power when not required. Make sure they're enabled.
Thanks for the replys much appreciated. I posed the question to a freind of mine he's just brought round two extra pc fans. We've set one sucking in and one blowing out and the back of the case. Idle temp is now 35 still hitting 70 with prime95 but only after 40 mins of it.
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Agreed, I think it sounds like you're cooler has not been fitted correctly. It could be not enough thermal paste, not tightened to CPU properly. Only way to find out is to remove, clean with iso-propyl alcohol (or other suitable alcohol type cleaner), reapply thermal paste and make sure it is properly seated and tightened.
As for the following:
You could have saved approximately £3 by buying the non-K series chip so don't feel too guilty if you end up running at stock. If you do want to invest in a better cooler I highly recommend the Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus. Only around £20 and is one of the higher rated coolers on Frostytech.com.
As for the following:
You could have saved approximately £3 by buying the non-K series chip so don't feel too guilty if you end up running at stock. If you do want to invest in a better cooler I highly recommend the Coolermaster Hyper 212 plus. Only around £20 and is one of the higher rated coolers on Frostytech.com.
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That's too high to overclock much without reducing your VCore. Sometimes auto VCore supplies far more than the chip needs when under load. See how low you can manually set your VCore to get it running stable @stock, then see what your temps are. That will give you a better idea whether or not you can OC with that cooler. Try reseating it too, as others have suggested - doesn't seem to be working very well.
Just tried reseating it hyasn't really had much effect, I did notice the thermal paste used on it (it was built by a company not myself) was a very thin layer of white paste. Not too sure how much should be put on but I'm sure I read somehwere the white stuff is usually the cheaper stuff. May look into a new cooler tbh seems like my cheaping out has bitten me in the arse haha. Will defo look into the Vcore settings though.
There's your problem, or at least a big part of it. That generic stuff insulates. Buy some of this: http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=AC-000-AC
If you've re-seated the cooler without re-applying thermal paste then that's going to make things worse, because whatever thermal contact was there will have been broken when you removed the cooler. If you've re-applied the cheap stuff then that's fine for now, but proper thermal compound may reduce your temperatures by as much as 10C.
Yes, you only need a little bit - about the size of a grain of rice, but maybe more depending on the kind of cooler you have. (Those with heatpipes tend to need a little bit more.) You'll need to clean all the white goop off both the cooler and cpu using some rubbing alcohol. Make sure you don't leave any residue on either. The simplest way to go then is to squeeze out a rice-grain sized lump onto the CPU and then just attach the cooler, which will spread the paste out.
Edit: I see your cooler is a direct contact heatpipe design - looks ok to me, very similar to the Corsair A50 I use. You might want to use a very small amount of paste to fill in the cracks between the copper pipes and the base, then apply a grain-sized bit of paste to each copper pipe (rather than putting it on the CPU) before attaching the cooler. That's the method I used, and others seem to endorse it.
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Did the above ran prime95 for 10 mins cpu temp reached 67C and core volatge read 1.208. Does that sound a bit high? I notice in a few sig's that people are achieving nice overclcoks with a fair bit less voltage.
Also just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has posted, been a very big help very much appreciated!
Also just like to say a big thank you to everyone who has posted, been a very big help very much appreciated!
I stand corrected, I did not realise the gap had shrunk to such a small amount. It used to be quite a bit different.
Oh and for applying thermal paste, have a look on the Arctic silver website, they made good thermal paste and have guides on how to apply it on a variety of different CPU's, and having a direct contact heat sink you really do want to do a little research on applying it. (1 syringe will cover about 30 traditional applications (less but still many for direct contact heatpipe coolers))
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