Q6600 Temperature Problems

Chalex4

Chalex4

Chalex4

Associate
Joined
13 Dec 2007
Posts
283
Location
Oxford
Hey guys,

I recently built my new computer housing a Q6600 (G0 stepping) on an Asus Maximus Formula with 2GB OCZ RAM and an Nvidia 8800GTS 512MB G92 in an Antec 900 case. I ordered a Zalman CNPS9700-LED CPU Cooler since I was wanting to overclock it to at least 3.00GHz. However, after reading the text on the side of its box it says: works on Core 2 Duo, Dual Core Pentium, Pentium D, Pentium 4, Celeron D. As you can see, there is no mention of it properly being able to cool a Quad core. I aware that people have used this on their Quad cores but since I didn't want to risk it I just installed the Intel stock cooler instead.

I have had no problems whilst using the new system except that the CPU temperatures are higher than I would like at the stock 2.4GHz. Here are some test results:

IDLE (Windows desktop - XP):
Core #0: 38°C
Core #1: 35°C
Core #2: 35°C
Core #3: 36°C

LOAD (using Prime95 for 17 mins):
Core #0: 66°C
Core #1: 63°C
Core #2: 61°C
Core #3: 61°C

The ambient room temperature was 17.5°C and the temperatures were measured using Core Temp. As said above, I really would like to overclock this CPU but it looks like I will not be able to with the stock cooler. All of the fans in my Antec 900 are set to medium and I even added another in the side for additional cooling.

I still have the Zalman CNPS9700 sitting next to me, but after looking around I have seen that lots of people have had success with the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler so I was thinking about sending the Zalman back and getting that instead.

I am not too keen on taking out the motherboard again to install a new cooler so it would be great if you guys could give me some recommendations on a good cooler with minimal hassle. I don't know whether the Thermalright has to be installed by taking out the motherboard, so it would be great if someone could enlighten me. Any other advice is always appreciated.
 
Ah ok, I will take the motherboard out then. Are there any other suggestions for a new cooler? Would the Thermalright be significantly better than the Zalman which I have right now (not installed yet of course)?
 
The 939 had a different mechanism.

The Freezer pro 7 for your Q6600 has the same mechanism as the stock cooler (twist and lock) so it's easy to fit without taking the motherboard out and should sort those temps out. I have it on for overcloked q6600 and temps aren't above 50oc on load. At stock there were around 41oc on load.
 
Freezer Pro is good to around 3.4/3.5 I would guess depending on your case airflow and the actual CPU... Tuniq Tower will see you to 3.5 and some people on the Quad database have these @ 3.6... Thermalright Ultra 120 should see you to 3.6+

a lot of other variables in there as well tho... such as case airflow, the fans used on the Thermalright, the individual CPU.. etc..
 
Ok, I will give this some thought and may well choose the Thermalright because of the potential overclocking possibilities. In terms of applying the thermal paste (I use Arctic Silver 5), which is the best way of applying it to get the best cooling possible?
 
Good, that's what I did. I had to apply a thin line then let is spread out by itself when I attached the cooler. I was just wondering if you had any secrets that let you get to 3.9 on air ;) .
 
Wow, nice setup there Pneumonic. If I was to use the Zalman 9700, how do you think it would compare to the Thermalright Ultra-120, Tuniq Tower and Freezer 7 Pro?
 
Also, what fan would you guys recommend getting with the Thermalright? I am looking at the Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM but it would be great to have some feedback on what you find to be the best.

I am also interested to know if the Thermalright is still better than the competition without it being lapped. I am aware that lapping it does have cooling benefits, but it isn't something that I am particularly keen on doing. Cheers for all the help so far.
 
upgraded from Zalman 9500LED to Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme, temperature went from (all are 3.2Ghz 400x8 overclock) ~40 idle to ~35 idle. 30min Prime load from ~70 to ~60.
i went for 3.6Ghz once, idle shot up to ~45, but load only went to ~70, however, my bad choice in fan meant it was really noisy, so i backed down to 3.2Ghz

and that's when i haven't lapped TRUE120 yet, i may lap it if i can be bothered..... but seeing it's my 8800GTX bottlenecking Crysis, i'll settle with 3.2Ghz for now.
 
Chalex4 said:
Also, what fan would you guys recommend getting with the Thermalright? I am looking at the Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM but it would be great to have some feedback on what you find to be the best.

I am also interested to know if the Thermalright is still better than the competition without it being lapped. I am aware that lapping it does have cooling benefits, but it isn't something that I am particularly keen on doing. Cheers for all the help so far.
Click to expand...

Air cooling is all very dependant on Air flow and recycling the case air to remove the hot air asap... from a similar question I done these tests to show the different performance at different Fan RPM's

Maybe I should repeat the below tests on stock so people have a better comparision point, but is to late to be messing around now :)

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Is a pretty large differnce in the cooling capasity of my Ultra-120 with different fan speeds enabled - simulating lower RPM fans.. Will set all case fans to the same speed step up as the heatsink fan to simulate the recycling of air and run each fan speed for a couple of mins to get a temp readout

Idle Temps @ Present: no idea what ambient is I would guess around 21c
CPU @ 3.906Ghz @ 1.512 windows vcore

Fan @ 1000 RPM: 36/38/36/36

Fan @ 1500 RPM: 34/36/34/34

Fan @ 2000 RPM: 33/35/33/33

Fan @ 2500 RPM: 32/35/32/32

Fan @ 3000 RPM: 31/34/31/31

Fan @ 3500 RPM: 30/32/29/29

Will not run full load as well fans will need to be at 3000 RPM+ to keep the CPU at a "reasonable" temp, but will run a prime95 blend test result below:

Fan @ 1000 RPM: 70/70/66/66

Fan @ 1500 RPM: 68/68/65/65

Fan @ 2000 RPM: 66/65/63/63

Fan @ 2500 RPM: 60/60/56/56

Fan @ 3000 RPM: 56/56/52/52

Fan @ 3500 RPM: 52/52/48/48

So as you can see the amount of air passing through the case and Heatsink has a large effect on temps...
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Thermalright is still a good cooler unlapped unless you happen to get one with a really poor base.. had 3 over the last couple of months for various builds and althought none of the basis have been "perfect" they have all been alright and certainly all performed nicely
 
Last edited:
The Zalman definetly cools a quad core, using one myself on a Q6600 and it does a wonder job. 35 ish on all cores roughly idle, 48 load (at stock) - this is at 900 RPM which is near inaudible.
 
Ok, so it looks like I will be getting the Themalright with the Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM fan. I would love to know what fan you are using Pneumonic to get 3500RPM as Overclockers doesn't seem to have anything above 1600RPM. I am sure that 1600RMP would suit me just fine though.

Thanks for letting me know that the Zalman would work, but since it is still in its packaging I might as well send it back and get the better Thermalright.

In terms of the airflow in my Antec 900, the front 2 fans intake air, and the top and back fans are exhausts. However, when it comes to choosing a position for the Scythe on the Thermalright, would you say that it would be best to have it extracting hot air from the processor, and blowing it towards the rear exhaust fan? I say this because I do not have any fans intaking cold air directly opposite the processor because of my drive bays and I have seen lots of people mounting it on the other side intaking air to the cooler. Also, how do you know which direction the fan is going to blow air in before you connect it to the power?
 
Last edited:
Chalex4 said:
Also, how do you know which direction the fan is going to blow air in before you connect it to the power?
Click to expand...

as a rule of thumb i use, the side of fan with stationary bits connecting the middle motor and the outside together is where the air gets blown out of.
 
Chalex4 said:
Ok, so it looks like I will be getting the Themalright with the Scythe S-FLEX 1600RPM fan. I would love to know what fan you are using Pneumonic to get 3500RPM as Overclockers doesn't seem to have anything above 1600RPM. I am sure that 1600RMP would suit me just fine though.
Click to expand...

I am using Delta EFB1212SHE 120x38mm Triple Blade fans, I havent found anywhere in the UK that stocks the whole Delta range... so these were ordered from a site in the US.. google search should find it
 
Chalex4 said:
In terms of the airflow in my Antec 900, the front 2 fans intake air, and the top and back fans are exhausts. However, when it comes to choosing a position for the Scythe on the Thermalright, would you say that it would be best to have it extracting hot air from the processor, and blowing it towards the rear exhaust fan? I say this because I do not have any fans intaking cold air directly opposite the processor because of my drive bays and I have seen lots of people mounting it on the other side intaking air to the cooler. Also, how do you know which direction the fan is going to blow air in before you connect it to the power?
Click to expand...

In terms of "blow" direction on the fan, they blow the air the forwards from when you are looking at the sticker on the front

i.e. FAN:Sticker ->>> air direction

I have a modified Sythe Karma Drive Bay fan where I have replced the stock fan with one of the delta's, this is then ducted directly to the intake of the Ultra-120 fan using a Fan Duct for Thermalright HR-01-K8
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom