• Competitor rules

    Please remember that any mention of competitors, hinting at competitors or offering to provide details of competitors will result in an account suspension. The full rules can be found under the 'Terms and Rules' link in the bottom right corner of your screen. Just don't mention competitors in any way, shape or form and you'll be OK.

Reducing CPU temps in preparation for 1st overclock!

jamesgoss

jamesgoss

jamesgoss

Associate
Joined
6 Jan 2009
Posts
425
Hi guys! I'm hoping you can help me out here.

I've got an Intel 6850 Core 2 Duo on a generic case with the stock Intel HSF. It's not overclocked in any way, but using CoreTemp the cores are reading 58 Celcius at idle and 89 Celcius at load, which seems rather high. The ambient temp according to my desk thermometer is 26 Celcius (though I admit it might not be the most sensitive pirce of equipemtn in the world!).

I was wondering what you guys think of these readings and what one/two upgrades could help me out in reducing the temps? I don't want to spend too much money on the highest end products though, say £30 on a new HSF. How much would I need to spend on a new case to substantially affect CPU temps?

I'm keen to attempt to get my CPU to around 3.8GHz so I want to get these temps down :D

Thanks in advance!
 
I've been hearing a lot of good things on the interwebs about the sunbeam, I think it may be the way to go.

Will a new case make a significant difference?

Oh, and I've left the side panel off my pc for about half an hour and the temps have only budged by a degree. Oh dear!
 
Well thanks everyone, looks like the consensus is reseat the hsf which I shall duly attempt. And if that fails then get a new HSF, the sunbeam.

Do you guys bother removing the motherboard from the pc to redo the thermal paste? Are Mx-2 or AS5 the best compunds to use?

Oh, and all the pins are in so it seems to be physcially seated ok!
 
Last edited:
I've been watching a couple of tutorials on youtube and they suggest spreading out a thin layer, but the manufacturer's website for mx-2 says to apply a small amount, NOT to spread it, just install the heatsink and rotate it a couple of times to spread tha paste.

Do the two methods make much difference? Because I'd prefer the latter, far less hassle and mess it seems!
 
well I'll take your collective word on this one! I'll order myself some mx-2 and get reseating when it arrives. I'll let you know how it goes, especially if it all goes wrong! :D
 
Mattus said:
Are all four of the pins definitely pushed in until they click home on the other side of the motherboard?

Does the heatsink actually get warm?
Click to expand...

I think all of the pins are in properly, but I haven't physically pushed them to make sure. I'm very new to all this, so I'm not sure how much pressure need be applied to check it.

I haven't touched the heatsink either, so I will put my hand close to it and check that once the computer has been shut down. The problem is I'm back at my parents' house and my pc is in my flat. The reseating is scheduled for Monday! But I'll do the other checks you've just suggested too first.

Evil-I said:
What kind of case cooling do you have? It doesn't matter how effective your CPU HSF is if the heat it dispels just hangs around in your case.

How many of what sized fans will give us a rough idea of how good it is.

Best,

E-I
Click to expand...

I must admit, the cooling isn't extensive! In fact it amounts to:

1) one 80mm exhaust fan
2) while the Intel HSF blows air into a duct and out of a vent in the side of the case.
3) a second perforated vent in the side of the case.

The case hasn't got any intake at the front. And I'm wondering whether the duct actually impedes hot air being removed from the case properly out of the exhaust fan.

My pc consists of the following (to make things clearer I hope):

Intel 6850 + Stock HSF
4x1GB Corsair RAM
2x250GB maxtor HDD
Gainward 4870 1GB 'GS' (has improved cooler)
Arctic 700 PSU
 
Hi E-I,

I was curious as to the effect of having a better case. Satriani has the opinion that his case, with worse cooling than mine, is still better in terms of temperatures. I have the MX-2 anyway, so I will try that (tomorrow, since I forgot the nail polish remover; what else removes paste??). But which case for around £50 or £60 would you suggest? I'm thinking Antec 300 or a Coolermaster 690 Dominator. But I'm open for suggestions!
 
It sounds like a combination of things. It's a shame I didn't spec a better case at the start really, but I didn't know a thing about this air-flow malarkey!:o

If the reseat works/only to an extent, I think a new case might be a priority, followed by a new HSF...
 
Thanks Will, that's very interesting to hear. I'm just doing some work now, but I'll be reapplying the paste once I've cleaned it off with surgical spirit in an hour or so. Let's see what happens!:p
 
Ok, the results are in! And they're not pretty...

I added a small blob in the middle of the cpu, like the manufacturer's website said for MX-2.

The Idle temps are the same, but there's a large difference in the Load temps now, they've actually gone up, which suggests I haven't done a decent enough job! The ambient temps are the same. I think I'll have to give it another go.

Temps are as follows:

Pre-reseat Idle: 57
Pre-reseat Load: 86

Post-reseat Idle: 57
Post-reseat Load: 91(!!!!)

Looks like I'll be purchasing that new case! Haha!
 
D D Danneh said:
Those pics look good. The paste seems to have done it's job on the heatsink, filling the gaps. I guess the way to go now is a new case and HSF.
Click to expand...

Ah, well that's a relief: at least I put the stuff on correctly. Thought I'd buggered it up.

The most I'd want to spend is £50 really, the main competitors being the Antec 300 and the Coolermaster 590 (which I have found for £45 including delivery).

As for a new HSF I think I'll go for the Sunbeamtech Contact badger.

I'll reapply the HSF now, have just waited for the surgical spirit to evaporate. Then see what the temps have decided to do this time!:D

Spread the thermal compund across the whole CPU. Temps as follows:

Idle: 44/45
Load: 65/66

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37664129@N06/3464010740/

How much better is that?! Didn't even touch the BIOS for the fan speed. On top of the world right now esp after the first failure. Thanks for all your help guys!
 
Last edited:
OzZie said:
Based on that picture you'll get the sunbeam cooler in no problems. My P5Q-Pro's northbridge is really close but i managed to get it on no problems (touches the northbridge). You can also fit it to either face the rear of the case (exhausting out the back), or facing the top of the case (exhausting out of the top if you have a top fan)
Click to expand...

Hi Ozzie,

That's making me feel a lot better, I'm dying to buy a new shiny HSF and I think I may well just go ahead and get it, in addition to the things Evil-I is suggesting. I reckon with my case setup, having it exhaust out of the back would be best (as my PSU is at the top of my case).

Evil-I said:
Hi James,

Just having a mooch on your pictures and noticed that it looks like your case will happily take 2 x 120mm fans. One front, one rear (replacing the 80mm).

If you do that suddenly your case cooling is a lot more sensible for only £10-15!

Best,

E-I
Click to expand...

Evil-I, you read my mind :D I've been checking out some Yate Loon 120mm fans (maybe the 1200RPM ones to avoid too much noise?) as well as some modders' mesh. So in total, I'm thinking of getting:

3 x Yate Loon 1200 (or higher) RPM [2 in front, 1 in back exhaust]
Modders' mesh

The modders' mesh is for the front 5.25inch bays to put a fan in that nice big open space.

I'm trying my utmost to stop myself buying the Sunbeam until I see how well the extra fans perform on their own...It's quite difficult! I'm falling deeper into the PC personalisation, and there's no paddle in sight :p

Thanks for keeping abreast of the situation people!
 
steveinspain said:
As for modders mesh - can you explain more ?
Click to expand...

No problemo! The front of my case has is a nasty black/silver fascia (check out my Flickr photos) so I wanted to remove the 3 spare 5.25 inch bay plastic covers, and put a bit of hexagonal mesh in their place. Behind this mesh I want to crack a 120mm intake fan ;) Might mount it (posh way of saying glue it) on a rubber eraser from Rymans to absorb any vibrations as it's easier than trying to screw it into the mesh.

There's also an intake for a 120mm fan mount at the front bottom too. Dunno how I'm going to get this mesh to fit, but it'll be amusing to give it a go! Tried B&Q today to find some wire mesh on the cheap but the holes are far too big. Found some official mesh online for around £14 w/out delivery (which is a bit expensive for what is is IMO).

And believe me, the fight against dust will never end! I'm an avid duster, but it follows me wherever I go!:eek:
 
satriani1412 said:
Last time i cleaned my pc out it looked like my furry cat blew up inside it or something.

Have you ordered your cooler? I want to see the new temps :O
Click to expand...

Loving the cat fur explosion image! I haven't ordered the cooler yet, they've just run out of Sunbeams! NOOOOOO!:(

Audigex said:
Don't try overclocking until you have a new HSF on! It's never a good idea to overclock on the stock heatsink, they're just not good.

Personally I'd get the HSF first and the 3 fans.

Install all 3 and see how the temps look with the fans on medium and low. If they look good on low (10C above ambient idle, and about 30C higher on load - so likely around 30C and 60C absolute temperatures) then get overclocking.

If they look more like 40 and 70, that's fine on stock but I wouldn't overclock without a new case.

If they look more like 50 and 80, you still need a new case, badly!
Click to expand...

Hi mate,

Well after reseating my stock HSF with MX-2 I'm getting:

Idle: 43
Load: 65

So with the extra cooling from the fans and the new HSF, do you reckon I'd be in a position to crack on the overclock? Check out my photos of my case, with the extra fans the cooling won't be so bad...will it?:confused:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/37664129@N06/
 
satriani1412 said:
How about that big brick cooler? the thermalright one that looks like an iron and add 2 fans onto that aswel as some exhaust fans :D

seen people with like 23 on idle with that cooler
Click to expand...

If it weren't for the fact that it costs an extra 20 quid I'd snap it up! Oh, and the fact that it's approx 8 feet tall coule be a problem for my case :p Was keen on the ol' Sunbeam because of the performance/money ratio. Though I've seen the Titan Fenrir for a similar price on a site that also sells the Yate Loons. The Fenrir's supposed to be a bit noisier though.

will420 said:
Howdy James

Glad to see you managed to sort out your temp problem. I'm definately interested to see the outcome of your overclock. Mine is currently 3.45ghz at 1.36v. I'm not really pushing it hard atm just want to break it in over time and hopefully will hit 4ghz.

I'd say you can start your OC when you get your new fans and HSF, thats wat i did.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

Hi there Will! This'll be my first overclock, so when I come to have a bash with mine it'd be great to hear about your experiences. I'll probably start a new thread in the Overclocking section when all the fans turn up, so watch this space for the results :D
 
afraid not...if it weren't for the bank holiday i'd have had my mesh and fans by now :mad: but then again, it WAS a bank holiday, so pros and cons.

have been really getting into HSF research and have actually decided on the Akasa Nero for performance/noise ratio (full 10db lower than sunbeam). Frostytech has helped me no end on that score. It's smaller than the sunbeam too which'll help it fit in my case.

Think the HSF will be ordered today too! If I can find one anywhere on the internet...!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom