110 C outside of case running BIOS

[MAEST]

I am building a PC for the kids from some of my old parts and some new. I have a Asus P5Q pro mobo, Intel Q9550 CPU, a single stick of RAM, and a Radeon 4970 GPU, and a 550W Seasonic PSU breadboarded outside the new case on my counter.

I threw away the old aftermarket cooler that I had installed in this system's previous life and now the previously unused stock Intel cooler is installed. The stock grease has been removed and replaced with arctic silver at this point of my troubleshooting.

Upon shorting the power jumpers it boots. Two short beeps separated by a few seconds typically occur upon boot. The new HDD will eventually get a new version of Windows but for now it's not plugged in. In the BIOS, I go to the temperature monitor and watch the measured CPU temp tick up from 80C to 110C and then shutdown.

I've got about a minute plus or minus to play around in the BIOS before it shuts down. Not enough time to flash it.

The thing is, the CPU heat sink is room temp to the touch after it supposedly is 110C. The GPU is putting of more heat that I can actually feel with my hand. All the fans are spinning well, and it's outside the case.

I'm thinking the mobo temp sensor may be misreading the CPU Temp and forcing it to shut down. Anyway to disable the automatic shutdown? I have a hard time believing even without a heatsink and fan it'd get to 110C running BIOS. Any recommended trouble shooting procedure?

 

[VirtualLarry]

and now the previously unused stock Intel cooler is installed.

I have a hard time believing even without a heatsink and fan it'd get to 110C running BIOS.

Is running with an Intel stock heatsink, or does it have NO heatsink?

If it has NO heatsink, then it is totally believable that it would get to 80-110C in the span of a minute or two and shut down.

If you have the stock heatsink attached, then either you screwed up the mounting, or one of the pins is defective and not holding down with sufficient pressure. Remount it, and if that doesn't work, get a different heatsink.

Also, which stock heatsink? They came in short and tall varieties, and the ones for the Q-series Core2Quads had a copper core slug in the middle. If that is missing, then you might see temps that high.

Lastly, is the CPU fan plugged into the board? Is it spinning? What are the BIOS settings for "Smart Fan"? Is it enabled? It may need to be calibrated for the new cooler. Otherwise, you should be able to disable "Smart Fan", and have the cooling fan run at 100%. You might want to do that just to test.

Also, is there dust in the heatsink, or is it clean?

Edit: I've got OCZ Vendetta coolers for sale, if you're in CONUS. Those work with 775.

 

[MAEST]

Yes, stock heatsink with fan is installed. Not sure which model but it does have the copper slug. I've set it a couple times now. All 4 pins are locked tight with clear outer legs through mobo. The black center section is protruding on the backside on half. Probably could be tighter but I had to fight to get it where it is.

CPU fan is plugged in and spinning. Heatsink is like new. Been in the Box never used for 8 years or however I've had it.

I am pretty sure I played with fan control in bios once before crashing to no avail.

I'll probably try a new heatsink first so feel free to shoot me info on what you've got. Other PC is Evo 212.

 

[DrMrLordX]

That's surprising. Have you put your hand on the HSF to see if any part of it is warming up before the system shuts down?

 

[VirtualLarry]

The black center section is protruding on the backside on half. Probably could be tighter but I had to fight to get it where it is.

There's your problem right there.

ALL four mounting lugs should show the clear pieces (both halves) through the hole, followed by the black center pin in the middle. If that isn't showing up for ALL mounting spots, and the heatsink "could be tighter", means that you did NOT install it correctly. (Or it has become damaged, and cannot be installed correctly. In that case, get a set of new pins, or junk it and get another one.)

Consider getting a CM 212 EVO heatsink, that doesn't use the push-pin mechanisms. (I think that the OCZ Vendetta does use push-pins, for 775 mounting, so that would not be a good match.)

Edit: Could go with an AIO liquid-cooler, the MasterLiquid Lite 120 120mm cooler kits go on sale at Newegg for $30-40 sometimes. I've got one on a R5 1600 rig, it keeps it cool enough.

 

[MAEST]

That's surprising. Have you put your hand on the HSF to see if any part of it is warming up before the system shuts down?​

It doesn't feel hot at all. Room temp.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The heatsink should at least feel mildly warm, compared to the outside air. That's another clue that it's not attached correctly and fully.

Edit: You did use thermal paste right? When you take the heatsink off to check, how is the spread?

Feel free to include pics. Take some pics with your cell phone, and upload them to an image-hosting service (PostImage is one), and then link them here, using the "IMG" tags.

 

[MAEST]

Out of town for a week but will do when I get home. Will try another mount and post pics. If that doesnt work I'll give the 312 Evo a try.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[MAEST]

The weird thing was the factory paste didn't melt and spread out. I figured it was just old and dryed out so I removed it with alcohol and added new stuff. But maybe it just isn't getting mounted correctly enough to melt it and engage the heat sink.

 

[VirtualLarry]

The weird thing was the factory paste didn't melt and spread out. I figured it was just old and dryed out so I removed it with alcohol and added new stuff. But maybe it just isn't getting mounted correctly enough to melt it and engage the heat sink.

I think that you've got it! I mean, it does take some time and heat for the paste to spread out a bit, but it should be somewhat spread by the application too. If it was totally not spread at all, and none was left on the CPU when you took it off, then the cooler was mounted improperly.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Either that or the solder under the IHS is cracked/gapped such that heat isn't transferring properly to the IHS.

Aren't q9550s soldered?

 

[VirtualLarry]

If we've already established that the OP hasn't installed the stock heatsink properly (only half the pins show the black pin poking through), then I don't think that we need to move on to speculating about cracking solder. At least, not until he gets a good heatsink mount.

What kind of shock would that CPU have to have encountered, to crack the solder bond with the IHS? (I agree with you, I think that they are soldered.)

 

[DrMrLordX]

Depends on whom you ask. Some folks seem to think the solder can crack from temp cycling. I'm not 100% sold on that.

We should eliminate problems with the HSF mount first. One step at a time.

 

[ehume]

I think OP should consider a more modern TIM than AS5.

 

[DrMrLordX]

Well yes, AS5 is beyond old hat by now, but that wouldn't explain 110C temps on a q9550.

 

[VirtualLarry]

AS5 is perfectly fine. Even 5-year-old AS5. Especially if not overclock at all, or much. It's still within a few degrees C of the "best" non-metal / non-diamond TIMs. Close enough for Gov't work, as they say.

 

[MAEST]

You were right. AS5 may be good enough for government work (or a non overclocked children's PC). But partially installed heat sink coolers are no good for any work. Installed correctly and working ok.

Full disclosure the compound I have is AS3...

Since its the same stuff I have in my main PC 8m wondering if I should replace it with the current standard. What is it?

 

[SirCanealot]

My old job was a 2nd hand shop and we bought CPUs. We had a test bench and got fairly abused and for a while we had the wrong type of stock cooler fitted to it (like, it KIND OF fit, but I had to wrestle with it to get it working). When the cooler was not fitted properly, things like this would happen (usually it would just not boot at all actually!)

So I would say I'm 90% sure that the cooler is not mounted properly. If you can get one easily, could you perhaps try a thermal pad rather than paste? This might at least get it booting...

PS: that test bench would often run with no or VERY old/used thermal paste and the thermals were never too bad for basic testing/browsing so I wouldn't worry about using a thermal pad over TIM — as long as contact is made and it's absorbing some heat!

 

[fastamdman]

My old job was a 2nd hand shop and we bought CPUs. We had a test bench and got fairly abused and for a while we had the wrong type of stock cooler fitted to it (like, it KIND OF fit, but I had to wrestle with it to get it working). When the cooler was not fitted properly, things like this would happen (usually it would just not boot at all actually!)

So I would say I'm 90% sure that the cooler is not mounted properly. If you can get one easily, could you perhaps try a thermal pad rather than paste? This might at least get it booting...

PS: that test bench would often run with no or VERY old/used thermal paste and the thermals were never too bad for basic testing/browsing so I wouldn't worry about using a thermal pad over TIM — as long as contact is made and it's absorbing some heat!

There is no reason to use a pad over thermal paste. Even if he is putting on an extremely large amount of thermal paste, it's still not going to negatively impact temps. Once his cooler is mounted properly he will be good to go. The entire issue is his mounting, nothing to do with the paste. As you said yourself, you can have next to no paste, or none and still have decent temps as long as the cooler is mounted properly. I absolutely despise thermal pads unless its on ram for the gpu for water blocks etc. I can't stand them on cpu's personally, so I never recommend them. A monkey could apply thermal paste and it would be fine lol.

 

[Chaotic42]

Here's a (goofy) video on how to apply thermal compound and a heatsink.

 

[ehume]

. . . wondering if I should replace it with the current standard. What is it?

Current standard for TIM is Gelid GC Xtreme. Having personally used it and the Noctua, I would say that the NT-H1 has a better consistency; it is a little more viscous, which makes it easier to apply than GC Xtreme. That said, it cools about 1C warmer.

 

[DrMrLordX]

You were right. AS5 may be good enough for government work (or a non overclocked children's PC). But partially installed heat sink coolers are no good for any work. Installed correctly and working ok.

Glad you got it working.

Full disclosure the compound I have is AS3...

Oh dear.

Since its the same stuff I have in my main PC 8m wondering if I should replace it with the current standard. What is it?

Current standard for TIM is Gelid GC Xtreme. Having personally used it and the Noctua, I would say that the NT-H1 has a better consistency; it is a little more viscous, which makes it easier to apply than GC Xtreme. That said, it cools about 1C warmer.

Thermal Grizzly Kryonaut is better than GC Xtreme. For non-metal TIM, I would say Kryonaut is the best out there. Stuff like NT-H1 or MX-4 occupies the "new AS5" space since so many people use it instead of better products like Xtreme or Kryonaut.

 

[ehume]

Yeah, it tests better, but I am and obviously others have not ready to grant the Grizzly products a place at the table yet. I have seen things about their best use being in LN2 setups, etc. Also, later, some difficulty in applying the stuff -- too viscous. So when I give TIM advice I talk about GC Xtreme and NH-T1. YMMV and your opinions may differ.