Core i7 860 - possible thermal paste problem and high idle temperatures?

[DeathOnJuice]

Hey, so, I just got all of the parts for my new computer in today. I went ahead and set it up, and due to much urging, replaced the preattached heating pad on the stock heatsink with AS5. I was a little worried, since, after I wiped the waxy pad off with a plastic spoon (mostly) and the rest with a Q-tip and isopropyl alcohol and a coffee filter, there was still something that looked like a smudge on the heatsink's contact point. It was invisible while there was unevaporated alcohol over it, but after it dried, the smudge came back. I tried cleaning it at least 5 times. On the whole, I decided to install the CPU with AS5 anyway.
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Now, I just turned on the machine, and the CPU idle temp (according to the BIOS on my ASRock P55 Extreme) is at 37C. This seems a little worrying, especially given that my house temp is somewhere between 20C and 25C. I have seen many people report their idle temperatures at 20C, actually. Is this a normal temp with stock heatsink and AS5? Could that smudge have been a problem?

 

[aigomorla]

most likely its normal.

Your computer will never idle at room temp unless its off, or you have work being put on your cooling system. (chiller)

Also without knowing how you built your computer in terms of wire management, we cant tell your ambient air inside the computer case, which is the more important value, then the clock on the wall telling you room temp.

so if your room is saying 20-25.. inside your computer its really 25-30.. means your sink is getting about 28-32C air, and your cpu is idling a little over it.

So yes it looks right, without knowing more detail.

 

[DeathOnJuice]

All right, thanks. Cable management is really hard to get right, and I did a pretty crap job. I have an Antec 902 which is supposed to have a nice cable management system. Not sure if you're familiar, but you basically tuck cables behind the left side panel. The problem is, there are only a few places to get cables in and out of this space, so it's completely useless, as far as I can tell, and my cables are flying around all over the place. Actually, do you happen to have any pictures of good cable management?

 

[Cattykit]

You can't just compare temps while ignoring variables.

Beside room temp and case temp,
what's your vcore?
Do you have EIST, C1E, C6 on?
What kind of voltage settings you have? Dynamic or static?
How about coolers and fan speed?

 

[DeathOnJuice]

OK, so, today, I ran a stress test. In particular, I ran RealTemp's Sensor Test, which uses Prime95. At full load, all four cores reached a whopping 80 degrees Celsius.

As I said, I'm on completely stock settings. Stock voltage, stock heatsink, stock speed, stock everything. All case fans were on high (case is an Antec 902 with all fans in default positions). Isn't 80C a bit ridiculous?

 

[n7]

I'd reseat the heatsink if you're not confident you got it seated correctly the first time.

But the stock cooler is garbage; you'll have very cozy temps unless you switch to something half decent, regardless of proper seating.

 

[adairusmc]

All right, thanks. Cable management is really hard to get right, and I did a pretty crap job. I have an Antec 902 which is supposed to have a nice cable management system. Not sure if you're familiar, but you basically tuck cables behind the left side panel. The problem is, there are only a few places to get cables in and out of this space, so it's completely useless, as far as I can tell, and my cables are flying around all over the place. Actually, do you happen to have any pictures of good cable management?

I have an antec 902 myself, and I was able to get it pretty good in mine, even with the mile-long PSU cables off of my PC Power & Cooling power supply.

I snapped a picture for you, since we have the same case.

Not that it is perfect, but it is good enough with all the crap I have in that case. Just small zip ties, and patience was all I needed. There are a lot of really long cables coming off of that PSU, and they all hide behind the other panel just fine. Hope it helps.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2640/4201393156_2154911d81_b.jpg

 

[ekoostik]

Although it's been a while since I checked, my i7 860 idles around 41-43C, with ambient around 21C. Under full load I went up to 80C, though I seem to have gotten it 'under control' at a max of 77C. This is on stock fan & paste. I plan on picking up a cooler master hyper 212 plus soon, been waiting til after the holidays. If you want to see some of the discussions I had when I was worried about my temps, see these two threads:
http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=28749885
http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/272569-31-prime95-running

 

[ehume]

Just last night I removed my Freezer Pro 7 with its stock pre-applied paste and tried just what you did - I put Gelid's GC3 Extreme thermal paste on the stock cooler, and reinstalled it. I wanted to see what it could do with a super duper thermal paste.

Testing that stock cooler, I had to stop LinX (front end for Lin Pack, Intel's chip tester). It got to 95C before I managed to kill the process. I went back and put more goop on the cooler, and this time the Core temp only went up to 83C. I put up with that because Intel's design temp is 72.7C, measured at their CPU "case" temperature. While my core temp was at 83C, my CPU temp went up to 72C. All this was at an ambient of 20C.

Here's the key: although my Freezer Pro 7 keeps my temps significantly below what the stock cooler did, when I put it back on with the super duper thermal paste, I got essentially the same results as the pre-applied pad - a degree lower for some things, a degree higher for others. A wash.

I concluded two things:

1 . The stock cooler needs to be replaced.

2. Amateur that I am, I'm not going to do much better than the pre-applied paste.

If you're not going to OC your board, the Freezer Pro 7 is a good bet. Its makers have tried to make a better cooler, but they can't. It's a bit hilarious, actually.

As for laying down paste, I'd better get better at it: when the MB I want comes out, there is a certain Megahalems that I will have to install, and it had better be a good job.

 

[sxr7171]

37C at idle with stock cooler isn't something to worry about. There's no thermal paste on earth that will get you better than a degree off of that.

 

[Rubycon]

Idle temps are meaningless. Load it for 15 minutes with LinX and see where your temps peak at. That's what really matters.

 

[aigomorla]

Actually, do you happen to have any pictures of good cable management?

LOL not unless you want to see a bunch of h2o cooled computer pictures as well.



There was cable guide floating in my cases and cooling section but it kinda got lost...

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AHHH Ruby... your avatar is Winnry from full metal alchimist.

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