First build:CPU insanely hot

[Fefster]

Ok so today i built my first rig.everything seems to be fine except the cpu(an i3 2120)gets instantly insanely hot(71°c).I use the stock cooler and i think i installed the heatsink correctly.It even shows that it's working on the bios.What should i do?

 

[BoomerD]

It sounds like the CPU cooler isn't installed correctly. While the stock coolers aren't great, especially if you overclock the CPU, they're usually more than sufficient for stock speeds. The factory applied thermal interface material is also usually sufficient for the task with normal speeds.

Time to check the cooler install.

 

[Fefster]

It sounds like the CPU cooler isn't installed correctly. While the stock coolers aren't great, especially if you overclock the CPU, they're usually more than sufficient for stock speeds. The factory applied thermal interface material is also usually sufficient for the task with normal speeds.

Time to check the cooler install.

Just did that.It looked fine.One thing tho.The thermal paste was only applied in small quantity and the majority of it was still on the heatsink.

 

[BoomerD]

Just did that.It looked fine.One thing tho.The thermal paste was only applied in small quantity and the majority of it was still on the heatsink.

IIRC, the thermal paste should have been in "stripes" on the cooler, and would probably have stuck to it as much or more than to the CPU. If your CPU is getting HOT and the TIM didn't stick to it...then the cooler wasn't installed properly.

 

[Motorheader]

What boomerd said - check the cooler installation. You may have missed a corner of the push pin and it is not aligned and seated correctly. Is it connected to the correct fan header for cpu cooler and not a case fan header?

 

[Fefster]

IIRC, the thermal paste should have been in "stripes" on the cooler, and would probably have stuck to it as much or more than to the CPU. If your CPU is getting HOT and the TIM didn't stick to it...then the cooler wasn't installed properly.

yep it's in stripes.ok i'll try again

 

[BoomerD]

yep it's in stripes.ok i'll try again

As motorhead mentioned above, it's not uncommon to not get one of the push-pins in correctly...which can leave a minuscule gap between the cooler and CPU.

I presume you're removing the motherboard to re-work the cooler? While it's a PITA to do, it's really the best way to ensure that you have the push-pins installed correctly.

 

[Fefster]

Ok it seems that what you guys described was the problem.I did exactly what you said and i'm happy to report a 35° core idle temperature.But i still get a really weird 80° CPUTIN value.Should i be worried?

 

[BoomerD]

Ok it seems that what you guys described was the problem.I did exactly what you said and i'm happy to report a 35° core idle temperature.But i still get a really weird 80° CPUTIN value.Should i be worried?

How are you measuring temps?

Try the following:

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

 

[Motorheader]

I'm curious if a bios update would address the disparity between the 2 of them. The core temp is the most important one and that seems to be under control now.

 

[Fefster]

Ok now this is weird.I'm running prime95 to check under load temps:cores are around 55-60° while the CPUTIN dropped from 80 to 60.This is weird.I'm testing with hwmonitor.

 

[Fefster]

tried coretemp and realtemp.both 33-34 on the cores while in idle.They don't report the CPUTIN value though.

 

[BoomerD]

I'm curious if a bios update would address the disparity between the 2 of them. The core temp is the most important one and that seems to be under control now.

I saw that a BIOS update seems to help with this, especially on ASUS boards.

 

[Fefster]

I saw that a BIOS update seems to help with this, especially on ASUS boards.

Thank you i will try that.

 

[Fefster]

Updated the BIOS to the latest version but it still gives me the same CPUTIN values.I guess i'm just gonna ignore it.

 

[speedlever]

Regarding method of applying TIM, I found this helpful to visualize what happens with the different methods:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EyXLu1Ms-q4&feature=related