Help with cooling?

[BigfootKevin]

Just installed the new XP-90. Last night we thought we put on too much thermal paste(put some on the chip AND the heatsink), so we removed all the paste and just put on (size of a piece of rice) on the chip and it ran a lil hotter. Idle temps were 35-37C and load temps were 47-49. Re-applying the paste it idles at 38-40C and loads at 49-51C. These are the same temps it ran on the stock heatsink. Specs are in the sig. Are the temps being read wrong, or what?

My gave the heatsink a lil touch and he said it wasn't even warm to the touch.

 

[JBDan]

This is what I would do. Take it off. Clean both heatspreader and base of xp90 with isopropyl alcohol very well. Do not touch either with your hands/fingers afterwards. Apply TIM (paste) to base of xp90 (dried rice size) and rub in (like waxing your auto) until its all gone. Apply rice size dab on heatspreader and seat/install the xp90. Your temps sound average for your specs. Your room temp I'm guessing is around 74F.

 

[BigfootKevin]

My room temp is 79-80F.

 

[JBDan]

Then your temps are good I think they are being read fairly accurately.

 

[BigfootKevin]

Alright, thanks guys. Guess i'll have to re-apply more then because its definately running a lot hotter than it was with the 1st set of arctic silver we had on.

 

[BigfootKevin]

BTW, what are dangerous temperatures?

 

[wcoffey]

you also need to give the thermal compound a few heat cycles before you will get the lowest temps

 

[mOeeOm]

Originally posted by: BigfootKevin
BTW, what are dangerous temperatures?

55-60+ is dangerous I'd say, or getting there. 65C is the GG zone.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: wcoffey
you also need to give the thermal compound a few heat cycles before you will get the lowest temps

Thats not necessarily true.....speaking from experience!
A lot of variables go into what you said!
Many people have seen no decrease over time in there temps!

 

[JEDIYoda]

I would get worried about anything in the 65-70c reange....
Otheres will say 70-75c......
Just be aware and you will be fine!!

 

[jondl]

I would say for your SD 3700+-- safe is < 45c
These 939 cores run fairly cool especially with a stock 1.35-4v.
Right now, my cpu temp is 29c and im in a fairly warm room. I have a xp120 w/ a yate loon 120mm fan.
When my room is cool, i get idle temps around 24-26c..
I would recommend getting AS5 if you want to lower your temps about 1-3c and i dont know how much a rice sized application of thermal paste is but i usually use a razor(that i have especially for apply AS) to apply the paste thin and evenly.

 

[BigfootKevin]

Yeah, I used AS5. Above mentioned rubbing it in until it's pretty much gone. We just used a ziploc bag around our finger to smear it aross the chip to make sure it covered the whole thing. I think i'll try the "buffing like a car" thing.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

You could "buff it" first -- that's part of the procedure posted at Arctic's web-site. They "buff" it onto the heatsink base, but there's still at least half of the thermal paste on the processor cap.

My temperatures decreased some four or five degrees F and I've only turned off the computer and then turned it on again (after cooling) some five times since my ThermalRight cooler was installed.

Razor blade applicator is fine; I use an old credit card, or pieces of one.

We've said before -- it's very useful to report room temperatures as well as the CPU idle and load, and the mobo temps also provide information about "what is going on." Raising or lowering the room ambient simply raises or lowers the idle/load temps by an equal amount.

The CPU manufacturers -- both AMD and Intel -- provide thermal spec data and guidelines on their web-site in the processor specifications sheet and updates. I think it is usually shown as the "thermal limit." But the hotter your CPU runs, the more it will degrade longevity to some degree -- we just don't know specifically what that is, although there are papers that have been written dealing with it. (See OverClockers.com and its archives, for instance.)

I'd say that the key to whether the cooler is working properly is the difference between the idle and load values, no matter what. That is going to be affected by CFM through the heatsink fins -- linear function of fan rpm speed.

What fan are you using, and how fast is it running? Your 11C degree temperature difference "seems" about right. A room temperature around 80F is on the "up" side of the normal operating conditions -- I start to sweat before the thermometer reaches those numbers.

 

[BigfootKevin]

I bought an 80mm fan for the heatsink, and it runs roughly 2900-3000rpm.

Thanks for all of the replies guys. I love this forum, get good replies, sometimes very fast hehe.

 

[Icepick]

I use the XP-90 too. I applied a dab of Arctic Silver about the size of a grain of rice like you described earlier. I didn't smear it on just let the heatsink spread it as it is attached. I'm using a low RPM fan (1750 RPM). My idle temp is 42C. Peak load temp is 53C (running Prime95 large FFT heat and stress test for 24 hours.) (edit: this is on a 3500+ Winchester at 2.6GHz.)

The temps you described were well within safe operating limits for the CPU. I wouldn't waste time getting too hung up on them since the temp probes on the motherboards aren't designed for that level of accuracy anyway. They're only meant to serve as a vehicle to alert you and shut down the system when the CPU reaches extremely hot temps.