High temps with TRUE 120 and stock 920?

[Bloodstriker]

I just replaced the stock cooler with a TRUE 120 for my i7 920 system. I ran the Prime 95 torture test for about 20 minutes and my temps seem a little high on SpeedFan 4.38.

Ambient room temp: 23C
Full load: CPU at around 69C and Core 0-7 at around 82C
Idle: CPU 31C, Core 0-7 39C-41C

This doesn't really look normal to me (especially at load). Any thoughts?

System:
i7 920 (not overclocked)
Thermalright Ultra eXtreme 120 (stock fan, no extra)
Patriot DDR3-1333
Saphire Radeon HD4870 1G
Enermax Infiniti 650W
Antic P182

 

[aigomorla]

bad mount.

did u use any thermal paste?

Did u lap the true also?

Is your fan even on?

EDIT... wait cores 4-7 should NOT have a TDP on them, as they dont exist and there virtual threads.

Ummm try a different program like realtemp. Google. it

 

[Bloodstriker]

Yes, I used the thermal paste supplied with the TRUE 120.

I didn't lap the TRUE.

The fan is on, as SpeedFan is giving me an RPM reading and I can hear the fan going.

The readings on SpeedFan show System, CPU, AUX, Core 0 - 5. However, if I go to charts, I'm able to get a reading for cores 0-7.

I'm guessing that it's a bad mount as well, being the first time I tried doing this. One thing I noticed is that when mounting the TRUE 120, the heat sink is able to swivel a bit even though the screws are all in tight.

I'll give realtemp a try and report back.

EDIT: What sort of numbers should I be seeing with my system (idle and full load)?

 

[Cannyone]

I might suggest trying Real Temp instead of Speed Fan. Then again you might have a case without a window of any kind... And I might like to have some way of knowing my fans were running if I was in that situation. It's just that Real Temp seems to be pretty accurate on it's temp readings. And it has instructions for some form of calibration.

That said, it seems like the 31°C Idle temp and the 69°C load temps are about what you might expect for a True in a closed case that isn't really well ventilated. However, the load and idle temps for the individual cores is about what you'd get overclocked to 3.6GHz with a VCore of 1.3v. So I really think the software is miss-reading things.

One other factor to consider... you need to observe the VCore your CPU is running. This is controlled by the motherboard. And you may need to set it to a lower value (stock is 1.2v) in order to get the chip to run cooler.

 

[zagood]

What is the RPM reading on the fan? The 1366 version is supposed to come with a 1600rpm fan. If it's much lower than that, check your bios settings.

 

[bleucharm28]

I have core i7 920 @ 3.2 (C0/C1) with TRUE 120 Black (not lapped) push and pull with 2 Noctua 120s at 1300rpm

Idle Temp: 37 34 32 30 give or take -/+ 3 due to room temperature.

Full Load with Prime 95 FFT for 2 hours or so.

62 57 59 52 give or take -/+ 3 due to room temperature.

I also lowered my Voltage from (auto) to 1.14V for my CPU.

I used AS5/line method, followed the instructions from arctic silver website.

I'm satisfied with these temperature until i go water cooling. You may want re-apply thermal compound, rotate your CPU cooler.

Good Luck
___________________________________________________________________________________
Asus Rampage II X58 | Core i7 920 2.66 (3.2g) C0-SLBCH | Corsair Dominator 6gig (DDR3 1600) | WD VelociRaptor 300 | EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 SSC Edition | Vista Ultimate 64bit | Supreme X-Fi | PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W | Thermalright Ultra eXtreme 120 Black P/P with Noctua 120's | Dell 2408 WFP | Silverstone TJ-07 | LG H20L Bluray SATA

 

[Cannyone]

Originally posted by: bleucharm28
I have core i7 920 @ 3.2 (C0/C1) with TRUE 120 Black (not lapped) push and pull with 2 Noctua 120s at 1300rpm

Idle Temp: 37 34 32 30 give or take -/+ 3 due to room temperature.

Full Load with Prime 95 FFT for 2 hours or so.

62 57 59 52 give or take -/+ 3 due to room temperature.

I also lowered my Voltage from (auto) to 1.14V for my CPU.

I used AS5/line method, followed the instructions from arctic silver website.

I'm satisfied with these temperature until i go water cooling. You may want re-apply thermal compound, rotate your CPU cooler.

...<snip>...

You may be really fortunate to get a TRUE that doesn't require lapping, and you have a C0/C1 that runs really well on lower voltages. Whereas the OP might be one that really does need to lap his TRUE. Still I agree that he should try remounting the heat sink. And he should also try lowering his VCore a bit like you have. If it's stable that way there's no reason to let the motherboard use a higher setting by default.

 

[Bloodstriker]

Originally posted by: zagood
What is the RPM reading on the fan? The 1366 version is supposed to come with a 1600rpm fan. If it's much lower than that, check your bios settings.

SpeedFan is giving me an RPM reading of 1560ish.

 

[Bloodstriker]

Originally posted by: Cannyone
I might suggest trying Real Temp instead of Speed Fan. Then again you might have a case without a window of any kind... And I might like to have some way of knowing my fans were running if I was in that situation. It's just that Real Temp seems to be pretty accurate on it's temp readings. And it has instructions for some form of calibration.

That said, it seems like the 31°C Idle temp and the 69°C load temps are about what you might expect for a True in a closed case that isn't really well ventilated. However, the load and idle temps for the individual cores is about what you'd get overclocked to 3.6GHz with a VCore of 1.3v. So I really think the software is miss-reading things.

One other factor to consider... you need to observe the VCore your CPU is running. This is controlled by the motherboard. And you may need to set it to a lower value (stock is 1.2v) in order to get the chip to run cooler.

I just ran Prime95 with Real Temp 3.00 for 20 minutes, and it's pretty much the same as what I'm getting from SpeedFan.

99% Load
Temp Max 82, 82, 80, 79

After about 5 minutes or so, the temps ramp up to and hover around maximum.

I'm not too sure if the Antec P182 is considered a case with good ventilation? I didn't buy any extra fans for the case - only what it came with. I also only use the one fan on the TRUE (the one that came with it).

bleucharm28 -

You're temps are pretty much what I'm looking for, however I'm 20C higher than you and you're running at 600MHz OC above me! Did you have any information as to what you're temps are like when you're not OCed?

Also, does a second fan on the TRUE make a big difference?

Cannyone -

I don't really know if I'm comfortable changing any voltages - I'm still pretty new at this!

I was wondering if an unlapped TRUE would account for such a huge difference from what bleucharm28 is getting?

I'll try to remount once I get a chance. It's just such a pain with this thing - having to take the mobo out and all. Hmm.. since the bracket is already in place, do you guys think I can remount without removing the mobo?



EDIT - it's 10 minutes after the test and my idle temp is at 43, 39, 39, 40. This is strange... seems like the cooler isn't dissapating the heat.

 

[aigomorla]

lol no.. But still remount. Try to put a penny under the mounting plate in between the true and the clamp.

http://www.innews.dk/hoder.dk/forums/DH/penny-mod.jpg

those are about almost about right for air on a C0/C1 i7 with your vcore and overclock.

if you want to try lowering it, get a better fan.

Faster one that can push more air, but it will be louder, or try to add another fan on the other side of the sink as well, so it does whats called a push/pull config.

 

[Bloodstriker]

Originally posted by: aigomorla
lol no.. But still remount. Try to put a penny under the mounting plate in between the true and the clamp.

http://www.innews.dk/hoder.dk/forums/DH/penny-mod.jpg

those are about almost about right for air on a C0/C1 i7 with your vcore and overclock.

if you want to try lowering it, get a better fan.

Faster one that can push more air, but it will be louder, or try to add another fan on the other side of the sink as well, so it does whats called a push/pull config.

I've been reading a lot about what kind of temps to expect on reviews. Now I'm a bit confused - are the temps on review sites showing the CPU or Core temps? If it's CPU, then I'm kinda within range (10C),but if it's the core temps, I'm way off. (20C)

Example:

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/979/17/

In the linnk above, stock 920 is showing 33C idle and 58.75 load with the True. Funny thing is that my temps using the TRUE are higher than what the reviewers got with the stock cooler (assuming that the site is talking about core temps, and not cpu temp).

EDIT: fixed my link.

The penny thing sounds and another fan sounds like it's worth a try. Especially the penny since I found that there's a bit of swivel with the heat sink when mounted.

 

[rogerX]

I would use two pennies. I lapped my True 120E with push/pull & the washer mod. I was still able to move the True but less than before. I should of used two instead.

 

[zagood]

Originally posted by: rogerX
I would use two pennies. I lapped my True 120E with push/pull & the washer mod. I was still able to move the True but less than before. I should of used two instead.

I wouldn't...I did the washer mod with a thicker washer and ended up crushing my CPU.

 

[Old Hippie]

Originally posted by: rogerX
I would use two pennies. I lapped my True 120E with push/pull & the washer mod. I was still able to move the True but less than before. I should of used two instead.

If you're able to tighten it to the point where it doesn't move, something else is probably gonna give.

 

[Tullphan]

Originally posted by: Old Hippie

Originally posted by: rogerX
I would use two pennies. I lapped my True 120E with push/pull & the washer mod. I was still able to move the True but less than before. I should of used two instead.

If you're able to tighten it to the point where it doesn't move, something else is probably gonna give.

& that wouldn't be a good thing!

 

[daw123]

Are you using a bolt through kit or the standard plastic push pins?

The reason that I ask is that with my EK Supreme Waterblock and back plate, the back plate gets bolted to the MB, so you can remove the water block (or HSF in your case) without having to remove the MB first. It looks something like this:
http://i429.photobucket.com/al...16/dawilson123/123.png

I'm not sure if there is a mounting kit commerically available which is similar, but if there is, then buy it.

 

[Bloodstriker]

Well, I'm getting ready to reseat the heatsink.. I just found something interesting on youtube though..

intel core i7 cooling updated thermalright extreme black HD

I'm looking at the way the fan is pointed... I mounted it exactly opposite - meaning the fan is closest to the back of the case pointing towards the rear case fan.

Do I have mine facing the wrong way?

 

[Bloodstriker]

Update:

Reseated heatsink and reapplied with MX2 using cross-line method.

Idle: 45 (higher now??)
Full Load: 68-70C

Load temps are down about 10C, but my idle has gone up a bit.

I didn't use the penny trick.

I also tried testing with one of the panels of the case open - drastically different results... about 15C lower...

It seems like my non-OC temps with the case closed are still around what people are getting with with OC to 3.5.

I'm wondering if it's normal to see such a huge drop in temps with the case open? Perhaps there's bad airflow inside the case?

 

[Bloodstriker]

Man, I feel so stupid.... I finally figured out the problem. I didn't realize the fan on the heatsink pulls cool air towards the heatsink. I thought it pulled the warm air from the heatsink and pushed it away.

So I moved the fan to the other side of the TRUE, like this:


<--air----[rear case fan]-----[TRUE 120 Heat Sink]<-[TRUE Fan]<---air---


before it was like this:

<--air----[rear case fan]----->[TRUE Fan]-->[TRUE 120 Heat Sink]<---air---

New temps are as follows with Real Temp 3.00 and Prime 95 (closed case, case fans on med):

Full Load: 62C
Idle: 34-40C

Much, much better! (I wish the fan with the TRUE had an arrow to show which way the air is flowing..!!)

Anyways, thanks everyone for your help with this. I'm going to move over to the overclocking forums and get some more info before I attempt to OC!!

 

[wkwong11]

If you get a second fan later, make sure they both blow the same way. You don't want two fans blowing against each other.

 

[Bloodstriker]

Originally posted by: wkwong11
If you get a second fan later, make sure they both blow the same way. You don't want two fans blowing against each other.

Thanks for the tip. I'm actually looking to put a second fan in. But where would I plug it into? The fan on this heatsink is already using the cpu fan power.. does the 2nd connect to chassis fan?

 

[wkwong11]

You can use the chassis fan, or if you prefer to keep it on a single header, you can use a 3-pin Y-Adapter

If you are using a PWM fan, or want to change to PWM fans, you can use a 4-Pin PWM Y-Adapter

If you are going to be controlling your fan speeds with a program I'd probably keep the chassis fan power for your rear exhaust fan and hook up both CPU fans to the CPU fan header.