i52500k- my build

[achhu26]

Thanks for everyone posting their builds when Intel i5-2500k came out..followed this forums for about 5 months and got my build completed with the new rev3 boards. ( i had built this in March but waited to get my SSD and the new Rev3 boards.)

my build: Intel i52500k (not yet overclocked)
Asus P8P67
SSD Kingston V100 64GB
Hdd WD 500GB
8GB RAM DDR3 1333
ASUS DVD writer
Antec 902 case
AMD 5670 1GB DDR5 video card
Zalman CNPS5X (this was the latest addition)

now with the stock cooler, i was getting 34 (idle) and 75+ (Prime 95 for an hour..Stopped it so that it doesnt harm the CPU). With the Zalman cooler, i am getting idle temps 29 and 49-52 with Prime95 for about 3 hrs.btw, i used the stock thermal paste sent along with the cooler.

now not sure if this is acceptable since this is a new cooler and i did not see anyone posting their experiences (i saw that majority had CM Hyper212+) with this cooler.
So before i think about OCing to 4-4.3 GHZ, just wanted to know if these temps are acceptable without overcloking.

Thanks for your comments and feedback!!

 

[Diogenes2]

75 not overclocked sounds a bit high..

My 2600 at 5ghz only goes to 76 - 78 with CM 212+ ...

 

[achhu26]

well it was 75 with the stock cooler.. now its 49-52 with the zalman cooler. but just wanted to know if thats ok or thats high for a aftermarket cooler. Thanks for your reply.
i guess 75 might have been due to the facxt that it might not have been properly mounted also..

 

[Diogenes2]

49-52 Sounds fine..

I misread your post..

 

[tnt3k]

75 with stock sounds right

 

[achhu26]

Thanks for your replies.. now i will try to overclock and see how that goes!!

 

[Dadofamunky]

No. That's still high, at stock, with an aftermarket cooler. Toss that Zalman stat. They are the weakest HSF maker around. Get a $25 CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ and an extra fan. Then spend an hour battling with it to get it installed correctly.You should be in the low-to-mid 30's at stock speeds or even less before you think about overclocking. My system is at 34-36C idle at 4.5 GHz. And this is nowhere near the best results around.

Prime cannot damage your CPU - bad HSF mounting, or a bad HSF like the Zalman, can.

 

[Morphx2]

No. That's still high, at stock, with an aftermarket cooler. Toss that Zalman stat. They are the weakest HSF maker around. Get a $25 CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ and an extra fan. Then spend an hour battling with it to get it installed correctly.You should be in the low-to-mid 30's at stock speeds or even less before you think about overclocking. My system is at 34-36C idle at 4.5 GHz. And this is nowhere near the best results around.

Prime cannot damage your CPU - bad HSF mounting, or a bad HSF like the Zalman, can.

where ya find it for $25?

 

[ensign_lee]

No. That's still high, at stock, with an aftermarket cooler. Toss that Zalman stat. They are the weakest HSF maker around. Get a $25 CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ and an extra fan. Then spend an hour battling with it to get it installed correctly.You should be in the low-to-mid 30's at stock speeds or even less before you think about overclocking. My system is at 34-36C idle at 4.5 GHz. And this is nowhere near the best results around.

Prime cannot damage your CPU - bad HSF mounting, or a bad HSF like the Zalman, can.

He has temps in thte 50's at full load. What do you expect him to gain by breaking down his entire system to install a 212?

I have a 212 and get to the 70's under full load (though I'm usually in the 60's)

 

[Kenmitch]

No. That's still high, at stock, with an aftermarket cooler. Toss that Zalman stat. They are the weakest HSF maker around. Get a $25 CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ and an extra fan. Then spend an hour battling with it to get it installed correctly.You should be in the low-to-mid 30's at stock speeds or even less before you think about overclocking. My system is at 34-36C idle at 4.5 GHz. And this is nowhere near the best results around. Prime cannot damage your CPU - bad HSF mounting, or a bad HSF like the Zalman, can.

I say ignore this and give the Zalman a shot and see what temps you get.

It doesn't take 1hr to mount a Hyper 212+ I'll admit it's a strange mounting system but only takes about 10-15 minutes at most. Just don't skimp on the thermal compound and you should get it first shot!

When comparing temps you gotta realize that the ambient temp in the room will dictate a persons overall idle and load temps.

where ya find it for $25?

Microcenter
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0315397

Directron
http://www.directron.com/rrb10212pgp.html?gsear=1

 

[omega329]

At stock speeds with auto voltage with your exact mother board I idle @ 34ish and top out at 55c while running prime for a bit. I am using the HAF 922 and the 212+.
I used the free thermal paste, and my ambient is a bit high (80F), and I probably need to remount, I am just holding it off until I have enough $ to spend on some thermal paste. Regardless, I doubt 55C is going to harm my chip, especially since even playing my hardest games my cpu doesn't even get stressed a bit.

 

[achhu26]

Thanks KenMitch and Omega329, my Ambient temp was at 70F when it was running idle temps 29 and 49-52 with Prime95 for about 3 hrs. when i reached Ambient temp at 87F , my idle temps are 36-37 and load is 57. so looks like the Zalman does a decent job..

 

[birthdaymonkey]

No. That's still high, at stock, with an aftermarket cooler. Toss that Zalman stat. They are the weakest HSF maker around. Get a $25 CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ and an extra fan. Then spend an hour battling with it to get it installed correctly.You should be in the low-to-mid 30's at stock speeds or even less before you think about overclocking. My system is at 34-36C idle at 4.5 GHz. And this is nowhere near the best results around.

Prime cannot damage your CPU - bad HSF mounting, or a bad HSF like the Zalman, can.

He's now idling at 29 and hitting ~50 at load, and considering that his idle is probably clocked and volted the same as yours (which idles at 34-36), it sounds to me like the Zalman is doing just fine.

OP, unless you're going for high overclocks (>4.2GHz), I'm sure the cooler that you have will do. Don't waste your time and money getting another one. Zalman may not be associated with the best of the best HSFs anymore, but they're not going to ruin your CPU.

According to the most recent Frosty Tech charts, that Zalman is about 5.5 C worse than the Hyper 212+ under a 150 watt load, which is not bad considering it's just a 92 mm unit (the performance delta will be lower with a lower heat load). Of course the Zalman is probably also much noisier, and if you were buying a new unit I'd recommend the 212+, but unless you really want to spend the money and time upgrading, the CNPS5X-SZ is not bad.

 

[achhu26]

Thanks BirthdayMonkey!! I saw decent improvements against the stock cooler (Duh) and i dont plan to overclock above 4.2-4.3 Ghz. Thanks for your opinion.

 

[bleucharm28]

don't forget about ambient temperature.

 

[SanDiegoPC]

Prime cannot damage your CPU - bad HSF mounting, or a bad HSF like the Zalman, can.

Exactly!!

 

[Minjin]

I'm booting my 2500k up for the first time and I'm seeing MB/CPU temps of 33/43C (via bios) as a bare board outside of the case. From looking around, that seems high. The reason I'm looking around is because with this HSF (Xigmatek Gaia) I didn't feel real confident tightening down the nuts. I only got a few turns out of them before they bottomed out. While I can't move the HSF by twisting it, I'm not used to seemingly having such little tension on a cpu heatsink. Comments?

Ambient is 26C.

 

[s1njin]

I just OC'd my 2500k using Clunk's guide.

I have the Cooler Master N520 laced up to my mobo.

At 1.27 VCore and 4.5 Ghz OC'd running Prime95 for 3 hours, my proc was running 61 C.

I think that's pretty good, at least I'm happy w/ it.

 

[Kenmitch]

I'm booting my 2500k up for the first time and I'm seeing MB/CPU temps of 33/43C (via bios) as a bare board outside of the case. From looking around, that seems high. The reason I'm looking around is because with this HSF (Xigmatek Gaia) I didn't feel real confident tightening down the nuts. I only got a few turns out of them before they bottomed out. While I can't move the HSF by twisting it, I'm not used to seemingly having such little tension on a cpu heatsink. Comments?

Ambient is 26C.

Your cpu temp in bios is fine. In bios the cpu is running at full speed and vcore voltage, no speedstep, etc. Once in the OS you'll see your idle temp will be alot lower. Guestimation around 10-15* cooler

 

[tnt3k]

No. That's still high, at stock, with an aftermarket cooler. Toss that Zalman stat. They are the weakest HSF maker around. Get a $25 CoolerMaster Hyper 212+ and an extra fan. Then spend an hour battling with it to get it installed correctly.You should be in the low-to-mid 30's at stock speeds or even less before you think about overclocking. My system is at 34-36C idle at 4.5 GHz. And this is nowhere near the best results around.

Prime cannot damage your CPU - bad HSF mounting, or a bad HSF like the Zalman, can.

zalman is by no means a bad cpu cooler. I had the zalman 9900 and my i5 2500k at 4.5ghz was idle 30-32c and prime for 3 hours hits 66c

 

[Minjin]

Your cpu temp in bios is fine. In bios the cpu is running at full speed and vcore voltage, no speedstep, etc. Once in the OS you'll see your idle temp will be alot lower. Guestimation around 10-15* cooler

You were correct. Sitting in windows looking at CoreTemp, I'm seeing ~31C across the board. Thanks.