i7 860 3.36Ghz @ 1.152V - ~78C load?

[slugman]

OK I think I've got this thing stable. Is this load temp too much for a mild overclock?

That 78C is during the day after 2.5 hours of linpack. It didn't hit that temp right away. Started at 71C. Could be it climbed as the room heated up. Room could easily be 30C+. I should check.

At night its more like 68-70C.

Anyway, linpack seems stable now as does prime95.

At this voltage, am I good to go? I know 78C would be fine at stock.

is 1.152 volts considered "overvolting?" It's .03V above "normal" BIOS setting but within intel's spec for the cpu.

Anyway, the simulation work and video encoding I'm actually going to be doing don't get the CPU to nearly 78C. More like 65. But as a worst case scenario - 80C at this voltage is fine?

Thanks to you guys, I feel like I'm almost ready to start answering people's questions.

 

[alyarb]

78 under linpack is fine. like you've begun to notice, it'll run around 10 C cooler under a real-world load. 1.15 is not overvolting. the average vid for a chip like yours is closer to 1.2v anyway so by some standards you're undervolting. voltage doesn't become a safety concern until you go beyond 1.4. your chip is entirely within spec. except for bclk heh.

 

[slugman]

Undervolting, eh? I had to turn off turbo mode because it's not stable at this voltage - but even a little more.. like 1.2V to the CPU and linpack temps skyrocket into the 90s. Not sure what's up with that, pretty sure my 212+ is seated properly due to sub 60C load temps @ stock.

In general should turbo at 160 bclk be a problem?

 

[alyarb]

your temps do seem higher than average. what can you say about your environment? besides high ambients?

does your case have any intake and/or exhaust ?

 

[Kantastic]

Cooler?

 

[alyarb]

it's a CM 212+. he should be getting slightly better temps, especially at 1.2 which is still considered low. maybe too much TIM. maybe no air current in the case. maybe scorching ambients.

 

[slugman]

ambients are high (~30C ish?) but not scorching. Could be TIM but then wouldn't idle/stock load temps be higher too?

I do have intake/exhaust fans in an antec 300 case. 2 120mm intake up front and 120mm and 140mm exhaust in the rear. On a side note, removing the intake fans altogether makes almost no difference in temps. Case still sucks in air just great, can even feel it up front with my hand.

The CPU is VERY sensitive to voltage increases. Like I said, the difference between 1.104V and 1.2V in temps is staggering. I'm not even at 1.2, but 1.15. 1.218V temps roll into the 90s quickly. Enabling LLC makes a difference in that, 1.218V is OK without LLC enabled. But that's probably just because without LLC I'm actually running at a lower voltage.

Any ideas?

 

[Athadeus]

He said he has either an Antec 300 or 900 with a full set of fans, so case airflow shouldn't be bad. I think he said he lives somewhere where the ambients are a bit warm, but not that much. Too much TIM usually just gets squeezed out and just makes the CPU messy but not hot, UNLESS the integrated heat spreader and/or heatsink base aren't flat which is the main thing I'd look at (with a razor blade, or some other examination method). It is possible its just a really hot running CPU too.

 

[slugman]

Speaking of ambients, I have a sensor that EZtune6 labels "system" reading 38C. My (inactive) hard disk is also reading 38C. Could very well be the temp in that room right now. 34C outside and the rooms getting hit by the sun. At work and testing this remotely, so its hard to say.

For reference, at 3.36 and 1.152V in prime95 for a few hours, was reading 70-70-66-69 in hwmonitor. Switched off prime95 now and reading 38-33-37-32 60 sec later. Could that be bad thermal paste application? Wouldn't it be a lot worse if that were the case? I'm just hesitant to start screwing around with $20 tubes of arctic silver for the same/even worse results.

EDIT: I think it is my ambients. Night has fallen and am now at 68-67-65-67 after 1:22 (hour & 22 min) of linX. Case temp is now 25C. Is that about right?