i7 920 @ 3.8Ghz - Do have the best settings?

[jimminormann]

DaneGuy: I have the same tower as you, here is what I did --> took all cables and put them behind the backplate, some remaining cables were putt in the hdd/psu bay in the bottom of the tower.
I bought 3x 120 mm noctua fans (at 19 db with 1,300 rpm ~ 93 cfm) 1 intake, and two pushing air out. (3 of these babies http://www.dustinhome.dk/pd_5010128898.aspx)

in general, cable management + better fans would lower your temps a bit.

I got my overclocked q6600 running at 3 ghz, at around 30C idle, 55C full load with prime. Futhermore, your gfx and ram may be thankful to this improved airflow. Secondly, it is possible to fix better airflow intake from the front of the tower. http://www.silentpcreview.com/...postorder=asc&start=30

 

[jimminormann]

http://www.freeimagehosting.ne...age.php?69d6b90cb1.jpg

Just have some patience, the picture loads after 20 secs anyways

 

[DaneGuy]

Awesome info! Thanks!!
I'm gonna be broke by the time this machine is done. . . LOL.

 

[DaneGuy]

Linky no worky.

 

[Omerta]

Honestly, high temps aren't THAT big of a deal. As long as it's not going over 85c under full load, you'll be fine. What's running it that hot gonna do? Shave 2 years off its 15 year life? big deal.

 

[DaneGuy]

Originally posted by: Omerta
Honestly, high temps aren't THAT big of a deal. As long as it's not going over 85c under full load, you'll be fine. What's running it that hot gonna do? Shave 2 years off its 15 year life? big deal.

Good point.

 

[PCTC2]

Hey Dane. 44C ambients? Sweating a bit? That's 111F. A bit hot, unless it's dry heat.

But you have a good HSF. your temps aren't too high and you have a good OC. But the fans you have in your case are no worse than the ones Duvie posted. SilenX are notorious for their overrated reviews. They do not perform at their listed stats in real situations. Search these forums (Cases and Cooling and this forum).

 

[DaneGuy]

Originally posted by: PCTC2
Hey Dane. 44C ambients? Sweating a bit? That's 111F. A bit hot, unless it's dry heat.

But you have a good HSF. your temps aren't too high and you have a good OC. But the fans you have in your case are no worse than the ones Duvie posted. SilenX are notorious for their overrated reviews. They do not perform at their listed stats in real situations. Search these forums (Cases and Cooling and this forum).

Hmmm. 111F seems a bit high.

I was thinking of removing the top fan from my case. It shoots air at me and I can hear more noise. Any downside to this? There will still be the exhaust fan out the back.

 

[DaneGuy]

I'm going to order a couple Noctua fans, reseat my CPU and practice a little cable management.

Right now, I'm back to defaults in the BIOS and running at 45C idle. It's ok if I run at that speed for a while, correct?

 

[1ManArmY]

interesting thread

 

[DaneGuy]

Hopefully, this weekend I'll have time to reseat the CPU. I ended up ordering 2 1200rpm Scythe fans.
I'm also thinking of modding the case for better cable management. However, I don't know how well it will turn out. . . Or I could just replace the case.

 

[SSWilson]

The P180 takes a lot of effort to get it to breathe without a ton of noise. In stock configuration you either get higher temps or lots of fan noise which defeats the purpose of the case.

 

[DaneGuy]

You know my pain!!!
I could mod if I found some good directions or I could replace but I'm not sure with what.

 

[Elganja]

Originally posted by: Dodger1

http://i581.photobucket.com/al...x/008.jpg?t=1235449808

you may want to turn your powersupply upside down since the fan is on the bottom. The way you have it now there is no ventalition for it which could lead to trouble. IIRC Corsairs instructions also say to do this (I have the same power supply )

 

[imported_pendragon]

Originally posted by: Dadofamunky
Another note, Dane, not exactly related... you did use the right amount of thermal paste for your heat sink, so that's fine. But if you have another occasion to remove your HSF, consult your Asus motherboard manual for the precise procedure for installing the Socket 775 HSF. It's not as hard as you think and you should not have to use a lot of pressure to set the unit properly. In my Asus board's manual, their procedure is about two pages, has several photographs and it works like a charm. The LGA 775 HSFs are not as hard as everyone thinks but you do have to know exactly how to do it. It has to do with TURNING the four mounting connectors a certain way rather than FORCING them on. I finally mastered the procedure as I had to do several successive motherboard swaps during an ultimately unsuccessful troubleshooting procedure. (My eventual solution for the problem was sh*tcanning Windows Vista.)

Also note that I have had temp issues with my system. My idles are now from 35-40 degrees. But I had to set up a second fan blowing onto my CPU/HSF assembly and mod my case.

Also, I recommend getting a fan controller for $25 or more. FrozenCPU has a good selection.

Good thread,
I had my stock Intel hsf seated incorrectly initially. One of the posts wasn't secured and I hadn't noticed.
When I ran RealTemp it was showing all 4 cores in the mid to upper 40's at idle.
I checked my fans, wiring and then I touched the heatsink and it MOVED!

Got it secured properly now and it idles at 33,34,33,32 and Prime's high in lower 60's.
Gone to 3.150ghz and hit early 70's but backed it down until I get a TRUE or other hsf.
Those mounting posts are odd.

 

[HydraShok]

Hey Dodger,

You have the same case and power supply I ordered. I made the picture my wallpaper because I am counting down until I can order my components. That V10 sure looks nice in there if a bit pricey.

 

[DaneGuy]

I took my rig apart, drilled some holes, cut out some stuff and reran all my cables. Then I reseated my CPU.

I've got a difference of about 1C.

 

[DaneGuy]

I've reseated my sink 4x and the idle temps remain at 47c and load at 73c. Ran with sides off, big fan on, wires all tucked away, different fans in different places, and a lot of other setups.

Considering the TRUE.

 

[palladium]

Originally posted by: DaneGuy
I've reseated my sink 4x and the idle temps remain at 47c and load at 73c. Ran with sides off, big fan on, wires all tucked away, different fans in different places, and a lot of other setups.

Considering the TRUE.

Just out of curiosity, what did you use to stress your CPU?

 

[Elganja]

Originally posted by: palladium

Originally posted by: DaneGuy
I've reseated my sink 4x and the idle temps remain at 47c and load at 73c. Ran with sides off, big fan on, wires all tucked away, different fans in different places, and a lot of other setups.

Considering the TRUE.

Just out of curiosity, what did you use to stress your CPU?

Answer:

Originally posted by: DaneGuy
Question: Why do you disable hyperthreading?


EDIT: I changed to the settings you listed and ran Prime95 for about 15 minutes. The highest temp I got was 78c again. I don't know how you get those low temps! I'm idle at 50C.

 

[exar333]

Originally posted by: Elganja

Originally posted by: palladium

Originally posted by: DaneGuy
I've reseated my sink 4x and the idle temps remain at 47c and load at 73c. Ran with sides off, big fan on, wires all tucked away, different fans in different places, and a lot of other setups.

Considering the TRUE.

Just out of curiosity, what did you use to stress your CPU?

Answer:

Originally posted by: DaneGuy
Question: Why do you disable hyperthreading?


EDIT: I changed to the settings you listed and ran Prime95 for about 15 minutes. The highest temp I got was 78c again. I don't know how you get those low temps! I'm idle at 50C.

Fifteen minutes of Prime is not what I would consider trully stressing your computer. Most people here would consider a few hours minimum to have a stable overclock. I have a very similar setup and I idle in the high 30's and after 4-6 hours of Prime, hit just around 72 or so.

Something is not right if you are hitting 50C idle, thats 5-10C too much for that cooler. If you are confident you have reseated the HSF correctly, you might just have a leaky i7 that tends to run hot. No OCs are guaranteed....

Edit: SP

 

[Elganja]

Originally posted by: ExarKun333

Fifteen minutes of Prime is not what I would consider trully stressing your computer. Most people here would consider a few hours minimum to have a stable overclock. I have a ver similar setup and I idle in the high 30's and after 4-6 hours of Prime, hit just around 72 or so.

Something is not right if you are hitting 50C idle, thats 5-10C too much for that cooler. If you are confident you have reseated the HSF correctly, you might just have a leaky i7 that tends to run hot. No OCs are guaranteed....

agreed. I assume the OP stopped after 15minutes due to temps... I personally think LinX is a much better stress tester, but I use them both in addition to OCCT.

LinX by far works my CPU more:
-Prime95 temps get up to ~65C avg after 18 hours
-LinX temps get up to ~67C avg after 50 passes max memory
-OCCT temps get up to ~66C avg after the OCCT 1 hour test

 

[DaneGuy]

What is a "leaky" i7?

I'll run some stress tests tonight. The highest it has gone on load (for my limited testing in Prime) is 73C which I think is pretty decent. However, the 50c idle is still concerning.