Idle temperatures for q6600 using stock cooler

[hardeeps]

Hey guys. I'm just wondering what the "acceptable" idle temperatures are for the q6600 using the stock heat sink and fan.

Right now, i'm getting around 55C - 60C for each of the 4 cores when just sitting at vista desktop. If I load the cores to 100% using TAT, I get around 70C - 75C for the loaded cores.

I'm planning on getting a new heat sink, but I keep reading that if I don't plan on over clocking, the stock cooler should be fine.

My case is a Antec p180b and i got a eVGA nforce 680i mobo.

 

[MarcVenice]

You probably didn't seat it correctly. Is there a tight fit, or is it wobbly? Welcome to AT forums btw ^^

You should be seeing 40-45c or so at Idle, and probably around 60-65c under load. Those are pretty much worst case scenario's though. What are your ambient temps and do you have any casefans installed? If you get 75c underload your CPU is getting close to throttling I think, something you don't want.

One way to find out if your case needs extra cooling is by putting a big fan on it with the sidepanel removed. If that results in drastic temperature drops then you've got yourself an answer.

 

[hardeeps]

My p180 fan has a big fan at the top of the case and one at the back. Both those are running at "medium" speed. The high speed doesn't seem to provide any real temperature different. It is just louder to run it at that. In my room, its about 20 - 25 C. The comptuer is quite new. Like 3 days old. Someone said to leave the computer running for like a week, and over about a month or so, these temperatures will drop.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Most therman materials need some burn in time. Heating up and cooling down changes something in the TIM and causes it to work optimally.

I'm not sure specifically, but yes what you were told is somewhat true.

 

[MarcVenice]

Somewhat true is giving to much credit to that certain someone. Temps might go down 1 degree celsius when the thermal grease has burned in. But won't account for significant temperature drops at all.

Your case cooling seems sufficient. Is your CPU fan spinning? Heh I read someone who said his wasn't spinning for some reason, just figured I'd ask. If it is spinning, then my guess would be your heatsink isn't seated correctly, did you apply thermal grease yourself? I very much doubt it's the cpu, qauds run somewhat hot, but not that hot

 

[hardeeps]

I didn't apply thermal grease, just whatever was on the heat sink out of the box. Should I remove the heat sink and try putting it on again? Will removing it and putting it back on mess up the thermal compound on the heat sink?

 

[MarcVenice]

Heh you can't remove the heatsink and reseat it using the same thermal grease it's dried up and has become solid. You have to reapply the thermal grease, you can buy a tube/needle of as5 * arctic silver 5 * for 5$ or so from most shops. Then you follow the instructions on the artic silver site: http://www.arcticsilver.com/ar...ilver_instructions.htm

and PRAY that it makes a difference, because your q6600 is running to hot. Can you imagine a hotter day, where ambients go up to 30c? Your q6600 will go boom, or well, it won't, but it will throttle making the overall experience for something you payed 300$ for unpleasant. Btw before I freak you out, what app are you using to get temperature readings ? Try several first, like rightmark cpu clock utility, ntune and speedfan.

 

[cmdrdredd]

Originally posted by: MarcVenice
Somewhat true is giving to much credit to that certain someone. Temps might go down 1 degree celsius when the thermal grease has burned in. But won't account for significant temperature drops at all.

Your case cooling seems sufficient. Is your CPU fan spinning? Heh I read someone who said his wasn't spinning for some reason, just figured I'd ask. If it is spinning, then my guess would be your heatsink isn't seated correctly, did you apply thermal grease yourself? I very much doubt it's the cpu, qauds run somewhat hot, but not that hot

ArcticSilver states that it requires some time to properly heat up and cool down. A few days is usually sufficient.

I noticed a 3C drop in load temps after a week's time of usage.

 

[MarcVenice]

Your ambient probably went down by 2 degrees I know they state it, many places reviewed thermal grease and didn't notice any drops or marginal ones that aren't actually significant enough to be attributed due to burning in though. Wow long sentence. His temps aren't going to go from unreasonably high to normal just because of the burn in. I've got a arctic freezer 64 pro myself with mx1 preapplied, for all I know temps didn't budge at all, even after several hours a day of gaming/orthos and such for about 3 weeks, which is when I got a new videocard so the basis was gone.

 

[hardeeps]

i'm using CoreTemp, TAT, and SpeedFan. I hear speedfan readings are not that accurate. CoreTemp and TAT seems to give about the same readings. Also, I've used Everest and that also says about 60 deg.

 

[MarcVenice]

Then I would do as my post above suggested, reseat the heatsink. When removed, check to see if the heatsink is flat or very concave which might be due bad machining and could result in to high temperatures.

Btw, personaly I would buy an aftermarket cooler, like a arctic freezer 7 pro, for 30$ or so, with the 120mm fan it will be really quiet and it comes with mx1 preapplied, thermal grease that's even better then arctic silver 5. You buy it, unpack it, click it onto your mobo, and enjoy. When you've done that, temps should be down a FAIR bit. But if temps don't go down you just might have a bad chip, and you're going to be angry with me because now you've got 2 coolers and still very high temps. So you 'might' want to reseat the original HSF first before buying a brand new one.

Goodluck.

 

[hardeeps]

Thanks for the suggestions marc. I will try reseting the heatsink. I will have to go buy thermal paste then. What is the best way of removing the old thermal paste off the heatsink?

 

[Nathelion]

90% denaturated alcohol and some lint-free cloth or other wiping material usually works fairly well. You can also buy special cleaning solutions, not sure about whether they make a difference though.

 

[Noubourne]

It's impossible to tell if these temps are bad without knowing the ambient temps.

You are chasing a ghost.

Temps are not an issue for a non-overclocker. If your chip is throttling that's one thing, but to get picky about temps with a stock heatsink is just insanity.

 

[Rumple]

I bought the artic silver cleaning stuff off of Newegg. It works GREAT for cleaning it off. Just a little bit on a cloth and it wipes right off. It has a prep solution that comes with it too.

 

[hardeeps]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm going to get an arctic cooling freezer 7 pro tomorrow and also adding another 120 mm fan at the front of the case for air intake. Right now, i have set the CPU fan to 100% manual in bios and have the side of my case off. The temps i get in coretemp are around 43 - 49 C idle. Also, just wanted to know why speedfan showing much lower temperature readings. I was reading somewhere that speedfan is correct and you need to take 15 deg c off the coretemp readings because it doesn't take into the Tjunction properly or something. Can someone clear up which is correct. Speed fan shows my cores running at around 25 - 33 C idle.

 

[MarcVenice]

No it's the other way around, speedfan is not reporting the right temps and you have to add 15c to speedfan readings. That's what I heard. 43/49 idle isn't that bad btw, at least a lot better then 60c idle. Maybe heat was building up in your case and couldn't go anywhere, making the cpu hotter then it should be. That's why I suggested taking the side panel of, and putting a big household fan on it to see what happens. As for removing the thermal grease, some pure alcahol, 90% or better works like a charm, with some 'lint' free cloth. It's not THAT important though, but you do wanna use something that doesn't leave any cloth behind. As for applying the thermal grease, check the instruction site I mentioned above. Oh, and a arctic freezer 7 pro comes with thermal grease PREAPPLIED !!! No need to apply thermal grease on it because the preapplied grease is as good or even better then as5. You will have to remove the thermal grease from the cpu though.

@ Noubourne, he did mention his ambient temps.

 

[idiotekniQues]

i have the same case and adding a 120mm fan in the front did nothing but add noise.

your idle temps are pretty hot for stock speeds even with the stock cooler.

i disagree with the poster who said unless you oc dont even waste your time monitoring temps. a 55c idle is high. take care of it.

 

[hardeeps]

hi guys. I thought i would update you on what i've done. I got the arctic freezer 7 pro. I've notice only a little bit of difference, With teh side panel on and both case fans on my antec p180b running at high, i get about 42 - 47 idle, and around 60 at full load. I was hoping for better results with the new heatsink, maybe like 38 - 43 idle. Could it be my CPU? My friend and I built the exact same PC. His temperatues using the stock intel cooler are 37 - 45 idle. He's running his fan at 100% all the time and so am I. His ambient temperature is a few degrees lower than mines but I cannot see why there is such a big difference.

I will post a few pictures of the inside of my case. Maybe someone can point out point where airflow might be obstructed.

Also, if i remove the side panel, my temps go down to about 40 - 45 idle.

 

[idiotekniQues]

please post pics.

opening the side panel will generally always have a good effect on temps even if you have good airflow.

 

[Fayd]

45-47 idle is what i get on a hot day, sitting right next to another computer. (oced e4400)

if 60 load is all it gets up to, then stop worrying about it. 60 load is a safe and reasonable temperature to be at for the cores. i've pushed mine to 66, but it was in very poor circulation of airflow. now, it runs at about 60 load.

if it's nighttime, and we turn on the whole house fan, those temperatures go down to 35 idle, and 48 load.

 

[hardeeps]

Here are some pictures of the inside of my case:

http://img479.imageshack.us/img479/9143/cimg2728pj3.jpg
http://img181.imageshack.us/img181/7364/cimg2729vq3.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/8968/cimg2730sa2.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/4896/cimg2731mx6.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/593/cimg2732wg8.jpg
http://img382.imageshack.us/img382/883/cimg2733ow2.jpg
http://img341.imageshack.us/img341/8605/cimg2734nf8.jpg

Also, I ran prime95 stress test (2 instances of it) for about 10 mins. The temps were around 59-63 C at full load. However, core#3 always has a temp about 3C lower than the other three. Like the temps were 61 60 60 57. Ambient today is probably like 22C. Also, the VID for the CPU is 1.325V. Is that the normal voltage for running at stock. I've seen ppl run the CPU with lower voltages. Also, when I touch the heatsink while the computer is running, it it not hot at all. Is it supposed to be?

I still think the heatsink and cpu doesn't have really good contact. I know my current runnings temperatures are acceptable but some people claim to have their temps in the low 40's, 30's when running idle. I don't want my arctic freezer 7 pro to go to waste. I only got like a 2-3 C decrease in temperatures over the stock cooler.

 

[drktyrael]

I have a really similar situation as you except i have a Zalman 9700 NT. Currently I have my computer overclocked to 9 x 340mhz at stock voltage of 1.275 (bios). My idle temps is form 38-44 C and load (2 instance of orthos) between 59-65 depending on ambient temps. The temps also vary when I have my side panel open or not which affect temp between 2-4 C. I don't understand it seems like the airflow is horrible in the p180b or for me at least when I close the side panel because for the out air vents pressure are reduced when I close the sidepanel. The temps just don't seem right but have no idea what I'm doing wrong. I reseated the heatsink twice already and the results are all similar (temp wise).

If anyone has some ideas please try and help.

Thanks!

 

[hardeeps]

I reset the heatsink with some OCZ ultra 5+ thermal paste following the instructions for applying Arctic Silver 5, and I still didn't get much improvement. I took the mobo out of the case this time and put the heatsink on. I'm fairly sure its on correctly.
Also, the full load temps of ~60C are when using the In-place Large FFT's torture test. When I do the small FFT's torture test in Prime95, my temps go even higher, around 68 - 70 C. I think I might just go back to NCIX and ask them if I can exchange the CPU and heatsink for a new one. I am becoming quite frustrated now.

Also, can someone please examine my above posted pictures and point out if there is any airflow obstruction.

 

[hardeeps]

bump..................