• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Never use the STOCK intel cooler in warm invironments

Page 4 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
I do agree that stock cooling is playing with fire so to speak when it comes to users like the people on this forum. Whether it is gaming, editing, or any number of other things we do with our PC's we are not the typical consumer they put that HSF in the box for. I ran my old PC with a stock cooler for years and it never ran right, temps were always high even with fans all over the box pulling and pushing air out.
 
Curious that in general we agree that an aftermarket cooler is a good idea, after all this...That was the OP's point after all...
 
Pr0d1gy said:
I do agree that stock cooling is playing with fire so to speak when it comes to users like the people on this forum. Whether it is gaming, editing, or any number of other things we do with our PC's we are not the typical consumer they put that HSF in the box for. I ran my old PC with a stock cooler for years and it never ran right, temps were always high even with fans all over the box pulling and pushing air out.
Click to expand...

As long as your NOT going to OC the stock HSF should be fine.
 
Idontcare, just curious how much flex (curve near thesocket) area does your motherboard have without being mounted in a case? How anyone ever experienced temp differences motherboard mounted in vs unmounted?
 
It's hard to confirm without doing at least twice. Once I had a Q6600 whose pushpins looked like they were in properly, and I applied AS5 no differently than usual and got crazy temps of 80c at bootup. Then I re-cleaned the HSF, reapplied and reseated in a way that appeared to be the same, and got 40C by doing basically the same thing. This isn't a case when a pushpin is obviously loose or I applied the AS5 in a meaningfully different way, and sometimes it's just some freak random fluctuation that needs to be confirmed.
 
When i built this rig, i had the stock HS/F on for a few days. It was summer time here, ambient 35C.. stock 2500k hit 90C on a benchmark run. I shut down the benchmark in a hurry. Got a replacement cooler, Scythe slim, temps still hit 75-80C..

Finally got the Antec 620, temps ~55C. OC to 4.5ghz, temps around ~65C.

Now if someone were to experience 40C ambient temps, stock HS/F + high CPU load stress = recipe for disaster.
 
Phynaz said:
You expect me to be using a computer in 53c ambient?
Click to expand...

And who would refer to that as "warm environment"? Let alone 40C as the above poster suggested.

Again, pointing out that the OP hasn't provided any solid data apart from a CPU temperature reading.
 
Last edited:
Dodgeee said:
Once again for the people that have a hard time reading. The cooler was secure when I removed it today. There was actually some dust under it. The stock cooler comes with some substance already on it.

It's just as easy to say I screwed up as for me to say Intel screwed up. So saying I screwed up without knowing the situation is what I call hypocrisy.

I wanted to show what impact it had when I swapped it for a decent cooler, when in these times when it's 30 degrees outside is pretty hard for ur PC.
Click to expand...

'Secure' does not equal 'correctly seated'.

Also, that is not what hypocrisy means.

Also, no one was "occusing" you, nor were they accusing you. It is really easy to mount the stock Intel heatsink incorrectly, which is probably what happened.
 
cmdrdredd said:
Wait....40c = 104F...I am not going to be in that room unless it's a sauna.
Click to expand...

lol no kidding. As if 30 is not bad enough. I had a stick of ram fry in my PC when I left it on with F@H and it was around 27C in the room.

Computers should generally be kept around 20C-25C. 25 is pushing it.

Some equipment can be designed to witstand crazy temps, such as phone switching cabinets found outside in urban areas, like DMS star modules. They can hit like 50C and keep on trucking. But they are built by Nortel and Nortel makes kickass solid components. Too bad that company is no more. Nobody makes electronics as good as they did.
 
cmdrdredd said:
Wait....40c = 104F...I am not going to be in that room unless it's a sauna.
Click to expand...
That's freezing. Sauna temperatures are typically between 70 °C (158 °F) and 100 °C (212 °F).

While the Intel design has weaknesses (e.g. the push pin quality), it is not an utter failure. The thread title is thus misleading and the attitude of the OP does not help his cause.
 
Phynaz said:
I'm running the stock cooler on my main machine. Doing four concurrent video encodes, be done in about 2.5 hours.

My cores are running in the mid 70's. i7-870 stock everything.
Click to expand...

Not all 100% loads are created equal mind you. It's known that certain tools like IBT generate more heat because they use different (usually generally lesser used, higher transistor count) parts of a chip than other benchmarks. Same reason in the graphics world FurMark can set a video card on fire while putting less on the screen than a lot of modern games.

Same goes for video encoding. Especially if you're using an encoder that supports things like SSE4 and GPU offload.

The "metric" used for calculating 100% load also varies, but honestly the following piece of code (C++) will put a CPU core at 100% load (and an entire cpu if coded to be multithreaded):

int i = 0;
while(1)
{
i++;
}

But it probably won't raise your CPU more than about 3 or 4 degrees tops.

Long story short: 100% CPU load does not equate to 100% CPU thermal output.
 
Just to set the record straight, a stock cooler (installed correctly) is completely reliable. This assumes the cooler is functional, of course, and is not defective. Over time, most coolers will degrade as the heatsink gets dusty and the fan gets dusty/dirty as well. Proper maintenance, as well as replacing the thermal contact is needed from time to time.

Stock coolers will work in most ambient temps, but you are playing with fire for the ENTIRE computer in ambients that are 30-35C+. Not just the cooler could be affected with such high temps; MB, GPU, or other components could see throttling or damage over time due to heat.

If you plan to OC, stock coolers will vary CONSIDERABLY. Some stock coolers are very adequatene for mild or moderate OCing, while others may not cut it for even a tiny OC.
 
IDC, what were your motherboards PWM fan settings? I did extensive thermal testing on an i5 750 with the stock HSF. I found similar things to you (it could not support max load + turbo without throttling) under automatic HSF settings in the BIOS. However the fan never ramped up anywhere near it's max RPM. Manually setting the fan to 100% allowed full load + turbo and temps around 75 deg- 80 deg C. At the expense of a good bit of noise. For the system I was building I ended up settling on about 70% fan speed (manually set PWM value) and disabling turbo mode.

It seems like every motherboard has different PWM ramp profiles. Some of which are more effective than others.

Similar to a lot of newer laptops I see, at stock settings they throttle the crap out of themselves before the fans ramp up. Very frustrating.
 
Last edited:
There are two things that I try to do with stock cooler when I intall it. The first is that I try to install it before I mount the board. This helps me not worry about how much force as I try to lock it in place. The second thing is once I have finished installing it is that I will give each twist clip a pull straight up to ensure that they are locked in place.

I have a stock cooler on a non-overclocked Intel® Core™ i7-860 on my gaming system at home and haven't had any heat issues even with hours of gaming on high settings.

With a hot environment and a poorly vented case I can see the slock cooler not being able to meet the demands of the processor even without overclocking. The stock cooler is really designed for average users and not someone who might be in an hot and poorly ventilated place.
 
The stock intel coolers are absolutely fine as long as you don't overclock.. you also do not NEED an aftermarket cooler just because you're a gamer.

These chips are not nearly as hyper-sensitive and fragile to the slightest bit of heat the way these aftermarket heatsink manufacturers want you to think.
 
SunnyD said:
Not all 100% loads are created equal mind you. It's known that certain tools like IBT generate more heat because they use different (usually generally lesser used, higher transistor count) parts of a chip than other benchmarks. Same reason in the graphics world FurMark can set a video card on fire while putting less on the screen than a lot of modern games.

Same goes for video encoding. Especially if you're using an encoder that supports things like SSE4 and GPU offload.

The "metric" used for calculating 100% load also varies, but honestly the following piece of code (C++) will put a CPU core at 100% load (and an entire cpu if coded to be multithreaded):

int i = 0;
while(1)
{
i++;
}

But it probably won't raise your CPU more than about 3 or 4 degrees tops.

Long story short: 100% CPU load does not equate to 100% CPU thermal output.
Click to expand...

I'm talking about Handbrake. It will heat a cpu as good as IBT, it not better.
 
I dont care what you do if the outside room temp is like 100 F you are not going to do much good.

I dont overclock and I always use the stock cooler. I have found that most problems are caused by user error. Having a case with good airflow helps also. However, computers dont usually do well in environments without air conditioning and heating. Even a high dust environment can destroy a computer in a short period of time. I have had a couple of computers that I took apart after a few years and the CPU Cooler was so full of dust it should have overheated the processor long ago. So a good cleaning with a compressed can of air once a year might be in order.

In fact the faster the fans run the faster the inside of your case will fill with dust. A slow steady stream of air works just fine to get rid of the heat. I like the exhaust fans the Antec 300. I have my tri-speed fans set on low. It works fine for my internet streaming computer. Maybe a gamer might want a higher airflow.

I dont care what you do if the outside room temp is like 100 F you are not going to do much good.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Back
Top