New rig keeps overheating - Please help

[laezyre]

I'm fairly new to building and put together a new system recently which seemed to be working well until I checked the cpu temperature. Using Gigabyte's easy tune 5 pro and fanspeed utilities, it shows my cpu temps idling at 30c and rocketing to 60-70 c within minutes of playing Crysis or running 3dmark06. This is NOT an overclocked system. My system temps are idling at 34-37c and getting up to 38-40c quickly during Crysis. I have ambient room temps of 25c and have tried this with open case as well. I have never crashed playing crysis or running 3dmark06, but get warning alarms from the mobo about the cpu temps.

I have a retail box Intel heat sink and fan running maxed at 1750 rpm, a coolermaster centurion mid tower case with a 120mm side case fan blowing air into the case at 700rpm maxed, and another 120mm fan blowing air out of case at 1200rpm maxed. The utilities say the fans are at max speed and I have used default mode and smart fan modes with same results.

My systems specs:
intel E8400 CO stepping wolfdale 3.0 ghz
gigabyte ga-p35 ds3l lga 775 intel chipset
ocz ddr2-800 4 gig(2x2) cl 5-6-6 -18 dual channel memory
MSI 8800 GT OC 512mb mem clock 1900 mhz core clock 660mhz
western digital 250gig 15mb buffer oem wd250 HDD sata
lite on sata dvd burner
This system is not overclocked(except for the factory settings or the video card)
I'm running at 9x333 and memory is 800mhz


The gigabyte board has beta drivers on their website for wolfdale support, which has me worried.

My thoughts are:
1) the mobo is not giving me the correct temps and I'm actually much cooler. I may have to update the bios for wolfdale support.
2) My fans are not performing at needed levels and I need to figure out how to increase the fan speeds. Why is the case fans maxxing out at 700rpm and 1200rpm?
3) My cpu is defective and overheating with any stress.
4) I'm clearly missing something and need your help.

Any thoughts from the experts? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[DaQuteness]

First of all, welcome to the forums!

From what i can tell you may have one of the following problems:
1. Poor cooling. Since you say it's the first time you assemble a rig, the stock intel heatsink has those really crappy pushpins, very easy to mishandle them. One of the pins may not be properly installed. You have 2 remedies: either switch to an aftermarket cooler like the TRUE, Tuniq Tower 120, Xigmatek S1283, one of these top dogs, some of which are really good for their price, like the Tuniq, secondly, tryreseating the heatsink but this time clean both CPU and heatsink with TIM cleaner and add a good compound like AS5 or MX-2.

2. Here is a link to gigabyte's CPU support list for your mobo. If there is a new BIOS, install it!

3. Some of the fans really do have top speed of 800RPM, 1200 is quite respectable as long as it shuts up If you want an example: Noctua-P12-1300, only has 1300RPM but is dead quiet, also expensive.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Let me say also -- welcome to the forums.

You seem to grasp the aptitude for specifying detail, so you should come up to speed with this business if, as you say, "you're fairly new" at it.

I cannot tell how you measured the temperatures. Let me explain.

Intel spec's their processors with two temperature values: TCASE, which is the (supposed) temperature at the processor's copper heat-spreader; and TJunction temperatures, which are essentially the internally-read temperatures for each core of the processor. To my knowledge, having been away from the forums for a couple months, most members would agree that the two most reliable temperature-monitoring software programs are CoreTemp and Everest. CoreTemp doesn't load up a core with monitoring activity as does Everest, so I'd recommend using it. But the last I knew, CoreTemp didnt' run (or run well) under VISTA. There may be some new developments in this area that I've missed, but I believe these remarks are accurate through fall of 2007.

TCASE is the temperature used to specify a dual-core or quad-core throttling limit -- the temperature at which the processor slows down or shuts down provided that the appropriate BIOS features have been enabled.

The other thing you omitted from your post: the computer case you've chosen.

It goes without saying that the stock cooler and fan with the Intel retail processors is "just adequate," and likewise, the push-pins can definitely pose a problem if you get careless in the installation. I've seen myself how you can believe that the heatsink is secure when it really isn't.

I'm only familiar with one Gigabyte LGA_775 motherboard at the moment, and might only guess about the EasyTune software. But I can tell you that some mobo and chipset makers deploy software that measures or monitors TCASE only. And for more recent multi-core Intel processors, TCASE would usually be at least 10C and more often 17C degrees below the TJunction core temperatures.

If the temperatures you're observing in your post are TJunction temperatures, they're not so bad, but they're still too high. if they're TCASE temperatures, they're terrible unless your room ambient is pushing 85 to 95F.

You might want to find your processor's spec at the Intel web site. Look at the spec-sheet or user-manual, and find chapter 5.1 -- which (if I'm correct) -- gives the thermal specification for that processor. Even so and again -- for room-ambients below 80F degrees, 70C load values might suggest poor case cooling if those values are taken from TJunction readings. They are abominably too high for your processor if they're taken from TCASE readings.

 

[laezyre]

Thanks for the quick responses and kind welcome. I forgot to mention:
OS - Windows vista 32 bit
power supply - 430 watt TR2 thermaltake
case - cooler master centurion 534 plus mid tower (with one 120mm fan on side panel and
one in the back)
I let my system sit idle for several hours and the case and cpu temps were 27/28 C
I built two general purpose machines for my mom before, but this is the first system I built for myself. I initially didn't plan to overclock, but I'm having second thoughts now. I've been reading this website for years, but never joined the forum until now. I'm glad I did.

I recall having alot of problems setting the pins on the retail intel cpu fan. I spent about 20 minutes fighting with it. It seems very secure now, but who knows. I tend to believe that it is a very likely explanation to my problem. I think I will go ahead and buy a better cooler and TIM solution as recomended. I read that the OCZ vendetta is a very simple to install cooler with solid performance for only $30. The vendetta 2 seems better, but too large. The tuniq tower 120 got a good review here, but was called hard to install. I think a newbie like me should go with the easy to install variety.

I think I'll try loading everest if it's vista friendly- just to verfy. I'll keep you guys post. Thanks again for your help.

 

[laezyre]

Well I took off the retail fan and heat sink and cleaned off the old paste with a cloth. Then I used a screwdriver (instead of my fingers) to firmly seat the pins. One pin did not seem to lock, but the others did. The fan seemed firmly in place.

When I fired up Crysis, the cpu and case temps never got over 42C and bounced between 40-42 C for 4 hours playing. I must have messed up the fan installation as you guys suggested. I still don't have any new thermal compound, but I guess I should get some.

Thanks for the help!

 

[BonzaiDuck]

If you can afford $5 with shipping and tax, consider IC Diamond thermal paste from Heatsink Factory. [They should still be selling it.]

That, by itself, is worth about 2C degrees' drop in load temperatures at a given room-ambient for a common range of processor TDP values in watts. In addition, you can try lapping the processor's IHS cap to grind off the nickel-plating. Here, I'm guessing, unless the stock CPU heatsink consists of a copper core with nickel plating at the base. If the latter is true, then you can lap the heatsink as well, and the net effect should be another 5C drop in load temperatures for any given ambient. And I'm guessing that lapping only the IHS is worth about half that improvement.

I've worked with two versions of the Centurion. Some models come with a 120mm lower-front intake fan. Other models only have an 80mm lower-front intake.

I believe it is better to have intake from the bottom and/OR front than from the case side, even if only to mitigate the noise factor. As I recall, the exhaust for the Centurions I've worked with was exclusively 120mm.

If your model has an 80mm front-intake, you SHOULD be able to mod the case and replace the 80mm fan with a 120mm.

Here, again, I'm only suspecting that the temperatures you report are TCASE and not "core" temperatures, and if that is so, I think you're doing pretty darn well with this now. Assume for a moment that the core values should be in a range between 10C and 18C ABOVE TCASE. Then the core values cannot be exceeding 60C. For that processor family, that's not too bad.

I'd still be interested in seeing some benchmarks with PRIME95 multi-core version, with assurances that your temperature measurements come from either CORETEMP or Everest software. But Crysis is supposed to be fairly stressful . . . . . .

 

[laezyre]

Thanks for the reply. I just ordered a vendetta 2, artctic silver paste and the akasa TIM cleaner. My core temps were about 15 C higher, so about 55 C running Cryisis on full detail and 1280 x 1024. I'm going to download prime95 tonight and try it.

My case has the side intake fan and rear exhaust fans. The side fan runs at about 750 rpm and the rear at 1200 rpm max. They are very quiet, but I don't know how effective they are. My case temps have been 40 C max.

 

[DaQuteness]

Originally posted by: laezyre
Thanks for the quick responses and kind welcome. I forgot to mention:
OS - Windows vista 32 bit
power supply - 430 watt TR2 thermaltake
case - cooler master centurion 534 plus mid tower (with one 120mm fan on side panel and
one in the back)
I let my system sit idle for several hours and the case and cpu temps were 27/28 C
I built two general purpose machines for my mom before, but this is the first system I built for myself. I initially didn't plan to overclock, but I'm having second thoughts now. I've been reading this website for years, but never joined the forum until now. I'm glad I did.

I recall having alot of problems setting the pins on the retail intel cpu fan. I spent about 20 minutes fighting with it. It seems very secure now, but who knows. I tend to believe that it is a very likely explanation to my problem. I think I will go ahead and buy a better cooler and TIM solution as recomended. I read that the OCZ vendetta is a very simple to install cooler with solid performance for only $30. The vendetta 2 seems better, but too large. The tuniq tower 120 got a good review here, but was called hard to install. I think a newbie like me should go with the easy to install variety.
I think I'll try loading everest if it's vista friendly- just to verfy. I'll keep you guys post. Thanks again for your help.

The Tuniq Tower 120 is extremely easy to install. You just stick the backplate to your mobo, then screw it in place, absolutely NO BIG DEAL. Vendetta2 seems to be quite popular... I'm a bit sceptic about it but i'll just wait and see how it performs in time.