Overheating problem

[Ren McCourtey]

Hi there.
I'll try my luck and ask here because I'm no longer able to solve this myself. Two weeks back I built my new system and since first startup I'm fighting massive overheating. Spec:
Core 2 Q6600
Scythe NINJA PLUS Rev.B
Gigabyte GA-P35-DQ6
4x1GB Geil 800MHz
OCuk 8800GTX
Enermax Liberty 500W
Case inside.

I'm reading temperatures with Everest (I tried and it shows same numbers like ITAT), for generating of load I'm using two instances of Orthos with affinity 0-1,2-3. At first CPU went to 100C and started throttling in 3minutes. I reseated heatsink a few times, tried white vs. silver thermal paste, I even tried stock heatsink and now I'm idling at 55C and in burn goes over 90C. I found a few things:

• I really HATE 775 anchoring system, it's definitely stupid solution.
  With stock heatsink I can got slightly better results.
  All mobo gets really hot from CPU, even graphic card seems to be affected with high temps of CPU.

System is cooled with 120mm (1200RPM, 50CFM) in front down sector, 120mm (800-1400RPM, 70CFM) on Ninja, 80mm (1500RPM, 20CFM) in back of case and PSU's 120mm fan. Everything is at stock clocks ofc, cannot think about OCing untill I solve cooling at normal speeds. Does someone have any idea what I'm doing wrong?

 

[Capitalizt]

Hi...First of all, the 80mm fan in the rear is an OUTTAKE fan right?

You need the rear fans to suck air out, and the front fans to blow air in. If you accidentally reversed the rear fan, then all the hot air is staying inside the computer! I know this sounds silly but I did it myself once..

Next, Are you using a PAPER THIN layer of arctic silver 5 over the CPU?

Too much thermal paste = death

First, clean the heatsink and CPU with rubbing alcohol and a Q-tip, then wipe dry with a lint-free cloth (I've heard coffee filters are good for this). Paper towels are NO GOOD because they leave small pieces of dust which stop heat transfer. Use a SMALL dot of arctic silver 5 and spread it SUPER THIN with a razor blade (or credit card) over the CPU. It should end up about as thin as a piece of paper, covering the entire heat spreader. DO NOT TOUCH THE THERMAL COMPOUND or anything else with your fingers! The oil from your hand also acts as a big block to heat transfer. The key is a super clean and dry surface followed by a paper-thin layer of thermal paste.

If this doesnt work and you are sure you have plenty of airflow in the case, you might consider lapping both the CPU and heatsink to get them perfectly flat. It's likely they are slightly curved, resulting in bad contact/heat transfer.

Just google "lapping" and you'll find plenty of guides. I personally used 600, 800, 1000, and 1500 grit sandpaper when lapping my stuff. At first I only did the heatsink and got no results..but after lapping the CPU as well, my temps dropped 5C over the next week (as the arctic silver set in). The idea is to get both surfaces perfectly flat for the best contact.

bottom line: If you have good airflow, the only other things it could be are:

-- too much voltage (vcore) going to the CPU
--an uneven layer of thermal paste (or too much paste)
--a non-flat contact between your Ninja fan and CPU. This is what lapping fixes.

Let us know how it turns out. Good luck

 

[Ren McCourtey]

Hi Capitalizt and thanks for answer. Sorry I was so brief in first post but no one likes long pls-help-anybody posts, right? So..Airflow goes in right direction, rear outtake blows out really hot air, so high temps are real.
All suggests that problem is really on contact between CPU and heatsink because even with 90C on cores is heatsink (relatively) cold. As You said, I think that heatspreader of my CPU is extremely curved in. Is that possible? Because both my heatsinks (Ninja&stock) have scraped in sqared edge of CPU after few usages. I did paper thin layer of paste on very first time and I got these 100C in few minutes of burn. When I removed heatsink it was clearly visible that in the middle of CPU was no contact, surface of paste was untouched. So I used much more paste (put it only to middle of CPU) than is usualy good and now I'm running with these 90C+ on load. Atleast without throttling and when removing heatsing I can see full contact on surface (I'm cleaning and reaplying new paste everytime, ofc).
I know that many owners are lapping their Conroe's but I've got 2 years warranty (EU) so I can't do this. Do You think that such big curving is even possible and could it be a reason for replacement?

 

[Ren McCourtey]

Maybe it's just me. I just cannot believe that such thing is sold in so poor state (I know, 90C is still in tolerance) but maybe it is.

grieve wrote:

I have been trying to figure out how we spend 200-1100 on a CPU and we have to lap the damn thing to get it to perform the way it should outa the box. Is it just me? I really believe that my $100 after market heatsink and my $600 CPU should already be lapped when I get it!

Perhaps soon well buy new cars with flat tires.

 

[WoodButcher]

Originally posted by: Ren McCourtey
Maybe it's just me. I just cannot believe that such thing is sold in so poor state (I know, 90C is still in tolerance) but maybe it is.

grieve wrote:

I have been trying to figure out how we spend 200-1100 on a CPU and we have to lap the damn thing to get it to perform the way it should outa the box. Is it just me? I really believe that my $100 after market heatsink and my $600 CPU should already be lapped when I get it!

Perhaps soon well buy new cars with flat tires.

We'll save money on air that way!
Ok, Back to the point, someone recently posted about this and as his temps were within specs it could not be RMA'ed, yours is throttling so I would call and scream to anyone and everyone. If your chip is concave to a point where you have no contact with thermal paste spread sparingly it should be returned.

 

[Ren McCourtey]

I'll do a few pictures, contact vendor and see. I hope it's only reason for that heat problem. Can overheated CPU really cause overheating of other components? Sounds logical, while mobo is equiped with this Gigabytes "Crazy-cool" thingy it probably can be working to the contrary and actually heat chipset instead of cooling it..Maybe....:-/

 

[Capitalizt]

I know on my CPU I had a big dip in the middle of it, making very little contact with the cores possible. If you can't return it, you should definately consider lapping like I said earlier. It took me about 45 minutes for the CPU and 45 minutes for the heatsink, and in the end, both were perfectly flat and a near mirror finish. It sounds like your problem is even more severe than mine, so you will probably see a significant drop in temps when you're done.

Try getting a new chip first. If you can't, consider lapping your stuff.

 

[Ren McCourtey]

Thanks guys, I'll do it. I will let you know how it ended.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Are we talking about a CPU heat-spreader-cap that is CONCAVE?

How would such a thing happen -- between the assembly line -- and the reseller?

INTEL!!! Tsk-tsk-tsk!!

 

[Ren McCourtey]

kk. I contacted vendor and he asured me that it sounds like common problem and that my CPU will be surely replaced. Two days ago I got package but what was my surprise when I found inside old CPU and letter explaining that everything was OK and CPU runs @40C. Idle, probably? Ofc I was immediately charged for false RMA.
Hell, I said, and lapped both HS and IHS. No mirror finish but flat and nice surface. Still idles @55C but burn temps went down almost 20C, to 80C. Still way to much so there's also another problem. But what I can do?

 

[zagood]

Is your heatsink fan plugged into the motherboard? If so, try plugging it directly into your power supply so it runs at 100% speed the whole time.

-z

 

[WoodButcher]

If lapping lowered temps 20c at load the IHS was a prob, obviously there is more. do you have the latest bios on that board? Has it been updated? This may help. If you have never flashed a bios before, do the research. google yourself blind before you do this. If you decide to use the window flash software that comes with most boards now-a-days be sure to have the bioses (current and upgrade) downloaded to floppy discs with the appropriate files on each. I only put one bios on each floppy so if the windows flash fails I can flash manually. Download and print the instructions from your manufacturers website. If you have another pc online nearby this helps if you get in dutch but I have found nothing better than printed manuals in hand. Of the 10-15 boards I have flashed I only needed to manually flash one. An older Asus P5P800 agp caused me grief, the windows flash was new and failed so I used my floppy and all was right with the world.

 

[Ren McCourtey]

zagood> Thanks, but the fan is running ofc, and is running at 100% speed (1200RPM) because of these temps.
WoodButcher> Thanks, I'm quite familiar with flashing procedure and my mobo is running latest BIOS already. And if it would be BIOS problem, it would be well known already because it's popular combination. :-(

I've got an idea, maybe board gives higher voltage than should. But to give higher voltage and show normal 1.3V? I'll try to lower it a bit anyway.