What sort of temps should I expect with q6600?

AndyD2k

Senior member
Feb 3, 2003
824
0
71
my current cpu idles around 44 - what are the chances that I can lower the temps of a q6600?
 

SerpentRoyal

Banned
May 20, 2007
3,517
0
0
With 75F ambient and adequate air flow across case, you should be able to hit 50C under Orthos Large mode. Add another 10C with an overclocked CPU.
 

adairusmc

Diamond Member
Jul 24, 2006
7,095
78
91
I am running a B3 Q6600 with an Ultra120 and a DFI LanParty UT P35 board, and I idle around 32C with the chip overclocked to 3Ghz. At load (8 hours of prime) it is around 62C.

Those should be even lower if I had a G0 stepping chip.
 

eelw

Lifer
Dec 4, 1999
10,350
5,499
136
Undervolting can greatly drop temps. My G0 with Vcore down to 0.97v at stock idled at 29C while at full load it was at 40C. I have a TT V1 on my chip.
 

Diogenes2

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
2,151
0
0
Originally posted by: AndyD2k
my current cpu idles around 44 - what are the chances that I can lower the temps of a q6600?

A q6600 should idle way below 44 with the Intel stock cooler..

What difference does it make what your temp is when the CPU is idle ?
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
Tcase can never be lower tham case ambient temps and Tjunction would therefore be a minimum of 10c higher than case ambient temps at idle. Most likely the hottest core will end up being around 15c higher than case ambient temps. This can also be higher.

In order to have an idle of 32c on the CPUs at Tjunction, case temperature would have to be 22c, but most likely would have to be 19c for the hottest core to idle at 32c. It doesn't matter if you undervolt or overvolt in this situation because idle is determined by case temperature +10-15c.

Most cases with good air flow will have about 5-8c higher temperature than ambient room temperatures.

Therefore, if your house is 19c, your case is going to be around 24c, probably 28c if you prefer "quiet" or near silent computing. Then add 15c for the hottest core to that value and that is your lowest possible idle temperature with air cooling.

So, for someone to idle at 32c, case ambient temps would have to be a minimum of 22c, but most likely 18-19c in real world. This would then mean they are running open case, or their room temperature is in the range of 15c. Highly unlikely.

After much research and I finally understand the mechanics behind this and how a lot of people are fooled by their reported temps or greatly exaggerate their numbers.

Remember, room temperature ultimately determines lowest possible idle temperature of ANY CPU when using air cooling. So, it doesn't matter if you undervolt a E2140 or overvolt a Q6600, it still cannot idle any lower than Case Temp + 10c. So once you have established lowest possible idle, additional cooling will be of no value. As far as load temperatures, that is a different story. Load temperatures can be brought down to close the delta between idle and load. A poor heatsink will have a greater delta between idle and loads, a good one will shrink that gap. Average delta between idle and load is around 20c, but can be as great as 30c and as low as 15c.

Anyway, once you have established lowest possible idle, you can then add 15-30c for the delta between idle and load temps. An example posted here below...

Room Temp 22c
Case Temp 27c
Tcase Temp 28c (taken at the geometric center of the IHS)
Tjunction Idle Temp 40c (adding 12c to account for hottest core)
Tjunction Load Temp 55c - 70c (average of 22.5c Delta between idle and core temps)

I hope this helps explain some things! Don't be fooled when someone tries to tell you their CPU idles lower than their case temperature (unless they use phase change, or some other chilled method of cooling where ambient temps no longer play much of a role) you can call BS on them! Because I see a lot of BS going around all the forums in regard to temperature. Some of these people are claiming temps on air that are just not possible unless you live in 15c room temps running open case. Not likely. Though to be clear, this isn't because they are trying to lie, it is most probably the poorly calibrated digital sensors, or monitor programs that are giving them incorrect data. This is easy to determine by simply using the start point of room temperature, moving up to case temperature, then to Tcase (Tcase cannot be lower than case temperature) and then adding 10-15c for Tjunction! You have thus found your lowest possible idle :D

Tom's Hardware has a great guide right here in regards to what I am talking about. If you take your time and read through it, everything will sort of 'click' and make sense.
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
With 75F ambient and adequate air flow across case, you should be able to hit 50C under Orthos Large mode. Add another 10C with an overclocked CPU.

In the absolute best case scenario you describe

24c Room Temp
25c Case Temp (assuming best possible scenario, or 'open case')
26c Tcase Temp (Geometric Center of IHS)
38c Tjunction Idle Temp
58c Tjunction Load Temp (Using the average 20c delta between idle and load).

These values I am giving are in favor of a cooler CPU when most likely his case temp will be higher than room temperature, and in addition to that, Tcase will likely be higher than +1c case temp as the IHS+HSF is not lapped, thus without perfect metal to metal contact, you are looking at probably more like 2-3c over case temp. Taken into account the average case + non lapped HSF+CPU, you are looking at an addition 8c minimum for temps accross the board. Therefore, idle will be around 46c and load 66c on average in a room temp of 75F.

Just for kicks I went to CC and checked out an HP Q6600 machine. I decided to feel the air coming out if the exhaust fan and it was very warm... My subjective test would put the temperature in the range of 110F, which means Tjunction idle temps are far hotter...

If I am right about my 110F case temp guestimate, then HP's Q6600 is running Tjunction idle at 53c, and probably higher. If I am off by 10F (then assuming 100F), then Tjunction would idle at 48C best case scenario, regardless of HSF.

Again, if you want to know more about understanding these temperatures, check out this post from Tom's Hardware forums. Very excellent read... Take your time and understand it as thoroughly as possible. Once you do, you won't even question your temperatures, because you will know how it all works.

I used to think my Q6600 was running abnormally hot, well, it turns out it was running just fine. I didn't take into affect my rather high ambient temps, along with even hotter case temps (due to my desire for near silence).

So, if I want to get my Q6600 to idle at 35c, I can easily do it. I just turn on my AC, bring room temps down to 18c and turn all my case fans on high. My room temp to case ambient temperature is directly related to my CPU idle speeds. Turning fans to very low, putting my box in the cabinet so I cannot hear it, and keeping room around 25c room temp nets an idle of around 46c.
 

AndyD2k

Senior member
Feb 3, 2003
824
0
71
Originally posted by: Diogenes2
Originally posted by: AndyD2k
my current cpu idles around 44 - what are the chances that I can lower the temps of a q6600?

A q6600 should idle way below 44 with the Intel stock cooler..

What difference does it make what your temp is when the CPU is idle ?

Because the more heat the pc produces, the hotter it makes my room especially during the summer. 10-20C can make a big difference. I want to go down not up in temps
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
Originally posted by: AndyD2k
Originally posted by: Diogenes2
Originally posted by: AndyD2k
my current cpu idles around 44 - what are the chances that I can lower the temps of a q6600?

A q6600 should idle way below 44 with the Intel stock cooler..

What difference does it make what your temp is when the CPU is idle ?

Because the more heat the pc produces, the hotter it makes my room especially during the summer. 10-20C can make a big difference. I want to go down not up in temps

That is true, but regardless of your HSF, the amount of heat generated is the same. Therfore, a Thermalright 120 and a Stock HSF will raise room temperatures by the same amount over the same period of time if it isn't offset by the A/C.

If you are looking to generate less heat, you have a few solutions


1) Lower the voltage of the CPU
2) Lower the clock speed of the CPU
3) Increase A/C to compensate for your littler 'heater'
4) Watercool and mount radiator to the return air vent, or outside the house

Personally, I would lower the voltage as far as it can and keep the CPU at stock if that is your major concern. What I opted to do was lower voltage to stock, and then test how high my CPU would manage. I was able to hit 3Ghz at stock voltage.

Good luck!

 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
Originally posted by: Diogenes2
Originally posted by: AndyD2k
my current cpu idles around 44 - what are the chances that I can lower the temps of a q6600?

A q6600 should idle way below 44 with the Intel stock cooler..

What difference does it make what your temp is when the CPU is idle ?

Not true at all... Take a look at this review!

Quote from that site

Our temperature readings were recorded using Core Temp 0.95.4 and averaging the core temperatures together (so instead of listing four temperatures, there's only one). Stability was tested using two instances of Orthos Stress Prime assigning two cores to each instance with the affinity options found in the task manager.

At the default speed and voltage (2.4GHz/1.3125V) the Q6600 idled at a warm 49C, rising to 75C during stress testing using Intel's stock cooler.

Also, what they found when they overclocked it

Boosting the VCore to 1.4V, the Q6600 easily overclocked to 3.0GHz and a 1333FSB (the default specs of the QX6850, Intel's current king of the hill). During our testing, the Q6600 ran 55C at idle and 81C under load on the stock Intel HSF
 

PCTC2

Diamond Member
Feb 18, 2007
3,892
33
91
At 1.32v (after vDroop at load), my Q6600 @ 3.0GHz maxes around 67C on my Thermalright Ultra120 (probably needs a reseat). It idles around 39C.
 

Diogenes2

Platinum Member
Jul 26, 2001
2,151
0
0
Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Originally posted by: Diogenes2
Originally posted by: AndyD2k
my current cpu idles around 44 - what are the chances that I can lower the temps of a q6600?

A q6600 should idle way below 44 with the Intel stock cooler..

What difference does it make what your temp is when the CPU is idle ?

Not true at all... Take a look at this review!

Quote from that site

Our temperature readings were recorded using Core Temp 0.95.4 and averaging the core temperatures together (so instead of listing four temperatures, there's only one). Stability was tested using two instances of Orthos Stress Prime assigning two cores to each instance with the affinity options found in the task manager.

At the default speed and voltage (2.4GHz/1.3125V) the Q6600 idled at a warm 49C, rising to 75C during stress testing using Intel's stock cooler.

Also, what they found when they overclocked it

Boosting the VCore to 1.4V, the Q6600 easily overclocked to 3.0GHz and a 1333FSB (the default specs of the QX6850, Intel's current king of the hill). During our testing, the Q6600 ran 55C at idle and 81C under load on the stock Intel HSF

That wasn't my experience.. My first Q6600 had a default voltage of 1.26, and my idle temps were high 30's.. When I overclocked to 3.2, temps shot up to 80's under load ( and throttled ) as in your example ..

The OP seems to be concerned with keeping temp down when CPU is idle .

With C1E/EIST enabled, I think high 30's are realistic with ambient at ~ 24 with the stock cooler..

That said, I don't recommend the stock cooler for other than the most basic ' never look inside the case ' build...

 

AndyD2k

Senior member
Feb 3, 2003
824
0
71
Yeah, I'm not concerned about load - I would expect temps to be up if say I was playing a game but that's only 5% of the time. Most other times I'm barely putting the cpu to use so I'm hoping that with a new case, cpu and improved cooling that my temps will go down (current is a AMD 3700 cpu) not go in the opposite direction if I upgrade to a quad
 

boglwe

Senior member
Aug 16, 2007
464
0
0
Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Originally posted by: SerpentRoyal
With 75F ambient and adequate air flow across case, you should be able to hit 50C under Orthos Large mode. Add another 10C with an overclocked CPU.

In the absolute best case scenario you describe

24c Room Temp
25c Case Temp (assuming best possible scenario, or 'open case')
26c Tcase Temp (Geometric Center of IHS)
38c Tjunction Idle Temp
58c Tjunction Load Temp (Using the average 20c delta between idle and load).

These values I am giving are in favor of a cooler CPU when most likely his case temp will be higher than room temperature, and in addition to that, Tcase will likely be higher than +1c case temp as the IHS+HSF is not lapped, thus without perfect metal to metal contact, you are looking at probably more like 2-3c over case temp. Taken into account the average case + non lapped HSF+CPU, you are looking at an addition 8c minimum for temps accross the board. Therefore, idle will be around 46c and load 66c on average in a room temp of 75F.

Just for kicks I went to CC and checked out an HP Q6600 machine. I decided to feel the air coming out if the exhaust fan and it was very warm... My subjective test would put the temperature in the range of 110F, which means Tjunction idle temps are far hotter...

If I am right about my 110F case temp guestimate, then HP's Q6600 is running Tjunction idle at 53c, and probably higher. If I am off by 10F (then assuming 100F), then Tjunction would idle at 48C best case scenario, regardless of HSF.

Again, if you want to know more about understanding these temperatures, check out this post from Tom's Hardware forums. Very excellent read... Take your time and understand it as thoroughly as possible. Once you do, you won't even question your temperatures, because you will know how it all works.

I used to think my Q6600 was running abnormally hot, well, it turns out it was running just fine. I didn't take into affect my rather high ambient temps, along with even hotter case temps (due to my desire for near silence).

So, if I want to get my Q6600 to idle at 35c, I can easily do it. I just turn on my AC, bring room temps down to 18c and turn all my case fans on high. My room temp to case ambient temperature is directly related to my CPU idle speeds. Turning fans to very low, putting my box in the cabinet so I cannot hear it, and keeping room around 25c room temp nets an idle of around 46c.

DUDE.. you TOTALLY hit the nail in the head with my temps. my room is 74c and my temps at 3.2 are 43c and 69c
 

boglwe

Senior member
Aug 16, 2007
464
0
0
Originally posted by: Diogenes2
Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Originally posted by: Diogenes2
Originally posted by: AndyD2k
my current cpu idles around 44 - what are the chances that I can lower the temps of a q6600?

A q6600 should idle way below 44 with the Intel stock cooler..

What difference does it make what your temp is when the CPU is idle ?

Not true at all... Take a look at this review!

Quote from that site

Our temperature readings were recorded using Core Temp 0.95.4 and averaging the core temperatures together (so instead of listing four temperatures, there's only one). Stability was tested using two instances of Orthos Stress Prime assigning two cores to each instance with the affinity options found in the task manager.

At the default speed and voltage (2.4GHz/1.3125V) the Q6600 idled at a warm 49C, rising to 75C during stress testing using Intel's stock cooler.

Also, what they found when they overclocked it

Boosting the VCore to 1.4V, the Q6600 easily overclocked to 3.0GHz and a 1333FSB (the default specs of the QX6850, Intel's current king of the hill). During our testing, the Q6600 ran 55C at idle and 81C under load on the stock Intel HSF

That wasn't my experience.. My first Q6600 had a default voltage of 1.26, and my idle temps were high 30's.. When I overclocked to 3.2, temps shot up to 80's under load ( and throttled ) as in your example ..

The OP seems to be concerned with keeping temp down when CPU is idle .

With C1E/EIST enabled, I think high 30's are realistic with ambient at ~ 24 with the stock cooler..

That said, I don't recommend the stock cooler for other than the most basic ' never look inside the case ' build...

This is a great argument, so, the two of you keep it civil and we will all learn a TON (not saying you both will nto keep it civil, i am jsut hoping to pull more info instead of just name calling, heh.) Anyways, I see both of these being correct. In my bios, my CPU runs at about 32c idle. In vista 64 Idle is usually 44c (thats OC'd), Thats also the hottect core, cores 3 and 4 runs about 5-6 degrees less then cores 0 and 1. SOOoooooooo, who the heck knows that the true temp of that tin at the top is? But anyways, fantastik argument, ATM Archangel is winning though with all his proofs and backups. heh.
 

ArchAngel777

Diamond Member
Dec 24, 2000
5,223
61
91
Originally posted by: boglwe
Originally posted by: Diogenes2
Originally posted by: ArchAngel777
Originally posted by: Diogenes2
Originally posted by: AndyD2k
my current cpu idles around 44 - what are the chances that I can lower the temps of a q6600?

A q6600 should idle way below 44 with the Intel stock cooler..

What difference does it make what your temp is when the CPU is idle ?

Not true at all... Take a look at this review!

Quote from that site

Our temperature readings were recorded using Core Temp 0.95.4 and averaging the core temperatures together (so instead of listing four temperatures, there's only one). Stability was tested using two instances of Orthos Stress Prime assigning two cores to each instance with the affinity options found in the task manager.

At the default speed and voltage (2.4GHz/1.3125V) the Q6600 idled at a warm 49C, rising to 75C during stress testing using Intel's stock cooler.

Also, what they found when they overclocked it

Boosting the VCore to 1.4V, the Q6600 easily overclocked to 3.0GHz and a 1333FSB (the default specs of the QX6850, Intel's current king of the hill). During our testing, the Q6600 ran 55C at idle and 81C under load on the stock Intel HSF

That wasn't my experience.. My first Q6600 had a default voltage of 1.26, and my idle temps were high 30's.. When I overclocked to 3.2, temps shot up to 80's under load ( and throttled ) as in your example ..

The OP seems to be concerned with keeping temp down when CPU is idle .

With C1E/EIST enabled, I think high 30's are realistic with ambient at ~ 24 with the stock cooler..

That said, I don't recommend the stock cooler for other than the most basic ' never look inside the case ' build...

This is a great argument, so, the two of you keep it civil and we will all learn a TON (not saying you both will nto keep it civil, i am jsut hoping to pull more info instead of just name calling, heh.) Anyways, I see both of these being correct. In my bios, my CPU runs at about 32c idle. In vista 64 Idle is usually 44c (thats OC'd), Thats also the hottect core, cores 3 and 4 runs about 5-6 degrees less then cores 0 and 1. SOOoooooooo, who the heck knows that the true temp of that tin at the top is? But anyways, fantastik argument, ATM Archangel is winning though with all his proofs and backups. heh.

Who is name calling?

Anyway, if your BIOS reports 32c, then you can be sure it is reporting Tcase temperature, not Tjunction. BIOS CPU temps will always be hotter than idle in Windows. The reason BIOS shows lower is because it is reporting Tcase, which is 7-13c lower in temperature (could be as high as 15+).

What is interesting is that the IP35-E BIOS 10 used Tcase for BIOS Reported temps. Then the 11 or 12 BIOS update decided to use the hottest core temperature for reporting in BIOS. The result in my situation was a 13-15c increase. So BIOS reported 36c, then 51c (my true core temp - hottest one)

As far as Boglwe's question "SOOoooooooo, who the heck knows that the true temp of that tin at the top is?" the answer is no one knows for certain for any particular chip. We know that Quads are 7c-13c and C2Duo's 12-18c. This varies from stepping to stepping, though.

 

bluxa

Member
Aug 4, 2007
54
0
0
My experience is this. I have Q6600 G0. Current room temp is about 24c. The computer is overclocked to 3.2GHz with a Vcore of 1.385. Its cooled with TR ultra 120 extreme and an S-flex fan (1600rpm, currently running at 1000rpm). Idle temp is 38C. running orthos at load it gets up to about 65C with all fans on low. When I turn up all the fans it can reduce the temps by about 5C+.

In summer I had really high ambient temps. On day it was 38C, unfortunately the room with the computer has no aircon. In summer it was overclocked to 3Ghz. It idled at about 44-47C. I ran orthos one night when the ambient temp was 34C and it maxed at 65C. All fans on full. Temps recorded with CoreTemp and TAT. I`ve given the coretemp temps, although for some reason they are higher than the TAT temps by 1C or so. Personally my experience is that because of poor airflow in the room, the computer itself added to the temps.
 

boglwe

Senior member
Aug 16, 2007
464
0
0
Originally posted by: bluxa
My experience is this. I have Q6600 G0. Current room temp is about 24c. The computer is overclocked to 3.2GHz with a Vcore of 1.385. Its cooled with TR ultra 120 extreme and an S-flex fan (1600rpm, currently running at 1000rpm). Idle temp is 38C. running orthos at load it gets up to about 65C with all fans on low. When I turn up all the fans it can reduce the temps by about 5C+.

In summer I had really high ambient temps. On day it was 38C, unfortunately the room with the computer has no aircon. In summer it was overclocked to 3Ghz. It idled at about 44-47C. I ran orthos one night when the ambient temp was 34C and it maxed at 65C. All fans on full. Temps recorded with CoreTemp and TAT. I`ve given the coretemp temps, although for some reason they are higher than the TAT temps by 1C or so. Personally my experience is that because of poor airflow in the room, the computer itself added to the temps.


FOR SURE, sitting next to my comp when it was at 3.3 wa like sitting next toa space heater. And it mae the whole room hot. I am sure thats in effect for all OC's and room temps unless you have very good airflow in the room its going to raise a degree or two. In the case of summer and my room being about 80f, my temps we very high and th room increased by 5f during prime95.
 

Saiyukimot

Member
Sep 4, 2007
77
0
0
My Q6600 G0 idles at around 33degrees with Arctic Freezer 7 Pro with 2 incoming case fans, stock voltage at stock speeds. Seems to go to around the low 50's at load. Gonna overclock it a bit to see what temps come out then :)