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Another person in need of P5WD2 Help, please!

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MrNoClue

Registered
Joined
Oct 9, 2005
I have seen various threads around the globe regarding the Asus P5WD2 Premium and Intel pentiums, but I still don't have the definitive answers I am after ... I am turning to you folks as an apparent wealth of wisdom for your assistance, and I am sure you won't fail me! :p

I recently set up my new rig with the following spec:

Asus P5WD2 Premium
Intel 660 processor
2 Gb Corsair DDR2 RAM
ATI X850 XT PE PCIe GFX

The case is actually a quiet design one (not ideal, I appreciate) and the PSU is a 460W quiet one with a 120mm fan in it.

The problem: idles about 65 C and can breach 70 C under load (gaming) with the case closed, about 55 C and 60+ with the case open.

Things I have tried:

Changed heatsink to a Swiftech 775 one with a zalman 80mm fan.
Changed case fans from 120mm with CFM rating of about 55 to Jeantech ones with rating of about 75 CFM
Reseated processor several times variety of pastes etc, currently using AS5 (as it's meant to be the best)
Got rid of plastic Swiftech bolts ( the heads stripped very quickly with re-tries) and seated processor using steel bolts into the swiftech backplate (carefully so as not to damage the cpu).
Added fan adapter to the Swiftech HS and put a 120mm case fan on instead (tried a few configs with the 55/75 CFM fans).
Added an HDU bay extractor fan, rated at 80 CFM.

I have tried a variety of combinations over the past 2 weeks to get this rig running colder but I still end up at the same kind of end result (roughly speaking).

The BIOS is the 0422 (?) release, not the very latest which I have read mentioned here, so that is one other thing I can try.

Case layout:

Fan at front is low and sucks air in... unobstructed (I moved my HDU down a rung).
Fan at back is just under PSU and blows out, as does the PSU fan.
GFX card is blowing out back (naturally).
CPU is located approximately 90 mm below the PSU and about 90 mm away from the exhaust fan.

Given that the temps change considerably when I close the case I feel this is an airflow issue, but the 660 is still quite hot even with the case open.

So... that's the problem (other than my wife getting real ****ed at me for sitting here all day trying to fix this instead of tidying up!) and I would really appreciate your help. I'll be checking back here regularly and I am more than happy to post more information if needed.

Help me overclock-kenobi, you're my only hope! :shrug:
 
maybe I can't really help you with your case cooling, but I can tell you that 660 is one hot CPU. I am on water, a very good setup actually, and my load temps could go as high as 44-46C and my idle is 35-37, while this might not sound too hot, with the very same watercooling system, I was getting 37C at load with my 479 3.2E overclocked to 4.1 (1.525 vcore) and my delta used to be 4C between idle and load with the 3.2E, now with my 660, my delta is 6C-7C.

bottom line is, try to get yourself a better aircooling HS, and try diffrent settings with your case fans.

good luck
 
Thanks for replying xtatdsm, and I've been leaning towards the 'it's just a hot muther' explanation myself for a while now. Sad thing is I'd love to clock it for the gains on the FSB etc with my setup but I guess nothing too serious until I get watercooled (maybe early next year, cash permitting).

I'm going to keep trying out ideas though... I locked the core voltage at 1.4 earlier for a 1 C improvement... hey, maybe it'll run at 1.0 Volts :p

Anyway, thanks for the info, and welcome to any more posters with experience of this or suggestions!
 
Have you tried switching the direction of your HS fan? Try having it blow away from the CPU instead of toward it. I got an instant 4C drop in both my CPU and MB temps. It worked with my SI120 since there's a lot of breathing room under the fins. I'm not sure it will help your ST 775, but it might be worth a try.
 
Hi steveeb,

I saw your post in the other area and noted that as something to try today, so thank you! I actually cut away the front grill on the case to improve airflow in, and I also found a fair amount of dust had built up on a filter on the front panel, so I've removed that filter now for a slight improvement in temps (I can run loaded for a while at about 70/71 C, idling about 63 C).

I'll let you know the results!
 
I'm not sure what your ambient room temperature is, but those temps seem high. You have to make sure you do not apply too much AS5. I suggest putting a dab the size of a small grain of rice in the center of the CPU. Tighten down the heatsink and everything should be good.

You could seat the stock intel HSF on and see what kinda temps you are getting, though the stock HSF is not made to take the heat that comes with OCing, it is made to keep the processor at a temperature that will alllow it to run perfectly under full load for weeks\months. I don't know too much about the aftermarket HSF you are using but I recommend the Zalman 7000\7700 series or Thermalright XP90(with atleast a 35CFM fan) or better. 50-60c load is ok, but anything more I believe is dangerous.

Your ambient room temp has alot to do with all this so let us know what it is.
 
TBH I'm not sure of my ambient room temp - probably about 20C as I'm in the UK and thats about standard :)

I have stabilised my machine through undervolting for now - locked the cpu voltage to 1.35 and it's stable as you like but 10C colder, I would say.

My problem is with airflow, I think.... the X850 exhaust port is drawing too much air away without that cool air passing the cpu.... have a few ideas (not least shoving a 125 CFM fan on the intake) to try and will let you know!
 
I had an similar issue with my 660 I bought on ebay. On rare occasions Intel screws up the paste between the IHS and the physical core. Since they use epoxy there is no way to fix this problem other than RMAing the chip for another one (which I highly suggest you do)

@ stock undervolted to 1.31v (1.4 is stock) my idle temp was 55 and load was 67C. On the standard 1.4v it would cause a T2 throttling response as it broke 74C on load @ stock. My previous 650 did 48 idle and 56 load and my 640 did 43 idle and 51 load. All with about the same amount of voltage, none of them were stock. My overclocked and over-volted temps were better than this 660 undervolted. That is NOT right.

For reference my ambiant temp is 30C and my case temp is 35C.

The functional 660 I had before I bought the 650 did 46C idle and 57C load. This is on an XP120 with decent cooling (which was worse than what I used on the new 660 that I returned)

Its not your imagination, you *need* RMA the chip. That will be the only solution to your problem. The temps you are getting are FAR beyond the spectrum of what is considered "normal". I think you will find the replacement chip you recieve will not have this issue and I would expect your temps to drop over 25C
 
Last edited:
MrNoClue said:
Help me overclock-kenobi, you're my only hope! :shrug:

Side air duct to bring fresh air into the HS will lower your temp significantly....more later.
 
I had the same problem with the 660. To fix it i changed the paste, and enabled the power management feature for the cpu (forget what its called or where it is but it made a huge difference).
 
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