4200 x2 temp range and other questions

Last night I upgraded the CPU on my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum from a 3500+ Winchester to a 4200 x2 Toledo. Before buying I decided I wanted to at the very least get a minor overclock (2.2ghz -> 2.4ghz) if not more (2.2ghz -> 2.6ghz). I got 200 mhz out of my new setup very easily by relaxing my Corsair TwinX 1024 to 2-3-3-6 and setting the FSB to 220 (leaving memory at 1:1 and all volts stock).

While running Orthos to check for stability I noticed a couple of things. The two core temps reported by CoreTemp 0.9.54 differ from each other anywhere from 2° to 7°. Is this normal?

Also I noticed that my temps were up at about 60-62°C while running Orthos. I'm assuming this has to do more with the Arctic Silver 5 break-in period than my Zalman Cu-7700?

What temps should I expect with this setup post AS5 break-in? Is there a max-rated temp for the 4200 x2?

During the AS5 break-in should I be OC'ing or should I just let everything run at stock speeds/ratings?

Sorry for all my newb questions.

Different temps on the cores are normal, might be the TIM, the heatspreader, max temp is 49-71C for that processor. LINK

Welcome to O/C Forums!

The 2 different core temps are normal. Alot or most X2 temps vary greatly.

That Zalman Cu-7700 isn't the best cooler around, it's designed more for silence than super cooling so 60-62C loaded temps are again within nominal ranges. Maybe taking the side panel off can help. How many times did you reseat the sink and how much AS5 did you use?

You can clock the chip a little to help with the "Break-in" time with the AS5. Also putting a load on it will help it further.


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For the Zalman I pulled it off the 3500+. Cleaned it with ArctiClean 1&2 and let it dry.

For the 4200 I put a little ArctiClean 2 on to clean it and then let it dry.

I put a dot of AS5 on the 4200 before putting it in the mobo. The amount was pretty close to the amount recommended in the AS5 directions. I put the 7700-Cu on and did the 1-2° twists recommended per the AS5 directions then screwed it in. I let it sit for about a minute then brought it upstairs and booted up.

Do I need to reseat the Zalman?

I'm going to do a little more research on this myself, but any recommendations on a better, available HS/Fan for 939 air cooling? It seems like the ones that are better for OCing are sold out at Newegg.

Edit: I took off the side panel and the load temps dropped from ~61-63°C to ~54-57°C.
Guess I need to look at better airflow for my case as well.

Reseating the Zalman won't make much difference.

Basically you're confronting the noise vs cooling compromise. As good as heatsinks are designed these days you still have to push some serious air flow over those dual core chips to keep temps in check and that means a certain degree of fan noise.

I'm running Orthos stable at 2.6 ghz, stock voltage, 49C on a Toledo x2 4200+. Heatsink is a Thermalright XP-90 (http://www.svc.com/xp-90-21.html) cooled with an 80mm Delta FFB0812EHE that's ridiculously noisy at full throttle but tamed with a fan controller.

Don't think they make that brand Delta any longer but any fan pushing over 45 cfm should work fine for that heatsink. While it can take up to a 92mm fan I'd stay with an 80mm. Noisier, yes, but it concentrates the air flow on the chip better.

mantle said:

Last night I upgraded the CPU on my MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum from a 3500+ Winchester to a 4200 x2 Toledo. Before buying I decided I wanted to at the very least get a minor overclock (2.2ghz -> 2.4ghz) if not more (2.2ghz -> 2.6ghz). I got 200 mhz out of my new setup very easily by relaxing my Corsair TwinX 1024 to 2-3-3-6 and setting the FSB to 220 (leaving memory at 1:1 and all volts stock).

While running Orthos to check for stability I noticed a couple of things. The two core temps reported by CoreTemp 0.9.54 differ from each other anywhere from 2° to 7°. Is this normal?

Also I noticed that my temps were up at about 60-62°C while running Orthos. I'm assuming this has to do more with the Arctic Silver 5 break-in period than my Zalman Cu-7700?

What temps should I expect with this setup post AS5 break-in? Is there a max-rated temp for the 4200 x2?

During the AS5 break-in should I be OC'ing or should I just let everything run at stock speeds/ratings?

Sorry for all my newb questions.

Click to expand...

Mantle,

I have varying core temps from 3 - 6 C, always have from the beginning. In my opinion, your temps are too high if you are at standard vcore. Our chips are similar and I'm at the high default end of vcore (Opteron = 1.300 - 1.350 volts) and Orthos runs at about 51-55C running both cores. I'd run your processor for a few days at default and see what happens. Then you can make a better assessment. I'm on stock HS and cooling fan.

If you kick up your vcore later to overclock, and you probably will have to soon, you will surely be getting into the danger zone. I can run much higher but not without better cooling.

This cooler is also recommended by many AMD users:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125

Im running a 4200 Toledo 939, Im using the big Zalman cooler, the CNPS9500, works great. Temps load under dual Prime95 around 56 and thats a 2.75Ghz with 1.425 vcore. Also on a side note, its really rather quiet to.

RollingThunder said:

This cooler is also recommended by many AMD users:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185125

Click to expand...

That looks like a nice solution. I'm also considering a Cooler Master Hyper TX2. Hmm.

How much of a drop should I expect in my temps after the AS5 has been broken in?

Also my case is probably a very large part of the problem. I have an Aluminum Cooler Master WaveMaster that by default has poor air flow. It seemed like a nice case until I started paying attention to temperatures.

Thanks to everyone for the info/advice. Keep it coming.

Edit:
Is CoreTemp 0.9.54 known to exhibit random shutdowns? I saw that disabling logging should prevent crashes in the latest version?

Oh and according to CoreTemp my temps are the same for stock 2.2ghz and light OC 2.4ghz. Is that normal?

mantle said:

That looks like a nice solution. I'm also considering a Cooler Master Hyper TX2. Hmm.

How much of a drop should I expect in my temps after the AS5 has been broken in?

Also my case is probably a very large part of the problem. I have an Aluminum Cooler Master WaveMaster that by default has poor air flow. It seemed like a nice case until I started paying attention to temperatures.

Thanks to everyone for the info/advice. Keep it coming.

Edit:
Is CoreTemp 0.9.54 known to exhibit random shutdowns? I saw that disabling logging should prevent crashes in the latest version?

Oh and according to CoreTemp my temps are the same for stock 2.2ghz and light OC 2.4ghz. Is that normal?

Click to expand...

Mantle,

For my own knowledge, when I dropped in this Opteron over a 3500+, I put too much AS5 on the first time. I reinstalled with the proper amount twice a few weeks apart just to see if there was any difference in temps. There was none in my case. Others claim there is a "curing" time, I didn't see any and I had just about the same ambient temps each time. With a good contact install, my temps were what they are from the beginning.

My case isn't anything special, it's a mid tower with average airflow. I made adjustments with intake-exhaust fans to help. Picture enclosed of an intake fan sitting on top of my DVD. It doubled as a RAM cooler too. You may not have the room for this, it's just an idea. It helped me. There is always a way to improvise for better cooling.

I was later upgraded the latest Coretemp as you did and had a few issues so I went back to v.94 and they disappeared. Coretemp is a great program but there have been a few issues others had that varied from rig to rig.

Your temps really depend on your vcore, when you kick it up in small increments, that's when you'll begin to see the temps go up. That Arctic Freezer Pro was recommended to me by quite a few in the AMD Asrock motherboard thread, it snaps on top so you don't have to pull the motherboard out. There are other solutions mentioned here too, I've never used anything but the stock HS and fan.

IMO, as long as your CPU stays at or under ~57-58C with Orthos, you should be fine but I am somewhat conservative. I know my temps would drop 4-5C at least from other's experience with the Arctic Freezer Pro or another comparable quality HS and fan if needed.

Quick update ... I just brought my temps down from 5-10°C by upgrading my case. I'm now running on a CM 690. Going to upgrade the Zalman 7700Cu next. My goal is 2.6-2.7ghz at or below 55°C running Orthos.

What a difference better airflow makes!