CPU temp is getting hotter as indoor temps increase with grid computing, help!

[techiemon]

EDIT: That should read CPU temp, not system temp in the title..

Well, as I expected as winter is started to wan and indoor temperatures have gone up a few degrees I have seen my cpu temps increase 5-9C degrees over the last few days. This is not good news.

I am currently overclocking my CPU to 4.333 via the TPU and I am thinking I may need to turn it off during the warmer months.

I run BOINC for grid computing. Right now I am only running 2 cores at 60%, but I am seeing my core temps using Core temp software at maxes reaching 68 degrees. Whereas just last week they were just at around 60-62 running three cores at 90% 24/7.

I am a little bit surprised with the fan that I am using that I am not able to keep the temps lower than this. What can I do other than turn off the TPU overclock or change to water cooling? I have no interest in water cooling, I have no space on my desk. I was considering adding another fan to the other side of the cooler master to get a push pull effect, but from the information I am read online at most I am going to get a 1 degree differnece... Summer time indoor temps where I am can reach 34C. Right now it is only about 22C inside, in the summertime I think my CPU might go to 75-80C.

Am I at any risk of damaging the CPU for the occassional spike to above 70? Because I am only using 60% of the CPUs time for grid computing and not 100%, will that make any difference?

 

[muddocktor]

First of all, thread title updated for you man.

As for your present temps, you are still OK. But, whatever TPU is you are using to overclock with, do away with it and go old skool and do it in bios instead. This TPU is probably giving you way more vcore than what that moderate overclock really needs. All my 2500k needs for an everyday 4.7 overclock is about 1.35-1.375v vcore and IIRC it didn't need much, if any extra vcore at around 4.3 GHz. Lowering vcore will help tremendously on temps. As for your present cooler, the 212+ is a good budget cooler. But, it doesn't compare with higher end coolers as far as out and out cooling ability goes either. If you are going to see some high summer environmental temps, you might think of upgrading to a better cooler such as a True Spirit 140. Or you can try setting up a push pull fan setup on your 212+ too, but don't expect miracles that way either, unless noise pollution doesn't bother you.

You won't damage your proc with spikes up to even 80 C, but since you do BOINC like myself, the lower the temps the better off you are. I run all my systems 24/7/365 on BOINC/Rosetta except my heatsink test system, but I have them all on custom water too.

 

[techiemon]

First of all, thread title updated for you man.

As for your present temps, you are still OK. But, whatever TPU is you are using to overclock with, do away with it and go old skool and do it in bios instead. This TPU is probably giving you way more vcore than what that moderate overclock really needs. All my 2500k needs for an everyday 4.7 overclock is about 1.35-1.375v vcore and IIRC it didn't need much, if any extra vcore at around 4.3 GHz. Lowering vcore will help tremendously on temps. As for your present cooler, the 212+ is a good budget cooler. But, it doesn't compare with higher end coolers as far as out and out cooling ability goes either. If you are going to see some high summer environmental temps, you might think of upgrading to a better cooler such as a True Spirit 140. Or you can try setting up a push pull fan setup on your 212+ too, but don't expect miracles that way either, unless noise pollution doesn't bother you.

You won't damage your proc with spikes up to even 80 C, but since you do BOINC like myself, the lower the temps the better off you are. I run all my systems 24/7/365 on BOINC/Rosetta except my heatsink test system, but I have them all on custom water too.

Hiya muddocktor, firstly thanks for changing the title of the post!!!

Secondly thanks for the info!!

From the look of these two fans, they appear to be almost the same, and pretty much the same price. Can you tell me why the True Spirit 140 is better? And how many degrees it may cool down my cpu? My 212+ right now is running at nearly 100% capacity at 2000rpm 24/7.

As for the Overclocking by hand, I am going to need some help with that, step by step, should I write new post and link here?

Right now my Vcore temp according to Core Temp software runs from 1.3260 down to 0.9757 volts becuase I am not maxing out BOINC. I would love to be able to run three cores again at 80-90% of the time, but right now the temps are moving up so I need to monitor that. I am not sure how accurate Core Temp is with these measurements though. Through the Asus Suite software I am seein ga Vcore of 0.976 to 1.304 with an avg. of 1.288. These seem to be ok and lower than yours, but I am only doing 4.333GHz. Is there a better way to test the vcore? Or is part of the problem the flucuation in voltage?

 

[muddocktor]

I review heatsinks for the Overclockers.com website and I have actually tested both of them on the same test platform. So my results can be directly compared against each other to show which of the heatsinks perform better. I just recently reviewed the True Spirit 140 right here and if you go down towards the bottom of the review, you will see that I have a chart showing all the heatsinks I have tested to date on this test platform overclocked to 4 GHz and you can compare the results I have seen during my testing. The TS 140 cools over 13 C better on my test system as compared to the Hyper 212 Plus. That is on an i7 930 overclocked to 4 GHz, which is a hotter running platform than your 2500K system too. My review of the Hyper 212 Plus is right here, if you want to check it out. In my opinion, Thermalright really hit a grand slam home run with the True Spirit 140 design. They have gotten outstanding performance out of it and kept the pricing reasonable. The only real drawback is the height of it at 170 mm tall, which might present problems with some narrower cases.

As for overclocking your 2500K, you should read this thread here in the Intel CPU forum here and then if you have some questions, make a thread in that forum to ask them.

Hope this helps you out.

 

[bmwbaxter]

All I have to input is listen to Mudd. He probably knows more about cooler realworld performance than anyone else on this site.

So he won't steer you wrong.

 

[techiemon]

Hi, you seem to be a jack of all trades on here eh?

Well although this fan sounds splendid, it appears I won't be able to use it. The 212+ I am running right now just about touches the arcrylic panel of the case. I have roughly no more than about a half inch remaining before the nobs on the end touch the cover. I assuming that I would need a fatter case, so I am out of luck. Is there another possible fan I might be able to use here? 13C better is a terrific difference, I wish someone would have recommended me this fan when I bought the computer so I could have bought a bigger case at the beginning. oh well...

I think I went through that thread already, seems I might have to create a new one.

EDIT: The more he replies to my threads, the more I feel he does have a ton of experience and knowledge! Very happy he is posting in my threads.

 

[muddocktor]

Yeah, I looked up your case online and it would be a very tight fit to get the TS 140 in that case. I think the ends of the heatpipes would be right against the acrylic window, since the TS 140 is about 12 mm or so taller than a 212 Plus. As for other choices, it depends on your budget and sources to buy from in Taiwan. I imagine that you can find most heatsinks there but I would be just taking a guess as ton availability for you. I'll give you a list of good performance heatsinks that should fit inside your case for you to look at that perform better than a 212 Plus.

First up, look for the Thermalright True Spirit 120 (new Rev). It is very similar to the TS 140 except for 2 fewer heatpipes and a slightly smaller and shorter size. The fin shape is also like the earlier Cogage True Spirit, which I have tested and found to be quite a bit better performer than the 212+. It's also 160 mm tall, which is about 1.5 mm taller than the 212+, so it should fit ok. I haven't actually put this new revision TS 120 on the test system yet, but it is basically the same as the older rev that Thermalright sold under the Cogage name. The biggest difference between them is that Thermalright made the base block a bit smaller and thinner to go with a new mounting system. BTW, I will be testing it soon for review. Thermalright has some other heatsinks that perform very well but are more expensive too. The Thermalright Ultra Extreme 120 Rev C (TRUE Rev C) is an older but still extremely effective design and it is offered with the mount for your Sandy Bridge board. The Venomous X is another excellent choice. Both those retail here in the US in the $50-70 range. For an excellent non Thermalright choice (but a bit pricey) is the Prolimatech Genesis, which I've also reviewed recently. It's performance came in right under the TS 140. I bought the one I reviewed for $70 (yeah, I bought it because Prolimatech won't send us review samples for some reason) and it doesn't come with fans either. You can run either 120 or 140 mm sized fans on it. It also comes in at 160 mm installed height, so it should fit your case too. It also has the advantage of blowing air across your ram slots to keep your ram nice and cool and it can even accommodate ram with pretty tall heatspreaders.

 

[techiemon]

Hi Mudd,

Compared to the TS140 how many degrees can I cool down my CPU with the 120? You mentioned that the TS140 is about 13C.

I looked at the massive Prolimatech you mentioned, wow. Though I am not sure if it would actually fit and what size fans to buy for it. That thing looks massive. 18C lower temps with that maybe? That thing costs over 100 bucks here. And might be overkill.

Generally how difficult is it install one of these things? I see so many pieces and parts in these reviews that it scares me. The place I bought it from here puts it together for you in about an hour, so I just let them do it. Do they usually come with the glue base or do we have to buy that separately? I didn't see one with the 212+

 

[muddocktor]

The Genesis is actually pretty easy to mount. You install the heatsink retention system to the mobo, then the heatsink is fastened to the processor by a crossbar tightened down with 2 spring loaded screws. Once the mounting system is actually mounted to the mobo, it takes about 2-3 minutes to remove the heatsink and about the same to put it back on, since there is only those 2 spring loaded screws that you remove. You do have to install the ram before mounting it, because it overhangs all the ram slots. As for fans, you could use a couple of 140 mm Yate Loon low speed fans or even 120 mm Yate Loon low speed fans. Since you DC, I recommend overkill for cooling. I've been running various DC projects for around 10 years now and keeping your proc and system cool is key in getting long life out of your system.

The True Spirit 120 will probably give up around 2-3 degrees performance compared to the TS 140. But, since I haven't yet tested the new revision, I am basing this kind of performance by it from the original model True Spirit, which I have tested. The original model TS beats the 212+ by several degrees, with a quieter fan to boot. The original model only came with mounts for LGA1366 boards though and the new revision has the same revised mounting system that the TS 140 and HR-02 Macho use, making it multi-platform.

 

[techiemon]

Well a 10C difference with the 120 might be just what I need, it will bring the temps back to 60C, though in the summer I am not sure what it would run because of inside room temps. Which fan is easier to install the 120 or the Genesis? If the Genesis is good, provided that I can move it to a new system in the future it may be worth while to buy it, but no one knows in 4 years from now what it will or will not fit.

How difficult is it going to be to take off the 212+? I have no idea how much glue they used though I repeated told them only one drop, but my guess is they didn't listen and they put glue everywhere on the chip. I am very worried that I will take off part of the plastic top of the chip when I go to remove the fan.

 

[muddocktor]

The thermal interface material isn't glue, just a thick paste. You should be able to twist and remove once you remove the crossbar bracket on your 212+ that holds everything tightened down. There are 4 spring loaded screws on the arms you have to unscrew, then remove the "X" bracket and then kind of twist and lift and the heatsink should pull right off the processor. Don't worry about removing the heatspreader from the top of the processor as those are very securely fastened my silicone glue and by soldering the core to the IHS with a low temp solder. Once you have the heatsink removed, it's just a matter of unscrewing the 4 screws that hold the retention module to the mobo. You should be able to get the idea on how it's mounted to the mobo by the pictures I posted in my linked review. That's on a 1366 board, but it's the same type of mounting system on your 1155 board too (hole pattern is just slightly smaller). As for mounting either the Genesis or the True Spirit 120, both are pretty easy. In my personal opinion, the Genesis might just be a smidge easier but neither is hard to mount or remove.

 

[techiemon]

Thanks for the information. I hope it is fairly easy to install. I think the Genesis is not going to fit in my case, it appears it's too short, their is no space between the motherboard end and the beginning of the HDD slots. It's ok as it's a bit too expensive anyway. I think I will try to get the Spirit 120. Today I tried to cancel out the TPU, I turned it off, but in my bios it is still listed as 130x43. The temps didn't change at all. I tried playing with the voltages in AI suite, but it didn't work, I think I cannot adjust them using that software, it is more for alerts rather than tweaking. The problem is that core temp software is already telling me the voltate is like 1.32, less than what you wrote above, so I don't know why the temps are so high. Recently the weather has cooled off again, but now the temps are reaching 67-68 even without the TPU turned on. I don't get it.

 

[techiemon]

In addition to the above, what if I just changed the fan to a higher RPM fan, say like 3600RPM? I know the noise might go up a bit, but the current fan is only rated at 2000RPM. Will the higher speed help at all?

EDIT: Any caculator out there that can tell you for each higher CFM step you can cool down you cpu X degrees? Haven't been able to find one yet, but am looking around.

I don't want something too noisy, but I think maybe a higher speed fan might just do the trick, and easier and cheaper than changing the entire thing out, but eventually I still might have to do that in the summer, but for now, am curious about using a higher CFM fan.

 

[muddocktor]

If you look at my review of the Hyper 212 Plus, which I linked in post #4, you can see what I observed with higher pressure, higher rpm fans. It will give you an idea of what kind of performance difference you will see. I always test with various different fans at different rpm ranges and static pressures, if the heatsink design allows me to do so. The 212+ will allow you to mount just about any fan on it. If you can find them and are using lower profile ram, I would suggest a Sanyo Denki H1011 fan or H101 fan, as they move around 100 cfm and aren't too noisy. They are 120 x 38 mm fans though, so it will overhang the first ram slot or 2, IIRC.