EMERGENCY: Is My Q9400 Overheating... What Can I Do?

[EarthDog]

Who knows... put it there and find out.

You know, as you were told, whatt ypur temp limits are, so raise the clock and see what happens.

 

[Suppressor1137]

Take the initiative. You have this thread to reference numbers that would exceed the specifications of the chip.

 

[Euphratesrd]

New to this forum and I must say,this thread is cracking me up.

 

[||Console||]

Arctic Silver 5 isn't really that good of a paste (if you were referring to AS5, if you were referring to Ceramique, it's even worse), it's been probably ~5-6 years since AS5 was among the top pastes (or more). Arctic Cooling MX-2 or MX-4, and Prolimatech PK-2 beat it in performance and easier clean up (and they aren't electrically conductive or capacitive), among other pastes.

Checking the CPU temperature in the BIOS of the motherboard isn't really a good test. The BIOS itself isn't putting much of a load on the CPU, so this isn't a relevant test since what we're interested in is core temperatures under full load (and the BIOS normally gives the socket temp as far as I know).

1-3 deg higher than others does not make it a bad paste

 

[Tech Tweaker]

1-3 deg higher than others does not make it a bad paste

I dislike AS5 because it is difficult to clean up (very messy), and doesn't spread that well typically in my usage of it.

I dislike Ceramique because the last time I had some it was so thick (or had hardened so much) that I couldn't get it out of the tube, and it was a brand new tube at the time. Then when I did get some of it out of the tube, it wouldn't spread hardly at all and required 2-3x more paste to cover the same surface area as compared to when using MX-2, MX-4, or PK-2.

I've seen it be more like 5-7°C worse in some cases. Performing worse and being more difficult to clean up sure doesn't make it a better paste.

So, my objections to them dealt more with the spread-ability and ease or difficulty of cleanup rather than temperature performance.

 

[Suppressor1137]

I stick with my Gelid Solutions GC-Extreme(mostly because I still have a tube laying around)

No worries about conductivity, and no curing time.

Also, cleans up very easily.

 

[GreatUSA]

Thanks so much for the help I've received so far!

Current status:

I've been running the Q9400 underclocked at 2.00Ghz since early May and the temperatures have remained about the same, which are:

CPU Temperature: 149F = 65C
Core 1: 159.8F = 71C
Core 2: 161.6F = 72C
Core 3: 163.4F = 73C
Core 4: 158F = 70C

However, I'm now finding that Google Chrome uses up a lot of CPU power and I just wanted to know if I'd be safe in setting the CPU back to the stock speed of 2.66Ghz?

 

[EarthDog]

Are those load temps??? or........?

 

[GreatUSA]

Is the best way to set it back to the Intel Q9400 CPU back to the stock speed of 2.00Ghz by rebooting and going into the BIOS?

Is there any risk of me making my system unstable by putting the CPU back to the stock speed of 2.66Ghz?

Is it possible for me to damage the Intel Q9400 CPU by putting it back to the stock speed?

 

[trents]

Is the best way to set it back to the Intel Q9400 CPU back to the stock speed of 2.00Ghz by rebooting and going into the BIOS?
Yes. When in bios hit the "hot key" for restoring the system to "optimized defaults". Usually it's the F5 key.
Is there any risk of me making my system unstable by putting the CPU back to the stock speed of 2.66Ghz?
No
Is it possible for me to damage the Intel Q9400 CPU by putting it back to the stock speed?
No

 

[GreatUSA]

I'm very worried because one of my family members has become sick recently so my income is limited so if my Intel Q9400 CPU dies I can't afford to buy a new CPU and motherboard...

Thanks for any help!

 

[GreatUSA]

Is there anything I need to make sure I avoid doing so I don't damage the Intel Q9400 CPU?

 

[EarthDog]

Not too much.. the guide has all voltage and temperature info in it.

 

[GreatUSA]

My last question before I go ahead and make the change in the BIOS:

So as long as I only change the multiplier back to the original "x 8.0" from the current "x 6.0" there won't be any problems?

By doing this I'll just be restoring the Intel Q9400 back to what it was made to run at which was 2.66Ghz so there's no risk of me damaging the CPU or shortening its lifespan?

 

[trents]

Did you read my post about hitting the F5 key in bios to restore the system to optimized defaults? That will do what you want to do.

 

[GreatUSA]

Did you read my post about hitting the F5 key in bios to restore the system to optimized defaults? That will do what you want to do.

I didn't want to set it back to "optimized defaults" because I believe I've made changes in the BIOS in the past and I don't want to lose those changes...

I read all the replies I receive

 

[Tech Tweaker]

Is the best way to set it back to the Intel Q9400 CPU back to the stock speed of 2.00Ghz by rebooting and going into the BIOS?

Yes. When in bios hit the "hot key" for restoring the system to "optimized defaults". Usually it's the F5 key.

Is there any risk of me making my system unstable by putting the CPU back to the stock speed of 2.66Ghz?

No

Is it possible for me to damage the Intel Q9400 CPU by putting it back to the stock speed?

No

Since you asked me, GreatUSA, I agree with what trents said.

My last question before I go ahead and make the change in the BIOS:

So as long as I only change the multiplier back to the original "x 8.0" from the current "x 6.0" there won't be any problems?

By doing this I'll just be restoring the Intel Q9400 back to what it was made to run at which was 2.66Ghz so there's no risk of me damaging the CPU or shortening its lifespan?

Shouldn't be any that I'm aware of from resetting back to stock frequency. It's rated to run at that frequency/speed anyway, so it shouldn't be able to hurt the CPU by running it at the stock frequency.

You aren't likely to shorten its lifespan much unless you're overvolting the CPU by a lot (applying more voltage than the stock voltage to the CPU, which you aren't likely to do). This is normally only done while overclocking, so I assume you aren't likely to do that since you're apparently using the stock cooler and are already concerned about the temperatures.

 

[knoober]

Is there anything I need to make sure I avoid doing so I don't damage the Intel Q9400 CPU?

The cooler you can run your cpu the happier it will be. For that goal you want to have the best cooling you can get (best heatsink and fans, plus set them to run as fast as your ears can tolerate) and use the lowest voltage your cpu can tolerate while remaining stable. Im pretty sure that is what you've been doing in this thread already though.

As trents suggested the best way to accomplish this is to use the optimized defaults. When you use the optimized defaults the BIOS will read information from the chip itself to determine what voltage and multiplier to use. This info was put there by the manufacturer and is intended to run the chip stable. I can understand that you have other changes that you do not wish to change, but optimized defaults is the best way to get the performance the manufacturer intended (which is also intended to be safe and long lived). These settings are the best starting point and a great place to go back to any time you have an issue. Try this: write down every setting that you have changed and then use the optimized defaults button. After that go back and change all your settings again (but do not change the cpu voltage or multiplier, or FSB, HT Link or any other "risky" settings). When that is done you will have a BIOS that has the manufacturer's known good settings as well as your own changes. Most BIOS have an option to save a profile on one of the last tabs. Save a profile so you have a rock solid place to go back to whenever you need to.

While I cant guarantee (and no one can) that this will keep your chip safe, I would think that it would be one of the safest options that is possible. I have a profile saved for my BIOS that is factory defaults + small changes (like default boot device and power saving options the way I would like) as a fail safe. Any time I need to do serious maintenance I load that profile and get to work. After all the maintenance is done then I go back to another saved profile that contains a "known good" overclock setting.

Good luck

 

[GreatUSA]

Ok now I'm confused on the difference between selecting "optimized defaults" in the BIOS and manually setting the Q9400 CPU's to x8 as it's now set at x6?

Thanks!

 

[knoober]

There is no difference. If you set to optimized defaults it will likely change back to x8. Same effect. The reason for suggesting optimized defaults is because it is failsafe and will all but guarantee you get the most life from your cpu. In order to get the best performance you will need to follow the guide that ED mentioned and tune your BIPS correctly. But as you know, there is a chance for improper tuning that could cause problems. You seem to want to make certain that those problems do not have any chance of happening, and the best way to do that is optimized defaults because there may be a setting changed that was forgotten, or settings that change together that were not known. Optimized defaults removes all the guesswork.

Again Good luck