FX-8350 socket vs core temps

[stalem]

Hey everyone and thanks for a great forum!

Novice overclocker here, and I just recently bought a new rig (see sig for details). I'm not aiming at any insane overclocks here, just a decent one, to see how far I can go without going to unnecessary speeds.

So my concern here is my current temperatures. From what I've read when searching it seems that socket temps usually lands about 10C above socket temps during load. HWmonitor reports my socket as being almost 20C above core temperatures, and this is with one step above stock voltage.

On a side note: I opened up my case to feel the temps for myself, and the NB slightly burned my finger upon initial touch. Not so much that I can't keep my finger on it, but enough to make me instinctively pull back my hand upon first touch. This was at idle, during Win7 logon screen, should it be this hot?



This is from 4 minutes of AOD stability testing. I don't want to do any full fledged tests until I know my temps are ok. Ambient room temp is 26C.

I thought you might wanted to know my fan/cooling setup as well, so here is a graph I made you:



I've kept everything in BIOS at auto/default except for power saving features, CPU voltage and some DIGI+ power control settings:

 

[Mandrake4565]

stalem, welcome, the socket temp does usually run hotter then the package/core temp on the FX 8xxx series processors. What a few of us have done, is put a fan on the backside of the motherboard, I prefer exhausting, outside the case. I'm not sure if your case has a hole for a fan on the right side door, on my case I had to mod the motherboard try, which was solid, and door to mount a 120mm fan on it. My temps are usually 6-7c higher, before I modded it they were like yours.

My self and a few other people have noticed the NB heatsink getting extremely hot. I know what you mean by you saying it was painful to the touch. I had this chip on a M5A99X Evo before my CHV and I had the same issue. An additional mod that a few of have found to help that situation, especially with overclocking these processors, is to mount 50mm fans on the heatsinks of the VRM section and the NB section. You can use double sided tape to do this and seems to work well, according to one of our AMD gurus. I myself have my fan mounted with zip ties and it works also.

Also you may want to have a moderator move this to the AMD cpu section, by clicking on the exclamation point next to where it says post #1. You will probably get more help if it is there, though it is a cooling issue.

 

[stalem]

Thanks for the reply!
As your suggestions, I've seen this being done before, where people put a fan on the backside. Unfortunately, I'm all out of molex connectors, so I can't install any more fans. Unless I connect them in series, but that would mean slower RPMs. Either way I don't have any fans laying around.

I did go ahead and change the back fan from exhaust to intake, this seemed to cool down the socket by about 1 or 2 degrees. Still, is getting 40C core temps after only 4 minutes of stress testing w/ water cooling, at pretty much stock voltages, considered normal?

 

[caddi daddi]

as mandrake has stated, you will have to get some more airflow down into the area around the cpu socket where the waterblock is installed.
it looks like the case side is mesh. can you get a 120mm fan and attach it blowing into this area? fans are cheap and you can give up some rpm to save cooking this very important section of the motherboard.
my 8 core case has a total of 11 fans trying to cool it.

 

[trents]

You can also get a "Y" splitter to run two fans off of one molex.

Also, can't tell from the pic but I was wondering where your radiator is mounted in the case?

 

[stalem]

@caddi_daddi
did as suggested and put a fan on the of the case, blowing directly at the cpu/nb. as previously told i am out of spare fans, on top of that i can't afford any new ones either. so i had to move the one previously sitting at the back, and as you can see, it didn't do much difference. this is from 5 minutes of small FFTs in P59

edit: i also noticed that cooling the socket down once the test was stopped, seemed to take longer with this fan placement, so i might as well return to the old one.



@trents
that's a good suggestion. though silly little me didn't come to think at first that the molexes on my fans are for their leds. i assume there are Y cables for the mobo connectors as well?

oh, and the radiator is positioned in the front of the case. i even labeled it in the pic

 

[Mandrake4565]

stalem, these new FX processors are really good, but unfortunately when overclocked they generate a great deal of heat. Depending on how hard and hot you want to push it is up to you. We generally feel 70 on the socket and 60 on the package is about as high as you want to push them for a normal system. Though we do have some people who run them at hotter temps. We have seen a lot of people come here thinking they can get big numbers overclocking using AIO water cooling only to leave with their tail between their legs. I'm not saying it's the case for you, because you said you aren't aiming for insane OC's. Most of the people here that are running higher OC's are using big cooling. My system is similar to Caddi Daddi's where I'm running 6 case fans, a 80mm on my NB/Vrm section and 6 fans in push pull on my 3.120 radiator, which is cooling the Cpu only. My 24/7 OC is 4.7 and I have it stable at 5.1 for 2 hours prime 95 blend. It has been benched as high as 5.4, but not stable.

 

[stalem]

Thanks for all the feedback! I guess I'll just have to accept that my cooler isn't performing quite as well as I had hoped, and see how far I can push my oc with low voltages then

And since trents was curious about my radiator installation, I decided to take some photos to show it off a bit!

Originally I had it planned to be mounted at the back, but the radiator was a mere 5 millimeter too high!
So I went with this setup, where I kept it in place using a modified HDD/fan mount bracket that came with the case. Also removing the front panels w/ filters seems to have increased flow to where I have 1-3C colder cores.



As you can see, the entire thing was a tight build. I tried to run as many cables as possibly around the back, still I have quite a mess in there.



And finally, a close-up of the backside of the push/pull config.

 

[Johan45]

I too had the exact same problems with that board. I found it very hard to keep that VRM area cool. My setup was also very similar. Three thing I did that helped were
1. switched airflow direction. Cool air in from the back top, and reversed the rad flow so it vented directly out of the case.
2. Put a small 50mm fan on the back of the MOBO . I taped it right on the bracket for the heatsink.



3. After I turned the rear fan I went to the hardware store and got a couple cheap dryer vents and taped them to the fan so it would blow over the CPU socket area



All this did help quite a bit it dropped to a 10° difference from 20°

In the end I have changed everything around again. But I went and got a Sabretooth and no longer have this particular issue.
The M5A was a good board just not the best for the 8350 with a decent OC

 

[caddi daddi]

4.2 or so is in the sweet spot window for fx anyway, 4.2-4.6 without big water cooling and if you can pull that off with a 620 thats actually pretty good.


don't feel like the lone ranger, we have all tried a few strange things, my old h100 had no place to mount in the case so i got four long screws and just hung it down in the middle of the case, it looked like dog stuffings but it worked.

 

[stalem]

Nice solution there with the directed vents
If I ever come across a small fan I'll definitely give it a try! As you can see I don't have nearly as much space on the back as you do (I even had to unscrew the mobo and lift it a bit in order to get the backplate on there, firmly pressed between the case and mobo) but it should fit there. Also, I held my hand over there and could def feel a slight airflow, so the back fan is definitely doing its job.



I'll try reversing the radiator setup to exhaust and see if that makes any difference as well. Have to give that a go tomorrow though, getting kind of late and don't want to wake anyone up with all my tinkering

 

[Mandrake4565]

Wow stalem, 6 posts and you already have your signature set up, awesome. We usually have to ask people to put one up, it's always helpful for us to help you, if we can just look at your last post to see whats in your rig.

 

[stalem]

Thanks mandrake! I was even so prolific that I set it up right after my first post!
Btw, I'm currently running a blend test in P95, it's been running for 7 minutes as of now, and the temps seems to have idled out at 61/40. You said this was good with a 620?
Pics coming soon!

10 minutes in, and the max temps remain unchanged. I guess this is as hot as it goes at these currents!

 

[Mandrake4565]

I have no experience with that cooler so I don't know if it's good or bad. Your temps look good, for me 2 hours of prime blend is stable. I find some of the tests the temps will go higher so keep an eye on them.

 

[stalem]

Yeah sorry I just noticed it was caddi_daddi who said it was good for a 620!
Two hours sounds good to me, but is there any way I can automatically monitor my temps, maybe have it beep or something over a certain threshold? I don't really feel like staring at my screen for 2 hours. And I'm quite easily distracted, so I'm afraid I might forget to check them if I keep myself active with something else

 

[RGone]

Man you nailed it. I have come to this thread at least 3 times and started to post everything you just said. I have taken hollow tubes on only one side of a fan and "turned" a fan to blow where I wanted it to blow. Have used card board to divert air flow. That front fan down low is blocked by the long-azz video card so it does not have much to do with what is happening.

Turning the fan around on the radiator was one of my very first thuoghts.

What he needs to do is put those 50mm fans on the VRM heat sink and that will be the biggest help after turning the radiator fan around.
RGone...

I too had the exact same problems with that board. I found it very hard to keep that VRM area cool. My setup was also very similar. Three thing I did that helped were
1. switched airflow direction. Cool air in from the back top, and reversed the rad flow so it vented directly out of the case.
2. Put a small 50mm fan on the back of the MOBO . I taped it right on the bracket for the heatsink.

View attachment 125459

3. After I turned the rear fan I went to the hardware store and got a couple cheap dryer vents and taped them to the fan so it would blow over the CPU socket area

View attachment 125460

All this did help quite a bit it dropped to a 10° difference from 20°

In the end I have changed everything around again. But I went and got a Sabretooth and no longer have this particular issue.
The M5A was a good board just not the best for the 8350 with a decent OC

 

[Mandrake4565]

If you have Ai Suite installed I believe it will pop up a window if the temps get over a set level. I wouldn't worry too much you still have some head room and you're likely not going to blow anything up if it pops up to 70 on the socket, I doubt the package temp will get above 50 so no worries there.

 

[stalem]

Man you nailed it. I have come to this thread at least 3 times and started to post everything you just said. I have taken hollow tubes on only one side of a fan and "turned" a fan to blow where I wanted it to blow. Have used card board to divert air flow. That front fan down low is blocked by the long-azz video card so it does not have much to do with what is happening.

Turning the fan around on the radiator was one of my very first thuoghts.

What he needs to do is put those 50mm fans on the VRM heat sink and that will be the biggest help after turning the radiator fan around.
RGone...

Maybe then I could move the front low fan up to the side of the case and blow directly over the cpu/nb? I guess some experimentation is due!

If you have Ai Suite installed I believe it will pop up a window if the temps get over a set level. I wouldn't worry too much you still have some head room and you're likely not going to blow anything up if it pops up to 70 on the socket, I doubt the package temp will get above 50 so no worries there.

I guess I'll have to install it and check it out then and if you think I wont go over 70/50 with this setup, if tomorrows setup yields lower temps this is looking promising!

 

[bassnut]

you should be able to monitor your CPU temp from your bios and set a warning for whatever temp you like. Also like mandrake has stated AI Suite can probably do this to .... I have never liked AI Suite and never used it for this though others have. I know mandrake wont steer you wrong so you have some options.

 

[stalem]

Thanks, I'll check that out too!