i5-760/Hyper TX3 high temps

[dmangadu]

Hi Everyone,

I'm new to the forum so please forgive my newbness.

I wanted to get some insight on my current temps. On stock CPU and RAM settings I'm getting 30C idle and 70C load temps about about a minute using prime95. My ambient temp is 20C. I have tried to resit my heatsink fan many times and this is the lowest temps I can get.

I overclocked my RAM using the XMP setting in my Bios which increased my idle to about 45C and my load to 70C +, I havent pushed it further as I just turn off prime95. I then overclocked my CPU to 3.6ghz using Turbo Evo (I know its not recommended but I tried it as I have tried to read and research how to manually overclock the CPU in bios but it is very confusing to me). Since these temps are way too hot from what I read online I have appropriately set everything back to default settings in my bios.

Does anyone know what can be the problem with my current temps and how I can fix them so I can overclock my rig?

Also, I have the fans running at 100% through all the tests as I don't mind the noise levels in order to get lower temps. My case currently has 3 Fans (2 on top, 1 on the back)

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Here are my specs:
Lian Li K62 tower
ASUS P7P55D-E PRO
Intel i5-760 2.8ghz
Master Cooler Hyper TX3 (1 fan attached, using Artic Silver 5)
ATI HD Radeon 4830
GSKILL 4gb 1600 DDR3 Ram
ANTEC TP-750 BLUE 750W
ASUS 21.5 LCD Monitor

 

[trents]

Often, unexpected high temps are caused by improper seating of the cooler or by improper application of the thermal paste (TIM).

The TX3 is an "exposed heat pipe" cooler and one thing that can help with those is to "tin" the base before the main application of TIM and mounting. You will notice that there are small gaps between the sides of the heat pipes and the block they are mounted in. If you will lay down a thin line of TIM along the sides of the pipes where those gaps are and then scrape across the base with a razor blade or a credit card edge it will serve to both fill in those gaps and to remove the excess. This may require you to purchase some additional TIM as I don't imagine the cooler came with enough to pull this off. You can pick up a 3 gm tube of Arctic Silver 5 or Arctic Cooling MX-2 for around $5 US. They are both excellent products and a good TIM can shave several degrees off temps compared to some of the stuff that ships with the coolers.

But first, take a paper coffee filter, moisten it (not soak it) with a little rubbing alcohol. Use it to clean both the CPU face and the cooler base. Coffee filters don't leave behind insulating fibers like paper towels or cotton cloth and a lot of other things people typically use.

After cleaning and tinning, reapply TIM to the CPU face. Put one small blob about 2 cm in diameter in the center of the CPU face. 2 cm is slightly bigger than a BB. Drop the cooler onto the CPU and rotate it back and forth one time; about a 20 degree twist both left and right. Then clamp her down! Not sure what you level of experience is but novices often apply way too much TIM. You know, "If a little is good then a lot should be better." But the fact is you want as thin a layer as you can get away with and still fill in all the cracks, crevices, pores and imperfections of the two mating surfaces.

Note: Arctic Silver 5 has a curing cycle. It gets better over time. I run my PC 24/7 and find that after about 2 or 3 days my temps have dropped another 2 degrees from what they were immediately after installation.

Hope this helps.

 

[dmangadu]

I have just finished re-applying the TIM using your instructions I applied thin layers of TIM into the grooves and smoothed them out using a business card removing excess and I already see a dramatic difference. Stock Idle temps are around 24C now and load at around 54C. Also, I'm hoping once the TIM cures my temps will drop even further.

I tried many different methods of applying TM (ie. 2 dots / 2 lines) and have not gotten lower temps than how you instructed.

Thank you so much!

I will try to overclock the CPU and RAM and post back with results.

 

[dmangadu]

OK so after overclocking my ram and cpu to 3.8ghz I now get idle times of 48C and load times go as far as 75C which is when I quit prime95.

I overclocked using the Asus program Turbo Evo which automatically adjusts the bios settings. Should I manually configure them in bios myself? I do not exactly know how to do this. I read there are power saving features that need to be turned off and perhaps Turbo Evo did not do this?

Or do I need to reapply the TIM and try again you think? Also, when you said 2cm blob I figured that was a typo and maybe you meant 2mm?

When I applied the TIM to the HSF I thinned it out using a business card. I might have used a little too much on the CPU but I think it should be ok. I used about a pea sized blob like you mentioned.

 

[m0r7if3r]

http://www.overclockers.com/updated-intel-overclocking-guides/

KWACHOW! You know how to do it now!! or...will when you've read that....miahallen's guide is second to none imo. Chance are you've got too many volts if you think your temps are high, I can't really say because I only ran at 3.8 on the way to my 4.2 and don't remember how my temps looked there (I don't think you're too far out though...)

temps are naturally gonna increase as you oc, if you're using an automatic utility it's putting too much voltage in for the oc you're hitting (probably) and makin it run hotter. Pick a goal to shoot for (max stable oc at X temp or hit a certain speed) then just go for it...tweak voltage when she needs it. 10mins of linx is what I used for my fast and dirty test, then for a full stability check I use prime95 for 8-24 hrs (depends if I can leave my computer alone for more than 8 hrs)

 

[trents]

OK so after overclocking my ram and cpu to 3.8ghz I now get idle times of 48C and load times go as far as 75C which is when I quit prime95.

I overclocked using the Asus program Turbo Evo which automatically adjusts the bios settings. Should I manually configure them in bios myself? I do not exactly know how to do this. I read there are power saving features that need to be turned off and perhaps Turbo Evo did not do this?

Or do I need to reapply the TIM and try again you think? Also, when you said 2cm blob I figured that was a typo and maybe you meant 2mm?

When I applied the TIM to the HSF I thinned it out using a business card. I might have used a little too much on the CPU but I think it should be ok. I used about a pea sized blob like you mentioned.

Yeah, I meant 2 mm, LOL! Experienced overclockers frown on using automatic overclock stuff and also the Windows-base overclocking software that motherboard manufacturers supply. They may overvolt or undervolt stuff or otherwise fail to optimize settings and are kind of crude. We also recommend using manual settings rather than "default" or "auto" settings. Many times "Auto" sets things incorrectly, out of spec.

Actually, I said "BB" sized blob as in an air rifle BB. Pea-sized would be way too much for most thermal pastes but some, like IC7 Diamond (which is very viscous) do recommend using a pea-sized blob.

I cannot help you with your bios settings specifically since I am an AMD guy, not Intel. There are others who can on this forum, however.

Low 70s C core temps on Intels are not excessive from what I understand. With AMD CPUs it would be too much.

 

[m0r7if3r]

TJMax on i3/5/7 is 100c, personally, I try not to (everyday) load over ~75 which means I stress test to 85-90c