New build (Ivy Bridge) not OC'd & seems hot

[Ruvara]

Hi all,

I'm new here, but I've been lurking for awhile

I just put together a new gaming rig with an i7-3770, MSI Z77 motherboard, Hyper 212 Evo cooler with stock fan pushing toward rear exhaust (used AS5), and Corsair Carbide 300r case. Using old PSU (750w), GPU (GTX 560 Ti), CD-ROM and hard drives. It's running at stock speed. I don't have immediate plans to OC, as I do have some concerns about the current temps.

Initially, I was getting idle temps of around 33c, which I felt comfortable with. Since yesterday, I'm getting idle temps of 40-41 on core 0, but my BIOS says that the temp is 45. That seems pretty hot for idle, no?

The changes that I made yesterday are that I switched memory out from 8 GB Kingston Hyper-X (2 x4GB) to 16 GB GSkill Ripjaws X Series (2 x 8GB) yesterday. I also rearranged my case fans. I was using Antec Tri-cools, but swapped them out for Cooler Master blue LED 120mm 2000 RPM case fans. The latter were cheap, but they looked nice. (Using 2 in front as intakes, 2 side as intakes, 2 top as exhaust, single rear as exhaust.)

So now I'm idling hotter, which I can understand if it's due to the memory? Or maybe the new fans don't push quite as much air? What confuses me, though, is that the 2nd rig that we built, which is almost identical except for the PSU and hard drives, runs at 32-33c at idle. Literally everything else is the same. They are in the same room, which is fairly cool at 70-73f, so ambient temps should be similar.

I've tried re-seating the HS several times, each time with different paste application. (On the cooler PC, I used the dot method. Doing the line method with or without making a haze on the HS didn't seem to make much of a difference on the hotter PC, so I finally went back to the dot method). It seems to be seated fine as far as I can tell.

I've tried swapping the fans back to the Antecs. That did make a couple degrees difference, but I still couldn't get that hot core below 36-38. And then I have to ask myself why the other PC is cooler with the Cooler Master fans.

I tried setting fans to 100% in BIOS and CPU temp threshold to 40c. I tried adding a 2nd fan to the cooler in a push/pull config, but it made a negligible difference. And the cool PC is only pushing so I'm stumped.

I ran OCCT for about an hour and no core got hotter than 61c. Then I realized that I could have selected a smaller data set to generate more heat, which I then did. I let it run for about 20 mins and the hottest core reached 64c. Tried OCCT on the cooler PC with the same settings and it got to 62c on its hottest core. So that's reassuring (assuming that 2c is a negligible difference).

Anyhow, is this acceptable? I've seen Ivy Bridge specs everywhere stating that they run around 30c at idle. I'd settle for low 30s. Are the load temps alright? If so, why so high idle? And, overall, any advice on how to cool it down a tad or what I may have screwed up? Also, why does the BIOS temp state 45c when I'm not seeing any cores that high in RealTemp? I'm wondering if I just need to get some better case fans to start with.

Thanks so much for your time and advice!

 

[EarthDog]

Its possible, I suppose, due to the memory and the VCCIO being set to auto it jacked up that voltage a bit which would raise temps.

Did your ambient temperatures go up? That makes a big difference of course..

 

[Bobnova]

That's perfectly fine.
Idle temps are fairly meaningless, 62c is a decent temp. What direction is the heatsink facing? I've found that HDT coolers dislike the thin long core on the IB chips, especially if it is lined up with a single heatpipe.

 

[Ruvara]

Thanks to you both!

EarthDog,
Is there anything that I should do about the voltage or is auto appropriate for my setup? By ambient temps do you mean inside the room or case? Case, not sure. Room is the same.

Bobnova,
It was 64c on mine (the hotter one) is that alright? It should be better though, no? The heatsink is positioned so that the fan is on the right (toward the front of the case, by the memory) which is pushing toward the left (rear exhaust).

Looks similar to this: http://cdn.overclock.net/3/31/3158a993_vbattach203783.jpeg

Is that OK? I can reverse it so that the fan is on the bottom and pushes air toward the top exhausts. Or would you recommend trying a different HS? Hopefully the dot method I used is OK on IB chips. The vertical line didn't seem to help.

 

[EarthDog]

Auto is fine and BobN brought up a good point. idle temps dont mean a thing and 64C is fine. Due to differences in mounting temperatures between the exact same systems can vary dramatically.

 

[Bobnova]

I would expect lower temps, but I haven't run IB on anything but the stock cooler (>70c even with a very low ambient and great airflow in the case!) and top end coolers.
I've never touched a 212 of any flavor, either

 

[wingman99]

64c is fine, your idle temps might just be margin of error, i would not worry about it the CPU will last longer than it's useful life.

My idle temp is 41c fan speed 1,214 RPM

I have seen sometimes fans run at different speeds also.

 

[Ruvara]

Thanks so much for all of the replies. This is reassuring and you guys are very helpful.

I was about to go order an NH-D14 in hopes of dropping it at least 8c. I assume that may be overkill, but I hear that it's a really nice cooler.

I have a few more questions:

Would I benefit from buying higher quality case fans (as it relates to the CPU temp?) If so, any recs? I'm wondering if just replacing the front two intakes and possibly rear exhaust would even help, versus replacing all seven.

Is using side intake fans interfering with proper airflow? (If I were to remove the side fans, I assume that the top two exhausts would have to go in order to maintain positive pressure?)

Does anyone bother with fan filters?

 

[Bobnova]

You can test your case airflow easily enough.
Pop the side panel off and aim a house fan in there. If temps go down a bunch you need more case airflow. If they don't, it's fine.