i7 975 Temperatures ???

[Mr Illustrator]

Hello people,


I've just finished building my first system and I'd like some information regarding temperatures. The processor I have is the i7 975 Extreme with Prolimatech Megahalems heatsink and Arctic Silver 5.


When I first applied the Arctic Silver I spread a thin layer all over the chip like most people do. The BIOS temperature was 31C and the core temperatures in RealTemp 3.0 were, 43 - 43 - 45 - 40 idle with sporadic bursts of movement and something like 73 - 75 - 75 - 72 and 100% for only 10 minutes in Prime95. I wasn't happy with this so I re-seated the heatsink and this time I used the Arctic Silver website method of applying thermal paste for the i7 which is a thin line and then letting the heatsink spread it out. The RealTemp results were better - 38 - 38 - 41 - 36 idle and 64 - 64 - 65 - 60 at 100% in Prime 95, however, the CPU temp is now 42C in the BIOS! What is happening? I'm going mad trying to figure out what are good temperatures for the i7?!

Maybe it's the airflow!? I have a CoolerMaster Stacker 830 SE with 2 front intake fans - 1 is the CoolerMaster fan that came with the case and the other is a Scythe Kaze Slip Steam 120, the Scythe is running at nearly 1900rpm. I have another Scythe at the top of the case as exhaust. I then I have 2 Noctuas NF-P12 on the Megahalems - 1 intake, which is nearest the front of the case and the other is exhaust - which is bang next to the main case exhaust fan, that's a Akasa Amber... and that's it, 6 fans. I couldn't fit the side panel on with all the fans, the Megahalems is just too big!


Anyhow, could someone please give me some indication to whether the temperature readings are ok. I'm really peed off because I can't find any information through Google that's absolute!


It's at stock speed btw.

Thank you.

 

[Madxgraphics]

Tempratures are always going to be slightly higher in the first week or two. The processor needs to settle in a bit. And generally when applying thermal paste I would go for what the manufacturer advises rather than what other people say....

 

[V_R]

Those temps are a little high for that CPU at stock clocks, are you sure the coolers been installed correctly?

 

[Mr Illustrator]

I honestly don't know if the cooler is on correctly. I've followed all the instruction precisely and watched numerous people on YouTube install heatsinks. It's pretty straightforward, it can only fit one way and it's totally level and secure.

What should the temps be?

 

[Abarbarian]

http://www.arcticsilver.com/instructions.htm

See above for fitting instructions of AS.

There are tons of reviews on the cpu, one below is an example,

http://hothardware.com/Articles/Intel-Core-i7-975-Extreme-Edition-Processor-Review/?page=2

"The Thermal Design Power (TDP) rating is meant to represent the maximum amount of power the cooling system needs to dissipate in order to prevent the chip from exceeding the maximum junction temperature. A TDP of 130W for the Core i975 means the heatsink/fan arrangement should be capable of dissipating 130 watts of heat or you'll risk malfunction due to overheating. In other words, it is a rating to represent how much cooling you'll need to keep the processor within its thermal margins during normal operation. While the TDP is neither a direct representation of the amount of power a chip uses, nor is it a direct indicator of the amount of heat it produces, it does provide an indicator about both of these metrics. It is also worth noting that TDP is specified for a family of processors. Although all standard Core i7 965 is also classified with a 130W TDP, the new Core i7 975 theoretically requires a bit more robust cooling due to its higher clock speed. Regardless, even with a stock, Intel retail cooler, you can see that the chip still runs relatively very cool.
Here we've got the Core i7 975 setup with a Turbo Boost clock speed of 3.6GHz and a 27X multiplier. We've also have Cinebench R10 loaded up in the background pushing a 100% load on the processor. We ran Cinebench in a loop, just to warm the core up a bit and then took this reading at full load. In our open air test bench bench setup, the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition barely breaks a sweat at 47ºC. Of course, within the confines of a PC chassis, core temps will likely scale a bit higher, but regardless, Intel's new core stepping offers plenty of thermal margin and very reasonable operating thermals."

You is definitly doing something wrong or your cooler is crap according to the results thrown up in the review.

 

[floppybootstomp]

The i7 build I done for me mate gives a CPU temp of less than 40C at full tilt using the stock Intel cooler.

As I have mentioned elsewhere the stock i7 cooler is seriously good, which bucks the trend somewhat.

I also used the stock thermal paste pads as well which for once looked good. They were good.

I never thought I'd be making a post like this I'm a firm believer in using AS5 but it just goes to show you never can tell.