Hi everyone,
I have a bit of a weird issue. Here is my setup (been running great since late 2011):
Gigabyte ga-p67a-ud5 motherboard
Core i7 2600k
Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme CPU heatsink/cooler (with included TX-3 paste)
Evga GTX 580 SSC
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Ripjaws
2 80mm intake fans (front of case)/1 80mm intake fan (on the side)
2 80mm exhaust fans (on the back)
Kinwin Lazer 1000 watt PSU
I decided it was time to upgrade my (3) hard drives for more space (80GB Intel x25 SSD --> 240GB Intel 520 series SSD, 1TB WD Green --> 2TB WD Green, 300GB WD Velociraptor --> 1TB WD Velociraptor). Unfortunately I could not take my hard drive bays out without removing the Tuniq cooler (exactly what I was trying to avoid). So after a few days of procrastinating (I had everything copied from my old storage drives to the new drives for about a week) I decided to take of the cooler and replace the hard drives.
I took a paper towel and rubbing alcohol to to clean the heatsink and CPU, applied a little of the TX-3 paste to the CPU and used a piece of plastic from a sandwich bag on my finger to spread the paste around the CPU (VERY thin layer...it was pretty much transparent). The first time I mounted the cooler, I used a credit card to spread the paste, so this was a bit different. Plugged everything in, and being obsessive compulsive, the first thing I did was go into the BIOS to check the CPU temperature...idling between 50 and 55 C (obviously way too high). Previously in the BIOS idle CPU temp would be ~40C, which I was fine with.
Thinking there is a "break in" period for the TX-3, I let my PC run (in BIOS) for several hours...came back and checked the CPU temp, and no change. This was yesterday...
Today I decided I would install Windows and load Prime95 and a temperature monitoring program as I read that sometimes the BIOS isn't very reliable for idle temps as the CPU may have a slightly higher voltage. Installed Windows, no problem (but I first set my BIOS CPU warning at 80C).
For giggles, the first thing I did after Windows/video card drivers were installed was run WEI to see what improvement I would get over my previous SSD, and see if my CPU would report the same rating. Let that run while I went into the bedroom to download Prime95 and the temp monitor on my laptop. While I wasin the bedroom...I heard a loud buzzing noise from my CPU (figured this was my BIOS/CPU alarm). Installed Prime95 and the temp monitor (can't recall which one I used), and loaded the temp mon. Idle temps were around 30 - 35 degrees (all cores) - which I thought was normal. Started the first Prime95 test...within seconds my CPU temps jumped up to 80C, then got to 90C before I could stop the test.
So (I'll apologize now for the incredibly long post)...I'm assuming that the problem is either:
a) Not enough thermal paste (as I mentioned, it was nearly transparent...I could just barely see the writing on the core)
b) Heatsink was not seated properly (1155/Tuniq was a royal PITA to install)...but I'm certain all 4 screws were very tight, and I wiggled the cooler to make sure it was not loose (my mobo was moving so I know it could not have been loose)
c) Thermal paste may have "expired" (not likely, however, this is all I got)
I don't think it is an airflow issue as my "case temp" according to bios is low 30'sC. No other components were changed in my rig aside from the hard drives (the only other major change was removing/re-seating the heatsink for the first time in almost 2 years).
I am getting ready to order some Arctic MX4 (since I know I probably need to take off the cooler, clean the old paste, blah blah blah, I may as well try something new).
Is it possible that I legitimately used not enough paste? I always thought "less is better", but I watched a few videos on youtube, and there was a relatively thick coat on all CPUs I saw.
What is the preferred method of applying thermal paste here? Now that I've tried spreading without luck (when I built my rig in 2011, this was the first non-stock fan I used, therefore, the first time I had to manually apply TIM), should I try to just put a glob in the middle, or use the "X" method (which is what I was going for)? Apparently most of the head is in the center, so I may not need to worry about covering the entire thing (and this would be MUCH simpler)...
Has anyone had any similar experiences? Maybe I just got unlucky? I'm dreading having to take the cooler off again...but I'm nervous about having the PC run with those temps.
Any feedback would be very much appreciated.
Thanks!
I have a bit of a weird issue. Here is my setup (been running great since late 2011):
Gigabyte ga-p67a-ud5 motherboard
Core i7 2600k
Tuniq Tower 120 Extreme CPU heatsink/cooler (with included TX-3 paste)
Evga GTX 580 SSC
8GB (2x4GB) Corsair Ripjaws
2 80mm intake fans (front of case)/1 80mm intake fan (on the side)
2 80mm exhaust fans (on the back)
Kinwin Lazer 1000 watt PSU
I decided it was time to upgrade my (3) hard drives for more space (80GB Intel x25 SSD --> 240GB Intel 520 series SSD, 1TB WD Green --> 2TB WD Green, 300GB WD Velociraptor --> 1TB WD Velociraptor). Unfortunately I could not take my hard drive bays out without removing the Tuniq cooler (exactly what I was trying to avoid). So after a few days of procrastinating (I had everything copied from my old storage drives to the new drives for about a week) I decided to take of the cooler and replace the hard drives.
I took a paper towel and rubbing alcohol to to clean the heatsink and CPU, applied a little of the TX-3 paste to the CPU and used a piece of plastic from a sandwich bag on my finger to spread the paste around the CPU (VERY thin layer...it was pretty much transparent). The first time I mounted the cooler, I used a credit card to spread the paste, so this was a bit different. Plugged everything in, and being obsessive compulsive, the first thing I did was go into the BIOS to check the CPU temperature...idling between 50 and 55 C (obviously way too high). Previously in the BIOS idle CPU temp would be ~40C, which I was fine with.
Thinking there is a "break in" period for the TX-3, I let my PC run (in BIOS) for several hours...came back and checked the CPU temp, and no change. This was yesterday...
Today I decided I would install Windows and load Prime95 and a temperature monitoring program as I read that sometimes the BIOS isn't very reliable for idle temps as the CPU may have a slightly higher voltage. Installed Windows, no problem (but I first set my BIOS CPU warning at 80C).
For giggles, the first thing I did after Windows/video card drivers were installed was run WEI to see what improvement I would get over my previous SSD, and see if my CPU would report the same rating. Let that run while I went into the bedroom to download Prime95 and the temp monitor on my laptop. While I wasin the bedroom...I heard a loud buzzing noise from my CPU (figured this was my BIOS/CPU alarm). Installed Prime95 and the temp monitor (can't recall which one I used), and loaded the temp mon. Idle temps were around 30 - 35 degrees (all cores) - which I thought was normal. Started the first Prime95 test...within seconds my CPU temps jumped up to 80C, then got to 90C before I could stop the test.
So (I'll apologize now for the incredibly long post)...I'm assuming that the problem is either:
a) Not enough thermal paste (as I mentioned, it was nearly transparent...I could just barely see the writing on the core)
b) Heatsink was not seated properly (1155/Tuniq was a royal PITA to install)...but I'm certain all 4 screws were very tight, and I wiggled the cooler to make sure it was not loose (my mobo was moving so I know it could not have been loose)
c) Thermal paste may have "expired" (not likely, however, this is all I got)
I don't think it is an airflow issue as my "case temp" according to bios is low 30'sC. No other components were changed in my rig aside from the hard drives (the only other major change was removing/re-seating the heatsink for the first time in almost 2 years).
I am getting ready to order some Arctic MX4 (since I know I probably need to take off the cooler, clean the old paste, blah blah blah, I may as well try something new).
Is it possible that I legitimately used not enough paste? I always thought "less is better", but I watched a few videos on youtube, and there was a relatively thick coat on all CPUs I saw.
What is the preferred method of applying thermal paste here? Now that I've tried spreading without luck (when I built my rig in 2011, this was the first non-stock fan I used, therefore, the first time I had to manually apply TIM), should I try to just put a glob in the middle, or use the "X" method (which is what I was going for)? Apparently most of the head is in the center, so I may not need to worry about covering the entire thing (and this would be MUCH simpler)...
Has anyone had any similar experiences? Maybe I just got unlucky? I'm dreading having to take the cooler off again...but I'm nervous about having the PC run with those temps.
Any feedback would be very much appreciated.
Thanks!
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