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i7-4771 alternative cooler, Noctua NH-L12

Tags:
  • Intel i7
  • Cooling
  • Thermal Compound
  • Intel
  • CPUs
Last response: in CPUs
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January 13, 2014 3:09:00 PM

Hi,

Today I had installed my new i7-4771 on an Intel DQ87PG, with stock cooler and default BIOS.
I had used MX-4 thermal paste on the cooler after cleaning it before with Arctic Cleaner
I had fired up Prime95 and after about 20 minutes I got thresholds warning that the CPU cores where reaching 88 degrees. The temperatures where monitored with Intel Desktop Utilities.
I have a mATX board and a mATX case so I cannot use a large cooler. Is the Noctua NH-L12 enough?

Or have I done something wrong? Perhaps I did not put the thermal paste correctly? I used the "X method". Or perhaps the Intel Desktop Utilities are not correct?

Immediately after rebooting the temperature was below 40 degrees. I am using SSDs so it boots very fast.

Thanks

More about : 4771 alternative cooler noctua l12

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January 13, 2014 3:14:01 PM

9 times out of 10 the x method applies WAY too much paste in all the wrong areas. Do the pea drop method. The Noctua should be sufficient.
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January 13, 2014 3:25:11 PM

Right, perhaps I didn't applied it correctly by using the "X method". I'll try to redo the operation.
If I am going tomorrow to get the Noctua NH-L12 cooler, should I use it's included thermal paste, NT-H1, or should I use the MX-4? Which one is better?

Thanks
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January 14, 2014 11:20:33 AM

I am definitely doing something wrong or the CPU is damaged. I have installed today the Noctua NH-L12 cooler with both fans on and without noise redactor and the temperature when running Prime is also reaching 80+ degrees. There is no improvement over the stock fan! I has used the supplied NT-H1 thermal paste using the pea method. Please help!

Thanks
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January 14, 2014 11:55:07 AM

Start up Prime95 and CPU-Z, send me the results of CPU-Z.
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January 14, 2014 12:08:50 PM

My stupidity!!!! Sorry for that! :(  The motherboard has a cooling profile in the BIOS. It was set be default to be "quiet", so the fan was starting to rev up at higher temperatures (80 degrees). After changing the profile to maximum cooling (fan reving up at 60) it seems that the temperature is now staying steady around 60 - 61 degrees with the fan at around 1500 rpm.

My only concern now is that it seems that there is uniform temperature difference between the cores, which seems to much as they are not equally balanced:
Core 0 has 61
Core 1 has 60
Core 2 has 50
Core 3 has 57

There is always a big temperature difference between Core 0 and Core 3.
I think I may redo the thermal paste application, I think I used to little...
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January 14, 2014 12:10:29 PM

It's possible you didn't get all of the cooler. Send me a picture of the cooler after you take it off, with the thermal paste on.
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January 14, 2014 12:16:38 PM

ewok93 said:
9 times out of 10 the x method applies WAY too much paste in all the wrong areas. Do the pea drop method. The Noctua should be sufficient.


Is there a way to tell if you used too much or to little thermal paste, short of your CPU overheating or malfunctioning? I did the X method too on a 4930K, but the Noctua NH-D14 SE2011 was so big that I couldn't really see if anything spilled over or came out the sides (don't think it did).
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January 14, 2014 12:33:17 PM

Take it off and look haha.
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January 14, 2014 12:42:41 PM

ewok93 said:
Take it off and look haha.


Heh, I thought you might say that! Far too much of a struggle getting that Noctua on to do that, I suppose I'll have to wait until I add RAM one day.
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January 14, 2014 12:45:09 PM

Well, it seems you're okay now. It should set, and the temps will be closer as it becomes more evenly spread.
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January 14, 2014 1:05:04 PM

I had reapplied thermal paste. Same result:

Core 0: 64
Core 1: 64
Core 2: 63
Core 4: 60

I guess it can be called acceptable. It's unlikely that I had applied thermal paste wrong in exactly the same way. I guess it is the thermal paste behind the HIS which is not applied uniformly.

All in all, below 65 with Prime 95 running is acceptable. I don't know how much improvement is compared with the stock cooler as I had the wrong BIOS setting yesterday. But Noctua is doing its job.

Here are pictures with the thermal paste on the CPU and the cooler after taking off the cooler, as well as how much thermal paste I reapplied.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/713/3p2u.jp...
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/202/y09x.jp...
http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/800x600q90/839/w3lz.jp...

Please let me know if you see anything wrong.

Thanks
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January 14, 2014 1:41:43 PM

That second one is way too much, the third is perfect. It will start getting cooler as the paste sets.
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January 14, 2014 2:01:08 PM

Hi ewok93. Thank you very much for your assistance! It was very helpful and much appreciated!
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a b å Intel
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January 14, 2014 2:14:35 PM

Glad to help.
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!