Just installed Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme

[m1ddy]

My god that was fiddly!

After applying the AS5, it took a lot of effort and patience to secure all 4 screws in the mobo. The heatsink was moved around quite a bit while doing this. I hope it didn't effect its application. I am using a Artic Cooling 120mm fan with the heatsink. Must say, I wasn't very impressed with the way the fan mounts. Seemed a bit flimsy. The heatsink does seem fairly secure now its on, but it does seem to wobble a bit.

I also installed a corsair HX520 and a new DVD writer. When i booted the machine, I now get the Asus splash before the POST, which i didn't before. How weird.
It also says CPU FAN error, hit F1 to continue. The CPU fan is spinning and working.

Once in Windows, I fired up speedfan and P95. The cores under load do not go above 35 degrees. (using stock HSF it was 45 degrees+) That is good! Except, one of the cores seems to be much cooler than the rest of them, sometimes by as much as 10 degrees. I suppose its better than 1 core being hotter than the rest of them!

The case being used is an Antec 900. I have mounted the Ultra in such a way that the 120mm fan is pointing out the rear exhaust fan of the case, through the heatsink. Is that the best way of doing it?

Specs are as follows

Q6600 G0
Asus P5K-E WiFi
4gb Corsair ddr2 800
Corsair HX520
Vista Home Prem 64
Antec 900
7800GT

 

[cnumartyr]

That's how I have mine done... Mine idles around 24-25 C Tcase though.. with a 25% load on it it sits around 30-32 C Tcase...

Was that idle core temp or Tcase?

 

[m1ddy]

that was 25-35 core temp. CPU (tcase, which i assume is CPU in speedfan) was around 25-30 degrees with load. I have made the +15 degree adjustment for the quad core in speedfan too btw. I was using P95 small.

 

[Torbjorn]

Hello
I just installed the same heatsink, on an ASUS maximus formula motherboard, and I had no problems (got a spacious case which helps alot).

Make sure that all the spring loaded screws are tightend to the bottom (dont use force though). My heatsink sits rock solid on top of the cpu casing, and I cannot twist or move it without using force.

I agree that the fan mounting clips could have been more elaborate, but once they are in place they hold the fan very tight. Make sure that the V shaped points have locked into the mounting holes on the fan, so that the fan cannot move (mine sits very tight, and I cannot move the fan without using force).

Having the fan blowing air towards the rear of the case is usually a good idea if you have an outlet that sucks the air out.

If the heatsink moved around alot during installation the thermal pase might have become cluttered or scraped off perhaps, which could account for some uneven cooling, but different cores can variate in temperature ive heard.

I would make sure that the heatsink is secured tightly first, and then start looking at the cores after that.

//Torbjörn

 

[m1ddy]

the thought of taking it off again fills me with dread! lol

I am quite happy with those temps, the hottest one never went above 35 degrees under load, with the coolest one hovering around 25-27. They should come down after a couple of weeks too when the paste has cured. As long as all 4 cores don't go above 60-65 @ 3.2 ghz (400x8) when i overclock it, I don't care if one of them runs cooler

Jon

 

[javimars]

congrats you guys. too bad for me i guess. i had/have the same cooling with my old e4300 oc to 3.4ghz running 1.5v and it didnt pass above 50c. then i started to notice that my pc would randomly shut off and NOT post(i cryed thinkg i fryed my system). but it seem'd that the heatsink was a bit too tight and heavy on my motherbord(ga p965 ds3), so i kicked my pc a bit and sorta loosened a bit all 4 screws in a unified order so the lower screws would be a bit more loose than the top ones. once i ordered/received my q6600 i KNEW i would have a problem reinstalling the darn heatsink( i forgot the order of tightnes!) so now i only have it with 2 screws in( the top left one and the lower right one) and my q6600 is oc to 3.2ghz and it tops out @ 58c. i tryed EVERTHING from reinstalling it(atleast 20 times or so, wasted about2 tubes of AS% HAHA =/) to actualy removing the back brace and reseting it in a different position also i sorta bent the brackets that hold the heatsink so it would apply less pressure. i KNOW i can have this beast oc to 3.8ghz becausse 1 day i got soo mad i actualy TRIED to fry this crap and set it to 3.8ghz, guess what! it posted and even loaded into windows(i almost died laughing), BUT because the heatsink and stuff was loose my q6600 was idling @ 54c and i actually got to do superpi and i got 13.8secs, then i did prime96 and it hit 90c and shut off. never again with such high overclock because my heatsink is EVIL.

IF you guys have ANY suggestion to my fix(before i spend a tone of money on water cooling or even phase cooling)would be very appreciated

 

[barneybadass]

When I installed mine, the cooler did indeed slip around a lot.. even with the screws tightened all the way down. I took the cooler off and removed the CPU, cleaned both very well and used about 1/3 less AS5 and that seems to have solved my problem.

BTW, I've done this with 2 other systems now; of course I've switched from AS5 to cool labs "liquid metal pro" and that seems to be a much thinner material and the coolers don't seem to slip around as much as the one with the AS5... but that's been my experience.

YMMV

 

[m1ddy]

What I fail to see is, once the heatsink is seated on the CPU, HOW exactly are you supposed to slide in the bracket to mount it between the fins and the base. It slips and slides everywhere. Might as well use KY jelly as thermal compound

 

[javimars]

What I fail to see is, once the heatsink is seated on the CPU, HOW exactly are you supposed to slide in the bracket to mount it between the fins and the base. It slips and slides everywhere. Might as well use KY jelly as thermal compound

huh.. you suppost to install it WITH the bracket already in place... DUH! ^_^

 

[m1ddy]

not according to the instructions you dont

 

[cnumartyr]

What I fail to see is, once the heatsink is seated on the CPU, HOW exactly are you supposed to slide in the bracket to mount it between the fins and the base. It slips and slides everywhere. Might as well use KY jelly as thermal compound

Sit it on a flat surface. Slide the bracket in and keep pressure on the center. Install the screws in a criss-cross fashion (just get them started). Then 1/2-1/4 turns on each one in a criss-cross fashion until secure.

And it's a quirk of some Q6600s to have different temps in the two cores. Mine are off by as much as 3 C of each other.

 

[m1ddy]

I realise some the cores will vary in temperature. Cores 1, 2 and 4 are within about 3 degrees. Core 3 is always lower, sometimes by ten degrees or so. Like i said, not really fussed. We will see how they behave when its taken to 3.2ghz