This is my first build:
COOLER MASTER Centurion 5 CAC
Antec earthwatts EA500
GIGABYTE GA-P35-DS3L
Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz
ARCTIC COOLING Freezer 7 Pro
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800
BFG Tech GeForce 8800GTS (G92) 512MB
Western Digital Caviar SE 250GB
SAMSUNG Black 20X DVD+R
Windows Vista Home Basic 32 bit (OEM)

I just got done overclocking the video card:
70% fan speed
Core: 802 mhz
Shader: 1966 mhz
Memory: 972 mhz

The card now runs ~20C cooler than it did stock (was 67C idle, 78C loaded).

Before OCing the Q6600, I ran coretemp and hwmonitor, and they both show my cores to be 54, 52, 54, 51 C at idle. When I ran Prime95, the cores were at ~65C loaded.

I used AS5 when installing the HSF to the cpu.

Thoughts? What should I do?

couple of things come to mind.......

1. what is the airflow through the case? Does no good to circulate hot air..

2. maybe reinstall the cpu and heatsink with a fresh application for AS5. Small thing could have gone wrong there....

Those temps don't sound all that bad... I know before I installed the water cooling kit I have the cpu used to hit 60 at stock... that said my case was badly designed and had a fan on the front and back working against each other (both were blowing into the case... no exhaust for hot air away from the components) which I only noticed when I put in the water kit I have

I'd be worried if they were 70-80 under load...

That said I have a B3 q6600... G0 ones run a bit cooler

I agree with xr - sounds like your CPU cooler may be not-quite-properly installed (or too much thermal compound), as those idle temps seem about 20C too high. Check out this post on mounting the (poorly designed) 4-pin system: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] y#t1184072

You generally hear about much lower temperatures because enthusiasts usually use aftermarket heatsinks. The stock intel heatsink tends to let the CPU get much hotter. This is fine for stock speeds, but you might want to get a aftermarket heatsink (ie. Thermalright 120 Ultra extreme....etc) if you plan on doing some decent overclocking of your CPU.

Here is a chart confirming my statements:
http://www.anandtech.com/showdoc.aspx?i=2943&p=3

they use a X6800 here, so I would figure the Q6600 with 4 cores would run a little hotter too.

you might consider installing a vga cooler that pushes the vga's heat out the back of your case??like the vantec iceberq pro6 [fr'instance],no need to recirculate hot air inside the case twice,,eh what??
of course this will take up 2 slots...

Thanks guys.

I have an aftermarket cooler (arctic freezer pro 7)
I just reinstalled the HSF. I scraped away about 1/2 of the AS5. Core temps are 56, 55, 56, 52 as I type (pretty much idle).
The case has a 80mm inlet fan and a 120mm exhaust fan. I checked that they are both blowing correctly. I have the HSF blowing towards the exhast fan (it's about 1 in away from it).

Now it's 70, 65, 68, 63 while running Prime95

I'm going to install the stock HSF and see what happens

bb - as you note, the chart in your link is for a different CPU, running 2 cores at a higher clock frequency, using different temp measurement software, and possibly with a different model Intel hsf, so it's not really relevant without knowing how temps in that setup translate to temps in a typical Q6600 setup. I did note that FWIW even in that chart, the Intel hsf idle temp is shown as 41C, which is substantially lower than the OP's measurements.

Guess what? I took out the Arctic Freezer Pro and put in the stock HSU. Idle cores are 37, 36, 37, 35.
Stressed cores are (prime95) 52, 51, 52, 50.

WTH? WTF?

take any straight edge (razor works well) and check to see if the surface of the Freezer pro is either convex or concave. that could be it.

Small chance it could be you did the thermal paste correctly this time (this assumes your not so smart, and I dont assume that)

its also possible that the Freezer pro isnt sitting correctly, maybe a connect isnt screwing down enough into the mobo or such like causing uneven contact with CPU....

but most certianly sounds like your Freezer pro...

Lets go back to assuming I'm not so smart:

This time I just put a drop of AS5 on the cpu. I didn't spread it or anything. I always spread the AS5 on the freezer w/ a credit card (the things you read on the internet).

The stock fan also blows to the side of the case. There's a little funnel that directs the air to a vent. This might help get the hot air out. The Freezer blows to the back, front, top, bottom depending on how you orient it. I had it blowing to the back right next to the exhaust fan, but they were very close...I dunno.

I think I got the pins in right each time, but I'll admit it's tough to tell and I'm worried about putting too much pressure on the mobo and breaking it.

Anyway, I OC'd w/ the stock HSF to 3.0ghz. The cores idle at ~45C and stressed are at 65 C.

OK those temps are a bit high...you may want to check and make sure that the pins on the AF Pro aren't damaged and go all the way through and lock tight. My Zalman is 3 inches from a good 120mm rear fan and my temps are about 32C idle 50C load Tjunc, 22idle, 39 load Tcase. Using coretemp, speedfan and PC probe.

Ok, You dont need to much AS5 to get the job done. Read this: http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/ap [...] d_wcap.pdf

Did you check the mating surface of the ACF7? Its important..

RE: Fan orientation. If I was doing this, I would put a fan on the door, take off the duct and have it blowing down onto the ACF7 with fresh cool air...

But do this first. Reinstall the ACF7 with out any side panels. This way your not worrying about air flow. If you have a house fan, have it blow into the case onto the ACF7. This way you eliminate any questions about case airflow.

If your temps are still high, you have narrowed down your problems.

Thanks Xringx, that is a very good idea. If it's still hot with the house fan, then:
1. I haven't installed it correctly
2. The Freezer is defective

Back again to assuming I'm not so smart:
I finally looked up the air flow of the Freezer. The fan pulls air through the vents. I had the fan right next to the exhaust, so the two fans were fighting eachother.

Here's a diagram:
http://www.anandtech.com/casecooli [...] i=3210&p=2

not sure what you mean, but a picture or maybe even a diagram is worth a 1000 words..

So you didnt have the fans blowing air in the same direction? but against each other??

Do you mean you had the Fan ont he AF7 PULLING air through the heatsink???? towards the exit fan in the back of the case?

I am confused..

I had the fan pointing towards the exhaust fan. So the exhaust fan is driving air "<-" while the Freezer is driving air "->". The two fans are 1" apart. I think the exhaust fan was basically depriving the Freezer of air.

I am still confused. Can you do a picture???

Here is a pic of my heat sink and back fan. This is how yours should be



I have the fan on the heatsink blowing air through the heatsink toward the exit fan on the back of the case. So looking at the picture, the air moves from right to left.

Here is a pic with arrows

Xingx,
Thanks for the pics. That was the problem exactly. It should be set up

Exhaust fan: <-- and HSF fan <-- like in your pics. Mine was:
Exhaust fan: <-- and HSF fan -->

I set it up correctly now. I've got the q6600 overclocked to 3.1 and I'm running Prime 95 w/ all cores ~59 C. This is a 10C improvement over the stock HSF.

xringx is correct. The Freezer 7 Pro should be mounted on the front side of the heat sink, blowing air through the heat sink, towards the rear exhaust fan. See step 4 in the installation instructions.
http://www.arctic-cooling.com/down [...] r7_pro.pdf

edit: I see I was late. Glad you got it right.

Glad you got it going right..