Are these temps OK?

Hi, Mr. Noob here, just got my first build done: i7 920, Zalman cooler, not OC'd yet, will do that next, but I want to make sure I have the cooler mounted correctly.

Here are my idle temps from the EVGA eleet tool. Anything to be concerned about?

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Looks fine. Now crank it up!

Reply to spinny

Frankly I'd feel a lot more confident telling you about your temps if you used RealTemp or CoreTemp to monitor temperatures.

If temps were from RealTemp, your core temps at idle could be a bit high depending on your room temperature.

DL and use one of those for an accurate reading.

Message edited by Twoboxer on 07-16-2009 at 08:02:52 AM

Reply to Twoboxer

This will help, make sure you get the latest version. Stuff from the Mobo makers don't ut the mustard. Use these.

Benching software and such is very varied. I use these for each purpose:
These are pretty standard and used by many.
Monitoring the PC temps overall: HWmonitor aka hardware monitor
CPUZ for CPU info
GPUZ for GPU info
CPU only: RealTemp
GPU only: ATI Tool, I have a Nivida GTX280, so it works on Nvidia

Loading/benching tools:
CPU loaders: Prime95 and OCCT
GPU Loaders: ATI Tool and the best one is Furmark, nothing pushes the GPU harder right now.
Benching for overall graphics/gaming performance is 3DMark06

Reply to Conumdrum

I'll definitely give those a go tonight. I was trying to understand why the CPU temp could idle around 28C and yet the cores would be in the 40's. Maybe that's normal, but anyway, I'll get RealTemp tonight.

Thanks for the advice!

Message edited by pauliedc on 07-16-2009 at 04:46:14 PM

OM, here's the story from RealTemp:

Is a stock i7 920 with a Zalman 9700 cooler in an Antec 1200 expected to idle in the low 40's? :heink:

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pauliedc wrote :

OM, here's the story from RealTemp:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/349 [...] 1aee_o.jpg

Is a stock i7 920 with a Zalman 9700 cooler in an Antec 1200 expected to idle in the low 40's? :heink:

nope i have a ultra 120 air cooled and my idle temps are 29 for each core +-3 degrees celcius my clock is at 3.80 ghz and max temp is about 70 fully stressed

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> DDR3 1600mhz > ex58ud4p
Reply to heroofspirits

Hoo-KAY, back to the drawing board...

Thanks!

PS: Anyone have any suggestions? Maybe I didn't seat the cooler right or use enough Artic 5 paste? Come to think of it, I've seen others using the Zalman 9700 (w/the 1366 adapter of course) talking about 30-32C idle temps...

Paulie, I don't think you need to go 'back to the drawing board' for those idle temps. Idle temps are largely based on your ambient temperature. So you need to take people's idle temperature readings with a grain of salt.

Heroofspirits says he idles at 29-32C, but he did not tell us his ambient or what program he is using. I'm running a 920 at 4.0 GHz and it the cores idle around 43-44C. That's only a little bit faster than Heroof but a lot hotter, does that mean there is something wrong with my heatsink? Probably not. I only hit 67C on hours of 8 thread prime95 load, he says he hits 70. Maybe he just has a lot cooler room or faster fan/better heatsink for idle temps, or maybe it's a program difference.

Programs can vary wildly. While Realtemp reports my cores idling in the low 40s, speedfan reports them idling in the high 20s (with no calibration. realtemp is considered to be the correct reading though). I think you should start some overclocking and see what kind of load temps you are getting, it will give you much more information.

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Reply to spinny

spinny wrote :

I think you should start some overclocking and see what kind of load temps you are getting, it will give you much more information.

You're right, I just did some hunting around, and the Zalman 9700 isn't stellar for i7s, people are reporting maybe 36-38C. The 30C I saw months ago when starting this project was for dual-core processors, which the 9700 was designed for. The adapter clip I have to use for the X58 puts the pressure on the edges of the i7, not the center, so that may be why.

OK, I'll start the OC process this weekend and see what flies. THANKS for the feedback, much appreciated.

i agree with the above about ambient temps, i have just recently overclocked and have been watching my temps very closely. I dont have air conditioning in my house, so i can watch the temps go up as the ambient does. I have an i7 @3.8 with the Scythe Mugen 2 Heatsink

when i wake up ambient is 21 C, i idle at around 30-33

when i go to bed, ambient is 28 C, i idle at around 38-40

i find my i7 is almost exactly about 10 degrees C warmer than ambient

saying that, when i do prime 95, i have never gotten a temp over 65 degrees

its all relative, and i wouldnt worry about it, i did at first, but really, it all depends on the ambient, and if you are around 10 degrees over ambient, you are more than ok.

Reply to chronicbucks

Last night I took the side panel off of my Antec 1200 case, and idle temps dropped to 38 degrees. I think I'll buy the fan that actually mounts on the side panel and call it a day. :whistle:

Thanks!

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