Cooling a Q6600 on an Asus P5K3 motherboard

[konradm]

Hi, I have a Q6600 and an Asus P5K3 motherboard. I have the Q6600 manually *underclocked* to 1.6GHz. It idles at around 68°C, and exceeds 80°C under load (still at 1.6GHz -- I'm scared to try at 2.4). I'm using the stock intel cooling that came with the cpu when I got it from newegg.

My current airflow configuration is just the fans that came with the case -- one 120mm exhaust fan on the back, and an 80mm intake fan on the side of the case.

I'm thinking I want to get a 120mm fan for intake on the front of the case, and probably a new cpu fan+heatsink. I'm looking for recommendations on buying a cpu fan/heatsink for the Q6600 on this motherboard. I'm open to pretty much anything so long as it's under, say, $60, and will fit on the motherboard. A friend of mine has a Zalman 9700 and says it works well, but I'm looking for additional feedback before I buy one.

Note: I would *like* to run it at "normal" speed (2.4GHz) without frying it. The underclock isn't for noise reasons or otherwise.

Thanks!

 

[fatty35]

That's insanely hot, At those temps your proc isnt going to last long. However it could be a bios temp error OR your HSF is not seated correctly .etc
ever way I would go for a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 its the best HSF currently out and would beat your friends Zalman.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233003

 

[jerreece]

+1 for the Xigmatek HDT-S1283. Great cooler. My Q6600 idles at about 32-35C (one core is higher than others). If you get this cooler though, double and triple check how much room you have in your case. This thing is HUGE! I have the Armor VA8003BWS (very big "Full Tower", though more like a server case). Had to take the 25CM fan off the door to make this heatsink fit.

Your CPU is definitely in danger at those temperatures. I can't imagine with an underclock to 1.6Ghz you could possibly be running those temperatures on the stock cooler unless....

1) Your BIOS or software is reading temperatures completely wrong.

2) Your Heatsink is improperly mounted or has no thermal compound on it.

EDIT: By the way. If you order a Xigmatek HDT-S1283, get the retention brackets for Intel motherboards. Costs more, but you'll be happy you did. Much easier to install and much more secure than the push pin setup that comes standard.

 

[konradm]

My concern with such a large heatsink is that if my case gets bumped at all moving it around, to LAN parties, etc, it will damage my motherboard or my cpu or fall off and hit other things in my case. I have a side case fan directly above where the heatsink would be that I could remove to make additional room, so I imagine it would fit.