Core i7 Coolermaster v8

[TheGreatDew]

Hey guys, so i finaly got my new system up and running after waiting for my damn XFX 5870 to go on sale/finaly show up at my house.

Everything works great....or atleast I thought it did.

After prime95ing my i7 920 running at stock speeds I was not happy. My temps were going upto 77 and going up! In fear of seeing what they might reach I shut my system for the night and went to bed. I woke up today and figured oh what the hell ill pull my cooler off of my chip. I wasn't happy with what i had found. I spread my AC5 out onto the heat spreader very nice and evenly....But the damn cooler was only touching the top and bottom of the chip! completely missing the center of the spreader....

I went on AC's website and re did the compound with their "line" method at full load my temps were getting to about 63-64 when I OCed my chip to 3.1GHZ and ran it under full load I was getting much better temps..(67-68 and staying there) I was just wondering if this seemed normal? Or should I look into RMAing this damn cooler....Perhaps it was not machined properly?

Thanks in advance

 

[overshocked]

Seems kinda odd.

Lapp it and that should help tremendously.

 

[TheGreatDew]

Lap my processor or lap the actual cooler bottom?

 

[JohnnyLucky]

You'll need to lap both the cpu heatsink and the cpu. Of course that will void the cpu warranty. You may want to think twice before actually doing it. Actual results will vary.

You did not provide any detailed information but personally I would look at other very important factors like case ventialtion, airflow, and cooling plus cable management, and type of thermal compound. . A lot of little things can pile up.

I noticed you mentioned "AC5". Do you mean Arctic Silver 5? If so, did you let it cure (burn in) for 200 hours as the manufacturer recommends?

 

[TheGreatDew]

Ill be honest I have not given it the full 200 hours. My cable managment is not an issue its not messing with my airflow at all. Im running an Antec 1200. I honestly was more worried about the fact that the CPU cooler did not make any contact with the grease in the center. Like i said after re-seating it my temps got alot better. Im still not verry happy with them tho. Im pretty sure that the cooler isn't making full contact with my CPU And i dont know why I followed the instructions. And anytime you look up anything about the v8 everyone has a different freaking back bracket so its so hard to tell. Some people use the rubber vibration rings as well. I didn't use them but it didn't say to. So i dont know im just confused.

 

[overshocked]

Well actually i would just lapp the v8 (if you choose to lapp at all). Lapping CPU's still makes me nervouse and in your case you will see a much much much larger improvement in just lapping the cooler.

 

[Conumdrum]

Check the bottom of the cooler with the sharp edge of a razor blade or something very accurate. Shine a light from the other side. The base should actually be convex, not concave. If it's concave, it's a bad one. You can do the same to your chip.

You can also put a bit of kechup on a sheet of glass and put the cooler on it and look under the glass. The ketchup should be even, even less in the middle where the greatest contact needs to be.

 

[TheGreatDew]

Oh my god Conumdrum. That ketchup idea is freaking brilliant man. I may try that tomorrow Im on the system at the moment .... Running 37 Idle....Not happy about it.
If its got a concave shape to it will coolermaster RMA it? do you know?

 

[overshocked]

Dude, that is brilliant. Never heard that before.

 

[Conumdrum]

I would, I'd at least talk to them.

Not my idea, one thats been around a long time. Not mentioned a lot though.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Looks like you did a better job on 2nd install. try contacing CM tech support, meybe they send you new cooler ....some manufacturers don't want flat ?

http://www.prolimatech.com/

Lapping Warning!
Prolimatech does not condone any type of lapping done to the CPU or to heatsink base. Every Prolimatech's heatsink base is designed on a pin-point scale of how the base is to be flat and/or curved where it's needed to be. We have programed our machines to machine the surface in a very calculated way. Any after-manufacture lapping or modding done to the base will alter the design, hence negating its performance factor as well as its warranty.

I'm pretty happy w/ the Prolima .....tho it performed much better after I really drove temps up on a few runs (79C) .... the IC Diamond 7 karat thermal paste was real thick and methinks it need a good hot run to cycle in

CPU Cores = 63/62/60/61 @ 3.7 GHz @ 1.2 volts w/ HT and all BIOS features enabled

CPU Cores = 69/63/64/62 @ 4.2 GHz @ 1.3 volts w/ HT and SpeedStep disabled

 

[ardurren]

keep in mind too guys, the i7 920 runs hotter than any chip ive ever played with. itll continue to run over 100c just underclocks at that point. personally i run mine with the same v8 (replaced fan) oc'd to 4.0 ghz max load over 90c but she takes it with stride. not to mention i seldom hit max load.. never really unless im benchmarking.

ardurren

 

[OFFICA]

I have the same system, and im disapointed with mine too.... im getting 45 idle and 96 full load (im overclocked to 3.7ghz)

Ive seen idle 35 and full load at 65-70 on forums..........

Im getting a new Coolermaster case tomorrow, so will re-seat the CPU using Arctic Silver instead of the coolermaster gunk ive been using.

(of course, it depends on how youve overclocked, voltages ect....)

im

cpu ratio = manual
bclk freq = 186
pcie freq = 100
dram freq = ddr3 1491
uclk freq = auto
qpi link data rate = auto

cpu voltage 1.200
cpu pll voltage 184
qpi/dram core voltage 1.64
cpu differential amplitude 800mv
...all other at auto

if that helps....

C'mon V8, youre supposed to ROCK!

Will post results when im done.

 

[TheGreatDew]

keep in mind too guys, the i7 920 runs hotter than any chip ive ever played with. itll continue to run over 100c just underclocks at that point. personally i run mine with the same v8 (replaced fan) oc'd to 4.0 ghz max load over 90c but she takes it with stride. not to mention i seldom hit max load.. never really unless im benchmarking.

ardurren

Hey ardurren what fan did you put into yours? I grabbed a coolermaster "90cfm" fan I dont think its really any better than stock.

Also After reseating this thing about 6 times. I think im actually happy with it.... Got it at 59 right now on prime 94. thats a big differance from the 67-68 I was getting even after re seating it the 2nd time. the guy from cooler master said that i might have had the cooler on upside down. And after checking technically it was. When i had removed the old fan to put the new one in i must have accidently turned it upsideown. Still this cooler does not like it if you spread out the thermal grease. I spread it out really thin and then put a line of AC5 on it. Now 58-59 under load temps aren't fantastic In my opinion they aren't bad because this chip does run a little hot I understand that. Im going to give it the 200 cycles and then maybe OC it a bit. just to 3.0 The V8 is nice looking but Ill be honest im not happy about how it sits on the CPU heat spreader, at all.

 

[JackNaylorPE]

Read this thread:

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/256908-28-what-maximum-temperature-stock-core

 

[TheGreatDew]

Oh wow. wel if i read that right....my 32-35 idles are not bad at all....Hell hitting 58-59 on prime 95 isn't even that bad.

 

[OFFICA]

Well well well, whilst taking the old pc apart, i found my problem...

the heatsink had no more than a THIRD of it with paste on, in fact only 2 corners were touching the cpu. (even though all of the CPU had paste on)
On closer inspection, the V8 is not flat at all, i ran a credit card over it whilst lookin at the lightbulb, and you could clearly see light.

So, i put paste (Arctic Freeze) on the CPU, and also the heatsink, and a dot in the middle of the heatsink.

Now i idle (in prime95) 39-43 and load 72-76

A huge improvement!

I expected the idle to go down a bit more, but ill stick with this set up.

____________

cpu ratio = manual
bclk freq = 186
pcie freq = 100
dram freq = ddr3 1491
uclk freq = auto
qpi link data rate = auto


cpu voltage 1.200
cpu pll voltage 184
qpi/dram core voltage 1.64
cpu differential amplitude 800mv
...all other at auto

_________________________

Clocked at 3.7Ghz

 

[TheGreatDew]

Well well well, whilst taking the old pc apart, i found my problem...

the heatsink had no more than a THIRD of it with paste on, in fact only 2 corners were touching the cpu. (even though all of the CPU had paste on)
On closer inspection, the V8 is not flat at all, i ran a credit card over it whilst lookin at the lightbulb, and you could clearly see light.

So, i put paste (Arctic Freeze) on the CPU, and also the heatsink, and a dot in the middle of the heatsink.

Now i idle (in prime95) 39-43 and load 72-76

A huge improvement!

I expected the idle to go down a bit more, but ill stick with this set up.

____________

cpu ratio = manual
bclk freq = 186
pcie freq = 100
dram freq = ddr3 1491
uclk freq = auto
qpi link data rate = auto


cpu voltage 1.200
cpu pll voltage 184
qpi/dram core voltage 1.64
cpu differential amplitude 800mv
...all other at auto

_________________________

Clocked at 3.7Ghz

Im glad that worked for you Offica!

I re-applied and actualy OCed my CPu to 3.0 I lowered my voltages im idleing at about 30 and full load on prime 95 i get to about 50-53