I7 920 - seems a bit too high

cynicallyenhance

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Feb 15, 2010
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System Info:
Overclocked my i7-290 to about 3.7 (blck - 180 x 21.0)
Case: Antec 1200
Heatsink: Vigor Monsoon III LT
Thermal Paste: IC7
Mobo: Gigabyte UD3R

At idles with fans at lowest settings I'm running around 50*C. I was reading the newegg reviews, and it seems like most people were able to clock it to 4ghz or keep idle temps around the 30s. When I run a prime 95 stress test with fans on max, my temps are around 80-85*C. These numbers seemed a bit high, am I doing anything wrong here?

I feel like I should be able to take this system to 4.0ghz without too much worry.

EDIT: I might note this is my first ever system build, so I'm new to all of this :b
 

cynicallyenhance

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thermal paste is posted.
I used Innovation Cooling IC7 Thermal Compound. Applied about a pea-size (it might've been a little big not sure) on to the heatsink. I didn't clean the cpu after putting it in the mobo, but I didn't really touch it after dropping it in place.

As of right now, Real Temp is giving me

52 52 51 49 *C
all I have open is firefox and aim, load is around 1.5-2%
 

anonymousdude

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If the stock cooler was on before and there was thermal paste on the CPU then yes you would need to clean it. If the CPU came straight out of the box then no you wouldn't need to clean it. Also did the heatsink have thermal paste on it? If it did then you need to clean it off as well before applying new paste. Also sometimes reseating the heatsink will fix the problem.
 

cynicallyenhance

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Heatsink came new, and CPU came new. Nothing was on the heatsink other than a plastic film protecting the Cu finish which I took off. I forgot to put spacers in the assembly (checked a video online), but I assume that is just to protect the motherboard.

Also, I think I left most of the voltages on auto (ram is clocking in at 1400mhz right now) and didn't turn off settings such as hyper threading or extreme performance. Would any of these settings affect the temperature?
 

cynicallyenhance

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would the spacers help though? They're actually applied to the same side as the processor which would mean more distance between the processor and the heatsink (at least that's what I assumed).
 

cynicallyenhance

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I don't remember exactly but on stock it was running quite low. I believe it was idling around 30 while under load around 50? My friend was helping we OC it so I'll edit this once he replies back to me.

EDIT:
Friend replied,
numbers were around 32-36 Idle and 46-50 on max load.

I never benchmarked it with the stock heatsink though. I went straight to the vigor.
 

cynicallyenhance

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so his temperatures are mid 50's under load? Yeah the thing that bugs me is that I'm running around those same temperatures, but just idling.

I'm not sure what the voltage is rated at right now, but the only voltage I changed was the processor's. I think everything else is under auto at the moment.
 

babachoo

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I've got my 920 OC'd to 4.03ghz and it idles at 33C and Prime95 maxes it out at around 65-67. HAF 922 case and Hyper212+ cooler. I'd say if you did everything correctly, you might just need a better cooler/case.