I7 920 D0 Stock Heating issue...with Megahalem

[eylee86]

Hi as the title says i Have an I7 920 CPU(D0 stepping) running at stock speed. I've been using this computer for about 6 months and I just decided to run Prime 95 out of whim.

I'm using Prolimatech Megahalem with AC5 with 1 Scythe S-Flex Fan. On my real temp, it shows that my idle is ~46,45,46,42. with Prime 95. the temperature reached 70 degrees and I decided to stop the test. I thought the temperature was little too high for a highend cooler...

The voltage shows that it's running at 1.223V.

What are my options here in order to improve this temperature?

There are couple things I thought of but just wanted to run by the forum beforehand!

1) clean/reseat the heatsink (which I faintly remember after that I thought about it. the heatsink after the installing seemed to very slightly(almost not noticeable if you don't look closely) leaning...I wasn't too positive but just to make sure I reseated it couple times just to find the same result...and it's been the same way since. Has anyone experienced such case? Could it has to do with my bad temp?
2)Lower the voltage? I heard some cases that this could help. but I wasn't sure what the standard temperature I should be expecting if I'm running it at 1.223V.
3)make the fan setup push/pull...etc.

Let me know what you guys think!

Thanks.

 

[Lmeow]

I own a Prolimatech Megashadow, which is really a black Megahalems, and there are two things I suggest:

- I think you may have used either too little or two much thermal paste, a pea sized drop of TIM is enough. Make sure that the cooler is evenly screwed down on both sides.

- You could lower the voltage, to something like 1.1V for now and then test for stability.

- Well, I don't think a push/pull setup would help too much in this case, if the CPU is too hot and not transferring enough heat to the cooler, there's not much of a point adding more fans to the Megahalems.

 

[Conumdrum]

Check your thermal paste appliation when you take the cooler off.

How are you applying the paste? What kind? Does your case have GREAT airflow?

What fan did you put on the heatsink?

Did you secure the mount right? cross tighten one screw one turn at a time, ONE turn at a time untill it's all the way down? Heck that takes 10 minutes alone.

 

[wolfram23]

I too recommend reseating it. I had high temps on my i5 with an aftermarket cooler that I got mounted initially at the store I bought it from. Decided to buy some Arctic Silver and redo it myself, when I removed it, the paste had bad contact on the HS so I did some lapping on the CPU because it was so uneven. Helped a ton.

 

[eylee86]

thanks for the quick replies guys. It seems that I lost the CPU cleaning solutions that I had awhile back and I just ordered some. I will get back to you as soon as I try reseating this. I know that I have good airflow for my case. I did somewhat extensive cable management and the fan on the CPU is Scythe S-Flex 63.7cfm. switched out all 5 fans on antec1200 for scythe slipstreams.

 

[eylee86]

so i took the heatsink off after reseating it, i tried to use less AS5. The idle was low 40-45 depending on the ambiant (day/night) and load (prime95) was going past 60 still. so I took the heatsink off once again (carefully so that I can see the contact areas) and this is what I found...

To me it looks like either the heatsink/processor/or both is(are) concaving out that only the middle portion is getting the contact.

In terms of the amount of thermal compound what do you guys think? less?more?just about ok?

And what do you think I should try? different heatsink? i would like to avoid having to lap the CPU/heatsink as much as possible but if that's the only option for me to achieve the correct temp...i guess I'd have to.

Any input would be greatful! thanks in advance guys

 

[arterius2]

did you screw down the 2 spring-loaded screw on the bracket fully until it stops turning?, also while reapplying the thermal paste, take a rubber glove, or wrap your finger in plastic wrap and gently smudge the paste to cover the entire surface of the CPU, try to make the layer as thin as possible. and please do not lap the heat sink.

also once you reseat the heatsink, please take a photo after u are done.

 

[eylee86]

Thanks for the quick response arterius2. Yes I screwd down the 2 spring-loaded screw on the bracket all the way until i couldn't turn them anymore. in fact, I checked that they were fully screwd before i took them off. and I also noticed that when i simply put the heatsink on a flat surface (my glass desk) i noticed that it was slightly tilting. So it is not the installation that made the heatsink tilt like i thought up above. and I'll come back with the installed picture of the heatsink.

 

[arterius2]

hmmm maybe you got a lemon, but I read it somewhere that a spoke-person from Prolimatech said that the Megahelms was not supposed to have a perfectly flat base. its designed this way to provide better cooling. and he goes on to say that lapping the base is not recommended and would definetly void the the warranty.

however, you could try lapping the cpu tho... or... smear more AS5 to the rim of the CPU so the paste make contact with the heatsink... although not a great fix, but should help alleviate some heat this way...

 

[eylee86]

so here's the picture of the prime95 after running it for 30min... after reseating. I guess it's somewhat of an improvement! after curing of AS5 how much temp drop do you expect?

What do you guys think? is this a normal temp for stock? (with lowered voltage to 1.05)

I might try out a Corsair H50 and see if i see a big change.

max temp reached were 61,60,60,58 and they dropped down to mid-high 50's for the last 15-20 minutes.

 

[arterius2]

this is my temps using megahalems on my X6 1090T @ 4.26ghz, however, the thubans are known to be cool running. your temps seem to be ok... but still not the best, i dont expect much difference from curing, maybe a degree or so.
one more thing, on the H50, don't expect too much of a difference - if the problem lies in your CPU, the megahalems performs better than the corsair in terms of temps. like i said, you might of got a lemon, or your cpu isnt flat.

 

[abhi_jollyguy]

so here's the picture of the prime95 after running it for 30min... after reseating. I guess it's somewhat of an improvement! after curing of AS5 how much temp drop do you expect?

http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab191/elee861031/p95.jpg

What do you guys think? is this a normal temp for stock? (with lowered voltage to 1.05)

I might try out a Corsair H50 and see if i see a big change.

max temp reached were 61,60,60,58 and they dropped down to mid-high 50's for the last 15-20 minutes.

Corsair H50 is not as gud as Prolimatech Megahalem.

 

[wolfram23]

From what I understand, the cores are pretty much directly under that raised bit. Still, I don't know why they don't just make them nice and flat for maximum contact. I'd say try using a little more paste, make a thin bead along that raised part so it fills the sides a little better. Otherwise that's not too bad, i7s with HT are known to run hotter. My i5 had a really bad riser so I lapped it, and it did bring the temps down a ton. However, I also voided my warranty. Just recently something went wrong and it's not even POSTing, and if it's the CPU I'll have to shell out another $210... the tech guy said if it's really wrong, to just exchange it. So yeah, I'd try remounting to see the best temps you can get, maybe see if you can compare to other i7 920s... and if it's bad, try an exchange before lapping.

 

[notty22]

so here's the picture of the prime95 after running it for 30min... after reseating. I guess it's somewhat of an improvement! after curing of AS5 how much temp drop do you expect?

http://i863.photobucket.com/albums/ab191/elee861031/p95.jpg

What do you guys think? is this a normal temp for stock? (with lowered voltage to 1.05)

I might try out a Corsair H50 and see if i see a big change.

max temp reached were 61,60,60,58 and they dropped down to mid-high 50's for the last 15-20 minutes.

Your temps are avg, they are not bad. If your going to try the corsair, or another fan on the Meg, its more for scientific pleasure+curiousity , 60's aren't a problem. But you need to join the 4.0ghz club ! User reviews for the h50 from newegg, couple of do920's on every page.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductReview.aspx?Item=35-181-010&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&Pagesize=10&SelectedRating=-1&PurchaseMark=&VideoOnlyMark=False&VendorMark=&Keywords=%28keywords%29&Page=2

 

[gerry410]

To much paste is just as bad as not enough. I noticed in one of your pics the paste seems to be gathered up on the top right. That will hold the heat. Someone suggested spreading the paste with saran wrap around your finger. Its a great idea and it worked well for me. My i7 930 runs at 45 / 46 c. According to the Intel specs if your running below 70 you should be fine.

 

[Ubrales]

Here are my views on heatsinks.

Per manufacturing processes, it is expensive to machine a flat base. Therefore, manufacturers do the best they can using automated machine tools, and the marketing people are told to say that the concave/convex surfaces are fine and should not be further finished. To put some teeth in what they say, they state that the warranty will be voided if alterations are attempted.

It is a known fact that heat transfer is maximized when metal-to-metal contact is increased. This can be achieved by flat surfaces, not by filling gross voids with thermal compound.

I went ahead and polished (some call it lapping) the base of my CM V8 heatsink, and left the CPU heat spreader alone. The CPU heat spreader is a thin sheet metal component manufactured by a draw process. The expansion of this surface can only be determined by elaborate lab tests. That's why I left the CPU heat spreader alone; NOT because the warranty would be void.

After doing the polishing on the V8 heatsink base, my temps were lower by 5 to 8 degrees C - under identical conditions. Of course, good practices must be followed for application of the thermal compound. Good guides here.