Phenom II x4 940 BE Temps high.

[sluzi26]

Long time lurker, first time poster here. I recently pieced together a rig consisting of the following:

G.Skill DDR2-800 4 gigs
Gigabyte MA770-UD3
Phenom II X4 940 BE
Thermaltake Duorb with AS5
Radeon 4870
Raidmax Smilodon case ( removed the VGA cooler).

I'm running Prime now after having burned in the PC the last week without issue and I'm still hitting 50+ at load on stock clocks.

Idle is far better, usually 27-28.

I have 1 120mm intake fan on the front, 1 120mm exhaust fan running on high and a Corsair PSU with an exhaust fan as well.

Cables are managed well enough to not mess with airflow but I can't seem to get my temps down. The system shouldn't be running this hot.

Do you guys have any suggestions? I'm really considering buying a different case because it seems the airflow in the smilodon is getting trapped up top. Even tried removing the side panel of the case and it made no difference. Room temp is around 76 F.

 

[amdfangirl]

You get 50 when you run Prime 95, correct?

 

[sluzi26]

Correct. Stays around 50, capped at 53. Also, before its suggested, I have seated and reseated the HS and the As5 is applied properly.

 

[amdfangirl]

That's normal, Prime 95 stresses you PC beyond its normal-ness. Try gaming for an hour or two. 40C is a normal temp btw.

 

[sluzi26]

Ok. Usually when gaming intensively it hits around 46, 47. Do you think I'm safe to do an OC to 3.4 @17x multi?

 

[sluzi26]

Ok I OC'd it to 3.4 with a 17x multi and now its running at a steady 50 under usual gaming load.

I'm wondering if putting in a stronger intake fan in the front of the case would help at all.

 

[amdfangirl]

Or you could have an open case?

 

[megamanx00]

You're fine. When you start getting closer to 60 C then you can be a little concerned ^_^. If you want it to run cooler you could always put something like a XIGMATEK HDT-S963/S964 92mm Rifle in there to cool your CPU.

 

[sluzi26]

Will it make a significant difference over the HS I have in now?

 

[AdioKIP]

With the stock cooler my Phenom II 940 was idling in the 50's and maxing in the 60's. This was after trying two cases (Thermaltake Armour MX+ and now an Antec 1200). Both great cases. Increasing airflow helps a little but the biggest difference maker is getting the right CPU cooler. I tried about 3 different after market coolers and they dropped my temps by about 5 degrees. (Tried reseating them all multiple times and was using arctic 5.) Then I got the Xigmatek HDT-S1283. This instantly dropped my temps into the 30's for idle and wont go above 45 after several hours of prime95. The Thermaltake is a good cooler but I beleive the Xigmatek will be a better choice just because of the size alone. Its a HUGE CPU cooler but it does its job very well and is very quiet. While my temps are higher then most peoples, due to the pc setup I run the room the pc is in stays at about 28 degrees ambient so the processor idling in the low 30's is good for me but most people can get it lower with this cooler.

 

[sluzi26]

Well I took the liberty of re-seating, cleaning and re-applying AS5 today and after playing FEAR 2 for about an hour my temps sustained were around 53 C at stock settings with my Thermaltake Duorb.

Should I be calling AMD about this? Or is it purely a heatsink issue? This just doesn't seem right to me.

My roommate has the non black edition quad core phenom II 920 with the sunbeam core contact freezer and his CPU doesn't go above 45.

I guess I'm really just hoping its not my cooler :/

 

[AKM880]

That Sunbeam is a real nice cooler tho. It'll perform better than stock HSF, i'm sure.

 

[sluzi26]

That Sunbeam is a real nice cooler tho. It'll perform better than stock HSF, i'm sure.

Well of course, but I'm not running a stock HSF.

 

[EXT64]

Where are you reading your temperature from? Gigabyte boards have a bit of a funky temperature reporting system on them. Up until the F4 bios, my CPU temp was reporting around 10C. Now, it is much closer to correct (I think) but it may be a little high. Download HWMonitor and report back you CPU 'core' temps (they will all be the same since the PII only has one temp sensor, but they may be different from the 'CPU' temp reported).

Edit: you could also try dropping your voltage a little. It will probably do at least stock clocks at 1.25V.

 

[sluzi26]

The Gigabyte easy tune as it has proven the most accurate. CPUID Hardware Monitor is reporting a temp of 56c on cores, whereas the tmp0/1 areas are reporting 40 and 43 respectively.

Easytune is reporting a CPU temp of 48 right now playing Warhammer Online.

56 seems impossibly high to me given the fact I'm using AS5 and a pretty good heatsink / fan and stock temps.

 

[EXT64]

Yeah, these things are calibrated weird. There is only one temp sensor on the core, but we get 3 different readings? They should have fixed this.

 

[AdioKIP]

Its your cooler. Read my above post. I know you're not using the stock cooler but the type, shape and size of the cooler makes a large difference. When I was using smaller/cheaper coolers my temps were 54 idle and maxing in the 60's. After getting a descent cooler I dont go above 45.

 

[sluzi26]

Alright Adio thanks a lot. I'm probably gonna pull the trigger on a Xigmatek and an Antec 300 with some additional fans next week.

Thanks for all the help.

 

[AdioKIP]

If you're happy with your current case then give the Xigmatek a try before ordering the 300. In all likelihood the Xigmatek should get you down into a normal operating range even in your current case. If youre still not happy with the performance you can always order the case later on. While I do love my antec 1200, realistically I most likely would have kept my Thermaltake Armour MX+ if I had got the Xigmatek cooler first.