Hyper 212+ not performing as expected (or installation gone wrong)

Hi,

I picked up a CM Hyper 212+ yesterday at my local computer store and upon installing it today (using the Pea/blob method), it doesn't seem to be performing like reviews suggest that it should.

First up, this is my system:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E7500 @ 2.93ghz
RAM: Kingston 4GB (2x2GB) DDR2-800
MB: Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3LR
HDD(s): WD Caviar Green 1TB / WD Caviar Blue 80GB
PSU: Antec Truepower New 550
GPU: Gainward GTS 250 512MB Green (@738/1836/1000)

Now, before I installed the cooler, I had another Coolermaster heatsink on it, that had been gaining some dust and slowly rising load temps in games (55-58 C). So I cleaned off the residue of AS5 after taking off the cooler with a fair few tissues (as I didn't have any isopropyl alcohol with me at the time), making sure to rid the heat spreader of any trace of the thermal compound.

I noticed there was quite an excess of thermal compound from the previous cooler (probably an oversight), so that could explain the high load temps on that cooler.

Anyway, then I put on the Hyper 212+'s backplate on the underside of the motherboard, making sure to face it the right way with the insulating tape still intact. The nuts were secured tightly, so I moved on to mounting the heatsink.

This is the part where I'm not so sure if something went wrong:

I started squeezing a rice pellet amount of the CM Thermal compound included with the cooler (my AS5 tube ran out unfortunately), right in the centre of the heat spreader.

Next came the actual mounting of the heatsink (I followed the instructions and took off the fan before, to put it on last), I placed it directly onto the heatspreader (don't fret, I took off the little plastic cover also on the base), applying some pressure and wiggling the base slightly to rid of the air bubbles.

The retention mechanism screwed in easily, and after attaching the fan finally, the heatsink seemed secure.

Finishing up the installation with the fan in the fan header, I turned on the system to see the fan hesitant to spin at first, but eventually spinning with some encouragement.

I went to the BIOS to see the CPU reported at 35 C and the CPU fan header reporting the HSF's fan spinning at 1400 rpm.

Thinking this as strange, I went into Windows (Win7) to do some testing, where idle is about 33 C (ambient temperature is somewhere in the 25-35 C range - Australian temperate climate) and measuring from two games (Alien Swarm and Rigs of Rods - CPU heavy apps), the load temps hit a wall at 46-48 C.

Of course, I thought this was strange, as reviews I've seen of this cooler say that even with a C2Q Q9550 or so, the cooler has some 45 C load temp, even when overclocked.

Now, I acknowledge that my case has poor airflow compared to the reviewer's test setups, (2x80mm fans + twisty tie mounted 80mm fan on harddrive rack), however those previous temps were measured with the case on its side, and the side panel off.

I'm wondering where I've gone wrong in the installation or whatever else to have this popular cooler underperforming...


Also, my CPU VID is set at 1.28750 V in the BIOS, where CPU-Z reports it as 1.248 V.

I haven't added another fan to this cooler (I'm using the stock fan), but I expected this cooler to perform much better than my last one.

An improvement of about 10 C in my system doesn't seem to do the Hyper 212+ justice.

My new case, a CM Centurion 5 II will be arriving next month, and hopefully, with vastly better airflow in that case than my current unknown Thermaltake one, the Hyper 212+ will be performing as expected.

TL;DR - I got a Hyper 212+ to replace my old HSF, temps haven't improved much from old heatsink and I'm not sure why.

Any comment, opinion or criticism/suggestion to fix of my installation method is gladly appreciated.