Q6600 temp > 70C

[bram]

While adding two hard disk drives to a my computer, an acer aspire M5500 (aka E700?) desktop pc with a q6600 processor (no overclocking or anything), I had to remove the heatsink because otherwise I wouldn't be able to fit them in. After the drives were installed correctly I placed the heatsink back, but when I checked the core temperatures using Core Temp (v 0.99.5) I noticed these were extremely high. While making a backup I saw it rising over 80 degrees Celsius. I had no experience with this kind of operation and apparently the heatsink was not seated correctly. After some research I bought arctic silver 5 thermal compound and some arctic cleaner to clean the old thermal compound and even lapped the heatsink since I noticed some scratches, everything according to the instructions. After I did all that I checked again the temperatures, and again they passed the 70C, also in the BIOS it measured almost 60 after rebooting. I opened it up again and rechecked everything, it all seems correct. The only odd thing I noticed is that the cpu fan is blowing away from the heatsink, but since there is only one way to connect it, I can't imagine this is the problem. So any suggestions what to do now are welcome!

Thanks!

 

[GhislainG]

Is it possible that you removed and mounted the fan backwards?

 

[sportsfanboy]

Most common reason for excessively high temperatures, is a bad mount. Make sure you clean both the heatsink and the CPU heatspeader,while using the correct amount of paste.

 

[branflakes71]

Make sure that heatsink is secured fully, that all four bracket pins are fully in the motherboard. Definitely sounds like a bad mount.

The cpu fan is supposed to pull heat away from the heatsink, so that's the direction the air will blow.

 

[bram]

Thanks for the quick replies! I will try to clean the cpu and heatsink again but since I follow the instructions really carefully, I can't imagine that this would be the problem. I will take photo's so you can have a look.

I was also wondering if the two extra drives that I installed could cause the problem?

 

[Pailin]

Depending on which Heat Sink you have, having the fan blowing the wrong way should only cause about a 3 - 5% drop in cooling temps.

I did this on purpose on older cases without air filters to make cleaning the dust off the heat sink really easy without having to remove the fan

On the wrong type of heat sink it could cause problems though...

Sounds like as mentioned it may be an uneven mounting - though sound like you made a good effort though! Am sure you will suss it out soon enough. Good luck

 

[branflakes71]

Thanks for the quick replies! I will try to clean the cpu and heatsink again but since I follow the instructions really carefully, I can't imagine that this would be the problem. I will take photo's so you can have a look.

I was also wondering if the two extra drives that I installed could cause the problem?

I doubt the new drives are causing that much of an increase in cpu temps. One thing to look at is overall ambient temps in the case. If that, plus the graphics card temps are nomral, you're definitely looking at a heatsink/fan issue.

 

[bram]

I doubt the new drives are causing that much of an increase in cpu temps. One thing to look at is overall ambient temps in the case. If that, plus the graphics card temps are nomral, you're definitely looking at a heatsink/fan issue.

After removing the drives, I downloaded speedfan to get more information, but there are just too many figures I don't know how to interpret.. Please tell me what you think:

fully loaded

after cooling down 20 min.

 

[bram]

These pictures were taken after I opened up my computer again and cleaned off the thermal paste. The surface of the heatsink seems to be scratched by the edges of the CPU. Does this mean that the heatsink was not lapped properly? Could it be that the CPU is not flat?

 

[branflakes71]

How have things gone since?

It seems the heatsink wasn't making full contact with the cpu. Also could be have been too much thermal paste.

Also, I wonder if your cpu fan should be spinning faster, but that depends on the brand of the fan/heatsink. I'm not sure if your BIOS has a setting for turning that fan on to 100%. Some motherboards have software that allows that through Windows.

 

[Pailin]

Tell you what, I just tried that program too, which I know many like.
But is seems a little random and only shows 3 of my 4 core's temps

Try a program called "Core Temp" - is nice and simple and clearly shows each core's temp

It is not abnormal to have about a 7c temp difference between cores.

One good way to check how flat your CPU core is, is to us a flat edge, such as the sharp edge of a stanley knife blade gently placed vertically to the CPU heat spreader and see if there are any gaps - try this several times from left to right, top to bottom and at angles etc. Will show you how flat it is - or is not.
It is quite common for there to be some small gaps of maybe as much as half a mm even - but this should not cause such high temps.

Do this on the bottom of your CPU cooler too to check how flat you managed to get it.

 

[Pailin]

Just for interest, I am running my Q6600 currently at 3GHz and am running more vcore than I need @ 1.34v

At idle:
48 48 43 49

at load running prime95 on all 4 cores:
77 77 71 69

 

[Lutfij]

the picture shows traces of dirt, is your cpu fan clogged? if so, give it a nice bath or replace the fan with another and see what u get.

btw what HDD's did u have previously and what do you have now/how many?

 

[bram]

Thank you for the replies! In the meantime I bought a new heatsink. It's a very simple model, but it does have an absolutely flat surface and a clean fan etc. This didn't improve the temperatures much and I am quite sure now that the problem is related to the airflow. I will try some different setups and keep you all notified!

@pailin: Do you think these temps are ok? It's like what I am measuring now (although my CPU runs at stock speed) but I am still a bit worried. I have read it should stay at least below 70C to be save, even at load..

@lutfij: I used to have 2 HDD's, a seagate 500GB that was already installed and a 1TB samsung spinpoint F1. I added two more 1TB spinpoint HDD's.

 

[Lutfij]

i jus cecked up on ur PC and its case. Yes it IS an airflow issue and the temp inside ur case has risen due to the additional HDD. See if u can add fans to the case and mayb improve the cable managment. That should lower ur temps.

 

[Pailin]

heya

70 is ok to be running at as the safe max working temp acording to Intel as I remember checking it out ages back is 90c

But...

No one would want their chip running at this crazy temp of 90 though.
When I OC mine at 3.6GHz at vcore1.38 and it hits 83c under load with certain Prime95 test sets I certainly don't feel comfortable
70c is fine for load, but you should still be careful until you sort out your air flow issues as I Lutfij has indicated - which I also think is your most likely issue. 70c is quite high for a Q6600 @ stock speeds and volts - but not that unusual if airflow is bad.

My case is an Antec P182, has very good airflow, and those temps I gave with my Q6600 @ 3GHz with too much vcore, 1.34, (produces extra heat with more volts as have left high after my 3.6GHz OC and just not reduced it enouh yet) running Prime95 for about 10 mins is with all my fans on min speed. (I also have good CPU heatsink)

you should be getting a gentle lukewarm breeze out of your rear main exhaust fan.

 

[bram]

ok so that's clear!
i am going to buy a bigger case
thanks a lot for your help!

 

[Pailin]

thats cool bro

Good Luck