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I7 920 + Zalman CNPS9900 LED, Temps too high

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Hi All,

I’ve just built a new PC with the specs below. Now although I’ve done a lot of tinkering and upgrading in the past, this is my first CPU seating, the only part I haven’t done before. Now I seated it and used too much thermal paste (AS5). Idle temps were 45 and under load test with Prime95 went over 70 almost instantly, this was obviously wrong. Pulled it out, found I had used too much thermal paste, had a big problem with it getting places it shouldn’t have, but that’s another story…

I then worked out how much paste I should have actually used to begin with, used some plastic wrap around my finger to smooth it out and reinstalled the heatsink.

The problem I’ve not got is idle temps are still at around 40, and load jumps to 50ish and moves steadily to 70ish…but this time not for a few minutes, but this again is obviously wrong…

But I don’t know what I’m doing wrong? The heatspeader is still on, and I’ve read that it’s soldered on. Though there’s some sketch in the manual that shows that it could be taken of “optionally”, at least it says you can “optionally” take something off *shrugs*…

Any advise? Should I just ditch the Zalman cooler and use the stock, which has pads?

Cheers
Symo

Antec Nine Hundred Two
Asus P6T
Core i7 920
Zalman CNPS9900LED (Copper) CPU Cooler
G Skill 6G(3x2G) DDR3 PC10666
G.Skill Falcon 64G SSDHD 2.5 inch SATA2
Galaxy GTX260+(216SP) OC 896M DDR3 PCI Express
Windows 7

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Which program are you using to see your cpu temps?

If its not CoreTemp, then try it out (be sure to use the x64 version).

I am in a similar situation as you. I am using the Zalman 9500 and a D0 i7 920 and my full load temps hover around 71 C. I bought the Noctua SE 1366 but haven't installed it yet. I know someone that is using this Noctua with a 3.6GHz OC and only hitting 72 C. He is also using a very well ventilated Lian-Li case which helps.

Actually, what thermal paste are you using? On another forum, a person was having high temps because he was using the cheap thermal tape that came with the cooler. Arctic Silver is one of the best so maybe try that (its good for a 5 degree drop at load versus normal paste).

Yeah i'm using Arctic Silver 5...

As for the temp monitor I'm using both Probe 2 which comes with the Asus MB, and RealTemps. Probe 2 shows me once blanket temperature, and realtemp shows me a temp for each core. But both progs seem to line up on average though...

So your temps run at around 70 and you're happy with that?! I though that was reaching the damage point?



So I ran a Real Temps sensor test...still seems high, though it didn't get into the 70ies...maybe i need to reseat it one more time, maybe I over compensated and didn't put quite enough paste on *shrugs*...
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I take it you havent changed the Vcore in the BIOS yet?

When I got my core i7 and gigabyte ud5 i noticed that the AUTO setting for the Vcore was at 1.20XXXV, but it could actually run stable with just 1.102XXV.

So i would advise (if you havent aready done so) to go into your BIOS and change the Vcore to manual and set it at something like 1.10XXXXV and see if she boots, if not, then up the Voltage alittle more until its stable.

That will help lower the temps, but as someone else said, the 9xxx series zalmans are not good with i7's

omgitzfatal said:
I take it you havent changed the Vcore in the BIOS yet?

When I got my core i7 and gigabyte ud5 i noticed that the AUTO setting for the Vcore was at 1.20XXXV, but it could actually run stable with just 1.102XXV.

So i would advise (if you havent aready done so) to go into your BIOS and change the Vcore to manual and set it at something like 1.10XXXXV and see if she boots, if not, then up the Voltage alittle more until its stable.

That will help lower the temps, but as someone else said, the 9xxx series zalmans are not good with i7's


I hadn't, it was at 1.2, dropped it to 1.1 and it didn't really make all that much of a difference... I reseated and used the stock, and it runs a little hotter than the zalman. I think the problem is cooler to CPU contact, when I put the zalman onto the CPU with paste on it, i pick it up and it's only picked up paste on mainly two sides, hardly any in the middle...

So what is the consensus (or close too) on the best/good cooler for the i7 (i've done some searching but can't find anything that pin points something)? Also can someone explain what the safe operating temp is the 920? I've read on the intel site "Thermal Specification: 69.9C", does that mean it should be kept under 69.9? Cuase when i run real temps that margins it works on is 100C... Also what do you have your i7 running at?

Symo85 said:
I hadn't, it was at 1.2, dropped it to 1.1 and it didn't really make all that much of a difference... I reseated and used the stock, and it runs a little hotter than the zalman. I think the problem is cooler to CPU contact, when I put the zalman onto the CPU with paste on it, i pick it up and it's only picked up paste on mainly two sides, hardly any in the middle...

So what is the consensus (or close too) on the best/good cooler for the i7 (i've done some searching but can't find anything that pin points something)? Also can someone explain what the safe operating temp is the 920? I've read on the intel site "Thermal Specification: 69.9C", does that mean it should be kept under 69.9? Cuase when i run real temps that margins it works on is 100C... Also what do you have your i7 running at?


Try and keep your temps below 70C and it'll be fine. I'm running mine at 3.8Ghz with HT on with 1.18V, highest temp under 8 hours of OCCT are 63,63,63,62 I'm using a lapped Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme with 1 fan that pushes about 50CFM.

The prolimitech megahalems (not sure on spelling :p  ) is amoung the top 5 for the core i7 i'd say

Or maybe try the thermalright ifx-14 and stick 3 fans on it
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