Stock i5 2500k temp w/ 212 evo

[Spyther]

Hey guys,

My specs:

i5 2500k (not overclocked at all)
HAF X case
Hyper 212 evo cooler
GTX 680
1000W CM PSU
8gb G.skill RAM
AS5 thermal compound


While running Prime95's small test, my temperature quickly goes to about 67-69 degrees and seems to hover there. I have not seen it hit 70 yet, but it can teeter on 69 once and a while. It generally stays at 68 degrees. I am using the CM Hyper 212 evo cooler, and generally idle around 33-34 summer and 28-32 degrees winter.

Are these temps a bit high for the 212 in my HAFX. I tried searching the forums and doing some research and I know that is is below the 72 recommended limit by Intel, but at the same time I see many with betters temps with the same cooler who have OCed their chips. I was thinking about overclocking, but if I am already close to the upper limit, I am wondering if something is wrong.

What do you guys think? Are these temps normal/okay for the given setup? Do I need to reseat the heater (I hope not, I hated installing it -- most annoying part of any computer build IMO.)

Please offer insight, thanks guys.

 

[drums101]

Yes those temps are pretty high for that cooler and cpu combo.....you should take off the cooler and re do the thermal paste...sounds like you didnt put enough on...or put way too much lol...what thermal paste are you using? and what method to apply it?

 

[raytseng]

do test with case open and if that makes a difference. If that changes things then your case airflow is the problem

 

[Spyther]

I used Arctic Silver 5, and did the grain of rice method in the center. I did have a bit of trouble putting the cooler on and so maybe it wasnt applied as well as it could?

I don't think the case being open made much difference when I built it, though I can retry it now. Which way should the fan be facing? I have the fan facing the front of the comp, with the cooler behind it, and the exhaust fan behind that.

The HAFX is supposed to be very good at air flow, so I'd be surprised if that was truly the issue.

Also, are there any good guides on removing thermal compound?

 

[drums101]

the ideal airflow situation would be the front bottom and side case fans all blow in and the rear and top case fans all blow out....and the cpu cooler fan can blow through the cooler to the back or the top....does that make sense? make sure that your fans are positioned the right way...also it is very possible you didnt put enough thermal paste on the cpu to cover the majority of the heatspreader...i would remove the cooler and see. AS5 is good paste.

to remove the grease you can use q tips cotton balls and rubbing alcohol

 

[Spyther]

So basically, I want the fan in front of the cooler to "pull" the air *into* the cooler, where the rear exhaust fan will suck it up?

 

[raytseng]

I may have misread your setup, but if you are using 2 cpufans on the cooler that are mismatched that maybe an issue.

You can just try the CPU front fan only. that blows air into the cooler and then unimpeded out the rear of the cooler to your case exhaust.

But yea try that along with your opencase test.


As far as redoing your thermal grease, I suggest to follow arctic silver's instructions.
Cleanup use Rubbing alcohol, coffeefilters or lintfree paper to cleanup
"Tint" the Cooler before seating.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#


As far as amounts, hardwaresecrets did some tests on this, and if you used tiny dot (size of period) you would have bad temps.
All the other methods, from grain of rice, bigger dot like pea, spread it, 1line, 4lines, all performed within 1degree of the same even if it resulted in extra grease leaking out.

So more than 1 way to skin a cat...

 

[Spyther]

Just removed headsink, cleaned it all off as per the prescribed method, added a bit more paste this time -- no change. It's actually one degree higher now, probably due to the break in period that now needs to set in. It's now hovering between 69-70 degrees during the Prime95 stress test. Anyway, what a bummer. I really hate installing the Hyper 212 and I don't know what could be wrong. I am certain it is installed properly, with the fans in the right spots.

What temperatures SHOULD I be seeing? My idle temps seem fine, it's just I am seeing 2 degrees below maximum on Prime95 on a stock clocked processor.

Should I be concerned?

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Hmm, this IS a strange one. Your load temps are a good 15-20C higher than I would expect for a stock 2500K with a 212 Evo.

Just for comparison's sake, my 2500K @ 4.5Ghz and 1.272V load voltage with my 212 Evo in push/pull is 58-63C from the coolest core to the warmest core with Prime 95 (so cooler at 4.5 than yours is at stock). That's with a 76F/24.5C Room temp. Idle is 27-31C.

I used the small "pea-sized" dot method for the thermal paste myself (AS5 and I didn't spread it or apply any to the base of the cooler, I just let the cooler spread it when I installed it). I've always applied my thermal paste that way with any CPU and cooler and have always had excellent results.

 

[amuffin]

Can you take a picture of your case and how much paste you put?

 

[Spyther]

I did the pea sized method, same exact way as DJDeciBet. I am only running one fan on the heatsink, in a pull configuration. This is before I put the 680 in, but that should be irrelevant. Again, the case is a HAFX.




I've never had a problem with the chip or anything, it's just upsetting knowing its running hotter than it realistically should and is going to limit me to OC without spending additional money it seems.

 

[drums101]

which direction is the fan attached to the heatsink blowing? It should be blowing right to left.... <--------- That direction according to the picture

 

[Spyther]

Yes, that is the direction its blow. Right to left towards the rear exhaust fan.

I'm baffled.

 

[drums101]

is the fan plugged into the mobo or into a power lead? maybe the motherboard is having the fan spin at 10% speed or something? this is an odd problem seems like everything else is normal just your temps are high....what program are you using to monitor your temps?

 

[Spyther]

It is connected into the CPU Fan header on the mobo. I just set the fan profile for the CPU fan in my Asus p8z68-v pro gen3 bios to "Turbo." No noticable change in temperature.

I use HW Monitor to check my temps. The "Package Value" column reads 68 degrees steady under the small test in Prime95. I just downloaded Speedfan, but I am a bit confused as to what I'm really looking at. How would I tell what percentage my fan is spinning?

btw guys, just wanted to take a time-out and say thanks for paying attention to this thread and providing all the effort in helping me. really appreciate it.

 

[drums101]

the fan percentage would be a value in the BIOS....what is the voltage on your cpu? was it left to auto or did you manually input something? I know you said no OC but maybe you messed with the voltage....download cpuz and look at that it will tell you your voltage to the cpu

 

[Spyther]

Here is what I'm looking at.

 

[drums101]

whoops meant to tell you to check the voltage under load....put ur cpu under load and take another pic lol

 

[Spyther]

Kay.

 

[mouse24]

I know this is a pain to do but could you maybe try redoing the heatsink again and this time take a picture of the amount of thermal paste you used? this should help rule out user error.

And when you put the heatsink on you are supposed to turn each screw the same amount going in a diagonal fashion. Just like you would a car tire. Have you been doing that? If not its very possible that part of the heatsink isn't getting any thermal paste.

 

[Spyther]

Yep, I always cross tighten the bolts. I did about a pea size, before this time I did a smaller than a pea sized mound. I feel like I covered both ends of the spectrum, with the exact same temps both ways. Very strange

 

[DJDeCiBeL]

Kay.

[url]http://www.freeimagehosting.net/t/nn12y.jpg[/url]

NOW we're getting somewhere. That IS OC'd (a good bit, actually). It SHOULD show 3400Mhz at full load for stock and it's at 4326Mhz! THAT'S your problem. The multiplier is OC'd (42x) and so is the BCLK (103Mhz). It's an Auto OC, I'm guessing.

Go back to the defaults in the BIOS.

 

[Spyther]

YES! Okay, so what do you guys recommend I do? I installed the ASUS software suite when I built the system but I always shyed away from using the auto-OC tuner because I heard it was less than optimal. Aka, it likes to set less than optimal voltages than is required.


Thanks guys!


Seeing as how this has been stable (been gaming for a while with it with never an issue) should I keep things the way they are?

Or would you all recommend me going back to default and do some studying with a manual OC?

 

[drums101]

hahaha wooo!!! finally got the lead we needed......to get your stock settings just go into the BIOS and choose restore defaults this will set everything back to the original settings then you go back in there and reset your boot sequence and other things you have changed......also make sure that the ASUS Software suite is not auto overclocking for you.

edit: I would not leave those settings the way they are...the voltage is really high for that OC....I would leave everything stock until you get a better grasp on OC'ing then attempt to do it yourself (the right way) if you want a speed bump

 

[Spyther]

Best answer selected by spyther.