High CPU temps on Core i7-920

[jofo]

So my 4-month-old Core i7-920 has been overheating recently. It's nothing drastic but it's enough to make me think something is wrong. When the PC is sitting in the BIOS, the CPU temp hovers around 46C. When I first boot up and it's sitting idle in Windows, I get temps around 55C on CoreTemp. A couple minutes later the loads start jumping all over the place and the temps jump up to the 60C-70C range. This is when I'm doing nothing more than using Firefox and CoreTemp.

Idle temps pic
Load temps pic

The inside of the computer looked a bit dusty so I bought some compressed air and blew out all the dust, but that made little difference. Fans are all spinning. The heatsink is locked firmly in place. I don't overclock. Ambient room temp is 24C. Even with the side of the computer case off the temps only drop 2 or 3 degrees. And I don't know if this is relevant, but my GPU fan has been running loudly as of late.

My next step is to buy some new thermal grease and reseat the heatsink, and if that doesn't work maybe buy an aftermarket cooler. Before I start shelling out cash, however, I wanted to get some expert opinions from here and see if there is a simpler solution to my problem.

 

[saaiello]

Yea the I7's run quite hot and well the stock heat-sinks will keep them from burning themselves up it doesn't really do much more then that. You can try re applying the thermal compound and see what that does sometimes it will loose its effectiveness over time depending on how old it is. For the little bit of load that you are putting on it and for the temps to jump up to 70 that easily tells me that that heat-sink simply is not doing its job so take it off make sure it has no dust clogging the fins re apply some good thermal compound and see where that gets you.

Now you dont have to spend a crazy amount on a heat-sink to get some good temps you can get really decent heat-sinks in the $40 to $50 range that will help get those temps down.

XIGMATEK Intel Core i7 compatible Dark Knight $44
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233029
This is a great heatsink and is sure to get those temps down just make sure your case can fit it.

Before you go out and get a heat-sink definitely try new thermal compound first see what happens.

 

[ulysses35]

Best cooler = Titan Fenrir

I have one ony my i7 920 idle 31/33 load 41/42

 

[jofo]

All right. I'm going to order some Arctic Silver compound from NewEgg and hopefully that will do the trick. If not then I guess it's time to get a new heatsink. I'll definitely look into the Dark Knight and the Titan Fenrir. Thanks guys!

 

[jofo]

Best answer selected by Jofo.