Zalman CNPS10X Performa w/ Phenom II 965 not performing as expected

[TheRockMonsi]

I just installed the heatsink last week with Arctic Silver 5, and I get idle temps around 37-40 degrees Celsius, and at full load running Prime95 temps never go over 52 degrees. This is on stock settings - 3.4GHz with everything in the bios set to auto; and with that being said the voltage for the CPU is at 1.4v. I don't think this is normal and I'm wondering if the voltage is why the idle temps are so high or because of something else.

Is there anyone that can share some advise with me to see what might be wrong? Do you need more details in order to help?

 

[17seconds]

Those temps seem pretty good to me. The Arctic Silver 5 needs some time to cure, so the temps may continue to decrease over time. How is your room temperature?

Some more information would be useful to understand the voltage reading. I'm not sure which cpu runs at 3.4 Ghz at stock settings.

 

[TheRockMonsi]

Well, it's at 1.4v because I have the voltage set to auto in my bios, and I guess it just goes with the highest possible voltage. Anyway, I thought there was a problem because my other cpu (Athlon II x4 2.6GHz stock clock) with stock hsf had lower idle temps and when running prime95 was around 55 degrees Celsius.

But I just realized something: the voltage I had with the Athlon II was a lot lower - like 1.28v or something. I went ahead and down clocked my current CPU to those ratings and running prime95 right now. Now it seems like the improvement I've been expecting - it's running at the highest 45 degrees right now.

With that being said, if I do raise my 965 back to 1.4v how far do you think I'll be able to go with raising the multiplier? At stock settings it's at x17, but will I be able to get to x20 without seeing a huge jump in temperature?

 

[17seconds]

I'm not sure, but I do know that the Zalman CNPS10X Performa is one of the best coolers made. That should give you some confidence to be able to experiment with raising your multiplier.

 

[mpavao81]

I have the same cooler on my I7 860 at 3.2ghz and mine idles betweeen 31 to 35C and max load goes to 47C tops. And 52C really isnt that high. I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[TheRockMonsi]

Well, I have my CPU OC'ed to 3.8GHz @ 1.5v. The highest the temperature gets is 58 degrees Celsius running Prime95 for 8 hours - and that's only during certain parts of the torture test. The average temperature is 56 degrees, so I guess it's performing how it should considering how much voltage is going through it. Thanks for the advise guys, you can call this problem solved, if it were one to begin with.

 

[TheRockMonsi]

Best answer selected by TheRockMonsi.