Is this temperature acceptable?

[elimander]

I have an i7 860 (not overclocked) that's been running for about a year. I just checked the temperatures for the first time and found out its running 45C idle and 92C during gaming (Bad Company 2).

I have the stock cooler, should I get a better one? If so, which one?

 

[Haserath]

That's definitely not good. The stock cooler should be keeping it decently cool, my i7 overclocked to 3.4ghz on the stock cooler stays below 72C even under 100% stress.

What is your ambient temp and does your case have good airflow? If these are both good, then maybe you should try reseating the heatsink. You'll need to clean off the old thermal paste and put some new paste on the heatsink.

 

[beanoslim]

+1, This will help http://www.arcticsilver.com/methods.html

 

[elimander]

What do you mean by "ambient temp"? Is that different from idle?

I have two fans going, one on the bottom and one in the back. There are two on the top but I don't normally use them because they leave a mess of wires and don't move much air.

I don't have any new thermal paste to replace the old one, should I buy some more? Would that make a big difference?

 

[davcon]

If your not planning on overclocking a CM 212+ is a nice upgrade without breaking the bank.
It's compatible with ram kits under 41mm tall if all dimms are filled.
Also Haserath's comment is good common sense.

 

[beanoslim]

Ambient room temps.

Yes if your paste is old or wasn't applied properly in the 1st place it can make a huge differance.

Thats the 1st thing I'd try, get some AS5 and some Articlean and work though the instructions I linked.

 

[elimander]

If your not planning on overclocking a CM 212+ is a nice upgrade without breaking the bank.
It's compatible with ram kits under 41mm tall if all dimms are filled.
Also Haserath's comment is good common sense.

It seems extremely big.

I'm using G Skill ram, I'm not sure about the size. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231279

Ambient room temps.

Yes if your paste is old or wasn't applied properly in the 1st place it can make a huge differance.

Thats the 1st thing I'd try, get some AS5 and some Articlean and work though the instructions I linked.

Alright I'll give that a shot, thanks.

 

[elimander]

Best answer selected by elimander.

 

[beanoslim]

It seems extremely big.

I'm using G Skill ram, I'm not sure about the size. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231279



Alright I'll give that a shot, thanks.

Try running it with the sie off while you are waiting for your new paste, just to see if its heating up in there.

 

[elimander]

Alright, I applied the Arctic Silver 5 and let it sink in for a week.

The new idle is around 39C and the max (playing BC2 for an hour) is about 82C

Is that fine or should I still be concerned?

Also, if I got a new graphics card in the future would that increase the temp?

 

[beanoslim]

If it was mine I'd upgrade the cooling or try undervolting the cpu if you aren't OC ing.

FYI, I run my 920 @4.1ghz using 1.28125v.

The stock cooler would have hit over 90C, I have a Venomous X fitted and it maxes out about 72C full load.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey