I7-950 w/Cooler Master V8, stock temps, etc..

bushysmalls

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Dec 13, 2010
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Hey guys, finished building my computer about a week ago and I'm wondering what I can do to hopefully cool it a bit more or maybe set it up for a good .3 - .6 OC.

At Idle the Cores are all sitting around 37 - 44, at load I'm hitting around 65 - 70, CPU temp at 62 and System at 32, according to SpeedFan.

I did an Ok application of the TIM that came with the V8, wasn't a great apply but it seemed adequate for me. Hitting 70~ on the first 2 cores and mid 60s on the others would it be safe to push this a bit further, possibly with CPU LevelUp on the Asus Rampage III Formula board?

Build stats in my sig
 
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suteck

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HERE are some common results for your cooler on a stock and overclocked i7 920 cpu. Your 950 will usually run at about the same temps as the 920 and my 965. The difference is how much voltage you have to apply in order to keep the overclock stable, (one reason the voltages were given in the oc results). And judging by this and some other reviews you're getting all you're going to out of that cooler. I think the cheap fan is the downfall and since the top cover that holds the fan in place is glued in place and is really a bitch to remove you're stuck with what they put in it. If it were up to me I would get a better cpu cooler and over clock it.
 

bushysmalls

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I had originally picked out this V8 because of its clearance of all the RAM slots, just in case i wanted to seat 6 DIMMs and I hadn't wanted to go with the H70 or something because of the risk of a leak, etc.

I have basically all the BIOS settings on Auto atm for voltages, etc as well
 

suteck

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If you want to leave everything on stock settings and not do any overclocking then running it at 70*C won't increase the wear and tear on your cpu much so you'll be fine. However, if you plan on overclocking in the future you should look into something like the cooler master hyper 212 plus. Here is a review for the hyper212 plus. This is one of the better air coolers out today. It comes with a single fan but with 2 sets of brackets so you can add an additional fan with ease. Take a look at THESE RESULTS and see if maybe it will suit your needs better. IT'S HERE for $38 and you can add the additional fan when you order. If you're interested in overclocking or just running it cooler during normal operations.
 

bushysmalls

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I was told the Hyper 212 was a much WORSE cooler than the V8 from multiple sources, and yes, I do plan to do some OC'ing, hopefully to about 3.4 - 3.6, even tho the TurboBoost on the 950 goes to 3.2 automatically
 

suteck

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If the multiple sources are people that have used and compared the results themselves then I guess I would take their advice. However, if you look at the reviews, (and they're both from the same people and both about coolermaster products so no question if they like one company better or getting kickbacks from the competition), or find some different reviews online cause you're going to have to make the call. Check the facts about the review with the V8 I posted and look at your numbers and see how they compare. If you're getting the same numbers or close with the V8 then you'll probably get the same or close with the 212. I see more than 10*C in overclocking temps in the reviews. Now I can't say that I've tried them myself so I'm only going by what I read so you can take what I say with a pinch of salt, but again, compare you results with theirs and see if it's what you're getting. That will give you as least an idea of how right or wrong the reviewers are.

You shouldn't have any problem reaching those speeds with the overclocking. Just start increasing the blck a couple clicks at a time and when you get a blue screen and the stop code is 101 then increase the voltage a couple of clicks until it runs stable. Just keep and eye on the temps while you're doing it. If you use OCCT it gives you an up to date display of the temps of the 4 cores while it's running the stress tests so you know for sure what you got. It will automatically shut down the stress test if any core reaches 80*C as a built in safety so if you turn your back for a minute and the software monitors it for you.
 

suteck

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Well you got a pretty good setup and a great case so if you really want to do some overclocking and don't mind spending some money the best air cooler to get is the Prolimatech Megahalems Rev.B CPU Cooler for $65. Then pick out the fans you want to go with them. If you don't mind some noise then a nice pair of Rexus NMB-MAT (Panaflo) 120mm fans for $17 a piece to go with it and will give you the best air cooling rig that I know of. Let us know what you find out and which way you go.
 

suteck

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If that's the case then you might want to double check that tim application!! You should clean and apply it LIKE THIS. That's the best way to do it. You can scroll down to page 5 for picture on placement but you will need to remove and clean off your current application and those instructions are the proper way to go about it. I guess that "an Ok application of the TIM that came with the V8, wasn't a great apply but it seemed adequate for me" isn't as good as you at first thought. LOL It is probably ok for the old sytle chips but with heat produced by the 130watts starting out of the i7's it needs to be done in a better manner. So I would do that before anything else. Once you get that done and start getting acceptable temps then you can start the overclocking.
 

bushysmalls

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I tried the method or applying a line to one side and then spreading it out.. but it turned out i didn't put enough and had to go back and add more then spread it out more..

I'm considering picking up a Corsair H70 replacement (and just pawning the V8 to someone looking at a AM2/3 build) in which case I'll just wait til I pick that up and then clean the chip and use the preapplied paste on the H70
 

bushysmalls

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I didn't even think to ask.. are those Temps in the review supposed to be for the CPU or CORE temps that I'd be seeing in speedfan?

Atm I'm running Prime95 to test a CPU Level up to 3.36 GH and my CPU is at 52 but the cores are hovering between 59 - 64..
 
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bushysmalls

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I started tweaking a bit in the BIOS and set the CPU vcore to 1.100 and changed around a few settings to achieve a 3.36 (160x21) speed using the 1333mhz RAM at 1284 or some such... idling right now I'm at 37/37/31/31 on my 4 Cores. Gonna run some Prime95 in a lil while after I head to the store and such.

With these manually set settings if I can't run at 3.3 - 3.4 under 70 degrees (I'm hitting 70s when my window is closed, heat is on and it's sweating balls in here. I opened the window and it was FREEZING in my room earlier and the temps were down 8 degrees in most instances.) I'm going to end up reinstalling this heatsink and see what comes of it.
 

suteck

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To answer this question
I didn't even think to ask.. are those Temps in the review supposed to be for the CPU or CORE temps that I'd be seeing in speedfan?
Recorded temps were as reported via CoreTemp's "Temp Log". Average load temps were taken after 15 minutes of running Prime95 “small fft” and are taken directly from CoreTemp’s temperature text file. Excel was used to average the results of all cores. Idle temps were taken 15 minutes after Load testing ceased. Motherboard temperatures were recorded using SpeedFan. All CPU throttling technology was disabled in the BIOS; as was all CPU fan speed control. More importantly, any manufacturer-supplied fan speed controller is set to Full.

If that helps answer your question.

The H 70 is a pretty good cooler, in the bench tests done by OveclockersClub HERE it compares reasonably well with some of the better air coolers. I did notice that the Noctua NH-D14 actually did better but it looks like a beast as far as the size goes. And according to HardwareCanucks HERE it will actually even do better if you add 2 high speed, high performance fans, (replace the ones that come with it). So if you're willing to give your first water cooling rig a try then the H 70 is a good place to start. I started on a similar unit myself, before I got hooked on bigger and better ones.