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Temp problems? AMD Phenom X4 II 965 BE

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Running Prime95 my core temp tops out at around 66-67C (after about 5 minutes and still running...). I've read that the max operating temp should be about 61C.

I've done the following already to address overheating problems (spiked to near 100C at one point but only because the fans didn't kick in like they should have...)

1.) New thermal paste with good CPU/heatsink coverage w/ Arctic Silver 5
2.) Cleaned all filters and heatsinks - free of dust
3.) Case situated in an open space and I can feel good airflow

Other info:
1.) Not/never overclocked. Running at default settings
2.) Stock cooler - should perform fine at default settings

I consider myself well-informed when coming to computers. I manage a supercomputing cluster for crying out loud. However, this particular situation escapes me...

The fans are set to AUTO but whenever I run the AMD Overdrive program and run a stability test... the fans work on the FIRST test like they should (ramping up as the temperature increases). A following stability test and the fans never kick in like they should. I've since switched over to using Prime95 and so far the fans have kicked in like they should (Win7 64-bit on High Performance Mode). I've tried numerous BIOS fan settings. As of right now I've set my SMART fan targets to around 50 (if you need specifics I can always check).

Anyhow I've never been able to draw some sort of correlation between one variable (a particular setting regarding fans, windows power mode, etc.) and temperature which is unnerving. I'm going to upgrade to an aftermarket cooler in the near future. That should bring down my idle and load temps dramatically but I've never really had this problem before with the stock.

I guess my question is, is 66C too high for load temp, how might I reduce this RIGHT NOW, and do you have any suggestions for aftermarket coolers?

As a side note, I've tried lowering my VCORE to varying values such as 1.25 and 1.325 but my system has halted each time. It currently (again, under full load from Prime95) at 1.48V. Temp at 66C and fan at max 6726RPM (CPU fan that is... there is also one exhaust fan).

Regards to you all,
Flappy

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First, what CPU do you have? Seems like AMD but I don't see model...

The Max Temp on the AMD Phenom II's is about 68C to 70C, so you have NO issue to solve. (Prime95 is NOT a real world temp you will every see in use, so, having it hit max is not an issue)

My Phenom II 940 3Ghz CPU runs 70C under Prime95, fan speed is 3200 RPM.....

You mention your stock cooler hits 6726RPM, I'd question this I've Never seen a CPU cooler fan, stock or aftermarket specified about the low 3000 RPM range. What cooler do you have?

If you want to lower your temps, right now, get a better rear exhaust fan for your case. Hopefully your running a 120mm or 140mm rear fan. Try it as BOTH an exhaust and Intake. Keep the setting that works best.

It is complete normal, only if you are using the stock amd cooler, also you should consider that prime95 stress the cpu at 100%. And temps tend to go high very fast depending on which after market cooler is the cpuheat being dissipated.
A simple Example my core i7 920 it's clocked @ 3.8Ghz and when I run Prime I got max temps 86° even when it has an Hyper 212 plus at max speed 2000rpm dual fan. but it only reaches that temps with prime, not with any other software, because any common software out there does not make use of 100% cpu, and strees it like prime does. Also there are other factors as ambient temperature and this is an extra Factor to consider. I hope have made clear some things for you. Good day.

Hey. Flappy to answer your question 66C is high. I've had my 965 for more than a year now. I ditched the noisy stock cooler after about a week because my max load temps were around 63-65C. Its not that the stock cooler is bad its just sub-par. I went with ZALMAN CNPS9900ALED and Arctic Silver 5. I idle around 27C and have only reached 47C in the past year. I use coretemp64 to monitor my temps. For a quick solution I could only suggest opening the side of the case. Another idea I've done before is disabling a core or two.http://www.ehow.com/how_7198456_disable-core-processor....

Hope this helps,
get an aftermarket cooler soon
if you go with the 9900 make sure it fits
my case is antec 900 2
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Quote:
You mention your stock cooler hits 6726RPM, I'd question this I've Never seen a CPU cooler fan, stock or aftermarket specified about the low 3000 RPM range. What cooler do you have?

jb6684, I've verified the fan speed in HW Monitor, AMD Overdrive, and BIOS. My stock cooling fan has indeed reached RPMs that high. Here is the little bugger.

Quote:
but it only reaches that temps with prime, not with any other software, because any common software out there does not make use of 100% cpu

Completely agree with you here Pez. I do some gaming and my CPU never broke 60C (hung around 58). I do however make use of software that utilizes all cores at any given time. I'm a theoretical chemist so I implement quantum software packages such as Gaussian, Molpro, etc. These programs have recently been developed to take advantage of multi core systems. Its like a Prime95 in a way except I run these for work.

Quote:
get an aftermarket cooler soon

Thanks Fondz. On my list of things to do. I'll look into that cooler.

As a side note, I completely repasted my GPU last night and it dropped from about 60C idle to 50 idle. I have that one power-hungry card... ATI Radeon HD 4890 (MSI Cyclone variant).

UPDATE:

Swapped out the stock AMD cooler with a Cooler Master Hyper N520. I was attracted to the dual-fan push/pull configuration it is setup with (1800RPM). I repasted with Arctic Thermal 5. I also threw in a brand new 120mm intake fan. So my setup is the following air flow from front to back...

120mm Intake which blows toward
2x 92mm CPU cooler fans (in push/pull config) then to
120mm Vent fan out back

I run these at 100% since they are so quiet. I was expecting a 10C drop in overall temp but here's what I'm measuring...

Old Idle: 45C
New Idle: 44C

Old Load: 66C
New Load: 64C

Max Gain: ~2C on max load.

This really does not look good and it hardly makes the installation worth any of the effort whatsoever. Also, I should mention I upped my power supply and its got a (120mm?) fan on the bottom (upped from the smaller fan on my old power supply). Really... with the upgrades and additions to my system you'd think I'd have reaped better benefits but it looks like it was nearly useless. Oh yeah, I've got great cable management inside the case and everything has been vac'd and dusted inside and out. There is lots of room for airflow around the case and room temp is about 27C.


EDIT:

Interestingly enough I was poking around with the side cover off the case and noticed a 5C drop in temperature almost instantly. With the cover back on the temp is going back up to around 64C. I have an Antec Sonata III.

Not to triple post this forum but its been a few days and I thought I'd give one more update on this.

My temperatures have gone down over all. Perhaps it took a while for the thermal paste to 'spread' itself out completely since its viscous and high temperature is applied. Also, I realized my outtake fan had a speed selector on it (it was zip tied out of sight). I bumped it up to mid-speed. The following temperatures have been consistently around...

Idle: 40C
Load: 57C
Torture Load: 62C
(+/- 1C)

This is with the cover on. Taking the case cover off I can get it down a few more degrees. If I bump my outtake fan up to high then I can gain another degree or so. In any case, I retract my previous conclusion and state that the upgrades were worth it. I can bring down the reported temperatures but its low enough already that I don't want to open this bag of worms up to noise and dust so I'll just leave the case on and my outtake fan set to mid-speed.

I highly recommend the Cooler Master Hyper N520 as it gives good cooling performance for a great price. Its pretty huge so be sure it can fit in your case. It fit into my Antec Sonata III, a mid-sized ATX case quite comfortably.

Thanks to all who replied.

Quote:
Try 1.3v in the bios. 1.25 is too low


I forgot to mention that I've since put my proc back to default settings. The reported temps reflect this. I actually have room now to OC just slightly which I may do in the future but as for now I'll leave things as they are since its working quite well.
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