Severe Cooling Issues

[BGregoire]

Forgive me if I sound at all noobish at this, but I am no means an expert. Which is why I've come here. I have my own homebuilt rig I've made, which seems to be experiencing some bad cooling/heating issues with my CPU and GPU. Here's my rig:

Intel Core i7-920 2.66 GHz
EVGA X58 SLI LE Motherboard
Thermaltake TR2-600W PSU
EVGA Geforce GTX 560 Ti SC Edition
Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case


Now I know I've got several different issues that are causing most of my problems. I'm experiencing 50-65C temperatures on my CPU on idle, 65-70C temperatures on my GPU at idle, and an alarming 80-95C temperatures on load on CPU, 85-90C temperatures on load for my GPU.

I know I've committed quite a few errors that's contributed to all this, I was keeping my case in an enclosed PC cabinet, I've moved it out from there, tried clearing out the rear of the case from anything blocking it, checked all my fan speeds, cleared as much dust from my system as much as I can (with a household with 6 (!) cats, there's a lot of crap in there...).

Now the case I have has one front chassis fan, CPU fan, one exhaust fan, and one side-panel fan. I've tried making as much room as possible in there for better air flow, but obviously I'm not doing enough. I'm also worried that perhaps my power supply isn't strong enough to handle this all? Would a higher wattage power supply help with some sluggish fans perhaps? You guys have any tips on creating better air flow in my case? Any help/tips would be appreciated. Again, I apologize if any of this seems noobish, but I'm by no means an expert here.

 

[dogman_1234]

Hello, and welcome to THG.

I would recommend getting a better CPU heatsink. Get one with a great fan and is a good design. Here is one form newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065&cm_re=hyper_212-_-35-103-065-_-Product

 

[BGregoire]

Thing of it is actually, I'm not using the stock heatsink for this CPU. I'm actually using this one:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185129

You think a different one would fare any better for me? What about the GPU? I don't think this card, even though it is factory OC'ed, is supposed to run at 90C.

 

[dogman_1234]

That Heatsink you have there is insufficient. Go with the one I have given you.

Try to download the latest updates from nVIDIA for your card.

 

[Vince999]

- Make sure your cpu heatsink is seated properly (thermal paste, HS screwed properly),
- verify that your cpu HSF is pushing air through your heatsink and not pulling it
- make sure your sidepanel fan is an intake, feeding your cpu fan,
- intake at the front and exhaust at the back of the case
- modify your GPU fan profile through drivers control panel or 3rd party software to control it manually and speed it up.
- Dont forget to clean the dust inside the plastic casing of the card
- disable any bios function (profile) that could slow down your fans because of some hippy energy saving function or something...

 

[BGregoire]

All excellent tips, and thank you, but alas I've done pretty much everything on that list. The thing that makes the most sense is that my case is pretty crowded in there. MANY cables running every witch way. I've tried organizing them so they don't block any fans or air flows, but there's so many of them.

Could it really only be that it's an airflow problem? Or perhaps I should try the different heatsink/fan that dogman suggested for at least the CPU?

And no, no hippy S.M.A.R.T. fan is on or anything, I put everything at 100%. Clever way to put it though!

 

[Vince999]

you could always try to take the motherboard off the case and only leave minimum stuff on it and run prime95 on a test bench and check if cpu is still hot. if its still hot then its not an airflow problem. after that id try to re-seat the cpu with good compound, if not working then try a new HS. cause 95c is really hot.

 

[Vince999]

someone mentioned a fan speed unlocker in this thread, maybe worth checking it out.
http://www.evga.com/forums/tm.aspx?m=896724&mpage=1

 

[Vince999]

according to these, a densely packed case with poor airflow would match your gpu temps on a 560 ti oc
http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?p=18581522

 

[BGregoire]

Now obviously I am leaning towards the fact that I have an airflow problem, and assuming that's the problem and CPU Heatsink/fan is fine (which I haven't tested yet, but thanks for the tip. I don't know why I didn't think of running the motherboard out of the case) how exactly do you go about fixing airflow and figuring out the best set up? I'm sure it's a bit more complicated than just moving PSU cables out of the way. Any way to make sure I'm getting a better airflow besides if I see a drop in temperatures?

 

[Uther39]

BE SURE YOUR CASES AIRFLOW LOOKS SOMETHING LIKE THIS.

I also agree that you should buy a better heatsink than you have got, one that you can direct the airflow as shown in diagram.

 

[davcon]

Yes your cooler is inadequate for an i7 9xx.
It's a good cooler but never recommended for a 120+W cpu.
Buy a CM212+ and temps will improve on your cpu.
http://www.microcenter.com/single_product_results.phtml?product_id=0315397
Your gpu temps are a little higher then what i would use but well within safe range.
Most gpu's can operate safely over 100C but i prefer about 80C max for mine.
Use your gpu software to adjust the fan speed or download MSI Afterburner to control the fan.

 

[simon12]

Run the PC with the side of the case off, if this improves the temps then you have an airflow problem if not then its the cooler.

 

[BGregoire]

Best answer selected by BGregoire.

 

[BGregoire]

Bought the suggested CPU cooler and it's running at 40-50C on idle and about 60-65C on full load, I know those aren't ideal temperatures, but a whole lot better than what it was. Guess the cooler I had managed to pick out really was pretty crappy, no big surprise there!

My video card seems to still run pretty hot, 55-60C on idle and about 75-85C on full load. But even then that temperature is even down too. Thanks for all the suggestions guys, looks like I came to the right place!