I7 920 temps too high

[hagai_sela]

Hi,
I have an I7 920 processor, not overclocked. I had a scythe mugen II cooler and the idle temps were around 50c. Today I installed a new arctic freezer 13 pro cooler, and idle temps are down to 37-40c. When I run a load benchmark it gets to around 65c.
Temps seem a bit high to me... On the ac13 package they said they overclocked am I7 920 to 3.6 Ghz and it ran at 48.5c. I plan to overclock it and run loads for long periods but I am currently scared to do it because of the high idle temps.
Any ideas? Could it be because of the chasis fans or some other component in my pc?

Thanks,
Hagai.

 

[beanoslim]

I have a 920 OC'd to 3.8 and it runs around 70C full load with a Venomous X cooler.

I would say 70-80C is safe for the 920 under full load.

If overclocking turn speedstep off.

You could also try checking load temps with the side off your case, this will tell you if heat is building up inside the case.

 

[hagai_sela]

ran it with the side off. Idle temps are down to 33-35c, load temps are at 58c. So I guess at least a part of the problem are the case fans. I'll try cleaning them, I'll also try to turn speedstep off and see if the temperatures drop.
Another thing - my PC is running linux... could it be that it can't interface with the fans correctly?

 

[beanoslim]

Speedstep should really keep it cooler as it lowers the voltage when not needed, more voltage = more heat.

What case and fan setup do you have?

Don't know about linux, have you any temp settings in the bios you can adjust?

 

[hagai_sela]

I have a coolermaster CM690 case. The cpu fan is my new arctic cooler freezer 13 pro. The bios is the same as in windows, I guess I can set temps there.
One strange thing - I attached the front fan on my case to the sys fan 3 header on my mobo, but I can't see it in the bios, it doesn't show sys fan 3... When I put my hand near it I can feel some air flowing so I think it's OK.

 

[beanoslim]

Thats a good case, have you got it maxed out with fans or is there room to fit some more, I think it takes up to 7?

An easy way to check which reading is which in the bios is to just unplug the fan while watching the speeds in the bios, the reading will disappear.

Another option is to get a multiple fan speed controller, that way you could turn the fans up and down manually when needed.

Also have you checked the airflow within the case itself, I mean are there cables, drives etc blocking the airflow from the front.

 

[hagai_sela]

I only have the 3 fans that came with the case.
I am not really a fan of disconnecting things while the computer is on... I already got electrocuted twice while trying to fix a fan inside a power supplier... Could it just be
The airflow in the case itself could be a problem, since I have a gigantic GTX 470 video card I have to run some of the wires above it. This could be blocking the air from the fans. I'll try to upload a picture of how my case looks inside tomorrow.

 

[beanoslim]

Well a cheap fan controller may help you then you can turn up the speed while watching in the bios.

Electrocution = Not good.

Yes it could be a factor, you may also want to upgrade your fan setup with more or more powerfull ones to increase the airflow into the case.

Can you find out what type of fan you have as an intake, ideally 2x120mm fans work well.

To be honest 65C under load seems ok to me, mine hit nearer 70C with 1.26v.

See what it hits running OCCT. http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download

 

[hagai_sela]

I have a linux machine, can't run occt...

 

[beanoslim]

What are you using then?

Looking at your case it seems to have some side fans that would blow cold air onto the cpu heatsink, I think.

Do you have any side fans installed?

 

[hagai_sela]

I am using a utility called stress, it calculates the square root of random numbers in an infinite loop. Not really clever, but does the job. There also seems to be a version of prime95 for linux but I couldn't find it.
I have one side fan installed.

 

[hagai_sela]

BTW, how can I install 7 CPU fans if I only have about 4 fan headers on the mobo?

 

[hagai_sela]

I meant 7 case fans.

 

[beanoslim]

7 cpu fans might actually help.

Something like this - http://www.tekheads.co.uk/product/Zalman-MFC1-Plus-6-Channel-Multi-Fan-Controller-Black_9626.html

This might work its apparently 64bit Linux ftp://mersenne.org/gimps/mprime266-linux64.tar.gz

This 32bit, wouldn't download for me though ftp://mersenne.org/gimps/mprime266.tar.gz

This might also be handy http://www.overclock.net/linux-unix/248684-linux-benchmarks.html