CPU temp spiking. Time for cooling solutions?

[rudiger650]

Hi everyone!

According to AMD AI Suite II and HWmonitor, my CPU temperatures are spiking in BF3 (minimum specs but with 1920x 1080 32-bit rez) and War of the Roses. They spike from 36-42c idle to 68c within a minute of starting the games. The temp climbs quickly from there and I get warnings at 65c.

Mobo temp stays around 32c and GPUs stay around 45c with my case open.

I wanted to get your opinions on whether this is unusual with my specs before spending any more money.

I've already tried cleaning the CPU/heatsink with 99% Iso Alc and reapplying the thermal compound. Both thermal compound and fan are pretty generic/stock. So I'm already researching performance compounds and cooler towers.

Also I've set all my CPU settings to power save to try to cool it further. The only other thing I can think of is turning off some cores. Also, the CPU isn't overclocked.

Specs to follow ---------------

Motherboard: ASUS M5A99X EVO
CPU: AMD Phenom II 955 x4 3.2 GHz
Memory: 8192 MB
GPU: EVGA GTX 570 oc x2
OS: Win 7 64 bit

All Drivers are up to date using Driver Genius 11

I appreciate the help!

 

[Jay-Z]

First of all, I would close the case to prevent dust buildup. I would consider a cheap aftermarket cooler like the Cooler Master Hyper 212+.

 

[rudiger650]

Thanks, I ordered just that, with some well-reviewed fans.