This question came to mind in another thread so instead of hijacking I thought I'd start a fresh thread! I currently fold on an i7 920 @ 3.7GHz with a Titan Fenrir cooler and AS5 thermal paste. When I first built my PC it was my first build so I wasn't too clued up on what to do and I have always wondered if I put the HSF on well enough. I spent ages looking everywhere for the best way to apply thermal paste and everyone seems to have their own little preferences. Eventually I went for the put it on and spread method (I think I went with what was advised on trusty Bit-tech!) but I don't think I did a very good job as now - a couple of years down the line - I'm looking at load temps of high 70s to 80. As it's getting hotter and hotter this has been concerning me more and more as I have seen it creep up to 82 degrees for very brief instances. Now the overclock shows in windows as using a vcore of 1.184V but in the BIOS it's about 1.2125V (I'll amend this when I turn my PC off this evening as it's folding right now) and a QPI/VTT voltage of about 1.315V. As far as things go, I thought that they were pretty good voltages for getting it to a stable 3.7GHz. It's just the temperatures that are the worrying part especially as it's only getting hotter. I'm thinking I need to reseat the heatsink but I need to buy myself some degreaser first. Are these temps quite high for these voltages or am I just being paranoid? Thanks! (Stated temps are at an ambient temperature of around 25 degrees celcius, I have a Cooler Master HAF 922 case and I know the temps are over the safe limit stated by Intel but hopefully reseating will improve this!)
OK dude they are way to high. your BSOD was caused by this. http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=37147&processor=i7-920&spec-codes=SLBCH,SLBEJ the t-case of your chip is sub 70 degrees. It will function over this but for 24/7 it wont like it. re seating this could help but that depends on how you did it in the first place.?
i have a similar setup [d0 revision 920, fenrir, antec 1200] at similar voltage, and i was getting high 60s [max 71] at 3.6 and mid 70s [and BSoDs] at 3.8. mid 70s to low 80s sounds way too hot, re applying tim may help [too little and it doesn't work, too much and it does the opposite of what it is supposed to]. Also give the fans [and filters if there are any] a clean. You using the stock fenrir fan?
I knew they were high, but I swear I'd read around that it would be okay for it to be at about mid to high 70's when at load. I guess that doesn't take into consideration being at load for hours whilst folding. It's a long time ago now but IIRC I spread the thermal paste using a plastic bag over my finger and made sure it was as even as possible. I think I read on bit-tech that it was a recommended method but I'm not sure. The more I think of it though the more I think it's silly as it would be incredibly easy to get many air pockets between the processor case and HSF plate. Do you think the temps are too high for the voltages or are the temps reasonable for the voltages? If the temps are too high for the voltages then it's most likely to be a badly applied HSF and I lower the clock for now then go back up once I've reseated it. If they're in accordance with the voltages then I guess I'll lower the clock and just keep them low and hope that reseating makes a positive difference. I already cleaned all the filters and the HSF of all dust and that did improve the temps by a couple of degrees (from about max 81 to about 79/80). The Fenrir has the stock fan, yes.
OK finger in bag for spreading is not right and isn't good. Put a small line down one side of the CPU and use a credit card to pull it across. Then go over it two or three times and make sure its even but not more than 0.5mm thick. (you cant measure it but look on a ruler to get an idea. Mount the cooler firmly and tighten fully for a good compression. Try to feel the tension out and make sure they are all the same as one over tightened and one loose can pull the cooler off the CPU. let us know how you get on
as i said i'm running at similar voltages myself and i'd say it was too hot for that speed, at that voltage. that said you may have a hot-running chip [not all silicon is created equal] try reapplying the TIM and re-seating the fenrir, might want to change the fan too [the stock one is ok, but not great] EDIT: i've used that method [and the one you mention] and others, from what i've seen *how* you apply it doesn't make all that much difference. however you apply it you want that layer of thermal goo to be as thin as possible. and remember to tighten opposite corners [NW/SE a few turns, then NE/SW, keep going until its as tight as you can get it]... but if you've read the fenrir's instructions you'd know that already....
Thanks, Haphestus. I did hear of this method when I was looking, I just didn't have anything suitable at the time. I did look on the Arctic Silver guide earlier today and they suggest just a singular line down the centre of the CPU case and then apply the HSF and twist it a small amount this way. I heard this method when I was reading before as well but never thought to try it. Has anyone tried this method as I do feel slightly worried about using a card to do it as there seems to be more that I can do wrong! I like to make things as simple as possible, especially when theres this much moneys worth of equipment at stake! I will try my hand at reseating it as soon as I've got these damn exams out the way, I'll just down the speed for now I was going to replace the stock fan but... errrr... I may as well come straight out with this - the stock one is shiny and I like how I can see it reflected the lights on my mobo through the side of my case I'll let you guys know how the reseating goes when I get round to it though! Thanks for the help. +rep to all
afaik the temps arent THAT terrible. overclocked i7s are hot. I have a titan fenrir and it isnt that great tbh. Id swap it out.
bona i promise you it will be fine. Just clean up as you go and wipe the card down with each pass. It takes a bit of feel but i mounted my Zalman cooler to my GTX 470 this way and i have a 29 degree improvement when folding. It used to be 89 degrees and now 60 with fans on full which isnt that loud Gaming it doesnt go about 45
I use the card approach to spreading the paste, so does my brother. Done it on 30+ machines. The trick is to get an old card and cut it up so you have a piece about 7-10mm wide which makes the paste much easier to work with and smooth out to a consistent thin layer across the whole cpu. With and ambient temp of 20C my 920 @ 3.8 on stock voltage peaks at max 68. In summer it does go warmer, but havent folded in summer yet. If you are really worried about the thermal paste you can always go for a Phase Change Metal Alloy Pad, which my brother has just started using on his machine and swears by an extra few degrees drop. The setting upis more difficult and scary as you have to disconnet the fans and run the the cpu hot (they give you all the directions) to enable the 'phase change'.My bro had to wrap up his Thermalrite Ultra 120, to get the temps up as it was disapating too much heat without the fan to get it up to temperature. Forgot to add, use a cleaning solution on the CPU before the paste or pad. Artic Silver do a 2 stage, stage 1 to clean the compound off and stage 2 to clean the cleaner off. Its very important to have a clean surface as this will impact on the paste as much as doing it incorrectly. Also with your case, have you put extra fans in, like the side one? Pack your case full of fans, it maybe a little noiser but for summer you need it. You can alway disconnet a couple in winter when you dont need them. I uses the Enermax Batwings for my CPU coolers and then some Enermax Apolish for the case as theyare shiny and have the blue lighting, which also gives the red batwings a nice look inside.
It looks like you guys have encouraged me to try the spreading with a card method! As I said before I'll give it a go as soon as I get the TIM remover. The phase change pads sound really interesting in all honesty but I too would feel quite scared wrapping up my HSF and purposely trying to make my CPU get incredibly hot! I think I'll stick with thermal paste in all honesty. That's another thing that I've been wanting to do for a long time - add a fan to the side of the case - again I've never really got round to it but as I'm purchasing some TIM remover online I may well take the dive and get me a new fan too. Anything to keep this damn thing cool! I ended up lowering the clock, it was only to 3.6GHz but at this speed I'm using less than stock voltage and the temps have lowered to under 70 degrees in 25 degrees ambient (I even got to shut my bedroom window!). The only thing I never mentioned to you guys before was that in Real Temp it shows cores 0 and 1 at around 4 maybe 5 degrees hotter than the other 2 cores. I've long thought that this was a good sign that the HSF wasn't applied correctly. Is this just because there's better contact above cores 0 and 1 than above 2 and 3? Again, thanks guys, you're a great help!
i have the same thing with mine, core 0 is always a few hotter than the other, core 1 and 2 are about the same, and core 3 is a little cooler. as for TIM cleaner, personally i'd say don't bother. a bottle of isopropyl [rubbing] alcohol does the job [and its usually about half the price]. plus IIRC the 'second half' of the akasa stuff is precisely that [the first half is an orange-based cleaner]
