Core 2 Duo stock cooler question

[raytracer06]

the only reall problem i have is that even in simple idle moments my cpu runs at 85 C.

That's quite scary ! Even with stock cooler and its original thermal pad, your CPU should run around 50°C on load. Your cooler mustn't be correctly seated. You should unmount it and install it again, making sure it is well in contact with the CPU's heatspreader.

About AS5, I use it on my barton, and I saw that incorrectly applied AS5 can be worse than a crappy pink thermal pad. With the barton, the most efficient was to spread the AS5 on the core, to obtain a thin film of thermal paste. But if I remember well, the instructions for C2D are to place a line of AS5 on the CPU, and let the cooler spread it.

 

[Doughbuy]

Yeah, Arctic Silver has instructions on their webbie how best to use AS with dual core cpu's... You place a thin line vertically (with triangle at bottom left) and then put the heatsink on, rotate it clockwise a tiny bit to spread the AS, and then mount it... but don't take my word for it, check their webbie.

 

[raytracer06]

here's the link to the AS5 instructions for Intel Dual Core CPUs

http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinstruct/as5/ins_as5_intel_dual_wcap.pdf

 

[diselement]

ok when i put the as5 on i did what the site told me on the cpu, now when i got the heatsink with fan and the cpu the thermal paste was already on the heatsink. i have checked for the stuff u said i should take off and it doesnt look like there is anything on top of the heatsink. ive taken it out about 3 times and still runs at 85 C. i know readings arent wrong because i have used the boards core temp device and a program (coretemp). they both say the same thing. everyone says even if the heatsink isnt placed correctly that i shouldnt even be hitting close to 85 C. i feel over the cpu area and it does feel a lil warm, but im not totally sure wat 85 C feels like with my hand over it. i cant even play intense games just cuz im worried. i come out of a simple game like civilization, and core temp warns me with critical heat warnings (that scary)

 

[bberson]

Dude, 85C is over 180F. Those are OVEN temperatures. Direct contact with that high a surface temperature would cause burns in under a second. Even diffused by the heat sink, you'd surely know if it was running that hot.

I'm guessing the motherboard sensor is nuts.

 

[diselement]

sorry i posted twice

 

[raytracer06]

What is really strange is that you say your CPU is at 85°C idle... The fact is, if it really reaches this temp when idle, you can't even install Windows, because the mobo's overheating protection will shut down the PC as soon as your CPU gets loaded.

A PC with a CPU at more than 80°C idle can't simply work... it will always shut down to prevent the CPU from frying.

If your computer is working correctly, there must be a problem with your hardware monitoring. Check everyrhing in the bios..
you can even try to set the overheating protection at 70°C... if your PC still runs, you'll be sure it isn't running so hot.
Also try other monitoring software

 

[wun911]

I have had several zalman fans and they are all quite easy to insall and work quite well.

 

[Doughbuy]

Yeah, like I said earlier, it must be your mobo because the chip itself would slow down to save its ass from being fried...

And uh... 100C is boiling temp... so touch near boiling water, then touch the heatsink... if they're about equal, then you know its really 85C (Don't really touch near boiling water... just assume its really hot...)

 

[diselement]

well wat do u suggest i use to measure core temp? also i have a 250 gig seagate 7200.10 but for some reason i only could partition 130 and it says i have only 130 total. any ideas?

 

[Anoobis]

You need to install Service Pack 2 to fix your HD issue.

When you remove the heatsink, you need to remove any thermal paste or pad material that's left over from both the top of the CPU and the bottom of the heatsink. Clean both with rubbing alcohol. Re-apply the AS5 following the website's instructions for your CPU. If you use too much it will act like an insulator, which is bad.

Re-read the instructions on how to install the CPU heatsink. It sounds like you're not seating it correctly.

 

[diselement]

ok well i dont really know what i did. i mean i do but i dont. i flipped one of my fans of the exterior of the case and for once more i removed the hsf, but this time instead i touched the thermal paste with my finger. i was goin to remove it but i could find rubbing alcohol so i just put the heatsink back on. i booted back up and ran coretemp and teh crap was reading low 50'S! its still high but way better than 85 heh. im goin to re-apply the thermal paste (even though i followed instructions on AS, i think i applied a lil to much), and i hope temps will drop to low 40's high 30's and then i can start my slight overclocking

 

[skyguy]

Wise move

Do the AS5 right and you will be rewarded.

 

[diselement]

oh and also i currently have microsoft sp 2 and when i got back to setup it still shows that i can only partition a total of 132 gigs any ideas?

 

[dean7]

Did you double check model # info printed on Seagate drive to make sure they didn't send you the wrong drive?

 

[diselement]

nah def the 250 that i ordered. especially when everest and speedfan identify it as the 250 gig 7200.10 seagate i ordered. i really dont want to delete the partition i currently got (since i already set up some stuff), but if it needs to be done to pull out the other 120 gigs im owed then so be it!

 

[raytracer06]

well, you can still try to partition your HD with Partition Magic or some other disk management utility...

You can also check the jumpers on the drive, if they're positionned to limit drive capacity...

and we're going off-topic again...

 

[diselement]

what do u mean limit drive capacity? like if i use a diff sata cable it would work?

 

[raytracer06]

I don't know if it still exists with Sata disks, but on most ATA drives, there is a jumper setting to limit the drive capacity, so that it can be detected by older motherboards that don't support large disks

After verification, it seems this jumper doesn't exist on Seagate 7200.10 Sata drives. On PATA versions, there is a capacity limitation setting, but it limits the capacity to 32GB.

So, you don't have to worry about that...

I've already had a hard time trying to partition a 320GB disk...
I started with a 120GB partition, on which I installed windows XP. Once windows has been installed and updated to supports disks larger than 128GB, I've been able to partition the remaining space, using Windows' computer management utility.

 

[diselement]

ok i used the management utility and i found the missing space so im partitioning a second part thanx to all (even though my temps are still a lil high when im in idle i still run high 40's! ill re-apply thermal paste and cross my fingers so i can start overclocking!)

 

[raytracer06]

40°C is a normal temperature with the stock cooler, I think... but if you have a doubt, you can still take a look at your BIOS, just to make sure power saving features like speedstep is enabled, or if your mobo has something like Q-fan (that slows down CPU fan when possible, to keep your PC as quiet as possible) you can increase the minimum speed to get a better cooling...

But you shouldn'tworry about a 40°C idle temperature, as long as it doesn't get very hot as soon as the CPU is on load.

 

[skyguy]

40 C idle is just fine....perfectly normal.

 

[diselement]

when i say 40's i mean like high 40's like at 47-48. i re-applied thermal paste and my temps jumped back to high 50's. this is kinda getting annoying but ill leave it be maybe its only the break in period thats why its so high. everytime i turn on my comp though it looks like it drop a lil hopefully itll keep on going. i think its that the snap in's on my fan are a lil messed up making the connection between the heatsink and fan a lil queer-ish. i might soon get a new cpu cooler and add 2 fans on the top of my case. then everything will be totally sweet.