I7-2600K Idle Temperature high @ 47C?

[hinky]

Hi guys - I have a strange issue: I have the new ASRock Z68 Extreme4 Gen 3 with an i7-2600K CPU, 4 x 4MB Corsair Vengeance Low Profile Ram (1600MHz) with a Crucial 128GB SSD Sata3 6GB/s drive and plenty of 120mm fans including a Cooler Master Hyper 212 Plus on the CPU. Boots up like a champ but I'm having temperature issues.

Room temperature is probably around 27C. I have the case wide open (Gigabyte Aurora 570 3D) which has plenty of open air. I'm looking at the BIOS for the temperature readings on boot and I get the following:

37C - Motherboard
46.5C - CPU (idle)

I'm not quite sure how to explain these results. I hear others have the CPU at idle at 26C. How can a working CPU be at room temperature? I'm not sure whether my sensors are off or something else is going on as it would seem that these temperatures don't seem too far off base. I'm wondering whether I should take the mobo off and try just using the stock fan in stead of the Cooler Master which is supposedly a great fan.

 

[RetiredChief]

Ignore temp in BIOS unless very high. Look at temp in windows which should be lower. SB systems while in bios run the cpu at the rated freq. Once windows loads the cpu freq will drop to around 1.6 GHz and idle stemps will drop. The real test is under load, ie running prime 95 and looking at what the max temperature is.

At stock and upto a modest OC (ie 4.2->4.6) the 212 should be fine. If temps are to High under load, then verify that the HSF is installed correctly and that the Thermo paste is correctly appled (NOT the pea size amount spread evenly). If unsur just check a youtube video.

 

[hinky]

Thanks - I appreciate it. Yes, the temperature dropped but I'm still seeing 31-37C as the CPU temperature with the aftermarket fan that is supposed to be incredible. I put on the air conditioning and that probably dropped the temperature a good amount too. But still, this is far higher than these other people are reporting.

Regarding the paste, I just put a dab on there which wasn't so simple to do. I'll replace the paste I have with some other stuff I've had for several years (Arctic Silver which may be better than the stock Cooler Master paste provided in the kit which doesn't want to come out smoothly and more like hot cheese that stretches.) I've reapplied the thermal paste twice and the temperature is mostly the same.

PS - The YoutTube videos are terrible. Took me a long time to figure out which one was worth watching.

 

[RetiredChief]

The 212 is a very good Value/performance but is still a midlevel HSF. Myself I perfer the Zalman which are overpriced, but I like. Currently have the 9900Max on my I5-2500k.

Back to the 212, I believe the "line" method is recocommended. I think the important part is to fill the valleys.

Also the temps should be around 5 -> 9C above ambient temps (Idle) and about 20C above ambient when loaded.

 

[k1114]

31-37 is normal idling in windows. No matter what cooler you have idle temps will be nearly the same. The load temps are what really matter and that is where aftermarket coolers will show what they've got. The line method is recommended for the 212+.

http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=170&Itemid=38&limit=1&limitstart=5

 

[TheNismo1]

i've got a 2500k...not overclocked yet. installed a cm212plus......and my cores hover around the 26-31deg mark.
i also just used a pea sized amount on therm paste on center of my cpu...works fine. u need to remember that not every1 systems are the same...so just bcoz i have idle temps of +-28deg...doesn mean u will.

 

[hinky]

Best answer selected by hinky.