i7 3770 OC 4.1GHz with watercooling, getting high temps

[george p66]

Hey guys,

I recently got a new water cooler (coolermaster ml240l) to use with my i7 3770 (OC to 4.1GHz). The temps are really high (around 70-76C) on full load with prime95, and around 32-42C on idle. My case is well ventilated and dusted, also I have set the radiator fans to run at 100% when the temp hits 50C

Is this normal? Have I maybe put too much thermal paste? (I put around a pea sized amount but I heard it's better to put a rice sized amount)


Zotac 1060 6GB AMP edition (2100MHz OC)
ASUS Maximus V gene
Intel Core i7 3770 (4.1GHz OC)
Master Cooler ml240l
Samsung 250GB 850 evo
Seagate Sata 500GB
Kingston 4gb DRR3 1600MHz (x4)
Corsair TX750
Corsair C70 case
60Hz 1080p monitor
Windows 7 64bit home premium

 

[rontonomo]

those are not really high temp for prime 95

 

[k1114]

For a 240 clc on a 3770 at 4.1ghz it is high. It should be seeing high 50s, low 60s tops. http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/cooler-master-master-liquid-ml240l-rgb,5345-2.html Tom's review had a 5930k at 4.2ghz top out at 58c in a 70f room with 100% fan. There was obviously no reason to have a clc on a limited oc cpu but whatever floats your boat. A 212 would probably have kept it below 70c. What's the vcore? Can you tell if the pump is running?

 

[george p66]

So i did the 'cpu level up' thing on the mobo where it automatically does the oc to a certain freq. The max vcore is about 1.182V. i assume the pump is running as it's making a liquid-like sound on start up and if i put my ear up against it, i can hear some flow.

 

[Karadjgne]

I'm wondering just how op has oc'd a locked i7-3770 to 4.1GHz. Afaik that might be possible with a BCLK (software OC Genie?) OC, but it'd retain stock voltages of around 1.3v, not the usual undervolting associated with OC on a K series cpu.

 

[Karadjgne]

Lol, yep. BCLK OC. Unfortunately, on those gen cpus, BCLK affects everything, not just the cpu. That includes the ram, memory controller, gpu, pcie USB, Sata etc, so even hdd transmission speeds are affected. If it's got anything to do with the front side buss, it just got bumped. I'd run cpu-z similtaneosly after starting p95 and verify voltages.

 

[IInuyasha74]

@Karadjgne: On Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge, Intel locked the multiplier down to the max turbo speed + 4. So for the i7-3770, the typical multiplier is

1-Core = 39
2-Cores = 38
3-Cores = 37
4-Cores = 37

So the max you could set it to is

1-Core = 43
2-Cores = 42
3-Cores = 41
4-Cores = 41

So he could technically go higher actually. And all Ivy Bridge CPUs have their voltage unlocked. Actually, as far as I know, all desktop Intel processors have unlocked voltage. They no reason to lock voltage down if you can't overclock it anyway.

@george: Is your PC near a vent by chance? Just thought it worth checking. If you have the heater on and its close to a vent, that could be throwing it off.

 

[george p66]

Right so i forgot to mention that i have no air conditioning or heater. I'm in sydney, australia, where it's summer (around 23-26C currently).

My PC is near a window, if that matters? But it's not near any vent.

My radiator is mounted to the top and takes air from inside the PC. There is also an out-take fan near it, at the upper rear end.

Update:
I changed everything back to stock speeds, however I am still getting around 69-71C on full load with prime95 and 29-36 on idle

 

[Karadjgne]

Pc's generally run @10°C above ambient temps at idle, give or take a few depending on airflow, so your idle temps are perfect.

You have just the 3x fans setup? 2x on the radiator as exhaust and a rear exhaust? No airflow. Between the gpu, mosfets, sata/usb controller, Northbridge pcie you are heating up the inside of the case already when under heavy loads and your fans are starving for air. Like sucking a thick milkshake through a straw. Change that rear exhaust fan to the front of the case as an intake instead. Make double sure the pump is firmly seated, aio pumps work better if they are tighter on the cpu.

 

[george p66]

Again, apologies for not clarifying. I have 4 120mm 1800rpm intake fans, two front and two bottom.

I already tightened the water block quiet abit. Should i try even more?

There's also a tiny bit leftover paste from the previous cooler around the sides of the cpu under the safety clamp. Is this possible the issue?

 

[Karadjgne]

The pumps usually come with pre-applied paste, which is actually pretty good, better than many aftermarket pastes,so not sure why you added more. Did you not properly clean the cpu of the old paste before seating the pump block? With pastes, minimum amount is better than over-doing it.

 

[george p66]

There was no pre-applied paste (it came with a syringe).

I cleaned the whole cpu surface properly with isopropyl. However, there was abit left around the sides under the safety clamp (metal frame around the socket, google maximus v gene and you'll see what i mean), which i couldn't reach. I didn't think it would be an issue at the time, so i left it there.

I'll take it off again, remove the safety clamp and clean it properly and get back to you. Perhaps there this is trapping some heat

 

[george p66]

After doing that, nothing changed.

This whole time I was running the first option in prime95 (small FFT's) which was causing the high temps of 69-71C. When running the other options (large FFT's and blend) I rarely go above 60C.

I also noticed that my fan control settings in BIOS weren't working, so the fans only hit 100% when the temperature reaches 70 instead of 50 ( which i set it to). Anyone know why this may be?

A 4pin connector cable came with the cooler, which i used to plug in the two 4pin fans into the the main 4pin CPU_FAN header. I plugged in the 3pin pump into the 4pin CPU_OPT header (which I assume is running at full speed because it's 3pin). Is that all good?

 

[Tolis_GR]

I am getting the same results, no overclock (mobo limited), i7 3770 (non K) at 3.7 all core, on air Coolermaster Hyper Tx3i, good airflow. Not the best cooler but this cpu is hitting 10C more than my previous i5 with the same cooler. I guess they are notorious to high temps as i ve seen many hitting 70's to mid 70's under constant load. I'd expect better results on liquid though

Edit: Not all factory thermal pastes are that good or suffer decomposition. Maybe you could try another paste like Arctic mx-4

 

[k1114]

Is there a windows software that can control fan speeds? That could override bios settings. The pwm connections should be fine.

I am getting the same results, no overclock (mobo limited), i7 3770 (non K) at 3.7 all core, on air Coolermaster Hyper Tx3i, good airflow. Not the best cooler but this cpu is hitting 10C more than my previous i5 with the same cooler. I guess they are notorious to high temps as i ve seen many hitting 70's to mid 70's under constant load. I'd expect better results on liquid though

Edit: Not all factory thermal pastes are that good or suffer decomposition. Maybe you could try another paste like Arctic mx-4

You can't compare a little 92mm air cooler to a 240mm clc. They do run hotter than i5, but the cooler is capable of sub 60s under load with his i7. Thermal paste isn't going to cause temps to be 10c higher when the included cooler master tim is good stuff.

 

[Karadjgne]

There's no easy or simple answer to hooking up power to an aio. Corsair's directions state that aio fans should be on a sys_fan header (cpu_opt) and the pump on cpu_fan. This is done for security, if the pump fails, the cpu_fan header will see 0 rpm, and shut the pc down immediately. If a fan fails and it's on cpu_fan header, temps gradually go up, but no shutdown until the cpu reaches max temp. Personally, I subscribe to having the pump on cpu_opt, as it's a 12v dedicated header, and having the fans on cpu_fan so I retain control of the fans according to the cpu temp. So Op, I'd say you were perfect in your setup, Corsair would disagree.

Currently there's only 5 ways to control fan speeds.
1. Bios.
2. SpeedFan software.
3. Motherboard software such as MSI Control Center or Asus suite fanXpert.
4. Aio software such as CAM or Corsair Link
5. Physical controllers which can be case or automatic or manual.

As far as the bios not keeping the 50° it was set to, did you save the bios before reboot? (usually F10)

OEM pastes on popular brands, Noctua, Gelid, Phanteks, Corsair, CoolerMaster, Nzxt etc is very good, sometimes considerably better than many aftermarket pastes such as AS5 (hate that stuff), MX-4, MX-2 etc. Personal favs are Noctua NT-H1, Gelid GC extreme, Prolimatech pk-3, Grizzly Kryonaut. With any of these, if applied correctly, the pastes will last longer than the usable life of the pc, never need replacing. They also rank highest of all the non-metallic pastes. IC Diamond is also extremely good, but I've never used it.

8 threads, i7 cpu, p95 small fft (I bet it's a newer than 26.6 version, so is running AVX instructions) at 70ish°C on a 240mm aio is fine. Nominal usage will be @mid 50's at best. General usage surfing web pages or office stuff and temps will be hard pressed to reach 50.

Understand though, liquid changes temps very slow in comparison to the cpu which has thermal strips right in the cores and reads the temps a couple times a second, instantly, so you will see spikes like going from idle to usage will jump from low 30s to high 50s instantly before settling back down. This is totally normal behavior and doesn't mean your cooler is failing.