I7 3930k Cooling

[torchinq]

So I have a i7 3930k that idles at about 40 to 50c it is stock I have not overclocked it at all. A few days ago I hit 100% load on the processor was at 75c. I know that the temps are most likely safe for this cpu becuse of how much power it uses, but is there a way to make these tempratures lower? Btw the current cooler I am using is a Noctua NH-D14 SE 2011 and it tends to spin at around 600-800 rpm.

 

[nikorr]

Whats the temp in the room?

 

[torchinq]

Whats the temp in the room?

its about 20-25c

 

[raytseng]

is the air in the case hot?

Maybe the heatsink is doing it's job, but there is no place for the heat to go, and you need more exhaust fans.

 

[torchinq]

is the air in the case hot?

Maybe the heatsink is doing it's job, but there is no place for the heat to go, and you need more exhaust fans.

maybe i need more i have one pulling cold air in and two pushing it out is that enough

 

[torchinq]

try this, actually open up your case, and then put your hand on the heatsink pipes. Do they feel like they are really hot?

If they are not getting hot; then the heat is not getting into the heatsink.

If your bios allows, try just running fans at full voltage speed; just to get a point of data to understand if it will drop your temps.

I would suggest just redoing the Thermal grease anyway.

i put my hands on the pipes after the computer was on and idleing and they were barely warm, barely more then ambient temps, but is this because of the thermal paste or could it be the processor, and if its the thermal paste what i am doing wrong because i did it the suggested way by putting a small line of paste and tightening the thermal paste down. how should i do the thermal paste

 

[raytseng]

at idle i'd suspect they should be barely warm. But what you should be concerned about is when it is load and the CPU says 75degrees, and the heatsink is still barely warm.


That being said, there's lots of different ways to do the thermal grease, and probably most of them will work. But proof is in the pudding.
If you are getting unhappy results with 1 method, maybe you should try a different one to see if it makes a difference.

Anyway,

The technique I use, is first use alcohol to clean everything up. Everything should be shiny at this point.

If you can, use lint free paper to do this work. Coffeefilter is cheap lintfree paper if you can just grab a couple of those.

On the cooler contact side, i use the buffing technique. So I put a small dab of grease on there, and just use lint free paper to rub it around and rub it off. You shouldn't see any grease but it should leave the cooler surface dulled and fill in any micro-sized grooves.


On the cpu side, I go with the small mini-pea sized blob in the middle. Squish it down evenly, and give a little twist and wiggle each direction way before locking it down. If you want to check your size of your blob; you can do a practice run, and just immediately undo it, to see if your squished blob covers all of the middle of the cpu and gets to all 4 sides (in this technique the corners are fine if they don't get touched).
If you do a practice run, i redo all the previous steps to cleanup first.

Other people go with the use finger in a plastic baggie and just spread a thin even layer on the CPU.

 

[raytseng]

here is arctic silver's instructions:
http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

But if one way didn't work, try a different way at least once

 

[InvalidError]

But what you should be concerned about is when it is load and the CPU says 75degrees, and the heatsink is still barely warm.

If there was a major mounting/paste problems, OP would more likely be seeing 95C.

OP said he has one intake fan and two exhaust but didn't mention his exhausts' placement, it could simply be that the Noctua is simply circulating hot air around itself which would drastically reduce its effectiveness.

 

[torchinq]

If there was a major mounting/paste problems, OP would more likely be seeing 95C.

OP said he has one intake fan and two exhaust but didn't mention his exhausts' placement, it could simply be that the Noctua is simply circulating hot air around itself which would drastically reduce its effectiveness.

the fan placement is that there is one 120mm in the very back pulling out and one 200mm on the top pulling out and one 120mm in the front pulling in