tehseraphim

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Jul 28, 2010
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Hello,

New to the forums here but would like to stick around a while :D

Just did the Big Deal from Intel and got the I7-940 and the DX58SO motherboard - I managed to get everything together today and am currently looking at the intel desktop center screen with my temps really unsetlling.

At idle (15% ish load, stock clock speed),it says i'm running at 72C CPU and about 48C motherboard. I took the side of my case off (a large thermaltake solid steel ATX with 3 or 4 fans - a loaner until my Antex 900 is ordered) and there feels likes theres no heat - I would imagine if the motheboard is around 48C the air coming out of the case would have to be pretty warm too, no?

I have a new heatsink that will be here tomorrow, but I'm wondering if the temps thrown off by the intel center are A) completely wrong or B)theres a bad sensor somewhere or C)?.

Any and all help would be appreciated.
 

tehseraphim

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It is the stock heatsink, but I made sure it was seated properly. Im currently running assassins creed 2 at 35% load and im still running 75C (temp hasn't moved from 15% idle.
 

tehseraphim

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Yeah I went with the thermal pad that came on the stock heatsink until my arctic silver and zalman get here tomorrow - I also downloaded realtemp and its reporting about the same tempratures.
 

tehseraphim

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So I installed the zalman 9900 the other day and it dropped my temps significantly - my idle is like 40's to low 50s, load with prime 95 is 75ish. I still thinkt hsi is too high at stock, esp. with the heatsink and arctic silver. Maybe bad airflow in case?
 

tehseraphim

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I'm running a crappy thermaltake full size atx with the side panel off...there are 2 80mm fans in back and 1 on top and i think another 2 in front (its temporary til I buy a new case as the sonata iii i got new for 20 bucks just...kinda went all melty lol). I checked again and I think part of the temp problem was that when I use the program intel uses it bumps up to 20% CPU useage. I used realtemp with almost nothing running and temps are around 35-39.

I still think a new case is in order to be best.
 

MARSOC_Operator

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75 at load with Prime isn't too high for an i7 at all. It could be better, but not much, unless you switch to water cooling. Don't think you will run Prime and hit anything bellow 65...
 
Did you notice the speed of the Zalman cooler fan at idle and full load?
You might get better cooling performance if you take the plastic shroud off the Zalman 9900 according to the FrostyTech. *FrostyTech Tip.

Are your room temps a bit on the high side during testing? That (and maybe your case ventilation) could also have some impact on how high your temps go.

What is that "program intel uses it bumps up to 20% CPU useage"?
 

tehseraphim

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So an update - transferred everything to an NZXT Tempest Evo case. New 750w 80+ certified power supply. I did remove the shroud before I put the HSF on (thanks for the tip WR2). Temps for Prime95 average around 70-72 degrees (at stock clock speeds).

Not that I want to go crazy overclocking or anything - would be worth it for giggles - from reading other posts I saw people running high 50s/low 60s on air with an active overclock.

Also, to answer your question WR2 - Intel has a program called Intel Desktop Command Center which offers an in-OS view of temperatures (mothebroard, CPU, ambient etc) as well as profiles to overclock the processor or memory. That program, when started, automatically puts my CPU at about 15% load lol