Is that a good idle temp?

[Zophos]

Hi guys,

I have a noctua d14 cooling my 2500k which is currently @4.2ghz with 1.2volts. Do you think that a temperature of 41 degrees idle is ok? My room temp is around 30 maybe a bit less.

 

[USAFRet]

For an ambient temp of ~30C, idle at 41C is fine. Especially with that OC.

 

[beanoslim]

I have a 2600k also with 1.2v OC voltage.

I use a Corsair H100 and my idle temp is 19C.

Load temp is more important, mine hits 60C max with 24/7 F@H.

Is Speedstep still enabled with your OC, if so your chip should throttle down speed and voltage when idle making it cooler.

My voltage drops to 0.97v when idle and speed is 1600mhz I think.

 

[RetiredChief]

Ambient temp approx. 30 C (86F) - OUCH.

1) With 30 C and a OC to 4.2 an Idle temp of 41 For the COREs is fine. Typically @ stock a HSF will be from 5C to 10 C above ambient temp - For an OVerclock with speed step disabled Higher. The Only way to get @ or Below ambient is to use a Phase cooler (PS 19 C would equate to an ambient temp of Less than 66F or a h20 cooler that has the WATER cooled to below ambient - Ref beanoslim 19 C @ idle)

2) While the 41 C at Idle is fine for Your ambient, as beanoslim stated what is IMPORTANT is Loaded temps. For this I use prime 95. NOTE Prime 95 will Heat your CPU up more than normal apps, even the most demanding game.

3) My i5-2500K @4.2 using a Zalman 9900 Max HSF: Ambient Approx 71F). Idle (1.596 GHz) - lowest core = 24C, -> 30 C for Highest core. Prime 95 (4.19 GHz @ 1.27 Vcore max Core 1 58 C, Lowest core was 53C and Highest core was 61C.

Edited to change temps and clarify ambient.
Even ambient can be a little misleading depending on if Computer is on floor and how close it is to a A/C vent). My Computer is on floor about 3 feet away from A/C vent. Three readings: Thermostat (Hallway) 78 F, My Room top of dresser/eye level = 79; HOWEVER, measurement at Floor, air intake of computer EQUALS 71 F, 7F cooler than thermostat.

 

[Zophos]

I oc'd it with a fixed voltage. Are there any settings in the bios that i should enable if i want lower temps? All things like speedstep are disabled at the moment.

 

[RetiredChief]

I leave speedstep enabled. This allows the CPU speed to drop down to 1.6 GHz (and Vcore to dropp to 1.0 V when the CPU is not tasked and when you run an app that needs the extra speed it bumps up to the OC value.

 

[beanoslim]

Does your bios have the option to use offset voltage increase?

This enables Speedstep to work properly and still utilizes your overclock.

 

[Zophos]

I can turn on offset but i don't know how to set it up because it's confusing with these +0.05 and stuff

 

[beanoslim]

Using the offset mode you need to add the right amount of voltage to your default voltage to get your 1.2v

To keep it as straight forward as I can set your voltage to offset with the lowest + setting you have.

Log into windows, open cpu-z or hwmonitor and run Prime95 - check the load voltage.

From that voltage you can then add or subtract the right amount to get your 1.2v.

Set your cpu multiplier to auto, your turbo mode to 42 to get your 4.2OC and enable speedstep.

This should then undervolt and underclock the cpu when not needed.

 

[Zophos]

And what about the llc level 1 or 5?

 

[beanoslim]

Try default 1st, check for stabilty, if ok, try lower, if unstable increase.

I have regular/medium/high and extreme on my board, I have managed to get things stable with regular setting.