Need help with Overclocking Intel Core 2 Duo E8600

[Mortem420]

I recently decided to overclock my custom build gaming pc. I overclocked my Intel C2D E8600 (stock at 3.33GHz) to 4.1GHz by upping the FSB frequency to 410 and it seems to be stable enough except for the fact that when im playing games my core temperatures hit almost up to 80 degrees Celsius. I also have the core voltage set to 1.34V in the bios.

The rest of my parts include:
Asus P5Q-VM Motherboard
Arctic Cooler Alpine 11
4x2GB G.Skill DDR2-800 Ram
EVGA 500W PSU
(Not too sure if this matters but putting these on here anyways)
Gigabyte nVidia GeForce GTX 750 TI OC Edition
Western Digital Green Caviar 750GB HDD
My PC is running Windows 7 Ultimate 64Bit

My computer temperatures sit at around 45-50 degrees when my system is idle but then can quickly jump up while im gaming. It sometimes sits stable at around 70-72 degrees while im playing games but then will jump up to 75-80 for a minute or 2 every so often. Should i be worried about my CPU getting this hot or is it not really that much of a problem while under full load?? Any advice on what i could to do bring my core temps down would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Calvin7]

Alpine 11
Intel CPU Cooler for Quietness

This is not an overclockers CPU cooler. It's promoted for being quiet.

 

[The Paladin]

well 80'c is not uncommon for the E series cpus :LGA 775 CPUS do that a lot, I got tired of my Q8300 doing it I slapped a cheap Enermax Liqmax II 120S on it and it sit at 30 then jumps to 60 when gaming.

 

[Mortem420]

So would i just need to get a CPU Cooler better suited for overclocking to get my temperatures lower?? What would be a good choice for a replacement?? im not looking to do anything too extreme with the overclocking i already have. I might try to push it a few hundred more MHz once i get my temperatures down but thats about it

 

[The Paladin]

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO is 30$ Air cooled

Low profile on : Enermax ETD-T60-TB also 30$ air cooled

water cool : Enermax LiqMax II Liquid Cooler 70$ at Frys.com <<- what I use on mine

 

[Mortem420]

Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO is 30$ Air cooled

Low profile on : Enermax ETD-T60-TB also 30$ air cooled

water cool : Enermax LiqMax II Liquid Cooler 70$ at Frys.com <<- what I use on mine

So would the Enermax LiqMax II Liquid Cooler be the better cooling solution among the three. What are the temp differences between using a liquid cooler or a high end air cooler?? Im not too sure how the liquid coolers go in systems as ive never really actually seen a watercooling system except for the custom loop systems people make for builds in youtube videos, The case i have is a Rosewill Dual Fan Micro ATX Mini Tower (FBM-05). The case is kinda small and already looking pretty full, Would i be removing the rear case fan for the water cooler radiator and fan or how does that work?? But should i also look into getting another case cause i feel like the one im using doesnt exactly have the best airflow and it doest really have anything for cord management so all the cords from the psu im not using are twist tied together and then jammed under my cd drive so its out of the way. Theres also one room for 2 fans in the case. The fan on the front of the case is a 120mm but i dont think its actually able to draw any air in cause the front part of the case is kinda closed off

 

[The Paladin]

well if you have a smallish case I would say get a mid tower atx case I use Ostrog case myself, ones they come about to be cheap and pretty good for cable management, but most cases will do the trick, the water cooler basically will replace your upper fan area (see picture below of my system) they come with longer screws to fit it in. many on this forum will overclock and use good air cooled systems, but they are a lot bulkier on the cpu, and work extremely well. the evo might be quite sufficient since I hear of people using it with I5 overclocked without issues, your cpu would work with air or water cooled either way. if it is a budget thing then go with air cooled. maybe go with a 212x instead if your worried about dissipation. I use water cooled because it is cleaner inside the pic (see picture) than having a massive heatsink in the middle of the computer. it truly a matter of personal preference and budget.

 

[Mortem420]

ok well thank you very much. Ill have to try and decide what it is that i want to buy then. I may just have to turn my overclock off for now until i can get a better cooler and maybe a bigger case. Do the CPU coolers that have 2 fans come with some sort of adapter cord to make it just one connector to connect to the motherboard??

 

[The Paladin]

some model do, the 212 evo has one why I suggested the 212x it has two. if the cooler doesn't come with it you can use a splitter they cost about 5-7$ what I did on mine

 

[Mortem420]

Im thinking i might just get the Enermax Liqmax 2 and buy the Rosewill BlizzCon Blue Edition Gaming ATX Mid Tower Computer Case. That should give me alot more room to have a radiator and way better cord management as well as allowing me to have the space to upgrade in the future

 

[Mortem420]

So I actually managed to do a 10% overclock to a 366MHz FSB speed with the Arctic Cooler Alpine. I ran OCCT last night for 2 hours and my temps only maxed out at 69C, which i feel is safe enough so im happy with that till i get a better cooler. I know that 2 hours may seem kind of short for a cpu stress test but i only have my pc out of sleep mode like a few hours at a time and i only get to game like a few hours at a time during the day and not even every day cause im a single father of a one year old and dont get as much time on my pc as id like 😛

 

[The Paladin]

good news then, and if you start having issues you will know its too high of an overclock and if not you may consider pushing it a little later

 

[Mortem420]

Just to clarify, cause im not too entirely sure, but the C2D E8600 has a recommended thermal limit if 72.4C. Now, should i be keeping like the whole CPU package temp below that, or is the thermal limit for the cores themselves?? Or does that number apply to both temps?? I've been watching the core temps mostly cause the actual CPU temp is usually about 10C lower than core temps

 

[The Paladin]

that is the thermal limit, when you hit it, it will throttle down to cool off, but is not the cpu temp you see on the sensor no. that is is dissipated heat which will be higher always...