OC Q6600 Very High Core Temps Using Prime95

[sonic_boom]

First off I'm an overclocking noob, so there may be some stupidity below.

Here are my specs

Q6600 G0
Asus P5Q Deluxe (updated to newest bios before installing windows when i built this pc a few weeks ago)
OCZ Platinum 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066
Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro
PC Power & Cooling S75QB 750W power supply

My goal is to simply overclock the Q6600 to 3.0Ghz (9x333) From what I've read this should be rather easy, but I'm running into issues with temps.

First here are my temps at stock idle. Ram is set to stock 1066 for a 1:2 ratio. Looks good so far.

And here are stock temps at full load running Prime95.

A little bit high, but within safe temps from what I've read. The difference in temps between core 0 & 1, and core 2 & 3 is kinda odd to me.

Ok, now to overclock. Here are the settings I changed in the bios.

CPU Frequency - 333 (Obviously)
C1E - disabled
Max CPUID - disabled
Intel Virtualization Tech - disabled
CPU TM Function - enabled
Execute Disable Bit - enabled
Speedstep - disabled
PCIE Frequency - 100
CPU Spread Spectrum - disabled
PCIE Spread Spectrum - disabled
CPU Vcore I left at auto on this first attempt
RAM stays at 1066 for a 5:8 ratio

Temps with these settings at idle.

Now here's where it gets fun. Temps at full load running Prime95

As you can see crazy temps on core 2 and 3, and again a huge difference in temps between the first two and second two cores. I didn't let this go on long, but I was curious to see if the PC would shut off so I let it run for about a minute. It didn't shut down or report errors.

Ok Vcore is way too high on auto. Next attempt I changed Vcore to 1.2875.

Temps on idle.

Temps at full load running Prime95

Still a big difference in core temps, and still way too high of temps. I let it run a few minutes, no errors.

Ok, time to lower the Vcore even more. Down to 1.25.

Temps at idle.

Temps at full load running Prime95

Temps still way too high.

Lower the Vcore even more. This time to 1.2.

Temps at idle.

Temps at full load running Prime95

Still kinda high, but not quite as bad. I let Prime95 run for about an hour this time since the Vcore was so low I wanted to see what would happen. No errors.

Still though, I don't think the temps under load should be that high. I could be wrong, but everything seems fine at idle.

Should I keep lowering Vcore, or is there another issue?

I appreciate any help with this.

 

[gahleon]

You need to reseat your heatsink. I believe that cooler is the pushpin design which is not what you want. You actually want the retainer bracket type. That way you have really good contact between the heatsink and the processor. Also make sure you follow the arctic silver 5 directions for quadcores on their website. It will explain how to put on thermal paste. Even if you aren't using AS5 I would still follow those directions. If you have everything done correctly then I would remove both of those and get a razor blade and use it to see if if how concave or convex the factory heatsink (grey part of the processor covering the cores) is (do this also for the aftermarket heatsink. There is poor contact. Also you might want to make sure that you didn't apply too much thermal paste as it can actually hinder thermal transfer. Other than that I don't know. 99.9% that it is one of those. Good luck.

 

[gahleon]

It looks to me based on 2 cores being way hot that either you have a convex or concave side of the factory heatsink over the cores OR one side of your cooler isn't seated well to the motherboard with the pushpins.

 

[rags_20]

I didn't let this go on long, but I was curious to see if the PC would shut off so I let it run for about a minute.

What the hell's wrong with you? You "let it run for a minute"? At 98C? Your CPU could almost boil water. Didn;t you get a burning smell?

 

[rags_20]

+1 for gahleon. You really do need to reinstall your HS

 

[sonic_boom]

I didn't let this go on long, but I was curious to see if the PC would shut off so I let it run for about a minute.

What the hell's wrong with you? You "let it run for a minute"? At 98C? Your CPU could almost boil water. Didn;t you get a burning smell?

haha, no burning smell.

i suppose it was a bit stupid to let it run for more than a few seconds, but arent there measures in place to shut down and ensure no damage is done? honestly i was kinda shocked it didnt shut down.

i figured i might have to reseat the heatsink. ill get around to it soon, but i wont be messing with ocing or running prime95 until then.