Prime95 test on Q6600 70c in a few minutes

[Xephyrex]

I ran it for a few minutes and core #0 was running at 70c
core #1 was running at 68c
core #2 was running at 65c
core #3 was running at 65c

I stopped after those few minutes of running the program as I thought that my processor would burn out.

Is this normal anyways?
I am using stock h/s & fans as well as atrix thermal compound.
Q6600 @ 2.4GHZ

 

[popatim]

yeah thats a bit hot. Have you considered an aftermarket cooler?

How much paste did you put on? on dont want to coat the processor, just a bb sized drop in the center and then mouting the heatsink will spread it.

 

[Xephyrex]

I actually used about double that, is it ok?

 

[GhislainG]

You can't burn out that processor unless you remove the HSF (and even then you may have a tough time doing it). At worst it gets to 100°C and then it shuts down. I know because the fan stopped working on mine and it shutdown a few times before I determined what the issue was. Since that happened, it has been running non-stop in a VM server for more than 2 years. 70°C is nothing to worry about for that CPU.

 

[whooleo]

I actually used about double that, is it ok?

NO, rice grain to BB size is what is needed. Also check if your cooler is mounted properly, those locking pins can fool you into thinking it's locked properly.

 

[Xephyrex]

Does it matter if I use too much thermal compound?

 

[Xephyrex]

Could this be the reason why it is getting so hot? Or is this temperature normal for the Q6600?

 

[GhislainG]

Could this be the reason why it is getting so hot? Or is this temperature normal for the Q6600?

Temperatures on mine are 3°C lower than yours; I used a very thin layer of AS5 and it had a few years to cure. Core #0 runs a couple degrees warmer and that's normal. You provided Core temperatures, but what is the ambient room temperature (my room is at 23°C). Maximum temperature is reached within a few minutes and it won't get more than one or two degrees higher after 12 hours or more of Prime95.

Edit: It isn't hot enough to worry about it.

 

[Xephyrex]

I stopped running the test after 4 minutes as it reached 70c at 100% load. I starting to think that maybe I need to re-apply my thermal paste. Also another thing is that at approximately 30-40% CPU usage the temperatures sore upto 60-70c.

 

[GhislainG]

Reapply the thermal paste. A small pea size is enough, but I prefer using a rigid plastic card and spread a very thin layer. Thermal paste is used to fill the gaps, not to isolate the CPU from the HSF.

 

[whooleo]

According to Intel 62.2C is the max temp for the B3 stepping (earlier ones) and 71C for the G0 stepping (later ones). You should definitely be seeing lower temperatures.

http://ark.intel.com/products/29765/Intel-Core2-Quad-Processor-Q6600-8M-Cache-2_40-GHz-1066-MHz-FSB