Should my temps be lower?

[asylumdance]

Greetings,

I recently built a computer that includes the following:

phenom II x4 965 BE
asus 990fx sabertooth
2x4 GB corsair vengence lp @ 1600 mhz
cooler master x6 elite heat sink w/ as5 thermal compound
ocz stealth stream pro 700w psu
evga gtx 660
thermaltake chaser mk-I w/ 2 extra 200mm fans (for a total of 2 intakes and 3 exhausts)

as5 has not fully cured yet so this may be a little premature, however my idle temps hover between 37-39, normal in game load is around 43-45, and an hour of prime95 puts me right around 49-50. based on everything that i have read, this sounds high. i would like to be able to achieve a relatively modest overclock, perhaps in the 3.7-3.8 range, but i want more wiggle room as far as temperatures go before i really start to play around with it. heat sink is on nice and tight, correct amount of thermal compound was applied. i could use suggestions.

 

[socialfox]

Your temperatures are normal,a bit better than what a stock cooler does for the Phenom. Generally all the high tdp (125 watts) Phenoms run warm, mine (phenom II X4 955 BE) used to idle at 35-39 and load was at 59-65 which was beyond the safe temperature range since 62 is the max recommended. I however bought an oem version so I had no stock cooler and placed a crappy old school copper Thermaltake cooler (no heat pipes just plain copper). I would say you have room to overclock a bit, about 8-10 degrees to work with. If you really want to ensure a safe overclock I believe you should buy a new CPU cooler (I did and overclocked mine to 4.0ghz with a Kuhler 620). You could have bought a better cooler for the same price as the X6 elite. Anyways try 3 intakes and 2 exhaust, you should strive to achieve positive airflow in your case, air flowing though heatsinks is the only way your going to achieve lower temperatures. Lastly you can up the RPM of your CPU fan if its plugged in a motherboard header, try running it at full speed for maximum capability.

-Socialfox

 

[maestro0428]

Those temps look good. It can take up to a week for the AS5 to cure. Looks like you have some good case cooling too. Check your temps in another week and see if they have gone down a couple of degrees. Even if they haven't, I say you are in fine shape.

 

[cats_Paw]

Its normal. What are your ambient temps? (note that reviews are normally done at 21 ambient C but this aint always so. Sometimes they even test it on ower).

 

[asylumdance]

Your temperatures are normal,a bit better than what a stock cooler does for the Phenom. Generally all the high tdp (125 watts) Phenoms run warm, mine (phenom II X4 955 BE) used to idle at 35-39 and load was at 59-65 which was beyond the safe temperature range since 62 is the max recommended. I however bought an oem version so I had no stock cooler and placed a crappy old school copper Thermaltake cooler (no heat pipes just plain copper). I would say you have room to overclock a bit, about 8-10 degrees to work with. If you really want to ensure a safe overclock I believe you should buy a new CPU cooler (I did and overclocked mine to 4.0ghz with a Kuhler 620). You could have bought a better cooler for the same price as the X6 elite. Anyways try 3 intakes and 2 exhaust, you should strive to achieve positive airflow in your case, air flowing though heatsinks is the only way your going to achieve lower temperatures. Lastly you can up the RPM of your CPU fan if its plugged in a motherboard header, try running it at full speed for maximum capability.

-Socialfox

Ambient temps are around 25c. I have the cpu fan profile on turbo in bios. As far as case fan arrangement, the intakes are on the front and side, 2 exhausts on top and 1 on the back. If I were to flip one of them to be another intake, which one would make the most sense?

 

[socialfox]

If you have one intake in the front, and two exhausts in the back close by then it would not really be logical to flip one to an intake since it will blow cooler air but be thrown outside by the exhaust fan right beside it (Also it is best to have fans on the top as exhaust since hot air rises). For your ambient temperature that does seem to be a bit high for yourself and your computer. I believe ambient should be around 19-23 for normal rooms. Nonetheless you do have a bit of overclocking room, do you happen to also have any other vacant fan slots? Lastly, I suggest adding a second fan to your CPU heatsink if not already done to create the push-pull effect.

- Socialfox

 

[asylumdance]

If you have one intake in the front, and two exhausts in the back close by then it would not really be logical to flip one to an intake since it will blow cooler air but be thrown outside by the exhaust fan right beside it (Also it is best to have fans on the top as exhaust since hot air rises). For your ambient temperature that does seem to be a bit high for yourself and your computer. I believe ambient should be around 19-23 for normal rooms. Nonetheless you do have a bit of overclocking room, do you happen to also have any other vacant fan slots? Lastly, I suggest adding a second fan to your CPU heatsink if not already done to create the push-pull effect.

- Socialfox

right now i have two exhausts on top and one in back. intakes on front and side. there are no more fan slots available unless there's some way to fix one to the bottom but it doesn't look like it. also, the way the fan fits on my heatsink, if i added another, then both would be pulling against each other unless there's a way to reverse the spin direction in the bios which i haven't seen. as it sits now, the fan on my heatsink is on top, pulling air upwards directly into the top exhausts. my impression from these responses is that based on my setup there's not much more that i can do except get an even bigger heatsink which isn't really practical at the moment considering i'd rather spend the money on an ssd and a new psu.

 

[socialfox]

You can switch the fan to intake or exhaust by swapping the orientation of the fan. Typically it is in intake when you see the fan blades on one side and then the back of the fan on the other side or you can say the back of the blades.

Take a look at this:

http://cdn.overclock.net/9/99/9911feb7_ix6rgy.jpeg