Temp of i7 2600k @ 4.5ghz using Noctua NDH14

[zoids956]

What are the temps of idle? full load?

I am new to OC.
And I would like to know the average temp for an idle cpu, so that it can last longer.
I was thinking of OCing my i7 2600k to 4.5GHz
Of course i don't know the precise temp yet. and i have not done it yet too.

To be easier to understand answer these questions:
1) What is the average temperature of a CPU that I can use 24/7? (OCed or not OCed)
2) What is the maximum temp a CPU can handle without smoking or melting?
3) Will Noctua ndh14 be a good choice? or should i change it to a better one?
4) If OCed, what temp should the CPU be so I can use it 24/7?

Thank you in advance,

 

[bearclaw99]

You should get good temps with it at 4.5 ghz. My cooler is a step down from yours (NH-U12P SE2) and they will never even hit 70 C, even after hours of Prime 95 at that clock speed

1. I'd avoid a clock speed with high stress loads over 75C (or 80 max)
2. Pretty high, but you're likely to damage the chip before it would do that anyways
3. Yes it's a very good choice
4. See #1, and I wouldn't use a voltage over 1.4v for 24/7 use (but that's just me)

 

[RetiredChief]

bearclaw99 responce was good and in your requested order: So I'll just elaborate on.

Rank order of HSFs @ frosty. My 9900Max is highlited as that is the cooler I ended up getting.
http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2567&page=5
and at Guru3d
http://www.guru3d.com/article/zalman-cnps-9900-max-review/7

I'm a little more conserative than bearclaw99. The colder the better.
Max temp is in the 90's at which time the CPU will throttle back to protect itself. Max Vcore is 1.5V.
I set MY limits @ 65 C or less and a Vcore of 1.35 or less. Your 4.4 should be OK. Bear in mind that a 10% increase in Freq is hardly noticable outside of Benchmarks. IE going from 4.2 MHz to 4.6 GHz in day-to-day usage is not going to be noticable.

If speedstep is left enabled the CPU will use a low clock speed (low temps) and only jump up to OC when the need is there. My I5-2500k idles @ 1.6 GHz (Temps are approx 30 C) and only jumps up to OC of 4.2 periodically. Running prime 95, my temps are a cool 52 C. I plan on going to 4.4 (I like 4.0, 4.4, 4.8 when using DDR3-1600 - Not a vaild reason but I like that at these speed the Memorry and the CPU are in syschronous mode)

 

[Bigmac80]

On a cold day outside at California at 4.2ghz running prime 95 for 4-5 hours my temps range from 50-55c...On a hot day running prime 95 it can reach 65c...This is at 1.210 volts using the i5 2500k...This is using the Prolimatech Armageddon heatsink with 2 140mm fans at 80 cfm in a pushpull setup...My case is a midtower case with 2 intake fans and 1 exhaust...My house has no ac so atm i went back to stock settings because i like my pc running cool and the new sandy bridge doesn't need overclocking...Not unless you wanna show off benchmarks then yes overclocking is a must but for a casual user or just a gamer you don't need to overclock the beast sandybridge...

So you should be safe with the Noctua Nh-d14...Just run prime 95 and see if doesn't pass 65-67c...Anything below those temps are fine especially running prime 95 torture test...Your pc will never run at 100% 24/7...Also if you put a warranty on your cpu you'll be fine lol..I put a 2 year warranty on mine so overclocking isn't really a issue lol...

 

[photonboy]

Overclocking and gaming:

Most high-end systems are bottlenecked by the graphics card, in which case overclocking the CPU has absolutely no effect on gaming performance.

If you're overclocking the CPU for gaming purposes I can tell you right now there are no single-GPU cards that could benefit from overclocking that CPU. You'd need two very high-end graphics cards for it to even be an issue.

How to check:
1) run the Task Manager (CTRL-ALT-DEL)
2) run a video game for at least five minutes
3) Close the game
4) Observe the CPU Performance graphs (make sure to show ALL the cores/threads and not just the average)

Analysis:
- if none of the cores hit 100% then you are not CPU bottlenecked
- you can still have a core at 100% and not be CPU bottlenecked (depends on the game engine)

Summary:
Overclocking the CPU adds a lot of heat and increases the fan noise. If the CPU isn't bottlenecking your system it's pointless to overclock it.

Personally, I use the Gigabyte software for my motherboard to automatically overclock my CPU (i7-860) to 3.8GHz when I transcode videos. I then set it back to default for normal use.

 

[bystander]

That's not completely true. While "most" games won't benefit from a faster CPU with a single GPU setup, there are a few games that still gain from it. Metro 2033, Starcraft II and Rift are a few that benefit from a faster than stock CPU. I'm sure there are others, but those are ones I have experience with.

Also, I like the Thermalright Silver Arrow over the Noctua, due to acoustics. They have similar cooling abilities, the the silver arrow comes with better fans (quieter): http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/coolers/display/thermalright-silver-arrow_5.html#sect0

 

[geekapproved]

There is no such thing as an average temp for a cpu.

The main factor is ambient room temp and case cooling. Everyones is going to be different.

 

[zoids956]

Best answer selected by zoids956.