Why is my cooler so hot?

[bnot]

I am running an Intel Core i3 540 with the stock cooler (yes, I know REPLACE IT) in a relatively cramped case.

When I originally installed the cooler, I was idling at ~30C and loading at ~55C P95 load, which is great. Now that I've had to reinstall the cooler, I haven't been able to get it below 40C idle and 90C+ load.

Any tips on what might be wrong?

 

[steddora]

I don't know bnot. If the dang thing is sitting right on the chip, the thermal paste application is good, and it's all working properly with good ambient air, there's a problem. I'm going to suggest getting an aftermarket heatsink. Doesn't have to be anything insane as that chip isn't going to push heat like a 3770k will.

Try that and see what happens. I'm stumped. There's an issue and I honestly cannot figure out for the life of me what would cause it to go over 40C sitting in the BIOS for an hour... I left my system in the BIOS all day while I was at work. My fans on my Hyper212 were completely off and my case fans were at minimal (2 off and one at 600rpm)......

System temperature was 32C while the CPU was at 33C.... ALL DAY

That little i3 has earned a nickname from me, "Thy hot one". I don't get it, I'm confused, and I'm done. Toss another HSF on that thing and see what happens. If it doesn't stop rolling heat like that; send it to me and I'll buy a motherboard and clock that thing and let it burn for irritating my brain cells so much.

 

[bnot]

In case you still wanted to know, it stays at around 45C doing light work (using NetBeans).

Also a weird phenomena that may have something to do with it: it seems the first core is always ~3C hotter than the second core. That makes it sound like a contact issue after all, but you'd think the cooler would budge with force if that were the case :/

 

[steddora]

One core is always going to be used more than the others. Windows will only use a single core for most tasks. And if you have HT enabled on that i3, that will cause the second core to be parked even more as it will simply just run two threads on the first core instead of actually multitasking across the cores.

What kind of temperatures does it get when you hit it with some real stress?

 

[bnot]

Too high.
It hit 90C at about 60% load, and I wasn't about to let it go higher.

 

[steddora]

Is the voltage set to automatic in bios for the CPU?

 

[bnot]

Yep, and it was idling at the listed voltages.
The load voltages seemed normal too.

I am the lucky new owner of a Cooler Master Elite 311 case, so I'll probably be good with my H60.
If it so much as breaks 40C, that chip is going to 5GHz on the spot.

 

[steddora]

LOL let me know how it goes. That chip has a death wish I think. If you installed the HSF right, you shouldn't have any issue.. And with an H60, I could see it breaking 50C at max usage with IntelBurnTest.

 

[bnot]

So, my H60 is now fully working, albeit it's scratched up and there's thermal paste everywhere because I'm a n00b.

Even in its battered condition, my CPU never hits 50C even under P95 Large FTT!

Oh, and I was wrong about my temps on stock when it worked well: it idled at 30C and loaded at 73C. Maybe I'll have a bit of room for overclocking!

 

[bnot]

Best answer selected by bnot.

 

[steddora]

Nice. Good to hear. Founds like you found that little chip a nice home under that water block.