Good cooler for I7-920 OC

Golden said:

Pfffttt..........man that is frustrating. I cant remember if you tried this, but if you leave the case open and stick a mains fan on full pointing at it, does it show cooler temps?

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Yup. After 30 minutes on a 40cm fan it drops a whopping 1-2 degrees. I got it to flicker between 43 and 44.

I wonder if the i7-920 cpu's I got are a bad batch?

I rang the place where I bought the CPUz and the 950 is now the lowest I7 they sell, at a whopping $332 each.

I'm taking a break. I've been at this now for 5 days. Time to party with the girls.

Hey, this would be a good pick up line for a guy wanting to break the ice.. "Hey, got an overtemp CPU... I can fix that for you". I should be so lucky

I'm taking the system to the shop tmoz. They are going to play around with some other aftermarket coolers. WIll let you know how it goes...

Nite..
Tanya

Tanyam said:

I wonder if the i7-920 cpu's I got are a bad batch?

Click to expand...

You could be on to something....enjoy your break away from it all

Just had a thought, maybe a poor one, check your PSU see if it feels hot. Just feel the PSU case after it's been running for a while.

Open a voltage monitoring program like SIW free version and watch the 12v value, in the sensors tab, when you stress the system, running Prime95 should do it.
If the voltage drops much when the Prime95 test starts it's a bad sign, shouldn't be more than 0.5v, even close to that is not good.

The 12v rail should normally be 11.4 to 12.6v, better if not close to either.

All CPUs run differently, some run cooler, over clock better, you may have gotten a not so good one.
Hopefully you or the shop will find an answer.

The higher the vcore, the higher temps at load. NO GETTING AROUND THAT.


EDIT:

Saw your last post - let them deal with it. I'd be interested to see what a 'pro's' opinion is on this.

I have a similar setup with i5-760 CPU and Noctua NH-D14 heatsink; As always, I applied Artic Silver compound using the spread method. The CPU temperature had been high with NH-D14 idling at low forties and maxing out at close to a 80 at full load.

This was unacceptable and looked for ways to lower the temperature. I've actually red Artic Silver recommended application of the thermal compound for my CPU. The document recommended the vertical application of the compound which I've never used. After using the vertical method and basically resetting the heatsink at the same time, the CPU idles at around 30 and mid-fifties when playing games at 20 degree Celsius ambient temperature. The Prime95 pushes the full temperature to low to mid-sixties. Running the system with open case doesn't change the temperatures that much either, around five degrees less for both idle and full load.

OC-ing the system increased the temperature by 10-15 degree, which is too hot at full load. As such, the system is running at its default BIOS settings to keep the temperature down.

While the temperatures are better, I am not convinced that the NH-D14 is that great in my case, literally... It's a big ass, heavy, hard to fit heatsink that doesn't really perform that well. This might be due to the rather flimsy tide down screws that supposedly secures the heatsink to the CPU. The screws look small and the heatsink does not feel well secured. On the flip side, it is certainly quite with the two fans running at full RPMs, around 1,200. Maybe it would need fans with higher RPM to cool better.

I'll probably end up going back to Zalman when summer rolls around in my neck of the woods. I fully anticipate that the NH-D14 going to run too hot during the summer.

smarteyeball said:

Saw your last post - let them deal with it. I'd be interested to see what a 'pro's' opinion is on this.

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To start; the base line is that my CPU temp seems to run 22 degrees above room temperature, no matter what I do. I checked temps at home before I took computer to shop. Ambient = 20c CPU, 42c - so far consistent.

Well, these are the outcomes of the tests at the shop.

In shop temps were 42c - same ambient temp.

We swapped 920 for a 950 CPU - no change
We reversed air flow - no change
We put on a stock cooler - No change
We moved GPU to a different PCIe slot (Give front and side fans better flow to Memory and CPU area - No change - GPU temp increased because of lack of space between it and soundcard.
I have two fans pushing air into the case, only one extracting it (not counting the PSU fan) - The rear fan runs at 750 - 800 RPM. The two input fans run at 1800 and 2800 respectively, so it was suggested that I was pushing more air in than the exhaust could take out. So we swapped the front and rear fans - NO CHANGE
Reapplied the thermal paste, but this time we did the line method - No change

Final verdict - GA-EX58-UD3R motherboard must be causing the problem. Hmmm...

PSU runs cool to touch.

What we learnt was that my CPU seems to be fine, and that the 950 runs no cooler. Plus the Noctua NH-U12P is doing absolutely NOTHING in cooling compared to a stock fan!

Where to from here?

Tanya

Sounds like they are thorough.

Very strange results. Looks like a motherboard swap for testing would confirm the results, if they have one available for testing.

Try contacting Gigabyte about this issue, see what they have to say.


Just Googled "GA-EX58-UD3R running hot" there are a lot of hits, evidently this MOBO is known to run hot, although some said they RMA'ed for the same model board and got cooler temps.

Also mentioned, check the VCore (CPU voltage) the stock 'Auto' setting may be too high and be causing the additional heat.
Try lowering the CPU voltage and check for stability. Should be around 1.22v for stock settings.

Think I would be checking with Gigabyte for a RMA.

Checked your motherboard site for BIOS updates regarding this issue and nothing mentioned that might pertain to your issues.

lol. I wish they were thorough... I had to push the guy, he kept wandering off leaving me to do the testing. But he did have a few new ideas at least.

They didn't have an ex58 handy. We did talk about using an ASUS board but he said he'd heard somewhere that ASUS boards had temp problems.. I've been doing some research and there are a lot of hits for the P6T and P6X58 series of boards. It'll take a while to find a decent one I think.

I have 5 of the same board, all purchased at the same time. Bad batch maybe - or just a generic X58 problem?

Already been down the CPU VCore voltage. I lowered it to 1.1 and it seemed quite stable, but it made the temp increase so I put it back to stock. I might lower it again and leave it for a day or two to see what happens.

There is something wrong when you lower the VCore to 1.1v and get higher temps.
Motherboard or PSU, if the guy at the shop has a PSU you can test it with you would have your answer.

Wouldn't be a good thing if you bought a new motherboard and had the same problem.

Dave76 said:

There is something wrong when you lower the VCore to 1.1v and get higher temps.
Motherboard or PSU, if the guy at the shop has a PSU you can test it with you would have your answer.

Wouldn't be a good thing if you bought a new motherboard and had the same problem.

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I take your point.

I have 5 PCs with the same mobo, CPU, PSU, RAM and graphics card. I could borrow any combination from any of the PCs. Except, all 5 PCs exhibit exactly the same symptoms. Not one will idle under 45 degrees.

Never considered PSU.. I have a couple of PCs with a different brand and rating PSU.. Different everything, but I can pull them apart and try a few things.

They are all in different locations in the house, including lounge and rumpus room (Bigger open spaces).

I was looking at the sabertooth X58. It has USB 3 and SATA 3, which will sort of future-proof the PCs a little if I went that way.. After testing a single one of course..

Keep in mind, I'm using a 920, not a 980X as in this review...

ASUS TUF Sabertooth X58 review

That is a nice motherboard.

If they are all having the same issues then I doubt that swapping the PSU will help.

If they all have the same motherboard and CPU, then one of them is the cause, hope it's not a bad batch of CPUs.
I would try one motherboard and see what that does, of coarse would be better if you could do it at a shop, it would save the expense if it turns out to be the same issues.
Check if the motherboard can easily be returned.

IMHO you problem sounds like a Case air flow problem. If it's possible, getting a new Case (tower) with better
air flow. Some computer towers are just designed better than others.

Dave76 said:

That is a nice motherboard.

If they are all having the same issues then I dought that swapping the PSU will help.

If they all have the same motherboard and CPU, then one of them is the cause, hope it's not a bad batch of CPUs.
I would try one motherboard and see what that does, of coarse would be better if you could do it at a shop, it would save the expense if it turns out to be the same issues.
Check if the motherboard can easily be returned.

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Motherboards cannot be returned. Nor are they repairable or replaceable under warranty.

I think we eliminated the CPU's yesterday when we replaced the 920 with a 950 and got the same result.

The only things not replaced are the PSU, mobo and case. The PSU is the cheapest item at $120. Since I have a different one here - I will try that later today when I have some time.

The place where I bought the stuff does not stock the Sabertooth. It's not a high seller because it's a bit of a niche board. They'd have to order one in for me.

Layback Bear said:

IMHO you problem sounds like a Case air flow problem. If it's possible, getting a new Case (tower) with better
air flow. Some computer towers are just designed better than others.

Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

What criteria would I look for in a good case?

Tanyam said:

Motherboards cannot be returned. Nor are they repairable or replaceable under warranty.

I think we eliminated the CPU's yesterday when we replaced the 920 with a 950 and got the same result.

The only things not replaced are the PSU, mobo and case. The PSU is the cheapest item at $120. Since I have a different one here - I will try that later today when I have some time.

The place where I bought the stuff does not stock the Sabertooth. It's not a high seller because it's a bit of a niche board. They'd have to order one in for me.

Click to expand...

Gigabyte has a 3 year warranty for their motherboards, I see returns (RMA) all the time, I haven't had to return any myself, there are references on their website to contact the supplier. You can contact Gigabyte directly.
Gigabyte has an excellent reputation for their return policies. They will repair the motherboard for you if they can.

Unless your supplier specifically states "No warranty, No return" which is usually only for discounted prices and/or for repaired/returned boards. For the above reasons I wouldn't get any components with these stipulations.

If your supplier is giving you this information I would get that confirmed, if it stands I would definatly find a new supplier.

Let us know how the testing is going.

Well, after playing around for several more hours I've found that a different PSU makes no difference.

I swapped a couple of fans around - swapped front and rear.

Idle temp is now 48. It's increased 3 - 4 degress, so I'll have to swap the fans back.

I'm going to go to the swap meet tmoz to have a look at some cases.

You might be right about the warranty. I went on to the gigabyte site and it said to go to reseller, who are closed till monday. But either way, RMA processes seem to take 4 - 8 weeks (At least with stuff I've RMA'd in the past). Even if it took 2 weeks, thats two weeks without a computer. I'm better off getting the SABERTOOTH. Gigabyte website says that if there is no fault with the board charges could apply.

I noticed also that the temp in BIOS said 40. Once booted into windows Realtemp, core temp and speed fan all reaported the temp as 48.

I also noticed when I was moving fans around I left the front face plate off the case. The bios reported CPU at 38. When I put the face plate back on, it went up to 40. Even though the case is supposedly designed for air flow from the front.

Tanya

Antec 900 case

Anyone had any experience with the Antec 900 series cases in terms of cooling?

I have the Antech 300 Illusion, which is it's "little brother", it has 2 front intake 120mm fans, one rear exhaust 120mm fan and 1 top exhaust 140mm fan. All 4 have a 3 speed setting. this case has excellent cooling, and is said to not be nearly as good as the 900, so that should be a very good cooling case. A Guy

A Guy said:

I have the Antech 300 Illusion, which is it's "little brother", it has 2 front intake 120mm fans, one rear exhaust 120mm fan and 1 top exhaust 140mm fan. All 4 have a 3 speed setting. this case has excellent cooling, and is said to not be nearly as good as the 900, so that should be a very good cooling case. A Guy

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I spent most of last night researching cases. The Antec 900 appears to be a dust magnet. The 902 much better, but for cooling it seems the Cooler Master HAF 932 or HAF X seems to be the way to go.

The swap meets tend to carry cheap stuff only, but I might get lucky and find a good case, and the Sabertooth mobo as well.

If that doesn't solve my cooling problems - there is one other option; Turn it off, disconnect it and throw it off a high cliff. :sarc:

Have you considered Thermaltake?

Thermaltake Australia & New Zealand - Chassis