Intel I7 temps

Hi everyone, long time no see. I built a new I7 machine recently and feel like the cpu temps are a bit higher than they should be. I removed the heat sink / cpu fans, cleaned off the paste and reapplied everything, but still feel it's running too hot. Idle temps are running about 70-75c during the day and a bit cooler at night.

Part of the problem, I'm sure, is we haven't turned on our air conditioner yet, so I'm sure the hot days aren't helping any. When I run any fairly intense software like video editing stuff or Prime99, it jumps up to 100c pretty quick. I'd think with this heat sink/fan it should do better: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=N126-1006

Any thoughts or are these temps closer to normal than I would think?

Full specs on the machine:
I7 920 cpu
6 gig DDR3
BFG Geforce GTX280
320 gig SATA HD
Intel DX58SO mobo
Cooler Master HAF 932 case
OCZ StealthXStream 700 watt PS

Thanks,
KP

Hi KP,

Welcome back again :)

You have nothing to worry about as I make that 17C~37C, which is well below the operating limits for an i7 core.

As you seem to appreciate, the ambient (room) temperature is important, as what you are using is an air-cooled solution, albeit a fancy one.

Hence, you can only cool relative to the ambient temperature, not below it.

Thanks Nihil. I was concerned with that expensive fan and heat sink that my temps, even in these conditions should be lower than 75C during idle time.
KP

Nihil,
Just re-read your post and I think you thought I was giving my temps in Fahrenheit, but actually I was posting the temps in Celsius. Let me know if I'm misunderstanding you.

I'm running MS Flight Simulator right now while I'm typing this and the temps are peaking at 100C and staying within 3 degrees of that. I just can't figure why it's getting that hot.
Thanks,
KP

I downloaded a different program called SpeedFan. It's showing me the same temps, sort of...

Perhaps I'm just stupid (ok, I am), but I don't really know whether I've got a problem or not now. SpeedFan shows the cpu temp as being in the 30's Celsius, but shows the temps of the individual cores as I described above, ranging between 70C and 100C depending on workload. Being only semi intelligent at times, I assumed the core temps reported by Real Temp were the same thing as the cpu temp, as Real Temp does not show a separate cpu temp figure.

However, now seeing such different values shown between the one cpu temp figure and the 4 core temps in SpeedFan, I apparently assumed incorrectly. Can anyone shed any light on this for me? Should the core temps be significantly different from the reported CPU temp?
Thanks!
KP

Hi KPryor,

i did a little google search about your situation (as i am also interested to get myself something similar).

it appears that either
1) this is the normal operating temps
2) the processor is overclocked, which in that case the temperatures will be higher anyway

there are a lot of links which point to some settings one can do to keep this temperature rise under control. and none of them point to changing the heat sink to rectify the problem

the following is from the intel website

Quote:

---

Idle CPU temperature is between 45-50 degree celcius, with room temperature here 35- 42 degree celcius, at full load CPU temperatures are at 75-80 degree celcius

---

and as nihil mentioned (hi nihil), this holds true

Quote:

---

you seem to appreciate, the ambient (room) temperature is important, as what you are using is an air-cooled solution, albeit a fancy one.

Hence, you can only cool relative to the ambient temperature, not below it.

---

cheers
baggi

Thanks bagggi. I ran Prime 95 last night and watched the temps. The cpu temp stayed decent but the individual core temps all jumped up to 100 C very quickly. A short time later the computer shut itself off.

When I first started checking on this, I assumed core temps and cpu temps were the same thing. However, I'm now seeing big differences using SpeedFan program in what is reported for the cpu temp versus the core temperatures. I need a better understanding of the relationship or lack thereof between cpu temps and core temps.

Thanks!
KP

This is interesting...as the chips now have dual or quad cores....

KPryor I would be interested in any info\links you find on the differences as I had the same assumptions in regards to the 2 tempuratures

I am curious though...are you overclocking???

MLF

The cpu is set at the default in the bios. I thought about cranking it down just a tad to see if that made any difference.
KP

IMHO....its too hot...hence why it shuts down

Have you seen this

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/22...perature-guide

MLF

No, I hadn't seen that, thanks for the link. I agree, it's too hot. I'll keep messing around with it and see what I can come up with. KP

Overheat problem solved!!! Despite staring at installation instructions over & over, I had put the brackets on wrong, resulting in a very tiny gap between cpu and heatsink. Tech support sent me better diagram which more clearly displayed the correct assembly. Temps are running what they should be now. Thanks to all for advice.

Well thats great to hear!!!

MLF