Q6600 and zalman cooler and core temps

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

I have a Q6600 quad core i had the stock heatsink and the temps were fine but i bought a zalman cooler anyways CLICK HERE And Arctic 5 thermal grease.I thought i might have put to much grease on but i took out the cooler again to make sure it wasnt leaking or overflowing and it looked fine.I was almost covering the copper bottom of the cooler and CPU.I just put this in yesterday both the cooler and the grease.I also have a 120mm fan blowing directly on the cooler and a 80mm on the case all blowing into the computer.To my amazement

my temps are way to high?I have read that it takes like 200 hours for the A5 to set in and the temps will lower then am i correct?

here is a pic of what everest says also coretemp shows the same temps.

Edited May 31, 2008 by Det. Sonny-Crockett

[SojIrOu]

is that on load or on idle? if its idle then yeah its kind of high. you probably want something closer to the low 40~. have you checked to see if it is seating down firmly on the processor? my old zalman didn't really press down firmly on my graphics card and cpu.

ps: i noticed your cpu voltage is very high. 1.67v? mine runs at 1.37v at 3Ghz and 1.2~v on stock.

Edited May 31, 2008 by SojIrOu

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

Thats idle temp :( Im pretty sure it is pressed firmly on it i cant even move it back and forth so ya i think it is seated good..Plus like i said i had the A5 grease on the cooloer copper and the cpu plus my case is so cramped up it aint even funny so its hard for me to see alot of things even with a flashlight.

[PermaSt0ne]

yes it takes time for thermal grease to "set in". and sorry to say but you picked a terrible cpu cooler Zalman CNPS8700 review. perhaps you meant to buy the cnps9700 (which is an amazing cooler)?

and the airflow in your case can make a huge difference in temps

is that on load or on idle? if its idle then yeah its kind of high. you probably want something closer to the low 40~. if its load then i suppose it ok.

no even on load 58C is way too high for stock

mine's overclocked to 3.20GHz and mine gets ~53C on load with 1.32V

Det. download CoreTemp to make sure you're getting the right stats. because there's no way your proccesor should be getting 1.6V

[SojIrOu]

whoops i edited too late. but read the above post above again.

there might also be a problem with the circulation with regards to the direction the air is flowing creating a vacuum.

[gwai lo]

Use real temp, the Wolfdales and G0's of the Q6600's have different Tj maxes and some of the temperature programs have been misreporting by 10-15 C.

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

Use real temp, the Wolfdales and G0's of the Q6600's have different Tj maxes and some of the temperature programs have been misreporting by 10-15 C.

Real temp says 54/54/44/44 on my core temps others programs say higher so i think ur right

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

is that on load or on idle? if its idle then yeah its kind of high. you probably want something closer to the low 40~. have you checked to see if it is seating down firmly on the processor? my old zalman didn't really press down firmly on my graphics card and cpu.

ps: i noticed your cpu voltage is very high. 1.67v? mine runs at 1.37v at 3Ghz and 1.2~v on stock.

Well i have a HP computer and my bios doesnt allow me to overclcok anything or change my voltage down at all why is that

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

Anyone?

[Mannlich]

If your CPU voltage really is 1.67v, that is dangerously high for a q6600 on air cooling. What kind of temps are you getting under load? The VID for most G0 Q6600s is 1.25v. My Q6600 even runs under voltage. Your motherboard should allow for some voltage adjustments, you just might have to change some settings from auto to manual. If not, contact HP.

Edit: For a lot of G0 Q6600 chips, you don't even need to adjust the voltage in order to hit 3.0ghz. Mine does 3.0ghz with no voltage adjustment at all.

Edited May 31, 2008 by Wolken007

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

Well everest shows 1.67v but core temp program shows 1.325v also cpuz says 1.325 Vid

I do not have the ability to do any underclocking or overclocking since i have a Hewlett Packard computer Bios just has your general stuff to select from.

I am using RealTemp because that 1 guy said that the GO Q6600's have different readings or something and that program right now says 44/44/37/37 Core Temps.Im just wondering if maybe i put to much A5 on and it is taking longer to cool down because of this?

Also what is the best way to have the case fans directions blowing? I currently have a Silverstone 120mm blowing directly on my zalman cooler and a 80mm blowing towards my cooler as well.Should i have the 120mm blowing air out of my pc vents or the way i have it?

[Mannlich]

The VID is the voltage the chip is designated to run at. Perhaps use HWmonitor to check out your actual voltage. Your voltage will most likely vary from what it is actually set at. For example, mine is set to 1.25v, but often times registers at about 1.21v, spiking to 1.25 when necessary. Generally, with Q6600 chips, you will want to keep the voltage under 1.5v for air cooling. Under load, your temperatures shouldn't really go over 70C.

On my Q6600, I use a Zalman 9500 cooler and the temps seem to stay at about 30-35C idle, 50-55C max under load w/ 1.25 volts. Is there any way to check what the voltage is set at through the bios? What is the model number of your motherboard?

Here is a picture for a general guide on airflow: http://www.compute-aid.com/images/airflow.gif

[SojIrOu]

you should use cpu-z to check your voltages. i usually use coretemp to check my temps and cpu-z to measure how much voltage i'm using on load and idle.

with regards to your fan direction it should depend on your cooler's fan. if it blows upwards then your case fan should blow out of the case. i think the zalman should be blowing downwards so you should face the fan to blow into your case.

[Thrawn]

Try this too: Flash the latest manufacturer BIOS to your motherboard. Sometimes, boards are calibrated wrong for your processor and a BIOS flash fixes the temp issue. I've seen this problem both times I made myself an overclocked Q6600 rig.

[Julius Caro]

the temps reported by Everest are fine.

what's weird to me is the 10? difference between the two sets of cores. are you sure the line of thermal compound is in the right "direction"?

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

The VID is the voltage the chip is designated to run at. Perhaps use HWmonitor to check out your actual voltage. Your voltage will most likely vary from what it is actually set at. For example, mine is set to 1.25v, but often times registers at about 1.21v, spiking to 1.25 when necessary. Generally, with Q6600 chips, you will want to keep the voltage under 1.5v for air cooling. Under load, your temperatures shouldn't really go over 70C.

On my Q6600, I use a Zalman 9500 cooler and the temps seem to stay at about 30-35C idle, 50-55C max under load w/ 1.25 volts. Is there any way to check what the voltage is set at through the bios? What is the model number of your motherboard? The model number is Benicia 1.01

Here is a picture for a general guide on airflow: http://www.compute-aid.com/images/airflow.gif

Try this too: Flash the latest manufacturer BIOS to your motherboard. Sometimes, boards are calibrated wrong for your processor and a BIOS flash fixes the temp issue. I've seen this problem both times I made myself an overclocked Q6600 rig.

Actually i just flashed my bios last week to 5.22 version directly from hp website.Is there a way to downgrade the bios to the one i had before?

the temps reported by Everest are fine.

what's weird to me is the 10? difference between the two sets of cores. are you sure the line of thermal compound is in the right "direction"?

What do you mean the right direction?I just put a dab in the middle of the processor but after reading the A5 site it says to put a line in the middle of the cpu is that correct?

Plus what gets me is that the stock heatsink and fan i never got these high temps like i do now with a aftermarket cooler.

[gwai lo]

To "downgrade" your BIOS, flash it with the older version.

If the stock heatsink never had temperature issues, then the problem is most likely in how you installed it. Reseat it and before sure you got all of the corners tightened.

[Det. Sonny-Crockett]

To "downgrade" your BIOS, flash it with the older version.

If the stock heatsink never had temperature issues, then the problem is most likely in how you installed it. Reseat it and before sure you got all of the corners tightened.

I dont have the older version firmware it was already on my computer when i bought it.The new bios was in a service pack .exe

[Mannlich]

To "downgrade" your BIOS, flash it with the older version.

If the stock heatsink never had temperature issues, then the problem is most likely in how you installed it. Reseat it and before sure you got all of the corners tightened.

This has to be a huge part of it right here. If you weren't having these issues before putting on the new heatsink, then you need to go back and reseat it. Also, use rubbing alcohol to clean both the CPU and Heatsink and reapply your AS5 in a line rather than a dot in the middle.

[Julius Caro]

What do you mean the right direction?I just put a dab in the middle of the processor but after reading the A5 site it says to put a line in the middle of the cpu is that correct?

Well, when you apply the thermal compound, you apply it the integrated heat spreader or something like that. but the 4 cores are below it, arranged somewhere , in line. and you usually put a straight line that goes above the two sets of cores.

though I can't find pictures.. hang on a sec

edit: okay, here, go to the instructions for quad core processors. http://www.arcticsilver.com/ins_route_step2intelas5.html. it doesnt matter if you're not using AS5, the cores are still in the same place, hehe :p

[gummyz]

thermal paste is applied differently depending on the type of CPU you have. A single dab works fine for single core application. Use the link provided by Julius for further instructions.

Also, from what I recall, thermal paste curing does not lower temps by alot, at most I have seen is 5C.

I worked on a HP PC once, and found that there is an advanced Bios options when you hit a different key. You're gonna need to do a google search to find this "special key" to see if you may have access to some of the overclocking features that may be available.

As Wolken and gwai lo suggested, if you were not seeing the temps this bad on the stock cooler, there is something wrong with the heatsink/paste installation. Did your HSF come with the fan speed controller, and are you using this? Try connecting your fan to a 4-pin molex (will most likely require a 3-pin to 4-pin adapter) to see if this helps.