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Mountainlifter · ‎02-27-2013

Hello ROG, I built my rig last sunday, the 24th of february, 2013.

A little Intro: I decided to go with air cooling for the CPU cause this is my very first DIY build and air cooling seemed easier to install (boy, was I wrong)!. I might have botched the thermal paste application a bit: I put on a little too much of the stock CM grease and upon pressing down on the HS, a bit of the paste squeezed out of one side. SO, i removed the cooler, cleaned up the excess on the sides and then reseated the HS. I turned the HS round and round on the processor a couple times till it felt very viscous, then I bolted it down.

Anyway, my temps are as follows:
idle: 35 - 40C, jumps to 50C when many apps are open. But even on idle I'm running the two cpu fans closer to full.
full load with prime 95 and all fans at max: 67C max on any core.
I live in Singapore and the ambient temps here in the night would be 27C and 32C in the afternoons (this time of the year)

Screenshots here: Idling Idling for some 2hours FullLoad I understood from here that the FanExpert2 temp value is from the motherboard sensors and not the actual core temps. So, under full load when actual core temps are 67C, fan expert 2 only sees 40C. So, I went ahead and calibrated the CPU fan profile to run at max when FE2 sensor sees 40C.

Some questions I have:

Are these good temps with this cooler? Can I have better temps with this cooler if I had done a better thermal greasing job? (I'm worried about air bubbles).
Why does the temperature of the processor shoot all the way upto 60C the instant I start prime 95? Shouldn't temperatures move up slowly? Is it because of bad greasing?
What is that EVO button on the ASUS ASuite2? Is this hassle free one-button overclocking? Should I try it consider my stockclock fullload temp is 66C? Do I have OC headroom?

What are my options for better cooling if it is needed?

A better thermal paste + better application using the same HS?
If I switch to a water cooler like the H100i or the CM seidon 120M, will I have better idle and full load temps?

I did search through this forum extensively but obviously most of the threads dealt with watercooling temps. So, I thought I'd create this one.

Chino · ‎02-28-2013

Welcome to the Republic of Gamers forums, Mountainlifter.

1. Are these good temps with this cooler? Can I have better temps with this cooler if I had done a better thermal greasing job? (I'm worried about air bubbles).
Those temperatures looks right. What was your ambient temperature when those readings were taken?

2. Why does the temperature of the processor shoot all the way upto 60C the instant I start prime 95? Shouldn't temperatures move up slowly? Is it because of bad greasing?
This is normal. When you click the button to start the P95 tests, it quickly puts a 100% load on the CPU. The instant rise in temperature is normal.

3. What is that EVO button on the ASUS ASuite2? Is this hassle free one-button overclocking? Should I try it consider my stockclock fullload temp is 66C? Do I have OC headroom?
I don't remember what the button does. But never overlock using AI Suite, CPU Level Up or using predefined profiles. Sometimes they don't work as they're intended to. The best overclock you can achieve is one done manually and via the BIOS.

1. What are my options for better cooling if it is needed?1.A better thermal paste + better application using the same HS?
The difference between thermal paste isn't as huge as you'd think. Maybe a 5C difference. Of course a better application would certainly lower the temperatures. Speaking of that, how did you apply the thermal paste? You mentioned that you squeezed it out and onto the heatspredder but you didn't specify which method you use to spread it.

2. If I switch to a water cooler like the H100i or the CM seidon 120M, will I have better idle and full load temps?
Most certainly.

A little bit of friendly advice for you. Uninstall AI Suite. It causes more problems in the long run. And when you're taking temperatures, just have one program opened for that. Having 2 temperature measuring programs will result in an inaccurate reading. HWMonitor is fine for your needs.

Mountainlifter · ‎02-28-2013

Chino wrote:
Welcome to the Republic of Gamers forums, Mountainlifter.

Thank you. Always wanted to build my own PC and play with it. ROG sounded good.

1. Are these good temps with this cooler? Can I have better temps with this cooler if I had done a better thermal greasing job? (I'm worried about air bubbles).
Those temperatures looks right. What was your ambient temperature when those readings were taken?
That was in the afternoon so I'd guess around 28-29C in the shade (or inside my house)

2. Why does the temperature of the processor shoot all the way upto 60C the instant I start prime 95? Shouldn't temperatures move up slowly? Is it because of bad greasing?
This is normal. When you click the button to start the P95 tests, it quickly puts a 100% load on the CPU. The instant rise in temperature is normal.
I also wanted to ask if it's normal that when idling the temps on the cores just keep jumping up and down by +5C at random. The reason I'm asking is I have a Sager gaming laptop (the NP8150) with a second gen i7 mobile processor and temps on those rise and fall only by 1C when idling.

3. What is that EVO button on the ASUS ASuite2? Is this hassle free one-button overclocking? Should I try it consider my stockclock fullload temp is 66C? Do I have OC headroom?
I don't remember what the button does. But never overlock using AI Suite, CPU Level Up or using predefined profiles. Sometimes they don't work as they're intended to. The best overclock you can achieve is one done manually and via the BIOS.
I am very glad I fought down the urge to tinker with everything I saw after I finished the build 😄

1. What are my options for better cooling if it is needed?1.A better thermal paste + better application using the same HS?
The difference between thermal paste isn't as huge as you'd think. Maybe a 5C difference. Of course a better application would certainly lower the temperatures. Speaking of that, how did you apply the thermal paste? You mentioned that you squeezed it out and onto the heatspredder but you didn't specify which method you use to spread it.
I used the dot method but put on a bit too much. Also, I was unprepared for the weight of the heat sink which just did a nice slide and pushed the grease out on one side. In retrospect, that might have reduced the amount of grease to the optimal amount 😄

2. If I switch to a water cooler like the H100i or the CM seidon 120M, will I have better idle and full load temps?
Most certainly.
I'll do an upgrade once I feel confident I can do the OC from the UEFI.

Chino wrote:

A little bit of friendly advice for you. Uninstall AI Suite. It causes more problems in the long run. And when you're taking temperatures, just have one program opened for that. Having 2 temperature measuring programs will result in an inaccurate reading. HWMonitor is fine for your needs.

Just did that. Used your cleaner too. Thanks a lot Sir!

chilinmichael · ‎02-28-2013

The way I use to apply thermal paste is a pea size amount in the middle of the cpu and use a razer blade on side to spread it evenly. You want a thin coat covering the lid of the CPU best you can. Your temps are fine, if you want better, add another fan (your kit should have come with a second bracket set) so you have push-pull, that'll drop you a few more degrees, but again, your temps are fine. My i7-3770k is at 4.6Ghz and maxes around 80c full load with the Corsair h80i watercooler I have. Still safe...

Asus G20CB - Core i7 6700, Nvidia GTX980, 16GB Ram, 256GB SK Hynix SSD, 1TB Samsung SSD.

Mountainlifter · ‎02-28-2013

chilinmichael wrote:
The way I use to apply thermal paste is a pea size amount in the middle of the cpu and use a razer blade on side to spread it evenly. You want a thin coat covering the lid of the CPU best you can. Your temps are fine, if you want better, add another fan (your kit should have come with a second bracket set) so you have push-pull, that'll drop you a few more degrees, but again, your temps are fine. My i7-3770k is at 4.6Ghz and maxes around 80c full load with the Corsair h80i watercooler I have. Still safe...

Thank you for the information.

I am using both fans in push-pull. Case has two front fans and one back fan.

80C at fully overclocked speeds. SO, what would the max temp be at stock clocks? 60C or lesser? I'm trying to judge if I can do the full OC with my aircooling.

Mountainlifter · ‎02-28-2013

chilinmichael wrote:
The way I use to apply thermal paste is a pea size amount in the middle of the cpu and use a razer blade on side to spread it evenly. You want a thin coat covering the lid of the CPU best you can. Your temps are fine, if you want better, add another fan (your kit should have come with a second bracket set) so you have push-pull, that'll drop you a few more degrees, but again, your temps are fine. My i7-3770k is at 4.6Ghz and maxes around 80c full load with the Corsair h80i watercooler I have. Still safe...

I am using both fans in push-pull. Case has two front fans and one back fan.

80C at fully overclocked speeds. SO, what would the max temp be at stock clocks? 60C or lesser? I'm trying to judge if I can do the full OC with my aircooling.

Chino · ‎02-28-2013

If you want to discard a bad mount from this equation, you should do a remount then. Carefully clean the heatspredder and heatsink with Isopropyl alcohol. Then apply the small dot of thermal paste like you did before. Install the heatsink. Just make sure once you push it down it stays down firmly and don't lift it up again. Also there is no need to turn it round and round. 😛

Report back with your temperatures at idle and stock again.

Mountainlifter · ‎02-28-2013

Chino wrote:
If you want to discard a bad mount from this equation, you should do a remount then. Carefully clean the heatspredder and heatsink with Isopropyl alcohol. Then apply the small dot of thermal paste like you did before. Install the heatsink. Just make sure once you push it down it stays down firmly and don't lift it up again. Also there is no need to turn it round and round. 😛

Report back with your temperatures at idle and stock again.

I'll report back in about 10 days with the new temps. (Kinda busy with work at the moment. Also I'll go out and get the MX4 paste instead of using just the stock CM paste)

Mountainlifter · ‎03-10-2013

After trying out a reseating of the heat sink with the noctua NT-H1 thermal paste, I found that my temps were almost the same. In fact, I found that the max temp increased to 70C under prolonged full prime 95 load. I also tried different thermal paste application methods and while the temps were more or less the same, I became a pro at greasing/heatsink installation 😄

logged temp. graphs: Core0 Core1 Core2 Core3

In the end, I decided to invest in the Noctua NH-D14 and full load max temps are now closer to 60C.

logged temp. graphs: Core0 Core1 Core2 Core3

Thanks for all the help and advice.

TEMP ADVICE NEEDED: Asus Maximus V Formula + 3770K + Coolermaster hyper 212 EVO