# [SOLVED] Core i7 920 temp too hot?



## hawkeye22 (Mar 3, 2011)

So my computer was quite dusty so i decided to clean it out, sprayed it out with compressed air, noticed the heatsink was caked with dust. Took the heatsink out, cleaned it completely, decided to put new thermal paste on, and put it back together.

Before this i recall about 50-55 idle cpu temps in bios. Now i get 59, and im not sure why.

But futhermore, is 50-60celsius high for idle temperature for a standard core i7 920 2.66ghz, not overclocked?

My case is a nzxt silent something or other, 2 120mm fans front and back, not amazing cooling but decent.

For example my vid card is a radeon hd 4850 and it idles at 35, highest ever in a game in summer it was 65.


Also i downloaded a program called speedfan to see what it registered in windows and it says my cpu temp is 43, but my core temps 0-4 are 53-58?



Anyone shed some light on this?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*

What does the BIOS say about your temps and voltages after you cleaned it? Is the 59c after you took it apart? How much thermal paste did you use and what kind? Are you certain ALL legs of your heatsink are tight and secure. One leg not being tight can cause this issue. Shut it down, ground yourself and take ahold of it and see if you can 'wiggle' it any...it must be solid in there.


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## hawkeye22 (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*



Tumbleweed36 said:


> What does the BIOS say about your temps and voltages after you cleaned it? Is the 59c after you took it apart? How much thermal paste did you use and what kind? Are you certain ALL legs of your heatsink are tight and secure. One leg not being tight can cause this issue. Shut it down, ground yourself and take ahold of it and see if you can 'wiggle' it any...it must be solid in there.


59C is after i cleaned it, but I've noticed the CPU fan running a lot louder lately so I think the problem may lie elsewhere. I used about the equivalent of two grains of rice of thermal paste, mostly in the middle in a small circle.

When i put the heatsink back in i quadruple checked that it was secure, all 4 legs were locked and it wouldnt budge at all.

I haven't changed the voltages since i bought it, im not an overclocker, I have average pc skills at best.


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## hawkeye22 (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*

Well just in case i went in to bios to check, cpu voltage is set to auto but here it is.

CPU 1.200V
3.3V 3.344V
5V 4.998V
12V 12.137V



Also, using speedfan to monitor temp, i loaded up civ 5 and started playing a game and checking temperatures. A couple times core temps shot up to 80, cpu temp said 65. Not sure how accurate speedfan is though. And the cpu fan speed shot up to 2800rpm and was quite loud.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*

Speedfan is accurate for fans, but not much for temperatures.

Why not try the thermal paste again, clean off the old, put a small grain of rice (or slightly more) on there, spread it with a credit card until the top of the CPU is covered with a slight film, put them together and see if that helps. Are you using Artic Silver for your thermal paste or something else?

The fan is running wild because of the excess heat. I am assuming your case fans has one blowing out the back and the other in the front puling in cool air...and the heatsink fan blowing down on the heatsink?


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## hawkeye22 (Mar 3, 2011)

Tumbleweed36 said:


> Why not try the thermal paste again, clean off the old, put a small grain of rice (or slightly more) on there, spread it with a credit card until the top of the CPU is covered with a slight film, put them together and see if that helps. Are you using Artic Silver for your thermal paste or something else?
> 
> The fan is running wild because of the excess heat. I am assuming your case fans has one blowing out the back and the other in the front puling in cool air...and the heatsink fan blowing down on the heatsink?


Yes that is my fan setup.

And I put more thermal paste on, seemed to do the trick. Idling at about 43C now, much better than before. I guess I forgot high school a+, didn't remember to smear it the first time. DUR.

Also my friend tells me the paste i bought was terrible. I got arctic silver alumina, any recommendations on high quality thermal paste?

Anyway thanks for the help, forgot to ask, why does speedfan show a cpu temperature and then core temperatures, does the cpu have a sensor in each core?

Hmm, doesn't seem to be fixed after all. Playing pretty much any game, my cpu temp according to speedfan shoots up to 70-75C, and even without speedfan on i can hear the fan really chugging, speedfan says its 3200RPM while playing a game.

I really don't know whats wrong now, 100% positive that thermal paste is applied properly, heatsink/fan is locked in place quite securely. It didn't do this before, i thought it was just dirty but now I'm not sure what is causing this. 

Any other ideas?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*



hawkeye22 said:


> my cpu temp according to speedfan shoots up to 70-75C


I don't mean to be repeating myself, but Speedfan is NOT an accurate measure of temps. 



Post #5 said:


> Speedfan is accurate for fans, but not much for temperatures.


 The program does not do a good job at all reporting temperatures, so I would NOT use that as your guide. If it is idling at 43c with the bios, I would not worry about it unless it cuts out on you when it is under stress.


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## hawkeye22 (Mar 3, 2011)

Well that's the thing, idling it seems fine, fan running 900rpm, 43C, peachy. But playing any game the fan kicks up to 3200RPM 100% which i assume is only happening because it is trying to maintain the temperature. I checked bios after playing a game and then restarting quickly, bios said 55C but i imagine it cooled down quite a bit. In the past the fan never had to ramp up so much during a game, it is definitely heating up a lot more than it should.

Is it possible that arctic silver alumina is really so much worse than other thermal compounds? I purchased this pc from a shop that put it together, so i don't know what they had on originally.

Do you know of an accurate temperature monitoring program so i can monitor it while running under heavy load?

My brother recommended running OCCT for temperatures, so i tried it. Supposed to be an hour long test, my cpu overheated 10 seconds in. Hit 95C on all cores and the test shut down. Something is seriously wrong, I am still unsure though, it was overheating before i cleaned it but didn't seem this bad. Is this something I should contact Intel about? I believe I have well over a year left on warranty.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*

this is the one i use

Arctic Silver Incorporated - Arctic Silver 5

how to apply it

Arctic Silver Incorporated - Route to Product Instructions for Arctic Silver 5


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## hawkeye22 (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*

I purchased a new heatsink, arctic cooling freezer 7, bought some arctic cooling mx4 thermal paste, installed it properly, 100% sure. It's in there very stable, thermal paste applied correctly, idles at 35-43 depending on fan speed, running OCCT it hits 68-72C.


Are these normal temperatures for a i7 920? 68-72 even under load seems a little warm, especially since i have a decent heatsink now.


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## hawkeye22 (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*

Here's a screenshot of OCCT running after 8 minutes(temperatures level off around 68-72), with Core temp and CPU-Z running.


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## dai (Jul 2, 2004)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*

have a read here

Intel Core i7 Temperatures | Puget Systems Blog


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## hawkeye22 (Mar 3, 2011)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*

Thanks for that, good read. Answers my questions perfectly, I guess I dont have to worry about it getting up to 60-70 in games occasionally.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

*Re: Core i7 920 temp too hot?*



hawkeye22 said:


> I guess I dont have to worry about it getting up to 60-70 in games occasionally.


True statement, so since it isn't broken, you don't have to fix it. Enjoy your rig.


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