GA-X58A-UD3R / Core i7 920 D0 heat query

Hi all,

Bit concerned by reported temps (using HWmonitor & CoreTemp). System idles
at ~52C (CPU is clocked back to 2400MHz).

Under 100% load (using Prime95) the CPU's at 4GHz and I'm getting a reported
100C reading from both apps :-/

Oddly, the CPU alarm in the BIOS is set at 80C and it never beeps whenever
this is exceeded. BIOS temp reports a steady 49C when I'm in there.

System was bought as a pre-built, pre-overclocked bundle and has been
rock-steady since day one (a month ago or so). Not a single crash, and I've
been thrashing away at Modern Warfare 2 for hours on end without a single
glitch.

Can I ignore these temps and just trust the BIOS to do its thing or is it
worth stripping the machine down to check the thermal paste?

Cheers,

Mark

 

On 3/17/2010 12:20 PM, Mark West wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> Bit concerned by reported temps (using HWmonitor & CoreTemp). System
> idles at ~52C (CPU is clocked back to 2400MHz).
>
> Under 100% load (using Prime95) the CPU's at 4GHz and I'm getting a
> reported 100C reading from both apps :-/
>
> Oddly, the CPU alarm in the BIOS is set at 80C and it never beeps
> whenever this is exceeded. BIOS temp reports a steady 49C when I'm in
> there.
>
> System was bought as a pre-built, pre-overclocked bundle and has been
> rock-steady since day one (a month ago or so). Not a single crash, and
> I've been thrashing away at Modern Warfare 2 for hours on end without a
> single glitch.
>
> Can I ignore these temps and just trust the BIOS to do its thing or is
> it worth stripping the machine down to check the thermal paste?
>
> Cheers,
>
> Mark
>
>
>
It's challenging to know what these hardware monitor programs are
actually reading. I doubt if you'd be stable if you actually exceeded
90C for very long. Assuming the fan or cooling system is working as it
should, that the thermal compound between the CPU and heatsink is
alright, and that the heatsink is well seated, then I don't see how that
could be. If it was pre-built and pre-overclocked, is the setting for
vcore voltage in BIOS appropriate for the CPU now that it's not overclocked?

I have the same motherboard and processor. My heatsink/fan is upgraded
from the default Intel version that came with the processor, but it's
nothing fancy. Running 4 climate models on 4 cores (hyperthreading
turned off) with 100% CPU utilization, the reading on each core is about
60C with an ambient room temperature of 25C. Running 8 with
hyperthreading on makes the temps go up to the upper 60s C for each
core. This is in Linux. It has been running stable that way
continuously for 9 months.

George