Why are my temps still running high!

I recently upgraded to the new Thermalright True Spirit 120.

I am running ,when idle, at low-mid 40s C. (43, 45, 46 42 ) I put a 100% load on all cores for like 20 minutes (by running 4 or 5 video encoding process) and was reaching mid-high 60s C. i think the highest was 68C

am i just being paranoid? is my case not directing air traffic good? there is one front air intake fan and then one exhaust fan by the cpu as you can see in the photo. i even bought fancy thermal grease stuff too. im sure these temps are fine, but i want to start OCing and these temps don't give me confidence.


CPU - Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 2.40GHz (stock speeds)

Is the fan spinning up to full speed when it hits the high 60s?

i even bought fancy thermal grease stuff too.

Click to expand...

Did you apply more than 1/2 pea sized amount? Remember too much thermal compound can be just as bad as too little.

#1. The dust on the fan in the rear of your case indicates that it is an intake fan. The position of the fan motor also indicates that it is an intake fan. Turn it around and it should help.

#2. Get rid of the grill on the rear case fan. It is cutting air flow by 50% or more. It will also be quieter once that grill is gone.

#3. How many CFM does that rear fan flow? One 80mm intake and one 80mm exhaust plus whatever your power suply fan is, is generally not going to cut it for overclocking.

#4. What are your CPU temps if you leave the side of the case off?

You should not be seeing that high of temperatures until you are around 3.8Ghz and 1.425v on a Q6600 chip. Even stress testing at 3.84Ghz would only bring my Q6600 up to 62c.

I covered both the CPU and the HS block with a thin layer of the supplied thermal paste, installed it and gave it a slight twisting while snugging up the screws. Have had no issues with temperature.
idle in a chilly rooms is usually around 23°C. Full load with IBT or prime will be around 70°C at a 4.7GHz clock on a 2600k

First thing you need to do is flip your rear case fan around so it sucks air out of the case and does not try to fight the HSF. This is probably why your temps are high.

Is the fan spinning up to full speed when it hits the high 60s?

Did you apply more than 1/2 pea sized amount? Remember too much thermal compound can be just as bad as too little.

Click to expand...

what program will tell me fan RPM? The true spirit said put a thin layer on cpu and on the true spirit. the thermeal greasei bought said put small amount and twist the cooling block back and forth a little. I did the latter.

#1. The dust on the fan in the rear of your case indicates that it is an intake fan. The position of the fan motor also indicates that it is an intake fan. Turn it around and it should help.

#2. Get rid of the grill on the rear case fan. It is cutting air flow by 50% or more. It will also be quieter once that grill is gone.

#3. How many CFM does that rear fan flow? One 80mm intake and one 80mm exhaust plus whatever your power suply fan is, is generally not going to cut it for overclocking.

#4. What are your CPU temps if you leave the side of the case off?

You should not be seeing that high of temperatures until you are around 3.8Ghz and 1.425v on a Q6600 chip. Even stress testing at 3.84Ghz would only bring my Q6600 up to 62c.

Click to expand...

1. your telling me my fan is on backwards!! what a newb!, ill definitely check and fix that.
2. im not sure i can get rid of the grill. I will check . i rather leave it on to be honest , i might try everything else first and see whats up before doing that.
3. I don't know! ill check the CFM of the rear fan. The intake fan, i beleive is 120mm.
really, even with the new true spirit and if i fix everything and i get normal temps, i wont be able to OC a little?
4. ill check. Program you prefer for temps?

I covered both the CPU and the HS block with a thin layer of the supplied thermal paste, installed it and gave it a slight twisting while snugging up the screws. Have had no issues with temperature.
idle in a chilly rooms is usually around 23°C. Full load with IBT or prime will be around 70°C at a 4.7GHz clock on a 2600k

First thing you need to do is flip your rear case fan around so it sucks air out of the case and does not try to fight the HSF. This is probably why your temps are high.

Click to expand...

So maybe if the other things don't bring me to normal temps, i will wipe and reapply the thermal paste this way.

your telling me my fan is on backwards!! what a newb!, ill definitely check and fix that.

Click to expand...

Its better to blow out then in for that fan.

Temps are relative to your ambient temperature as well. My 2600k setup with my Corsair H100, runs around 60c on torture prime at stock settings. My ambient is around 24. However, I also have an open air system and 2 overclocked GPUs sitting near it. Everyone's setup is a little different, so cooling temps will vary slightly. 60c for a Q6600 is not too bad, but might be a little high. Still I believe the last time I checked the max safe operating temp for a Q6600 was around 90C. Some steppings though have shown they become slightly unstable around 85 degrees though. The G0 stepping is usually good to 90c.

Yeah, your rear fan is backwards and blowing the hot air back at your heatsink.

Detail your installation steps and how you applied thermal compound (which brand also).

Q6600 @ stock should be in the 30's under that heatsink. I have a Thermalright True-120 Black which is basically the same as the True Spirit on my Q6600 and that thing only hits the 60s and 70s when I have it @ 3.6GHz and very high vCore.

Spare-Flair said:

Yeah, your rear fan is backwards and blowing the hot air back at your heatsink.

Detail your installation steps and how you applied thermal compound (which brand also).

Q6600 @ stock should be in the 30's under that heatsink. I have a Thermalright True-120 Black which is basically the same as the True Spirit on my Q6600 and that thing only hits the 60s and 70s when I have it @ 3.6GHz and very high vCore.

Click to expand...

my installation of the true spirit was exactly as written in the installation guide.

the thermal compound i bought (and was used in the HardOCP review) Noctua NT-H1
http://noctua.at/main.php?show=productview&products_id=13&lng=en
said put small amount and twist the cooling block back and forth a little, that's what i did.
how much is a little? i felt like i used a "pea" sized amount i guess.


thanks so much for all the replies and ideas guys. i will be able to play around with it later tonight and will post result either later tonight or tomorrow morning.

"pea" size is too much, should be rice grain size. Also, for multicore CPUs, the line method is supposed to be better.

Flip your rear fan and see what happens. That heatsink will work much better in push/pull configuration BTW. Get another 120mm on the other side.

Spare-Flair said:

"pea" size is too much, should be rice grain size. Also, for multicore CPUs, the line method is supposed to be better.

Flip your rear fan and see what happens. That heatsink will work much better in push/pull configuration BTW. Get another 120mm on the other side.

Click to expand...

Different amounts and methods for different compounds. Stickier compounds they suggest using the line method, such as Artic Silver 5. Creamier compounds they suggest using the dot method, such as Arctic Céramique. Some compounds are designed to work as a thin layer over the entire heat spreader, while others are designed just to fill in the air gaps between the spreader and heatsink.

I don't understand why you're concerned. All of those temperatures are well within safe limits. Past that, there's no point in paying attention to the absolute temperature values, especially if you aren't overclocking.

You basically want all your fans facing the same way from back to front (think intake --> HSF --> exhaust).

EVERYONE has different opinions on the thermal paste thing. I put like a quarter of a pea and spread it evenly over the chip with my finger then put the HSF on, apply a little pressure and rub it in, and attach.

just with turning the rear fan



and after 15 plus minutes with IBT on max

Those latest temps look good. What's wrong with that?

nothing! im very happy about these temps. Although i think i can do better. if i cleaned up a little more and re-applied the thermal compound.

I'm thinking maybe these temps are good enough for me to now OC. I want to increase by 1ghz.

I cant beleive my fan was on backwards....

vnny621 said:

nothing! im very happy about these temps. Although i think i can do better. if i cleaned up a little more and re-applied the thermal compound.

I'm thinking maybe these temps are good enough for me to now OC. I want to increase by 1ghz.

I cant beleive my fan was on backwards....

Click to expand...

You should be good now even without re-applying the thermal compound. Remember lots of things affect the cooling, you may reapply that thermal compound a hundred times and get no better results. Most test show that the differences in amount of thermal compound result in at most a 2 degree difference. Meaning as long as you are close to a pea sized shape and its spread evenly across the heatspreader, you are going to get pretty much optimum performance for that thermal paste. A little more or a little less thermal paste will only net you a few degrees difference at most. If that matters to you, then there are tons of complicated ways to adjust the thermal paste, like "tanning" the heat spreader, among others.

If your gonna overclock. . .
how about putting another 120mm fan on the back of your heatsink so that it works in a push pull config? That way you dont need a real loud fan with a lot of CFM to blow the air all the way through the fins. I do push pull on all my radiators. Also consider a 3 & 1/4" hole saw makes a nice 82mm hole, is great for putting a hole in the case so you dont have the built in grill (ive done this many times, make sure you use wood behind the metal so the saw doesnt make a ripped out edge, and press lightly).
Also, I recommend drilling another hold below it if you have 80mm there, or you could cut a fan hole in the side of your case blowing out behind the heatsink so that some of that hot air can move out of the case, or if you have room, a blow hole on top.
If you got an aftermarket GPU cooler that was two slots and ducted air out the back of the case that could eliminate some heat in the case, also is there room in the front for a 120mm blowing back in line with the CPU cooler?
I used to have a Q6600 and could run stable at 3.4 but much more voltage than 1.4 to 1.45 to try 3.6Ghz and the heat wasn't worth it.
I also use the Noctura and I applied a drop in middle and then installed my waterblock.
Also, you could try running RealTemp and see how the temps compare. Sometimes the software doesnt read the sensors right. I think RealTemp is the one you can calibrate. Maybe also compare with your MB software if it came with anything that reads the temps.
Speed fan is good for RPM of fans, works with a lot of MBs.