3970x load temp hits TJ Max (91C), problem?

Zinn

Zinn

2[H]4U
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Jan 31, 2010
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I have a 3970x, 4.4ghz @ 1.335v. It's Prime95 stable but sometimes one of the cores hits the TJ Max temperature of 91C and it throttles down momentarily. The other 5 cores run cooler, something definitely seems off about that one sensor.

Using the big Noctua tower air cooler with the 2 140mm fans. I had a Corsair H100i on previously, which was about the same temperatures and louder, until it broke. Case airflow is good.

It doesn't seem to have a stability problem, but am I cooking my CPU running this long term?
 
Load it up with programs you regularly use and monitor temps. Prime 95 really taxes hardware more than just about anything you will use on a day to day basis. Trying dropping the voltage a tad even if it means running at 4.3 rather than 4.4 you won't notice the difference and could help with temps.
 
Hmm, I was able to get the voltage down to 1.27v at the same speed of 4.4ghz. :eek:

At this level, it doesn't really go above 85C. I think I'll stop worrying about it.
 
Not trying to scare you into thinking you're going to kill your chip outright or anything but those temperatures are off. Running at that speed/voltage when my 3930K was using an H100i it would have never gotten near TJMax. Every chip will have some variance but that seems very hot for 4.4GHz, I would suggest a remount but considering you have went from the H100i to a Noctua it would seem as though that's not it unless you've messed it up twice. Have you tried the razor blade test to see it the chip/heatsink is flat?
 
YBS1, I think the heat spreader is not flat. I've tried remounting a bunch of times and the contact is never really good. I didn't know whether it was a problem.

It's kind of frustrating, because I know this chip is good for 4.8ghz with minimal tweaking but temperatures are what keep me from getting there.

Is there some way of flattening the heatspreader?
 
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