E6600 Temp Problem :(

[Dreven]

I have a brand new build, my first one in two years:
-Intel C2D E6600
-HSF: Zalman 9700 (cut a little off the bottom to make room for the bottom resistors)
-EVGA 680i
-EVGA 8800GTS
-2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2-1000
-PCP&C 750W Silencer
-Antec SOHO Fileserver case w/ x4 case fans (low speed 20db noise)

Temp Monitor:
-Using Intel TAT

1st Try:
-I used the Thermal Goop that came with the Zalman and brushed a thin layer over the whole top of the processor. The temps were much higher than I expected: about 32c/36c at the desktop and 38c/42c under full load at the default cloc.

2nd Try:
-I used some Artic Silver 5 as per the directions from their website for a C2D. I applied a single thin line directly over the chip area. This bought me about 2c better temps. I

Zalman 9700 Problem?
-I mounted the bracket on where one side is pointing toward the RAM and the other side is pointing toward the rear of the case. I don't know if this is normal or not but while it seemed like it was on tight I could rotate it pretty freely.


I just did my first overclock:
-3.0Ghz
-Vcore: 1.40v

Under 100% load from a Prime95 instance on each core (1 hour into it) I'm getting temps that are bouncing around between 51c -to- 57c. The average seems to be about 54c on each core, although from looking at the TAT log they can stay around 52c for long periods. The 57c hit only happened once during the hour Prime95 has been on so far.


From what I've read you shouldn't go over 60c and this is a pretty early overclock (and it's winter!) Should I be worried, or what should I do? I'd really like to get to 3.4 and that seems like a realistic goal aside from the temps I'm getting.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[MoDsOuRcEdOtNeT]

Make sure your getting adequate airflow, so that your getting equal intake and exhaust (dont forget psu fan)

Make sure your motherboard isnt severly limiting fan speed. For example DFI mobos will slow down cpu fan if the temperature is below 50 degrees.

It could just be a bad temperature monitor too, they arnt ever accurate.

Check temperature in BIOS too, thats sometimes more accurate (of idle temps at least)

 

[buffbiff21]

take off your hsf and look to see if there are ANY scratches around the outer areas of where the cpu touches.

some cpus are concave, and must be lapped, or so i have heard.

the scratching is proof of the concaveness.

if it is concave, it will not make a great thermal bond between the copper on the zalman, the thermal gunk, and the sink on the cpu.


search the forum, lots of people have this problem. my friend's e6400 was one of them.