High CPU temps at stock speeds preventing me from overclocking

[Raymond Garrett]

First my system specs:

Core I7 2600k running at stock 3800Mhz with Speedstep enabled
ASUS P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3
16 GB DDR3 Kingston RAM running at 1600Mhz using XMP profile
ASUS GTX 970 Strix
Corsair Carbide Series 200R Case
Coolermaster Hyper 212 EVO CPU cooler
2 120mm Intake fans in the front
1 120mm exhaust fan in the back
1 140mm exhaust fan on top
There are also 2 SSDs and 3 Hard drives in the case.
There are no other cards installed and all cables are neatly run in the back of the case.

My CPU temps at idle as shown by HWMonitor fluctuare between 40 and 43 degrees.

When running IntelBurnTest at maximum stress level, my CPU temps hit around 81 degrees.

I tried overclocking my CPU to 4.5Ghz. At those speeds, IntelBurnTest hit 95 degrees within a matter of minutes.

The ambient room temperature in my home office where my PC is located is currently 28 degrees.

I have removed and re-seated the CPU cooler several times and have confirmed that it is installed correctly.

Even though my overclock is stable and I do not experience and system crashes, the high CPU temperatures I am getting are preventing me from running my CPU at anything except stock speeds.

I have 3 other PCs here in the office. My wife's PC and 2 servers. All are exhibiting what appear to be higher than average idle temps. I have a feeling this is due to the high ambient temperature in the room.

Is there anything I am missing here? Everyone keeps telling me I should have no problem overclocking my CPU to 4.5Ghz, but this does not appear to be possible because the temps are so high.

 

[mda]

You're missing an important piece of the puzzle - what voltage did you use to get to 4.5Ghz?

 

[Raymond Garrett]

You're missing an important piece of the puzzle - what voltage did you use to get to 4.5Ghz?

I left it set to auto which had the voltage at around 1.34 at full load. It was stable at these settings. I tried lowering the voltage slightly, but that caused blue screens.

 

[Peter2k]

I left it set to auto which had the voltage at around 1.34 at full load. It was stable at these settings. I tried lowering the voltage slightly, but that caused blue screens.

Maybe you could give lapping you're IHS a try

I remember having to do it on my q6600 because the IHS was so uneven it just didn't make good contact

the pic shows a 2600k
you can see its not exactly even

https://www.l3p.nl/other-builds-mods/cpu-lapping/how-to-lap-an-i7-2600k/


I'd give that a try before I'd delidd the thing

also sandy bridge is soldered
so replacing the TIM under the IHS would usually net you like 5 degrees of better Temps

I'd guess the IHS might just be too uneven

soldering also had this effect I think to remember
uneven IHS

edit:
finished

 

[Koween]

The hyper 212 evo isn't the best cooler around and your ambient temp is not helping. You might want to try a push/pull config on your cooler and run the fans at full speed. It is still more of a budget cooler not suitable for extreme overclocking.
Delidding a sandy bridge is out of the question, as it's very easy to damage the cpu and gains will be minimal, if any. Lapping should also be done as a last resort - a better cooler would help much more.

 

[Crosshairs]

I left it set to auto which had the voltage at around 1.34 at full load. It was stable at these settings. I tried lowering the voltage slightly, but that caused blue screens.

I would set the voltage manually.it may be over volting without you seeing it or knowing it

my 2600k runs 4.6 @ 1.384

 

[pendragon1]

your 212 is holding you back. if youre wanting to hit 4.5 you need better air or an aio. for air try the reeven justice or the new scythe unit [H] just reviewed. for an aio look at a 240/280mm. and yes start setting your voltage manually, everything should be manual...

 

[Raymond Garrett]

your 212 is holding you back. if youre wanting to hit 4.5 you need better air or an aio. for air try the reeven justice or the new scythe unit [H] just reviewed. for an aio look at a 240/280mm. and yes start setting your voltage manually, everything should be manual...

If I set my voltage manually, that will cause my system to always run at that voltage, even when idle, correct?

 

[pendragon1]

if you have all the other power saving features disabled then yes. but if you leave on speed step or whatever its called now it will down clock and down volt as normal.

 

[Raymond Garrett]

if you have all the other power saving features disabled then yes. but if you leave on speed step or whatever its called now it will down clock and down volt as normal.

Just to verify. There are two settings. Manual and Offset. From what I understand, it will only down volt if I use offset. If I use the manual setting, it will stay at that voltage level regardless of load.

 

[pendragon1]

yeah maybe im not 100% sure. most people are using the offset option i think. so yeah maybe manual will keep it at one voltage. try and see. the biggest issue and why I said to go manual is because if you use any auto overclocking features or software they tend to over volt the cpu. people have had it spiking over 1.5v+ which is not good. the max that people seem to agree on is 1.35v, maybe a bit more with water.

 

[Raymond Garrett]

yeah maybe im not 100% sure. most people are using the offset option i think. so yeah maybe manual will keep it at one voltage. try and see. the biggest issue and why I said to go manual is because if you use any auto overclocking features or software they tend to over volt the cpu. people have had it spiking over 1.5v+ which is not good. the max that people seem to agree on is 1.35v, maybe a bit more with water.

I don't have anything installed that will adjust the overclock from within Windows.

I used the offset option. At first, I bumped the clock speed up to 4.5Ghz and left the voltage at offset+ Auto. This gave me a stable overclock with the voltage hovering around 1.34 (It would fluctuate slightly with 1.34 being the max). I then put in a manual offset which then brought the max voltage down to around 1.24. This was causing my system to blue screen. I didn't try for 1.29. I decided at this point that it wasn't worth playing around with any more since my temps were so high.

 

[pendragon1]

ok that sounds about right then. its been a while for me and intel...
so yeah maybe just try the straight manual, set to 1.3v and 4.3-4.4, see how that goes. but as mentioned above the room temp will make a big difference and the 212 is an ok cooler that will do 4.2-4.4ish. 4.5+ on intel or amd needs really good air or an aio. as an example my fx8120 with a 212evo and 2 sp120 fans got me to 4.5GHz but load temps were over 60C(amd max is 65ish), now with my h110i gt I can do 4.8 and temps are 50-52ish.

 

[Raymond Garrett]

ok that sounds about right then. its been a while for me and intel...
so yeah maybe just try the straight manual, set to 1.3v and 4.3-4.4, see how that goes. but as mentioned above the room temp will make a big difference and the 212 is an ok cooler that will do 4.2-4.4ish. 4.5+ on intel or amd needs really good air or an aio. as an example my fx8120 with a 212evo and 2 sp120 fans got me to 4.5GHz but load temps were over 60C(amd max is 65ish), now with my h110i gt I can do 4.8 and temps are 50-52ish.

Well, I can't do much about the room temp. Office is always around 5 degrees hotter than the rest of the house because of all the equipment in here. I can definitely look into a better cooler though. Thanks for your help.

 

[pendragon1]

no prob. not even a window to crack though?! air circulation in the room could help, maybe a fan in/near the doorway pulling in cooler air. some ppl will even get a small one room ac unit...

 

[Peter2k]

Well, I can't do much about the room temp. Office is always around 5 degrees hotter than the rest of the house because of all the equipment in here. I can definitely look into a better cooler though. Thanks for your help.

Well like others said

better cooling

maybe better TIM; Kyle is getting around of doing a test of a lot of them
that being said

Spoiler

and maybe lapping the IHS




setting voltage to manual will leave it at that value
always

offset is adding (or substracting if you wanted to) voltage to the voltage that the CPU is running with
so let's say it runs at max clocks at 1.2v
you want 1.35
you add an offset of 0.15v

so when the CPU down clocks to 800 MHz idle it uses, let's say 1.0v
the offset adds 0.15v
comes out to 1.15v

just as an example


the offset gives best temp and energy saving results
at the expense of maybe making the system unstable
maybe

if you set the voltage with the offset option then the voltage might be "dragging" behind
making the CPU run with too little voltage for a second or some milliseconds
as in the CPU can clock higher faster then the voltage can be cranked up at a stable level


it's just something to test out

but then it would only affect Temps when idle
would be the same under load

 

[Chapeau]

Well like others said

better cooling

maybe better TIM; Kyle is getting around of doing a test of a lot of them
that being said

Spoiler

and maybe lapping the IHS




setting voltage to manual will leave it at that value
always

offset is adding (or substracting if you wanted to) voltage to the voltage that the CPU is running with
so let's say it runs at max clocks at 1.2v
you want 1.35
you add an offset of 0.15v

so when the CPU down clocks to 800 MHz idle it uses, let's say 1.0v
the offset adds 0.15v
comes out to 1.15v

just as an example


the offset gives best temp and energy saving results
at the expense of maybe making the system unstable
maybe

if you set the voltage with the offset option then the voltage might be "dragging" behind
making the CPU run with too little voltage for a second or some milliseconds
as in the CPU can clock higher faster then the voltage can be cranked up at a stable level


it's just something to test out

but then it would only affect Temps when idle
would be the same under load

THIS!!

Clear, succinct and to the point. I wish I had saw this post when I first started.