Phenom X4 955 - High temps

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memphis_1220

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 28, 2004
Messages
499
Hi,

I've built a PC for my sister.

MSI 790FX-GD70 with a Phenom II X4 955 BE. I see on AMD's website that it has a maximum rating of 62c.

It is not overclocked.

I purchased a Zalman CNPS10X cooler for the machine but found that it would not fit in the case due to a side panel fan and that it would block the first two RAM slots. I did not attempt to fit it and so returned the item. As a temporary measure I installed the stock cooler. The temps were way too high. I then purchased a Zalman 9500 for £12 (good price). These are the temps I have gotten:

Stock cooler:
Idling in BIOS: 48c.
Load: Did not dare try.
Reseated 3 times trying two different thermal pastes.

Zalman 9500:
Idling in BIOS: 45c (best).
Idling in Windows: 43c (best).
Prime95 load: 56c (best). It hit 62c once and shutdown after about 20 minutes.
Reseated about 6 or 7 times and tried all four orientations.

I've placed a fan temporarily in front of the Zalman so that cool air is forced into the HSF and then exhausted through the rear fan. The air inbetween feels cool enough. Touching the HSF pipes do not feel hot (just warm).

I've tried it with the front and sides of the case off and on.

Can anyone offer any advice? I have seen many people on the Internet that are barely going over my idle temp of 45c when their's is fully under load and overclocked.

A bad CPU maybe?
 
Well the zalman isn't really the best cooler for the money but it should do better than the stock cooler.

Where are you reading temps from?
What is the case and what are room temps? Shouldn't be too high you're in the UK right?
Is the fan running at full speed? Check the bios or the fanmate controller if using that.

edit: grammar
 
shadow_419 said:
Well the zalman isn't really the best cooler for the money but it should do better than the stock cooler.

Where are you reading temps from?
What is the case and what are room temps? Shouldn't be too high you're in the UK right?
Is the fan running at full speed? Check the bios or the fanmate controller if using that.

edit: grammar
Click to expand...

The temps when read through Windows were via a AMD Overdrive and MSI Overclocking Center.

The case is an NZXT alpha.

Room temp is probably about 20c. It's been pretty cold outside these past few days.

Both fans were running at full speed. The Zalman's full speed is around 2600 RPM.
 
What are the current voltage settings. (what does cpu-z say it's running)
What bios is it running?

If you're running auto voltage I'd suggest to set it manually if cpu-z is reporting anything higher than 1.325-1.335v
If you haven't updated to the latest bios, I'd advise that. 1.3 or 1.4 at a minimum. 1.1 and 1.2 were kind of shoddy.
 
shadow_419 said:
What are the current voltage settings. (what does cpu-z say it's running)
What bios is it running?

If you're running auto voltage I'd suggest to set it manually if cpu-z is reporting anything higher than 1.325-1.335v
If you haven't updated to the latest bios, I'd advise that. 1.3 or 1.4 at a minimum. 1.1 and 1.2 were kind of shoddy.
Click to expand...

BIOS reads voltage as 1.344. MSI Overclocking Center and CPU-Z read it as 1.352.

I've never overclocked a machine so do not know the answer to this. How much of an impact will that have on temps over the max 1.335 you suggested?

BIOS is fully up-to-date already. v1.4.
 
It's overvolting and this can lead to higher than normal temps. Most 955's can run stock frequency at 1.325v. In bios > Cell Menu > Cpu Specifications check what the cpu vid is. You should be able to lower temps and run fine at stock speeds with a cpu v of 1.325-1.345v.
 
Thanks. I've undervolted it to 1.3. I've also disabled CnQ. It hasn't affected the idle temp but the load temps dropped 2c. That coupled with a little more airflow may do the trick. I may purchase a couple of higher CFM fans to replace these low noise ones.
 
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