Q6600 idle temps, first time OC'er

D

durew

n00b
Joined
Apr 28, 2009
Messages
5
Hi all, new to the forum, been doing a lot of reading and just purchased myself a brand new system and built it myself, a first for me.

Coolermaster CM690 Case
ASUS P5Q Pro
Q6600 G0 @ stock w/ Xigmatek HDT-S1283 (Arctic Cooling MX-2 paste, very thin layer)
GSkill 4g ddr2-800 4-4-4-12
XFX Radeon HD 4890 XT 1gb GDDR5
Corsair TX 750w
6 Case fans (3 intake/3 exhaust) + 1 Xigmatek CPU fan

I just reapplied my thermal paste (cleaned with 70% rubbing alcohol) last night and reseated the heatsink on the CPU after realizing I put too much on the first time, and I'm much happier with how it went on the second time, spread out a grain of rice sized glob evenly over the CPU using my finger in a smooth plastic bag. Understanding that I might get 1 or 2 degrees lower temps after the paste sets in a week or so? Neither my CPU/heatsink are lapped, I want to keep my warranty :)

My question is about idle temps, before I OC (goal is 3 ghz), right now I'm getting idle temps of:
Core 0: 34 C
Core 1: 26 C
Core 2: 23 C
Core 3: 25 C

Just wondering if its normal that Core 0 is that much hotter than the rest? I'm happy with the temps otherwise
 
idle temps are far less important when overclocking compared to load temps. download intel burn test and report back your highest temp after 5 or so runs. it is normal for some cores to run hotter than others. my core 0 and 1 both run about 7-8 degrees hotter than core 2 and 3
 
Hmm are you sure OS wasn't doing anything in background while you were checking temps ?
 
I'm running my Q6600 with a Noctua NH-U12P cooler. My coretemp readings are 30, 31, 28, 31 at idle. This is down from the 60's with the stock cooler. I'm running at 3.2 gig.

When I installed the cooler I applied a very thin layer of paste to both the CPU and the cooler. Then, I seated the cooler and wiggled it back and forth to get even contact before tightening the hold down springs. You might try that to see if your temps even out.
 
I didnt have any open programs running, but there's all the windows services and system tray programs that are running. Although the CPU usage according to the monitoring programs is below 0.5%

When I try to run Intel Burn Test, it runs for about 5 secs then stops and tells me something went wrong
 
durew said:
I didnt have any open programs running, but there's all the windows services and system tray programs that are running. Although the CPU usage according to the monitoring programs is below 0.5%

When I try to run Intel Burn Test, it runs for about 5 secs then stops and tells me something went wrong
Click to expand...

What are your temps at time of testing? Sounds like it is telling you the system is unstable somewhere, what did it say went wrong? Have you run Memtest? What version of IBT are you using?

Also, don't even think about idle temps, they mean nothing at all. You only care about core load temps, at idle the temp can vary a large amount because of the error it has at idle and that far from TJMax, you could also have a stuck sensor, which is pretty common on the Intel chips. If you don't already pick up RealTemp, the newest v3.0.
 
using Intel Burn Test v 1.9, 4gb ram on Windows XP 32-bit SP3.

So far the ONLY thing I have changed in my BIOS was to set the ram to the timings specified by GSkill, 4-4-4-12.. but I didnt change any volts, on the box and on the ram is says 2.0-2.1v, but I left it on auto after setting the timings. Havent ran memtest for more than 1 hour, but I had no errors during that 1 hour, and I have had no system instability just playing random games for a week now. Any suggestions what I should do to get IBT to work?

I run the exe and choose Yes for error detection.. and I have tried Max Stress, Half Stress, and Low Stress.. hit enter, choose 5 tests, hit enter, and this is what i see every time:

IntelBurnTest v1.9 - Utilizes Intel(R) Linpack technology
by AgentGOD
Thanks to Cronos from XS for the memory size equation

Description: Linpack by Intel(R) is an extremely stressful program that will
put even the most powerful X86/X64 CPU in the world at its knees. Load temp
under Linpack will be up to 22*C higher than the competing software Prime95.
This program will make usage of Linpack easier and more practical.

Note: Testing under 64-bit Windows will yield the most accurate result, and is
highly recommended. Please read the included readme file for more information.

Operating Systems supported:
32-bit Windows (X86)
64-bit Windows (X64) [not Itanium]

Currently running OS: 32-bit
Physical memory available: 2748 MB

Turn on error detection (Y/N)? y

Stress levels available:
1 - Maximum stress
2 - Half stress (uses 1/2 of available memory)
3 - Low stress (uses 1/4 of available memory)
4 - Customize stress level

Please select desired stress level> 1
Using maximum available memory to stress test (2748 MB).

Enter the number of times to run the test (5 or more recommended)> 5
!!! You have tried to allocate more than 1.87 GB of memory while in a 32-bit OS.

Since it is not possible to do so, the allocation has been reduced to 1.87 G
B.
----------------------------------------------------
Executing Intel(R) Linpack 32-bit mode...
----------------------------------------------------
The system cannot find the path specified.
Linpack test results - Residual(norm) values
----------------------------------------------------
Testing finished in 0.031 seconds.
Tests passed: 3342744 out of 0 (100000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
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0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000.#IO%)
Conclusion: Your PC has failed Linpack testing.

Why did you receive what you received? If you passed, that's great! If not,
then one or more Residual(norm) values outputted from Linpack did not match
everything else. In this case, it is undeniable to conclude that your CPU
and/or RAM is unstable.
Please donate if you like this program!
(http://www.ultimate-filez.com/?page=donate)
Execution stopped. Press enter to exit.
 
Ok IBT is finally running, apparently it couldnt find the 32-bit file, even though it was there. I had to move it out of the folder, and then back into the folder.. thats it.. odd program. I noticed on my previous error that it says "Could not find the file specified", guessing thats why I was getting an error in under half a second.

It just finished 5 tests on Max Stress in 476 seconds successfully.

Real Temp recorded the maximum temperatures over all 5 tests

Core 0: 49 C
Core 1: 49 C
Core 2: 45 C
Core 3: 45 C

Are those good or high?
 
My rule of thumb is to keep the CPU cores under 60C at max load. If it's signifigantly less like in your case, if I can hear the CPU fans spinning I'll tweak speedfan to keep them at a low to inaudible level. With the right heatsink and fan you should be able to keep it at a low idle that doesn't need to ramp up unless you're benchmarking (a mild noise is better than silent idle that needs to ramp up when you check email) . If they're quiet enough that they don't bother you, don't mess with it and enjoy :)
 
durew said:
Real Temp recorded the maximum temperatures over all 5 tests

Core 0: 49 C
Core 1: 49 C
Core 2: 45 C
Core 3: 45 C

Are those good or high?
Click to expand...

Seem a bit low, but if those are the actual temps, there's nothing to worry about.
 
I would think they should be fairly accurate, I had RealTemp, Coretemp, speedfan, and HWMonitor all checking and they were all the same. The Coolermaster CM690 case I have plus 6 case fans and the Xigmatek is some nice airflow. What kind of load temps can I expect after going to 333x9 (3ghz)?

PC-User, thats a pretty crazy OC you have there with just a TRUE, nice work!
 
durew said:
PC-User, thats a pretty crazy OC you have there with just a TRUE, nice work!
Click to expand...

Thanks. I originally had it running at 4GHz (200x20) but decided to have HT on and lower voltage. It needed 1.34v to get to 4GHz.
 
A) Idle temps are kind of irrelevant, but they look fine. They're kind of irrelevant because they tend to be reported less accurately than load temps due to the way the CPU measures 'em, and load temps are what you should really be concerned with anyway (as you're just trying to stay below a threshold regardless of whether the system is at load or not).

B) 6 case fans is more than likely overkill. You could probably get away with one intake and two exhausts (or two intakes and one exhaust depending on where they're placed) and you'd get identical temps. Edit: Your load temps look fine btw.

C) If you tightened up the timings on the RAM you shouldn't leave the voltage on Auto as it's probably not giving the RAM enough. You might not need to go all the way up to 2.1 (it's likely you can get away with like, 1.8), but you should still set it manually nonetheless.

If IBT keeps giving you grief you can always try another stress test like Prime95 or OCCT (though OCCT runs some of the same tests as IBT).
 
Congrats on your first build. An 11 degree difference at idle seems a bit higher than what I've seen out there. My Q6600 at idle has a 4 degree difference for comparison. My only suggestion would be to re-apply your thermal paste to make sure that's not the reason. Otherwise, like the others have said, I wouldn't worry too much about it if I was you. It's load temps that matter.
 
could be and prob is a stuck sensor. have you ever seen it go below 34c in any situation? load temps of 60-70c will be fine for your cpu. so bump up the vcore and vdimm and raise your fsb, matey.
 
vanilla_guerilla said:
could be and prob is a stuck sensor. have you ever seen it go below 34c in any situation? load temps of 60-70c will be fine for your cpu. so bump up the vcore and vdimm and raise your fsb, matey.
Click to expand...

QFT. I used to get antsy with temps past 60C myself, but I've had this q6600 running @ 3.6ghz for over a year now and IntelBurnTest pegs it @ 83C with 1.36V. Never had it crash and idle is around 43C.
 
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