how to get q6600 temps down. (please post your temps)

Question

Hi all it's me again. I was wondering how to get my q6600 temps down. I have reseated the heatsink a couple times and wasn't sure if that is good or bad for the cpu. I have a B3 q6600@2.4ghz I will not overclock it. it seems my idle is 39c-42c and gaming 47c-51c full load 61c-68c and I haven't ran it full load for too long after seeing those temps. could you guys post your temps for me, and am I worrying too much about these temps. I read that some people's temps are 34c idle and I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Thanks madbirmy

I have xps 700. with 720 motherboard,8800gtx,4gig pc2 8500,vista ultimate b3 q6600

Message Edited by madbirmy on 10-02-2007 04:32 PM

RRF985 · Answer

If you reseated your heatsink, I hope you put new thermal paste on it as the orginal stuff won't be good anymore.

CPU: Q6600 Rev. B3

Here are my temps using Nvidia Monitor (CPU overclocked to 2.62ghz):

Idle: 29-33C

Gaming: 32-38C

Full load: ~40C

Message Edited by RRF985 on 10-02-2007 03:59 PM

madbirmy · Answer

Yes I took off old stuff and put artic silver 5 on it. Those temps are great. for B3 q6600 that runs quite cool. I have been tracking my temps with coretemp. it reads quite abit higher than ntune. Thanks for the reply. Again your temps are great.     madbirmy

giantsdpk · Answer

I also have a q6600, xps 700 tp 720 with motherboard upgrade. I have had some performance issues with the processor. When I insalled the processor I put new thermal greace on the processor. There was still some thermal grease left on the heatsink from my previous processor. I left that on I dont know if that is good or bad. Is there some way to remove thermal grease from the heatsink. If so what is it. I would appriciate any help.

CHSIsupplier · Answer

To remove thermal paste all you have to do is scape it off with an old credit card or some other flat, straight piece of plastic. After you remove the chunks, you can use low residue rubbing alcohol and Q-tips to remove the remaining film left on the CPU and heatsink.

PaulTech · Answer

'Here are my temps using Nvidia Monitor (CPU overclocked to 2.62ghz): Idle: 29-33C Gaming: 32-38C Full load: ~40C' I believe that Nvdia monitor is telling you that, but I don't believe those numbers. I would suspect that they are using a default Tjunction Max of 85 instead of 100 (a common error with CPU temp applications). This means it might be reading low by 15C. The 6600 has a TDP of 105watts, yet is running cooler than most 65 watt dual cores ... even while overclocked? 40C is only 104F, which is insanely low for 4 2.6Ghz cores on a single die. Heck, the temps inside my case alone are higher than 104F, let alone the core of the Central Processing Unit. Or maybe you have some major liquid-cooling rig, I dunno. Put it this way, with my QX6800 at 2.93Ghz, I IDLE at 1.6Ghz (1Ghz lower than you) in the mid to upper 40C's with 1% CPU load (Operating System only). I use Intel's Speed Step function while idling which brings my voltage and multiplier down. And this is with Dell's BTX cooler, which really is a decent air CPU cooler. Double check those temps with TAT or CoreTemp, and see if you get consistent readings. If you do, I would love to adopt whatever cooling solution that you are using, because it is pretty incredible and may bring my 75C temps down. Heck, with those temps, you might be able to go well above 3Ghz. Message Edited by PaulTech on 10-03-2007 01:50 PM

cademetz · Answer

madbirmy wrote:

Hi all it's me again. I was wondering how to get my q6600 temps down. I have reseated the heatsink a couple times and wasn't sure if that is good or bad for the cpu. I have a B3 q6600@2.4ghz I will not overclock it. it seems my idle is 39c-42c and gaming 47c-51c full load 61c-68c and I haven't ran it full load for too long after seeing those temps. could you guys post your temps for me, and am I worrying too much about these temps. I read that some people's temps are 34c idle and I wonder if I am doing something wrong. Thanks madbirmy

Reseating the Heatsink should be fine, assuming of course you don't stand on top of the heatsink. If you use the mounting screws and just ease it into place, your CPU should be just fine.

IIf you're pretty confident with your application of AS5 and the heatsink is fully tightened down, then there really isn't much you can do to lower temps. You can:

1) Drop the ambient temp

2) Manually increase the fan speeds

3) Lap your IHS and/or heatsink

I mention the third option because I read in several place and seen evidence first hand that the IHS (integrated heat spreader) of the Core 2 family are notoriously un-flat. They seem to be quite concave with the center of the IHS 'lower' than the edges. This means poor contact between the IHS and heatsink often requiring more thermal grease to ensure coverage. You may simply have an extremely un-flat specimen. However, it should be strongly cautioned that lapping your IHS will void your processor warranty.

You idle temps seem to match my experience, but your full load are quite a bit higher. Under full load, 61C isn't anything to really worry about -- I've see 61C on my B3 at full load as well. However, under what conditions did you see 68C???

cademetz · Answer

PaulTech wrote:

I believe that Nvdia monitor is telling you that, but I don't believe those numbers.

I would suspect that they are using a default Tjunction Max of 85 instead of 100 (a common error with CPU temp applications). This means it might be reading low by 15C.

PaulTech -- This has been covered before in various threads (and mostly by me) because I am uber-picky about temps.

In all my reading and research, I've been unable to come to solid conclusion about where exactly the nVidia Monitor program is pulling the temp it reports. My theory is that it is a calculated TCase. TCase tends to vary from the TJunction by about 10C on a Q6600 B3; which seems to be what most users experience between nVIdia Monitor and Core Temp. If you read the Intel specs on the Q6000 family, Intel seems to place much more emphasis on the TCase value than the TJunction value in terms of maximum temps. As such, this is the value the motherboard and BIOS care about and use to control fan speeds.

The Intel spec sheet states that 62.2C is the maximum TCase for the Q6600 B3 (or any other quad core 105W processor) at maximum thermal load (105W). As such, a TCase of 62.2C would equare roughly to 72-73C TJunction. The processor will not throttle itself until 95C TJunction and will execute a shutdown at 100C TJunction.

This why I've said (really repeated from advice given else where on the 'net) that Q6600 B3 users should try and keep the temps below 60C for TJunction (or according to Core Temp). That gives them a little more than 10C safe room.

Hope this makes sense.

Message Edited by cademetz on 10-03-2007 04:38 PM

madbirmy · Answer

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/221745-29-core-temperature-guide    maybe this will help. I still am a little confused.   madbirmy

madbirmy · Answer

I got those numbers when I did a virus scan, windows update, and intelTAT workload level to 100% on 2 cpu's. I don't know how to do a 4 core 100% workload. I am nervous to do it cause I don't want to shorten my cpu's life. I did another reinstall of my cpu and my idle is 39c-40c,  gaming 47c-51cand workload 55c-58c so it is a huge difference. plus I heard it takes 200 hrs for the arctic silver 5 to have maximum thermal conductivity. and should drop 2c-5c. which would be great. is there a link or program I can run all 4 cores to see if my cpu can handle it. or should I not do that.  thanks   madbirmy

PaulTech · Answer

Someone once told me 'If it's stable, it's not too hot. So don't worry about it' Maybe that really is the best advice to follow. If our chips were really running too hot for safe operation, they would crash. Yet I have Orthos and Prime running for 2 hours at 81C with no errors and no warnings. I fire up Rightmark CPU to see if any voltage or wait state throttling is done as it passes 80C, and there is not even a hint of the CPU throttling itself. Is it possible that the temps really don't matter as long as the thing just runs? 10 years at 70C, 10 years at 60C, 10 years at 40C. Isn't it all just mental? With TM1 and TM2 enabled on all the chips, they'll shut down before they explode. And then we will know they are too hot. And if they do explode, well, there is always that keen 3 year Dell warrantee, and even if we don't have the 3 year, a QX6800 will cost $90 to replace this time next year ... and we'll certainly get a G0 by then. Is it possible that the temps really just doesn't freaking matter as long as the machine does what it is supposed to do? On a side note, this is our first XPS. Just how hard WOULD it be to change the CPU out in these machines when/if they evaporate? I've never done a BTX build before, and I have never opened up an XPS. I heard it is a PITA because of the motherboard retaining clips, but surely someone in this group has swapped out a processor on the 720 motherboard? Message Edited by PaulTech on 10-03-2007 07:46 PM

cademetz · Answer

madbirmy wrote:

I got those numbers when I did a virus scan, windows update, and intelTAT workload level to 100% on 2 cpu's. I don't know how to do a 4 core 100% workload. I am nervous to do it cause I don't want to shorten my cpu's life. I did another reinstall of my cpu and my idle is 39c-40c, gaming 47c-51cand workload 55c-58c so it is a huge difference. plus I heard it takes 200 hrs for the arctic silver 5 to have maximum thermal conductivity. and should drop 2c-5c. which would be great. is there a link or program I can run all 4 cores to see if my cpu can handle it. or should I not do that. thanks madbirmy

Those new temps look MUCH better. It's not the easiest solution, but the best way to heat all four cores at once is:

1) Download CPU Burn-in v1.01 from here: http://users.bigpond.net.au/cpuburn/

2) Extract the zip file to your desktop

3) Right-click on CPU Burn-in.exe and select copy

4) Right-click on the desktop and click paste

5) Repeat steps 3 & 4 until you have four copies of CPU Burn-in

6) Rename the first copy 'Core 0', second copy 'Core 1', third copy 'Core 2', and forth 'Core 3'

7) Double click copy arranging them on the screen so you can see all four

8) Open task manager and go to the process tab

9) Find the 'Core 0-3' processes

10) Right click on each, choose 'Set Affinity'

11) Uncheck each CPU except one; leave CPU 0 for Core 0, CPU 1 for Core 1 etc

12) Set each CPU Burn-in window to 15 minutes of testing

13) Click start in each window

CPU Burn-in by default does not support multiple cores, thus these steps to run four copies. You don't HAVE to set each to a specific core, but I think it helps from the threads from switching cores and focusing on generating heat. Doing this forces each core to run a VERY intensive program. I've yet to see any program heat a CPU as much as CPU Burn-in.

RRF985 · Answer

PaulTech wrote: 'Here are my temps using Nvidia Monitor (CPU overclocked to 2.62ghz): Idle: 29-33C Gaming: 32-38C Full load: ~40C' I believe that Nvdia monitor is telling you that, but I don't believe those numbers. I would suspect that they are using a default Tjunction Max of 85 instead of 100 (a common error with CPU temp applications). This means it might be reading low by 15C. The 6600 has a TDP of 105watts, yet is running cooler than most 65 watt dual cores ... even while overclocked? 40C is only 104F, which is insanely low for 4 2.6Ghz cores on a single die. Heck, the temps inside my case alone are higher than 104F, let alone the core of the Central Processing Unit. Or maybe you have some major liquid-cooling rig, I dunno. Put it this way, with my QX6800 at 2.93Ghz, I IDLE at 1.6Ghz (1Ghz lower than you) in the mid to upper 40C's with 1% CPU load (Operating System only). I use Intel's Speed Step function while idling which brings my voltage and multiplier down. And this is with Dell's BTX cooler, which really is a decent air CPU cooler. Double check those temps with TAT or CoreTemp, and see if you get consistent readings. If you do, I would love to adopt whatever cooling solution that you are using, because it is pretty incredible and may bring my 75C temps down. Heck, with those temps, you might be able to go well above 3Ghz. Message Edited by PaulTech on 10-03-2007 01:50 PM I thought it was common knowledge that NTune reads temps lower than any other program.  I had CoreTemp at one point and it idled in the mid 40s.  So yes, you are correct.  They are about 15 or so off between NTune and CoreTemp.

cademetz · Answer

PaulTech -- As someone already pointed out on another thread, only Intel probably knows the effects of long term usage at the kind of temps your are seeing. I, personally, think that if you're seeing temperatures that high, than something is wrong. Are the Intel spec sheets conservative? Maybe. Is there significant headroom between the spec sheet's 'maximum TCase' value and the TJunction value at which the CPU throttle's itself? Most definitely. I am of the opinion that the throttling at 95C and shutdown at 100C are to protect the CPU in the case of a catastrophic failure of the CPU cooling mechanism.   From the standpoint of a consumer who bought an OEM system with a warranty... then yes, temperatures don't really matter. If the CPU goes bad while under warranty, then Dell will replace it. I would rather ensure the temps stay low and hopefully prevent any premature failures than throw caution to the wind and have to put up with the system being out of commission for a while. Although, I do have Next-Day service so Dell should overnight me any replacement parts.   It is not hard to replace a CPU on the XPS 720 (and I assume the 700 and 710). The BTX layout may no longer be popular, but Dell does not use any proprietary CPU socket. To remove the CPU, unscrew the two screws that hold the heat sink/fan and shroud to the motherboard, rotate that assembly up, and pull (don't forget to unplug the fan power cable). Look for the release lever on the socket, push down to unhook it, then lift/rotate it up. This releases the protecting metal pressure plate shroud around the CPU which can then be rotated up... and then the CPU is free. It's 100 times easier than it sounds.

PaulTech · Answer

'From the standpoint of a consumer who bought an OEM system with a warranty... then yes, temperatures don't really matter. If the CPU goes bad while under warranty, then Dell will replace it. I would rather ensure the temps stay low and hopefully prevent any premature failures than throw caution to the wind and have to put up with the system being out of commission for a while.' Oh don't get me wrong. I would much, much, MUCH prefer to see lower temps. But this is the way Dell shipped it too me out of the box. I can't very well call and say 'Hey, Coretemp is reporting temps higher than I am comfortable with, please ship me a new CPU'. Dell would say 'Is the system crashing?' I would say 'no'. They would then say 'Well what effect is it having on your system?' I would say 'None, but it is having a psychological effect on me by seeing high numbers in a 3rd party program than I am not even certain is accurate'. Dell would tell me to go take a dump in my hat. There is no way in ballsville they would ship me a brand new G0 based on the above information, because nothing has failed. It just SEEMS like something is wrong in my opinion. This is why I started the thread asking how Dell tests the system and if they monitor temps during burn-in (nobody answered that thread because probably nobody is sure). There really is nothing I can do about the matter until the processor implodes. I'm sure not going out and buying a 3rd party cooler which could void the warranty, and given that the chip is a B3 step, I am not even sure that it would do any good. The B3's are super hot. Especially the 6800's. This machine has run 24/7 for 3 months, with the only crashes being clearly traces to vista issues (cannot_get_drive_state and some of the other well known show stoppers). Granted we have yanked it down from 3.2Ghz to 2.93, but when we ordered it, we ordered it stock. They shipped it O/C'ed for whatever reason. So am I not being proactive by getting the chip replaced because of high Coretemp readings? Sure. And if I built it my self I would be doing something about it. But I didn't. And no, we don't look forward to the downtime if the proc goes up in smoke. But barring hardware failure, Dell simply isn't going to replace it because various programs report that it runs hot, when theoretically, the CPU can run all day at 90C if nobody is paying attention to the temps. Probably only a small percentage of XPS users monitor their temps, so who knows how normal this is. One guy on another thread was reporting temps very similar to mine, and that was on an H2C system ... granted it was at 3.4Ghz ... but still, Dell is comfortable shipping them hot. His system has been running 75C at core for over a year, without any problems. And that was with a B3 6700. Like I said, when/if this thing goes, I imagine it will be replaced by a G0 since the B3's probably aren't even made in bulk anymore. If the chip is as easy to replace as you have outlined, maybe a flameout is not such a bad thing? Then again, with a Tcontrol of 95C, this thing may run forever at 80C. We never really approach throttle, and to be honest, I know tons of people that push the outer boundaries of overclocking, and I have seen very few CPU's being outright ruined. Intel knews the Xtreme procs are going to be overjuiced, and I don't think massive chip failures would sit too well with the enthusiast market. When a chip overheats, what usually happens is that it just fails until it cools down. Complete destruction really is a fluke, usually caused by the heat sink completely popping off or something else quite drastic. Message Edited by PaulTech on 10-03-2007 09:29 PM Message Edited by PaulTech on 10-03-2007 09:31 PM Message Edited by PaulTech on 10-03-2007 09:34 PM

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how to get q6600 temps down. (please post your temps)

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