Noctua NH-D14 questions

[Creotor]

Hello, everyone

I've just installed the cooler in question with the purpose of overclocking the CPU (i5-2500k) to around 4.5GHZ.
However, I wanna find out a few things before doing that.

1. With stock cooler, CPU idled at 29-30. With Noctua, it's 27-28. The difference seems to be rather small. Is that normal? If not, what could be the reason for such a minor decrease? The heatsink has been screwed on very tight so that should not be a problem. Thermal paste seemed to have covered the middle just fine - I used the 4-5mm (tried, anyway) recommended by the Noctua guide.

2. Following that, the case of my PC is Rosewill Thor V2 - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811147053
After some thinking, I pointed the cooler towards the top exhaust fan(the cooler fans ARE blowing in the same direction as the top one). Should I reposition it towards the rear one even though it's smaller? Feels like the air blowing out the back is a fair bit stronger due to not being restricted by the fins the way the top one is?

Temps at idle (according to Speedfan v4.44)

Room: 22-24C
Case: 30-31C
CPU: 27-28C

Edit: Exotics tab of Speedfan shows cores at:
Core 0: 31C
Core 1: 26C
Core 2: 31C
Core 3: 30C
Would this be the result of unevenly applied compound or is there something else to it?

[Jargan]

27-28 C is just above the room temperature. As for the cores showing different temperatures, this is because they are all doing different things, even at idle, like running background services/programs. So, Core 0 and 2 might be at 10% usage vs. Core 1 might be at 3%.

Do something to get your processor going aka load up a game and check the temps. As long as your CPU isn't getting >50C, then your CPU cooler is doing its job.

[Creotor]

27-28 C is just above the room temperature. As for the cores showing different temperatures, this is because they are all doing different things, even at idle, like running background services/programs. So, Core 0 and 2 might be at 10% usage vs. Core 1 might be at 3%.

Do something to get your processor going aka load up a game and check the temps. As long as your CPU isn't getting >50C, then your CPU cooler is doing its job.

Thanks for the cores explanation, seems like an obvious thing now, but I didn't even think of it...
As for the CPU temp being just above the room temp, is there a sort of diminishing returns to it? As in, the closer the CPU temp is to the room temp, the harder it is to bring it down even further via air cooling?

Running Prime95 right now, will post back after about 40 minutes.

[jmacphee9]

it would probably be slightly better going out the rear assuming you have a graphics card(creating heat that will go through the cooler), but it will not make a massive increase. it might not even be noticeable. the idle temps wont lower that much with air cooling and its nothing to be concerned about, but once you get up, your prime95 temps should be wayyy lower.

and your temps non-overclocked shouldnt be too much higher then 55* with that cooler, possibly lower. once you OC they will creep into the high 60s or 70s at 4.5ghz.

[Creotor]

Alright, Prime95 results are in!

After exactly 40 minutes, the CPU never went above 35C which makes me quite happy.
The cores still bother me slightly...
Core 0 was consistently at 41-43C while Core 2 was hitting 47-49C (and 50C for a few seconds) with the other two cores somewhere in-between. Is that still a normal discrepancy?

I probably will reposition the fan since not only will it stop drawing the heat away from the graphics card (though, that's not a bad thing in itself, lol), but will actually have a lot more space to pull the air from. Thanks for all the advice.

[shamaze]

that sounds about normal. im using the nh-d14 also and on an intel burn 24hr test, no core reached over 68* (OC'd to 4.8Ghz). this is THE BEST cooling fan system i have seen.

[jmacphee9]

Alright, Prime95 results are in!

After exactly 40 minutes, the CPU never went above 35C which makes me quite happy.
The cores still bother me slightly...
Core 0 was consistently at 41-43C while Core 2 was hitting 47-49C (and 50C for a few seconds) with the other two cores somewhere in-between. Is that still a normal discrepancy?

I probably will reposition the fan since not only will it stop drawing the heat away from the graphics card (though, that's not a bad thing in itself, lol), but will actually have a lot more space to pull the air from. Thanks for all the advice.

the cpu never got over 35 but the cores tipped 49? that makes no sense lol. well that is good news though overall, the difference in core temp is fine, if you are worried, apply a more even paste when you reposition the cooler to the rear.

[Creotor]

the cpu never got over 35 but the cores tipped 49? that makes no sense lol. well that is good news though overall, the difference in core temp is fine, if you are worried, apply a more even paste when you reposition the cooler to the rear.

/shrug, HWMonitor, CPUID and Speedfan all showed the same thing.
I'll be doing what you said, though.

[kidsafe]

Yes, it's normal discrepancy. Most modern processors are arranged in a row. It stands to reason that a core sandwiched between two others will get hotter than the two on the very edge of the die. It's also reasonable to expect mounting pressure to play a role in overall temps. On Real Temp, the two reported temps in the middle are always higher no matter what heatsink or CPU block I use.



Also "CPU" temperature is usually measured at the heatspreader while core temperatures are always much higher.

---------- Post added 2012-03-31 at 11:23 AM ----------

that sounds about normal. im using the nh-d14 also and on an intel burn 24hr test, no core reached over 68* (OC'd to 4.8Ghz). this is THE BEST cooling fan system i have seen.

Man I wish 2600Ks would sit at 68C core temps on air with HT on.

[bondgirl]

27-28 C is just above the room temperature. As for the cores showing different temperatures, this is because they are all doing different things, even at idle, like running background services/programs. So, Core 0 and 2 might be at 10% usage vs. Core 1 might be at 3%.

Do something to get your processor going aka load up a game and check the temps. As long as your CPU isn't getting >50C, then your CPU cooler is doing its job.

Sorry for a bit OT but should I consider buying a new cooler if my cpu is running at around 58 to 60° while playing wow? Have a boxed core 5

[kidsafe]

Sorry for a bit OT but should I consider buying a new cooler if my cpu is running at around 58 to 60° while playing wow? Have a boxed core 5

I would not get alarmed at 60C, especially on the OEM heatsink. It's normal.

[Creotor]

Hey, guys.

Posting back to share the results, should any of you care. After some blood and tears, the CPU was successfully overclocked to 4.5GHZ at 1.34v. Although, CPU-Z shows it at 1.35 at idle and it drops to 1.34v only under load.
Prime95 ran for a few hours without any of the cores going above 58C. Sometimes, though, clock rate would fluctuate between 4.3-4.5GHZ.
Intel Burn Test acted really strange... if set up for a Maximum (the only one that was used, actually) burn test (around 6.9GB RAM), clock goes up to 4.5GHZ for around 10 seconds and then drops to 3.4.... I've tried disabling all the power features, C3, C6, Enhanced Halt State (C1E?), Thermal throttling, Package C support... it still does the same thing. So, not sure what's up with that.
Haven't really tested it with any programs or games yet.

Again, thanks for all the advice, it was quite nice to bathe in the divine light of knowledge.