Is this setup compatible?

[Evolixe]

Well.. im not sure if i turned the fan the right side around tbh :X

But i have yet to install that second fan, so we'll see.

It also came with some thermal grease, which i used ofcourse.. but i used half the tube as it seemed plenty enough to cover the whole thing.
Should i have used everything instead?

And honestly, this hardware is already running way faster than anything i have touched before. I'm completely happy if i would have to stop at 4.3/4.4

[Xuvial]

but i used half the tube as it seemed plenty enough to cover the whole thing.
Should i have used everything instead?

OMG WHAT?!?! That would explain the high temps!

You're supposed to use a *tiny* amount, thermal grease spreads very well by itself when you push screw on the heatsink! The thermal grease layer is supposed to be as thin as possible, it's main purpose is to fill the microscopic air pockets/rough edges between the two metal surfaces (CPU and heatsink). The thinner the better.

This is the best method of applying it called the "pea" method, because you apply a pea-sized amount:


(actually even that seems a bit too much)
And when you push the heatsink on, it'll automatically spread itself over most of the chip with minimal air bubbles. Remember it doesn't need to fully cover the entire chip to the edges because the physical CPU cores are placed around the middle area. Too much grease has a massive backwards effect on temperatures because you're effectively separating the CPU and heatsink when they should be fully in contact.

For now remove the heatsink, properly clean-off all that paste with some cotton (it must've left a mess if you used half the tube) and apply no more than how much is shown in above pic, right in the middle, then carefully place the heatsink back on and screw it in (don't make the screws too tight). If you cleaned it off nicely and used the right amount, you should see temps below 65c @ 4.2ghz.

[inux94]

Well.. im not sure if i turned the fan the right side around tbh :X

But i have yet to install that second fan, so we'll see.

It also came with some thermal grease, which i used ofcourse.. but i used half the tube as it seemed plenty enough to cover the whole thing.
Should i have used everything instead?

And honestly, this hardware is already running way faster than anything i have touched before. I'm completely happy if i would have to stop at 4.3/4.4

YOU DID WHAT!?

Remove the CPU cooler as Xuvial posted, too much thermal paste is bad, it's just meant to transfer the heat from the CPU to the heatsink.

[DeltrusDisc]

I believe you were thinking about the size of a BB, Xuvial.

Glad you hit this nice and quick.

[Evolixe]

Oh... right.....

I've got to go to work in an hour. Leaving it to cool for the rest of the day and taking it off tonight.

Thanks....

[DeltrusDisc]

Oh... right.....

I've got to go to work in an hour. Leaving it to cool for the rest of the day and taking it off tonight.

Thanks....

It's cooled off literally within like 5 minutes. :P

[Evolixe]

It's cooled off literally within like 5 minutes. :P

Right, okay.

---------- Post added 2012-07-25 at 09:48 AM ----------

Well it looks like that just saved me like 5-8 degrees celcius. Thanks for the quick notice on that one.

[inux94]

Did you run Prime95 between those 2?

[Evolixe]

Did you run Prime95 between those 2?

I ran it for 5 minutes, and for 20 minutes yesterday. However between the first 5 minutes and the last 15 minutes temperatures weren't really changing much apart from the 3-4C fluctuation. I'm confident enough to not doubt the stability now really.

[DeltrusDisc]

I ran it for 5 minutes, and for 20 minutes yesterday. However between the first 5 minutes and the last 15 minutes temperatures weren't really changing much apart from the 3-4C fluctuation. I'm confident enough to not doubt the stability now really.

Stability is not all about heat, fyi. There's lots of computational processes probably several of us have no clue at all about, that play into effect.

8 hour minimum overnight or while you're at work run of WPrime95 is a great way to be absolutely sure you are stable.

[Evolixe]

Stability is not all about heat, fyi. There's lots of computational processes probably several of us have no clue at all about, that play into effect.

8 hour minimum overnight or while you're at work run of WPrime95 is a great way to be absolutely sure you are stable.

Honestly, i do not believe that 8 hours of 100% load is what you should do with your CPU. And i'm not going to try and demand any scenarios from it that will never occur under use.

When i'm getting issues i'll get back and run it for a bit longer, but untill then i really don't want to go there.

Thanks for the reply either way though, but that is one thing i am not prepared to do

[Deleted]

My limited knowledge says that the build looks good. Also, regarding the PSU, if you're interested in going SLI in the future then you've gotta weigh up an extra 20-50+ quid now for a bigger PSU or the full price later to replace your current one. Personally I'd go for the bigger one now, so i know that if I wanted to get a new GPU I could just dive straight in, no messing around.

Also, you might wanna get a bit more cooling power for the overclocking, I can't imagine you having large problems but things are gonna get hot.

[Evolixe]

My limited knowledge says that the build looks good. Also, regarding the PSU, if you're interested in going SLI in the future then you've gotta weigh up an extra 20-50+ quid now for a bigger PSU or the full price later to replace your current one. Personally I'd go for the bigger one now, so i know that if I wanted to get a new GPU I could just dive straight in, no messing around.

Also, you might wanna get a bit more cooling power for the overclocking, I can't imagine you having large problems but things are gonna get hot.

I actually took a 750W with the idea that i had room for an SLI setup then. The newer series GPU's look to be very power conservative, and i thought it should do..

[Xuvial]

What are the max temps like now?

[Evolixe]

What are the max temps like now?

Ehm, iirc it went to 72 and not really any higher.

The CPU fan doesn't go to 100% before 75 though, so it should go up with a little less steep curve if i try pushing it harder.