CPU Heatsink Question (i7 2600K)

[Deleted]

Recently I noticed that my CPU cores were all running rather hot so today I finally went out and bought a thermal paste kit. After some trial and error with reseating the stock heatsink I managed to succesfully reapply the paste and put it all back in.

The problem now is that my idle temps seem fine (~40C in summertime) but whenever I open a new window or launch a game, it tends to spike up and reach higher temps than before. To be sure I ran the Intel Diagnostics Tool, and got a worrying constant 93C temp while the test was taking place. Are these temps normal or have I done something wrong?

[abracmike]

2 thoughts come to mind.

First one is too much paste
Second is air pockets in the paste (Did you twist the heatsink back and forth before securing it to sqeeze air etc... out?)

Barring that, not cleaning the old stuff off is the only other guess i have.

[Deleted]

2 thoughts come to mind.

First one is too much paste
Second is air pockets in the paste (Did you twist the heatsink back and forth before securing it to sqeeze air etc... out?)

Barring that, not cleaning the old stuff off is the only other guess i have.

Thanks for your suggestions! I did clean off both surfaces completely before applying the paste, and like you said I squeezed and twisted to make sure all the air was gone and that the heatsink itself was tighly into place.

I just went through the whole process again, this time smearing out the paste instead of dropping the heatsink on it right away and the problem persists. Idle temps are fine, ranging from 39 to 45 degrees in a slightly warmed up room, but as soon as I launch WoW/Wildstar it climbs up to high 70's-low 80s. Could it be that the paste itself is faulty/cheap quality or is it more likely to be an issue with the heatsink?

[BicycleMafioso]

This seems alarmingly high. What kind of overclock are you running, if any?
If no overclock/tinkering has been done; could you try to go into the BIOS to change the voltage from auto to something fixed and low enough not to cause stability issues?
93°C is still within the realms of "not the end of the world", but at stock, it's alarming

[Zumber]

Try to see if the heatsink sits properly , my stock heatsink was moved 1 year after the instalation due to the crappy mechanic that the heatshink has to lock on the motherboard ( clips) , Check the fan if it rises RPM when temp is rising too. If u have putted too much thermal paste that heatshink wont sit properly cause it can not apply big pressure to the paste due to that locking mechanism. Also i recomend you to buy an aftermarket heatsink it will save your life , i bought Be quiet dark rock 3 it dropped my iddle temp 5 celsius and my load temp 12-15 celsius and i am sure i had made a crappy paste application (my 1st time) cause my cores have a 3-5 celsius deference some times :S. Also last thing is if u bought an artic silver 5 style paste it needs 24-30 hours to cure as the site sais not sure if that is the reason for high temps though. Also small tip if you running stock and no OC try undervolt the CPU , i run my 3570k and 3.8ghz with just 1.080volts and at 4.0ghz 1.150volts , even small decrease in volts drops temps. I dont believe u have a bad chip since Sandy Bridge gets lower temps that Ivy Bridge processors.

[Deleted]

This seems alarmingly high. What kind of overclock are you running, if any?
If no overclock/tinkering has been done; could you try to go into the BIOS to change the voltage from auto to something fixed and low enough not to cause stability issues?
93°C is still within the realms of "not the end of the world", but at stock, it's alarming

No OC's besides the standard turbo boost setting. I guess I could try that, any voltages you want me to test?

Also thought it was worth mentioning that it only ever reached 93C during the Diagnostics test. I'm in-game right now and it's sitting around 67C while tabbed out, 75-81 when I'm in game.

[abracmike]

Could it be that the paste itself is faulty/cheap quality or is it more likely to be an issue with the heatsink?

Possibly. The remaining question is how much paste you used? Usual goto is 5 half-pea size dots, 4 corners + middle.

Too much and you end up with an insulator instead of a conductor.

Edit:
"Also thought it was worth mentioning that it only ever reached 93C during the Diagnostics test. I'm in-game right now and it's sitting around 67C while tabbed out, 75-81 when I'm in game" For stock heatsinks, that actually might be reasonable.

[Deleted]

Possibly. The remaining question is how much paste you used? Usual goto is 5 half-pea size dots, 4 corners + middle.

Too much and you end up with an insulator instead of a conductor.

I watched a bunch of YT videos and just did what they did - pea sized dot in the middle and smeared it out a bit. Should I try reapplying it the way you suggested?

[abracmike]

I'm going to go with the most recent edit then.

That's probably just the normal range for the stock heat sink.

Just out of curiosity, what were the temps with the original paste?
(If they're more than 4 - 5C higher right now, then bad paste is the best guess i can make without physically seeing it.)

[Zumber]

No OC's besides the standard turbo boost setting. I guess I could try that, any voltages you want me to test?

Also thought it was worth mentioning that it only ever reached 93C during the Diagnostics test. I'm in-game right now and it's sitting around 67C while tabbed out, 75-81 when I'm in game.

67 is too much for tabed out and your in game temps are too high too , even with my 1 year paste and stock cooler in a room at 33 celsius i had in load at 3.8ghz in gaming max 65 celcius (stock cooler was spinning at 1800 RPM ) and iddle around 40-45 when alt tab with loads of stuff running behind. In stock cooler paste iddle in summer 35-40 in a room of 30 celsius and under prime 95 100% load blend test had 65-70 after 10 mins , at 3,8ghz with 1.080v if i use the stock voltage at 1,250v the temps spike to the roof at 80+ under load

[BicycleMafioso]

What's your ambient temperature?

I'd set it at 1.20 on the vCore and then incremental decreases of 0.03v until you encounter instability in say, IntelBurnTest for 3 rounds, and then tweak slightly upwards.

[Deleted]

I'm going to go with the most recent edit then.

That's probably just the normal range for the stock heat sink.

Just out of curiosity, what were the temps with the original paste?
(If they're more than 4 - 5C higher right now, then bad paste is the best guess i can make without physically seeing it.)

If memory serves me right they were similar to the ones Zumber mentioned, 37-41 when idle and 65-67 during heavy load. Any decent coolers you could recommend in case I want to get rid of this one?

EDIT: Would it be helpful if I removed the heatsink and took a picture of how it looks now? I'm happy to apply it again if any of you think it could make a difference.

[Zumber]

If u want a cheap one but awsome one get Coolermaster 212 Evo , it has crap looks though thats why i bought the Dark Rock 3 2 days ago and am happy with it u can barrely hear it even at 1600 rpm , if u dont care about looks or money get a noctua d14 , unless u have high profile ram then u cant use that one , with Dark rock 3 u can use slots 2-3-4 with high profile ram np but on 1st u must remove the ram heatsink if u use 4 slots . I dont recomend watercooling some ppl get issues with that and i like not to bother with that , if u wanna risk it then go for it , it gives u waranty anyway :P

[abracmike]

If u want a cheap one but awsome one get Coolermaster 212 Evo , it has crap looks though thats why i bought the Dark Rock 3 2 days ago and am happy with it u can barrely hear it even at 1600 rpm , if u dont care about looks or money get a noctua d14 , unless u have high profile ram then u cant use that one , with Dark rock 3 u can use slots 2-3-4 with high profile ram np but on 1st u must remove the ram heatsink if u use 4 slots . I dont recomend watercooling some ppl get issues with that and i like not to bother with that , if u wanna risk it then go for it , it gives u waranty anyway :P

2nd that. If you can fit it, the noctua zumber mentioned is quite a beast as far as cooling goes (and they're incredibly quiet)

- - - Updated - - -

If memory serves me right they were similar to the ones Zumber mentioned, 37-41 when idle and 65-67 during heavy load. Any decent coolers you could recommend in case I want to get rid of this one?

That more or less says the paste is ok, and the cooler is just not up to the task. See post 13 by zumber for suggestions on replacement options

[BicycleMafioso]

If memory serves me right they were similar to the ones Zumber mentioned, 37-41 when idle and 65-67 during heavy load. Any decent coolers you could recommend in case I want to get rid of this one?

EDIT: Would it be helpful if I removed the heatsink and took a picture of how it looks now? I'm happy to apply it again if any of you think it could make a difference.

Remember that less really is more. I would not go above the size of a grain of uncooked rice, personally. The paste doesn't improve cooling, "per se", it just bridges the gaps and unevenings in the metal.