i7 3960x

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|DFA| Havoc

Limp Gawd
Joined
Aug 4, 2014
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203
Hiya folks! I'm new around these parts, but I've been hanging out on the tomshardware forums for a few years.

I've been building PCs for like 15 years, but I've only ever lightly dabbled in overclocking, so I'm pretty much a total greenhorn in that regard. I've just recently come into possession of a 3960x, and for some reason the idea of trying to melt a $1000 CPU appeals to me. :p

I have a Corsair H110 on it inside a Carbide 540 air, and it's currently hitting 70c under prime95 torture test just at the stock clocks. That seems really high to me for stock settings with this setup... am I doing something wrong, or do these chips just normally run that hot? :eek:

Appreciate any pointers, sorry for my noobery.
 
Yeah you're slightly above what these guys found
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But really its a similar ballpark. Prime95 will generate more cpu temp than almost anything out there. In reality if you run something like 3DMark or Cinebench you won't get that high temps and if you play BF4 you will be cooler even still.

You can try a remount in case you got it slightly wrong.

I've got the same case which moves a good amount of air
 
I had to wait until I got home to reply just to double check. You either have quite high ambients, a poor mount job, or a possibly faulty (though still functional) pump. Just checked with my 3930K running it's 24x7 settings (all cores @ 4.6GHz) and only hit 66 on the hottest core. This is with a Corsair H100i, so if you're at stock loading all 6 cores should yield 3.6GHz and with a comparable H110 you should be at least a bit under 66 I would think.

Edit: I should have noted I ran In-Place Large FFT's (supposedly generates the most heat).
 
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You are running WAAAAYYYY too hot for stock clocks.

In which orientation is the H110 mounted?

Fan configuration?

Like the other person said, the H110 could have a faulty pump. Is the H110 getting warm?
 
Hm. Alright, thanks for the feedback guys. I knew something was fishy...

I currently have the H110 mounted in the top of the case and set up as an intake. I had it set up as exhaust initially, but my idle temps were in the 40s, so I redid the thermal compound and replaced the stock fans with B-Gears 140mms and reversed the airflow. It seems like way too much intake with the three 120mm hyperborea intakes I've got up front, but the idle temps did drop noticeably.

At this point I'm starting to suspect the thermal compound. In the past I've always used arctic silver with the 'spread' method and had great results, but everything I've been reading lately says that's wrong and bad. So I picked up some Arctic MX-4 and I've been using the 'blob' method, or the 'line' in the case of the 3960x, but it seems like everything I've used the MX-4 on has had higher temps than I'd hoped. This is also my first time using closed loop water coolers, I've always stuck to air in the past, so I wasn't sure if my expectations were off.

I don't think I'm using too much compound when I lay down the blob/line, but I dunno. As I said, I'm new to this method, and the squeeze tubes are not exactly precision instruments. :p
 
Well, I swapped the MX-4 for arctic silver on another machine's CPU and GPU and got a 10c drop on both. I then replaced the MX-4 on my 3960x with arctic silver, and my temps have gone back up slightly...

Also Core0 seems to be consistently running 5-10c hotter than any of the other cores, which are mostly around 60-65 under load. Either way, all of them are hotter than they should be at stock speeds. I don't get it.

Is there an easy way to test or isolate the pump to see if that's at fault?
 
I don't trust the line or blob methods one bit. Do the thin layer spread method on the CPU and for good measure smear the tiniest amount using the finger/plastic bag approach into the contact area of the water block. See if that helps.

Also not the best idea to use a top mounted radiator as intake,switch that to exhaust,though I doubt that's the cause of your temps.
 
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Yeah, switch the radiator fans to exhaust.

If you have proper airflow through the case, it should not raise the CPU temps more than about 1-2c.

Having the hot air from the CPU blow back into the case is just a lame idea in the first place and I don't know why the cooler mfgs recommend that... actually, I think I do.. so it makes their coolers look better.

Doing that though causes the case temps to go up and will make everything run hotter, especially if you are not exhausting out the top of the case.

The line/blob method of applying thermal paste is pretty lame in any case. You will not get good coverage with either unless you apply way more than really needed.

What I do is do a larger blob in the center and then a pretty small blob closer to each corner. I then put the cooler on, tighten it down,and then take it off again to check the spread. I usually always have to add a little bit more in places to get full coverage.
 
So I went to remount it again, and here's what I found:

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The bare diagonal strips correspond with each other. It was the same way with the MX-4.
 
Has that H110 been used on a different system? If so and the temps were fine, then I would say that the IHS on the 3960X needs to be lapped.

If it hasn't been used on another system, you need to check the flatness of both the H110 block and the IHS on the 3960X.
 
Well at least we know part of the problem.... One or the other is not flat at all. With regards to your pump, if it's hooked up to a motherboard 3 pin make sure that header is set to full speed rather than "quiet, 50%", etc.
 
The H110 was brand new, never been used before. I had the pump hooked directly to the PSU at first, then switched it to a motherboard header and set it to full duty cycle.

I don't have the tools OR the experience/knowhow for lapping. What are my options? :|
 
Use the razor to figure out which part is actually not flat. If it's the H110, that's easy to replace. If it's the 3960x... learn how to lap. It's not that hard, just some sandpaper, light touch, time, and patience are all that are needed.

Well, you can probably get Intel to RMA it due to processor running too hot.
 
|DFA| Havoc said:
The H110 was brand new, never been used before. I had the pump hooked directly to the PSU at first, then switched it to a motherboard header and set it to full duty cycle.

I don't have the tools OR the experience/knowhow for lapping. What are my options? :|
Click to expand...

Flat surface and wet sandpaper. There are plenty of guides out there like the link that the other person posted.

Or if you are crazy like me, you can use a finishing sander. I got tired of lapping taking forever, so I started using a finishing sander to get it about 95% of the way there. Hold the finishing sander upside down, turn it on, and then lap as "normal". The very edges of the cooler of CPU tend to get lapped down a tiny bit more than the rest of it, but it takes about 20-30 minutes vs 3-4 hours to get it almost perfect.

I do not recommend this method for people that have not already had experience manually lapping at least 3-4 CPUs already.

I haven't lapped the last few CPUs I've had since the IHS seemed to be flat enough.

Use a razor blade to see which one is the issue, and either get it replaced or lap it.
 
Blargh.

Alright, thanks for the suggestions guys. I can't really RMA the processor I don't think, it is itself a brand new replacement that intel just sent me in exchange for one with a bad memory controller.

So... hopefully it's the H110. :/
 
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