H70 Temps with i7 930 stock

[Ikthus]

I just installed my H70 over the weekend and was excited to see how much my temps would drop but after seeing my idle only a few degrees different from the stock cooler and running prime for about 10 minutes I'm starting to think I must have did something wrong.

 

I've got it mounted in the rear of my HAF-X as exhaust and my ambient is about 26-28C. I attached a screenshot that shows my idle/load.

 

I know i7s are supposed to run hotter, but I still think they're pretty high considering I've disabled hyperthreading and turboboost..

 

Also another just a random question...is the fan supposed to bend a bit when you screw it in? When I start to tighten the screws just a little bit when the plastic encasing starts bending and it seems kind of flimsy..

 

But anyway, should I be worried about my temps?

[RAM GUY]

Idle temps will depend greatly on the environment so it's difficult to say that yours is too high. It definitely seems reasonable. Your load temps seem to be within a good range as well. Our testing was with an i920 overclocked to 3.8GHz (20 x 190 MHz, 1.34Vcore) and it got up to 71 degrees Celsius, and we were using the same board you have, the Rampage III.

[Defender2803]

I just installed my H70 over the weekend and was excited to see how much my temps would drop but after seeing my idle only a few degrees different from the stock cooler and running prime for about 10 minutes I'm starting to think I must have did something wrong.

 

I've got it mounted in the rear of my HAF-X as exhaust and my ambient is about 26-28C. I attached a screenshot that shows my idle/load.

 

I know i7s are supposed to run hotter, but I still think they're pretty high considering I've disabled hyperthreading and turboboost..

 

Also another just a random question...is the fan supposed to bend a bit when you screw it in? When I start to tighten the screws just a little bit when the plastic encasing starts bending and it seems kind of flimsy..

 

But anyway, should I be worried about my temps?

 

i7's do run hotter. Most people are happy with under 40C when idle. Most of the time I see people running mid 30 ranges at idle. Your room temp can affect your core temp so we need to know that. Most homes are somewhere between 24-26C so that could affect you if your room is hotter. If you have an ambient sensors in the case it is direct link to increase in core temp. If your ambient in the case rises from 24C to 26C...expect the core to give up 2C also.

 

Next thing to do is let Prime run longer. A good 10 minutes will give you an idea of where you are at but the longer the better.

 

To check your airflow disconnect one fan and see if you get a temperature rise or fall. If at idle it should rise but slowly and it should max out only a degreee or two extra and hold steady. If it doesn't move than your airflow through the case is probably not good. You could just decrease/increase the RPM's of the fans with the supplied resistor cable but I like turning one off to get a true air decrease. You can turn off both fans and you should see an immediate temp increase...if you don't you have a much larger airflow problem.

 

Reverse fans and check again. If your temps are the same then your airflow is probably stuck. If you reverse from exhaust to intake and your temps go down your case has too much heat and you aren't cooling much inside. If you reverse from intake to exhaust and your temps go up...same thing. I wouldn't expect any other changes in temp in either configuration so the above is what you should see if airflow is an issue.

 

With the case you have you shouldn't have airflow problems unless you have too much breathing room. Some super flow systems have too much dead air space to correctly keep the air changing out. Think of it this way. If you open the front door of your house and then the back door one of them eventually slams shut. This is caused by air coming in one and over pressurizing to force the other to slam. If you open all the windows in the house then the door stops slamming shut. The airflow splits off and there isn't enough now to slam the door. This goes for cases also. Too much open area causing dead air. The air in the case doesn't circulate causing higher case temps which lead to higher core temps.

 

What are the temps on your GPU's? This can be a major problem as the stock coolers on some 5970's are pretty much garbage. (Hint to Corsair...VGA water cooling?) If you have the VGA stock cooler with the single squirrel cage fan then your VGA card is giving off a lot of heat. The fan sits above some of the voltage regulators and there is no air moving under that fan so it gets real hot. These things can run at 60C idle and ruin your case temps. Get a VGA cooler and point an exhaust fan right at it to get the heat out of the case.

 

Your temps aren't really that bad and mine were just a degree or two different with an i7-920. A VGA cooler and 3 more fans got me to the 35-36C range. Expect with a H70 I should be sub 35C and probably in your ranges when when loaded. My Prime95 ranges from 62-69C depending if the AC is on or not.

 

Your temps are in range but I think you can do better. Fans should not be bent. It can cause bearing wear and cavitation (noise).