CPU Core Temp????

Ok, I have been running the GPU and CPU apps right from the stanford website...

Starting yesterday, I'm using FAH GPU Tracker V2...

With the standard x86 client, my CPU (An i5 2500) would run around 40% and get to a core temp of 60°C. No biggie. From researching the operating range of the cpu lists the max around 72°C.

So I started up the CPU client that was downloaded by the Tracker V2 app and am running the SMP process.... It instantly pegged at 100% and with only a minute or two my core temp was at 82°C and was still appearing to rise.....

I don't want to kill my CPU (it's a brand new pc) so I'm wondering if there is something going on that isn't right or what? Anyone have any ideas?

A few things to check.

1. Heat sink seated all the way. (clips pushed all the way in/ screws with proper pressure.)

2. Proper thermal paste installation. Unseat the cooler and check if the thermal paste is evenly distrubeted on the cpu and also make sure there is not too much thermal paste on the cpu and heatsink. A good even thin coat is best.

3. CPU voltage! Some motherboards set their own voltage which can be much more that the CPU actually needs. In fact many motherboard self overclocking features will add dangerous amounts of volts that are not necessary for the clock speeds. Sandy bridge cpus like yours should be really cool while running full speed(50-65C. Your processor to run at stock speeds only needs about 1.2V or maybe even less.

Let me know if that helps.

Core Voltage is 1.25 at the current moment. The Utility that came with my board is AWESOME! (Asus Sabertooth P67)

Yeah, so far every thing I've ever run, (included Crysis 2 maxed out, and even 3D Mark 11) the temp has only gotten as high as 65°, until I tried to run the SMP proggy.

I'll double check the fan when I get a chance, but it's been fine on everything I've run till now.

Usually games won't max a cpu. 3d mark will but only in the cpu section for a brief period of time. Are you using the stock cpu cooler?

I'll admit a bonehead mistake I made once when my cpu temps were shooting up way too high. I forgot to take off a little piece of plastic on the bottom of the heatsink. Talk about inhibiting heat transfer.

I would check with CPU-Z that 1.25V is the actual voltage. I have the Asus P8P67-M Pro and I know when the Asus program says a voltage sometimes it is off because of an offset. This makes what looks like 1.15V be 1.4V actual which is way too much.

With CPU-Z it showed the core running anywhere from 1.21 to 1.24 voltage wise. Wasn't stable. Course as I type this I realize that was at rest. Guess I should start up the SMP proggy and see what it's doing while maxed.... hmmmm food for though.

Yes check under load. It could be spiking really high. When my cpu is loaded I run at 1.368V for my 4.7Ghz overclock, and when there is no load the cpu drops to 1.0-1.2V and just 1.6ghz. So if my starting voltage was 1.25 I would be well in to the 1.4V range which is more than recommended for these cpus. If I was running stock or close to stock settings I would want my volatage topping out at 1.25V.

Ok, I started up FAH Tracker with the SMP client. Everything pegged to 100% on all 4 cores.

The voltage ran at a steady 1.272 to 1.280.

The cores were running at 100% with the following temps when I shut it down:
Core1: 79-80
Core2: 81-82
Core3: 83-84
Core5: 80-81

So my next step will be to pull the CPU fan and probably wipe it and the processor down and repaste. I hit a few sites and I think I used too much (didn't know about the "paper thin" layer, so that could very well be it!

And yes, it's the stock downward blowing fan that came with the CPU.

Nope, no dice. I cleaned the processor off using a coffee filter, and the heatsink.

Reseated everthing and now I'm watching things right now climb right back up to that 80C temp that it was at before.

Any other ideas? Maybe a different CPU Fan? Hmmmmm CPU fan is at 2380 rpm's, should that go higher??? If it can go higher, how might one do such a thing?

I usually avoid the stock heatsinks like the plague but that is because I overclock. I would recommend a new heatsink like this one here. Check your bios for fan options. Your motherboard manual should tell you where to find it. Usually the is something like "smart fan" or "auto fan" that you can switch to tell the fan to ramp up its speed earlier at like 50C.

yeah I definitely have an issue of some sort. While normal stuff and running games etc all works great and I don't see high temps, I grabbed Prime95 and ran the test and in no time flat my system was through up alerts that my cpu was at 85°. Something is surely not right, as I'm not over clocking what so ever!

Another possibility could be faulty temperature sensors, or just a cpu with extremely bad thermal properties. If a new cooler with the proper application of thermal grease doesn't fix it I would send the cpu back for a replacement.

A tip on applying thermal grease. I like to put a thin line of thermal grease across the middle of the cpu not too close to the edges and then dot the corners with a little drop too. I will seat the cooler then remove it and make sure the grease covers completely and is not too thick.

Ok, I have to ask.... What are you running that has you at 90k points for folder already today????

I run a 2600K @4.7ghz and a GTX580. The 90k today is from the finishing of a -bigadv unit. The 2600k allows for the use of -bigadv units because it has 8 threads. It can take a couple days for a unit to finish so when it does it is a big number but averages out to be about 40k points per day. The GTX580 does about 16K ppd too.

Ok, here's the weird deal....

Right now... maybe things are ok...

I went into BIOS and reset everything to defaults (not sure what was changed from defaults, so I can't say for sure!!!)

But I rebooted and fired up prime95.....

Current Core voltage with 4 maxed CPU cores is 1.184V.

Current temp is 72°C...

So SOMETHING was screwed up and it was indeed pushing the core voltage up an additional tenth of a percent which obviously was too much!!!

So gonna keep an eye on it and see what it does! Maybe all is indeed good.

(although a better CPU cooler could really help, any suggestions that aren't crazy priced?

Yea I would run it like that. I know a lot of people will run them in the 80C range. I like to keep mine under 65C so I would run it like that for now and order a nice cooler when you get the chance. Happy folding man

Next question....

Now my PPD on the GPU is only 7760...... before it was always in the 13k to 15k range..... so something on the board effected that somehow????

Definitely would be faster to put my Board back to what it was, as the SMP proggy is getting about 250 PPD.... but I'm only getting half of what I had before on the GPU... heck it's been running 6 hours now (since midnight) and it's only on 32% on the GPU.....!!!??? I was turning in about 1200 points every hour or so before!!!

Ok, latest update (I'm at work now, so no more testing until tonight!!), but before I left for work and went back into the BIOS.

Here's the deal, the one thing I did change that got changed back when I hit the defaults, was right there at the front of the EFI BIOS, is 3 little settings. Quiet, Normal, and Performance. On normal we get the CPU running like I reported last night, but only at 250PPD give or take running the SMP proggy. AND we get the GPU only producing at that 7700PPD rate.

I set that to Performance this morning and rebooted. I opened up Tracker V2 and my PPD on the SMP was now 500PPD and the GPU was back to the 15K PPD.... BUT My core voltage was again at that 1.280, and the temp quickly rose back up to 80°C. Although from what I can tell the performance setting is all within the standard operating range of the processor!!!

So, something in that performance setting is also affecting the PCI-E slot I'm assuming since I'm getting lower performance from my GTX 560. So now I'm going to research what changes occur between the Normal to the Performance setting!!!

I think this also means that either there is indeed a thermal issue with the CPU or the stock fan really does (or doesn't as the case may be) blow!!!!

Thoughts/Recommendations??

Your ppd for the cpu maybe inaccurate since it has not been running continually. The deadline changes the bonus points so if you have a older work unit that would make your ppd look really low.

My next recommendation would be to go into the advance Bios/EFI and set all voltages manually. The CPU voltage maybe about right and the memory controller (which is now on the CPU die) might be auto set high voltage which can dramatically increase the temperature of the CPU. When in the advance settings it should show you all the default settings for the voltages next to the setting. Use the defaults or the low-end of the range of voltages.

If that all fails and your temps are still too high I would exchange the cpu. I had a 875K I7 processor that just had plain horrible thermal properties that water cooling couldnt even tame at reasonable overclock speeds. Processors are luck of the draw. The next one might run in the 40C range or be just as bad. I would not think you would get two bad ones as the usual temps of these sandybridge processors are very low ~50-55C.

So you're not thinking an aftermarket cooler would help?

Was looking at a CoolerMaster 212: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103065

Bunch of people said it was a decent cooler and not too insanely priced!

I'll check out the voltages tonight and see what I can come across!

I like XIGMATEK. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835233082 They make good stuff and are $10 cheaper for what is going to be the same performance. I would say it is overkill for either of these coolers for a stock cpu tho.

Alrighty! I manually set the i5 core to 1.185 and now it's holding steady at 3400mhz and not over heating under a full load!

I noticed it was set to OS controlled and under full load it was jumping up to 4400mhz along with that 1.280 voltage.

Is that normal?

I'm now grabbing 1400ppd on my CPU!

Glad to hear that you go it under controll! Nice job man. Way to stick with it man.

It is normal for turbo-boost to kick in and overclock the cpu under load, but that cpu should only turbo to 3.7Ghz. Is your cpu the 2500K and not the regualr 2500?

No K. I didn't get the K because I had planned not to overclock.... although as I learn more.... I'm kinda wishin I would have :-)

So my best guess is that something in the mobo settings and OS when turbo kicks in is pushing it way too high, thus the over heating. So.... maybe I can figure something out and let it run in a range with a max voltage setting so I can hit the 3.7.

Yea you should be able to run 3.7 at the same voltage. I would look at a forum that has overclocking settings for your motherboard.

Yea for a few bucks more they K would get you to about 4.5 pretty easy. With proper cooling of course. If you spent even more and got the 2600K you could be enjoying about 40,000ppd

yeah.... I really should have... but at the time I knew nothing of Folding, and was looking more for gaming performance and all the reviews I read put the i5 ahead of the i7 when it came to gaming....

course I think I'm folding more than gaming now so... yeah... I should have!