Rogue temps - Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 pro

Hello all

After some mild (3,2 GHz some) OC on my E7200 with stock cooling, the temps after loading the cores with Intel Burn Test reached 80C so I decided I'll go for some aftermarket solution. Some reviews later and after checking the wallet contents, I was off to a store for a AC Freezer 7 Pro PWM cooler. I should mention that this is my first mount, although I worked with computers all my life, and I feel pretty good around them, software and hardware too. I just didn't have the oportunity to buy other then the stock stuff.
I read some tutorials on how to properly do the job, and I realized my best shot at a cleaning solution was some acetone from my gf, highly suspected of being nail polisher, although it didn't have any fragrance and evaporated from the E7200 (almost) cleanly. Anyway, I spent like an hour cleaning the cpu from the white Intel goo that was spread like a bad dream all over the IHS. The AC freezer 7 came with some paste that people on the forums said is MX-1 applied, so after doing my best with the cleaning (no traces of goo left at all, the E7200 looked just new) i got to positioning the cooler. That was not easy for a beginner like me but in the end I manage to get all push-pins at their place, twisted the cooler a little both ways and checked: it was secure: fan was facing the ddr2 on the P5Q mobo, blowing the hot air through the fins and then right out of the case.

The problem is that, after testing the fan at various BIOS profiles from ASUS Q-Fan (standard, turbo, quiet) with Prime95 and IBT, not only the temps at idle looked a little worse then with the stock cooler (44/40C, 41/37 with case open - core temps with AC Freezer), but when the fan ramped up it made almost no difference! At idle, 2900 RPM - and the fan screaming for mercy, the temps were only a degree lower then with the fan at 1000 rpm. When on full load with IBT: 1300 rpm = 60C, 2900 rpm = 57C.
Also, the NB temp is now 41-42C, when it used to be 37C before AC Freezer mounting. HDD is now 37C from 31C!!! with no apparent reason, I have no fans in the case other then the CPU one.
The AC freezer is now on the CPU for a week already, and no sogns of improvement.
I checked all the wires inside and improved their placing, cleaned everything etc... with no results.

I ordered 1L of isopropylic alcohol since I couldn't find it anywhere else where I live and will try a reseat of both NB and CPU, with AS5 or Ceramique - I'm not decided yet. MX-2 also, if I can find it.

All temps are taken with: RealTemp, Everest, Coretemp - last versions. They were similar and indicated a TjMax of 100C. SpeedFan indicated temps 5C higher tho. GPU temps remained constant at 50/50/50-ish (Disp/Mem/Shader) - EAH4850 with last bios from ASUS - stock speeds at 160 core/250 ddr - 27% fan (2500-2800 rpm)

Sorry for the long post, I'm waiting anxiously any opinions, i just tried to provide you with as many details as possible. Thank you!

mmyesss
I had a very limited budget for this system and it has a no-name case that came with a 450 watt source attached. Knew that it's the worst thing I can do, but it was either a case with name/fans etc and a separate PSU with name... or a better CPU, or GPU... I'm sure you get the ideea.
I bought a 120mm fan when I purchased the AC freezer pro tho, from Arctic Cooling also, since it was such a shame not to, at that price. When I got home though, I realized there's no place on my case for such a big fan... so I'm still trying to find a way to make it blow on my NB somehow, since I spent the money on the wretched thing, unsuccesfully though.
So the fan from AC Freezer faces the memory slots on the mobo (draws air from the front of the case) and it blows it almost right out of the case (since it is so damn small - remember, I couldn't mount a 120mm fan on the thing, too big)... and a part on some of the VRM I guess 'coz of the bent fins
I assume u mentioned the core temps, not CPU from Winbond chip? My E7200 runs at 2533 MHz stock and has temps much higher then yours... well, very annoying

pantherx12 said:

He already said he has no other fans and the fan on the heatsink is facing the ram ( how it should be)

I don't have the same processor but have the same heatsink, under full load I don't go past 38 c and with only the OS and utorrent running I have idle temps of 20 c.

Only thing I can suggest is removing the heatsink and checking that the paste spread all over, because if it did not then you didn't put the pins in as far as they can go ( very tricky with this heatsink)

so just try and remount :]

Oh by the by, when cleaning old paste of your processor you can just wipe it off with tissue/kitchen roll.

Click to expand...

Very nice temps, I assume they are core temps also. As for the cleaning, I'll wait for the rubbing alcohol to arrive since I'm kinda worried i'll mess it it up even worse, and also destroy the last stash of acetone I know my girlfriend has hid somewhere from me

I'll deffinately do that and report back, as soon as I'll get some thermal paste. I'm not very sure what to buy, and the offer here is not that rich. At least I saw AS 5 and Ceramique, and from the reviews I understand they are very good. MX-2 would also be an option but I haven't find it anywhere in stores... I'll just have a walk tommorow and see what's available. What do you guys like?

re-seat = same temps

Back. Re-seated the AC Freezer, got even the fan down so I can be sure all is in place. Paste was a little uneven, so I contaminated it a bit with a very clean and new credit card (sterilized with alcohol) and made the paste a line just as told in the instructions for AS5 on their site.
After some quick IBT and Prime95, guess what... temps are THE SAME. It's like i didn't do sh*t.
Oh, and that 55-60C that the cores report under heavy load with IBT, they feel just a LITTLE warm when touching the base fins of AC Freezer. But touching the NB at 40C, well, that's burning. I'm not sure I'll be able to re-mount that flimsy golden heatsink with new TIM without scratching it and voiding the warranty.
I'm just dissapointed in the quality of these products

Well, the cores are 40C+. From what I know, that's what matters.
The stock Intel cooler did a better job at idle for me then... the temps were 41/37 instead of 44/40. I'm pretty sure I'm doing something wrong. I guess I'll wait till the alcohol and new paste are here and try to do a better job cleaning and mounting and sterilizing stuff. I can't help it, I.m a doctor
Nevertheless, thank you very much for all the help and time

Hmm, I was just helping a friend with a dual-core p2xxx-something (1,46GHz&1MB cache) who began to suffer of "sudden deaths". After a quick RealTemp Sensor Test with a little help from Prime95, his laptop temps went quickly in the high 80s, leaving only 10C delta to TjMax sometimes. Fans went crazy ofc, and if he did not visit the shop responsible for the warranty today, it would have burned in his arms - or bed, or who knows where else. Now they are replacing all fans as they were too dusty to clean and reapply TIM on CPU and other needed places. I mean, 70c is very high and laptops can just burn if dusty enough+bad luck. Better you take it to the medic
I feel that depending on chip ofc, idle core temp should be on low 30s, and that is also my target. 45nm chips are supposedly cooler then the older 65nm, which I saw even on 22-25C at idle, core temp, with not-so-state-of-the-art Noctua cooler and AS5 thermal compound. Yes, there were in Antec cases with at least 2 fans, I know I have none of those yet, but I'll be happy with a 30C idle temp at stock speed. Then I'll overclock till IBT temps on full load and rpm will be 70, and remain at that speed. No real-world app will do 65+ if IBT has 70C.
But 1st, I gotta solve this mistery. Ummm and I think the NB is now hotter 'coz the air the stock Intel cooler was blowing down on it is missing now. Although i have some real nice old (and unused) GPU coolers, none will fit on the golden miracle that is the P5Q NB heatsink.