i7 idle temps.

[rhythmtechnologies]

guys, what temp is normal for an i7 to idle at? mine seems to sit between 50 & 54 and rise to about 60-65 under heavy load. ive never seen it go over 65 YET.

my i7 is OC'd to 3.2 at the moment.

[mano111]

Load temps seem fine. Idle temps seem a bit high but still well within reasonable limits for an OCed i7.

Temps are affected by many factors.

What cooler are u using?
Computer case and air flow (fans and fan speeds...) affect temps as well, so a description of that would help.
How are your stock speed temps? (with default voltages)

i7s run hot (130W TDP), so its unlikely you would see 'Core2' temps on an 'i7' CPU ( at least not until 32nm fab will hit us next year).

[guitardom]

your temps are quite high actually. mine is oc'd to 3.4 or 3.6....cant remember exactly but it idling temps are LOW 40's and load temps get into about the LOW 60's at the most, buy typically in the 50's.

time to pull you heatsink/cpu and clean it up well and reapply some thermalpaste and reseat it.

[rhythmtechnologies]

just after running a heavy session and the highest was 57. im not too concerned about the high temps but the idle sitting at 50 is odd.

this is only a 2 month old build and the temps have been like that since day 1.

im not 100% computer savy so is there any links around for removing CPU and applying paste?

[TOM@METRO]

Arctic Silver is a superior paste to most and in most cases offers a noticeable reduction in CPU temps.

[rhythmtechnologies]

cheers TOM - any good tutorials about for the job?

[Escape]

Originally Posted by rhythmtechnologies

cheers TOM - any good tutorials about for the job?

Yes check their website and you will find all the info you need to add paste to your cpu.

[GeneOuse]

You want to have THIS for reapplying thermal paste and read through THIS to find out the best technique for paste application.
The heatsink mount design has a huge impact on how well it cools the CPU. Sometimes the "snap-on" coolers do not have good contact with the CPU surface and lots of heat isn't getting delivered to the cooler.