Adequacy of stock cooler on core i7 920
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From: Jim Cochrane on 26 Jan 2010 05:15 I'm trying to determine if I need to buy a cooler/fan for the system I'm putting together. I'll be using my system mainly for music composition and real-time music processing - simultaneous MIDI sequencing, audio processing, and music notation. I won't be using the system for high-performance gaming, but I think music processing is quite a bit more demanding than ordinary office/desktop use. (I described my planned system earlier in my posting about a music workstation.) How good is the stock cooler that comes with the core i7 920? Can it handle this type of application without letting the CPU overheat? Or would it be wise for me to buy a better cooler/fan? Another question I have is what happens if the CPU does overheat? I suspect it depends on how hot it gets - that if it overheats to a very high temperature or if it overheats for extensive periods of time, it is likely to burn out and die; but that if the overheating is not that extreme, instead of dying, the CPU's lifespan will be shortened, depending on how often it has overheated - e.g., it may last 4 years instead of 12 years. Is this right? Finally, in case I do need to purchase a CPU cooler, any recommendations for a good one for a core i7 920 on a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 motherboard (with an Antec 1200 full-tower case and a Mushkin XP650 power supply) would be appreciated. (I just finished reading a good review [ http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/13744-thermalright-ultra-120-extreme-1366-rt-cpu-cooler-review-10.html ] of the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT.) Thanks! Jim --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news(a)netfront.net ---
From: Ian D on 26 Jan 2010 10:15 "Jim Cochrane" <allergic-to-spam(a)no-spam-allowed.invalid> wrote in message news:slrnhltg6o.4fl.allergic-to-spam(a)no-spam-allowed.invalid... > I'm trying to determine if I need to buy a cooler/fan for the system I'm > putting together. I'll be using my system mainly for music composition > and real-time music processing - simultaneous MIDI sequencing, audio > processing, and music notation. I won't be using the system for > high-performance gaming, but I think music processing is quite a bit > more demanding than ordinary office/desktop use. (I described my > planned system earlier in my posting about a music workstation.) > > How good is the stock cooler that comes with the core i7 920? Can it > handle this type of application without letting the CPU overheat? Or > would it be wise for me to buy a better cooler/fan? > > Another question I have is what happens if the CPU does overheat? > I suspect it depends on how hot it gets - that if it overheats to a > very high temperature or if it overheats for extensive periods of time, > it is likely to burn out and die; but that if the overheating is not > that extreme, instead of dying, the CPU's lifespan will be shortened, > depending on how often it has overheated - e.g., it may last 4 years > instead of 12 years. Is this right? > > Finally, in case I do need to purchase a CPU cooler, any recommendations > for a good one for a core i7 920 on a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 motherboard > (with an Antec 1200 full-tower case and a Mushkin XP650 power supply) > would be appreciated. (I just finished reading a good review [ > http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/13744-thermalright-ultra-120-extreme-1366-rt-cpu-cooler-review-10.html > ] of the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT.) > > > Thanks! > > Jim > > --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news(a)netfront.net --- If you have a well ventilated case, the stock cooler should be adequate for your intended uses. I have an i7 920 running at 2.8GHz, which is the default with Intel Turboboost enabled in BIOS. At an ambient room temp of about 26 C, the 920 idles at around 43 C with the stock cooler. Running MS Flight Simulator X, which is very CPU intensive, with all cores at 100% I have yet to see higher than 69 C, which is well within the CPUs tolerances. The max temp for the i7 920 is 100 C. I doubt that your apps will be this demanding. I did buy a high performance cooler, but so far have seen no need to install it. There's no worry about overheating the CPU, it will throttle before the temps reach dangerous levels. However, I doubt that it would be good to run the CPU on the edge for extended periods.
From: Paul on 26 Jan 2010 12:27 Ian D wrote: > "Jim Cochrane" <allergic-to-spam(a)no-spam-allowed.invalid> wrote in message > news:slrnhltg6o.4fl.allergic-to-spam(a)no-spam-allowed.invalid... >> I'm trying to determine if I need to buy a cooler/fan for the system I'm >> putting together. I'll be using my system mainly for music composition >> and real-time music processing - simultaneous MIDI sequencing, audio >> processing, and music notation. I won't be using the system for >> high-performance gaming, but I think music processing is quite a bit >> more demanding than ordinary office/desktop use. (I described my >> planned system earlier in my posting about a music workstation.) >> >> How good is the stock cooler that comes with the core i7 920? Can it >> handle this type of application without letting the CPU overheat? Or >> would it be wise for me to buy a better cooler/fan? >> >> Another question I have is what happens if the CPU does overheat? >> I suspect it depends on how hot it gets - that if it overheats to a >> very high temperature or if it overheats for extensive periods of time, >> it is likely to burn out and die; but that if the overheating is not >> that extreme, instead of dying, the CPU's lifespan will be shortened, >> depending on how often it has overheated - e.g., it may last 4 years >> instead of 12 years. Is this right? >> >> Finally, in case I do need to purchase a CPU cooler, any recommendations >> for a good one for a core i7 920 on a Gigabyte EX58-UD5 motherboard >> (with an Antec 1200 full-tower case and a Mushkin XP650 power supply) >> would be appreciated. (I just finished reading a good review [ >> http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum/hardware-canucks-reviews/13744-thermalright-ultra-120-extreme-1366-rt-cpu-cooler-review-10.html >> ] of the Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme 1366 RT.) >> >> >> Thanks! >> >> Jim >> >> --- news://freenews.netfront.net/ - complaints: news(a)netfront.net --- > > If you have a well ventilated case, the stock cooler should be > adequate for your intended uses. I have an i7 920 running at > 2.8GHz, which is the default with Intel Turboboost enabled > in BIOS. At an ambient room temp of about 26 C, the 920 idles > at around 43 C with the stock cooler. Running MS Flight > Simulator X, which is very CPU intensive, with all cores at > 100% I have yet to see higher than 69 C, which is well within > the CPUs tolerances. The max temp for the i7 920 is 100 C. I > doubt that your apps will be this demanding. I did buy a high > performance cooler, but so far have seen no need to install it. > > There's no worry about overheating the CPU, it will throttle > before the temps reach dangerous levels. However, I doubt > that it would be good to run the CPU on the edge for extended > periods. > > Doesn't the 920 throttle at 68C ? I looked in the datasheet (320834) and the throttle temperature is listed as 68C on page 73 (temp at 130W). http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/320834.pdf You could try something like RMClock, as I think it has throttle detection in it. Use that to double check whether throttling occurs and at what temperature it starts to show up. http://cpu.rightmark.org/download.shtml RightMark CPU Clock Utility (RMClock) RMClock Utility 2.35 29/02/2008 .EXE 571 Kb Executable & data files An example of using RMClock is here. http://ixbtlabs.com/articles2/cpu/intel-thermal-features-core2.html ******* I looked in the Newegg reviews for the 920 and found one review where the owner didn't consider the stock cooler to be enough. Some coolers are reviewed here. http://www.legitreviews.com/article/880/11/ This might make a nice cooler. It comes with two fans, you can install one and keep the second as a spare for later. Noctua NH-U12P SE2 120mm SSO CPU Cooler Intel LGA1366 / LGA1156 / LGA775, AMD AM2 / AM2+ / AM3 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835608014 http://www.noctua.at/pdf/manuals/noctua_nh_u12p_se2_manual_en.pdf Once the mounting bars are in place, you can remove the heatsink without having to pull the motherboard from the case. The heatsink fastens with two screws, to the mounting bars. Might be nicer than dealing with push pins. Check for sufficient space inside the computer case, for the cooler. Paul
From: Ian D on 26 Jan 2010 14:06 >> > > Doesn't the 920 throttle at 68C ? I looked in the datasheet (320834) and > the throttle temperature is listed as 68C on page 73 (temp at 130W). > The Tj Max for the i7 920 is 100 C. The throttling starts at around 92 C, so in theory, it should never reach 100 C. Those are junction temps, so the package temps are usually cooler. CoreTemp and HWMonitor only read the junction temps, but Everest also reads the die temps, which are usually about 10 deg cooler. At idle the core 0 temp is usually about 3 or 4 deg above the others. With the stock cooler set at the most relaxed cooling, I've tested the 920 in the mid 80s C without any issues. I normally run the fan at the most aggressive setting. That way I usually stay below 70 C on heavy loads. The maximum CPU power usage I've seen on my system is 152 watts. There are those who run their 920s in the 70s to low 80s without issue. In the long term the CPU may be able to handle that, but the surrounding components, especially capacitors, could be affected by those temps.
From: Charlie on 26 Jan 2010 15:07
"Paul" <nospam(a)needed.com> wrote in message news:hjn8li$lpf$1(a)news.eternal-september.org... > > Doesn't the 920 throttle at 68C ? I looked in the datasheet > (320834) and > the throttle temperature is listed as 68C on page 73 (temp at > 130W). > > http://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/320834.pdf > > Paul Paul, When I built my I7 920 machine (stock cooler and fan) in June I did temperature tests using Prime95 (all cores running maxed). I used Speedfan for reading the temps. The processor temperature exceeded 70C in less than 5 minutes. I had read also about 68C shutdown temp so I was surprised when that didn't happen. Further reading shows Intel seems to imply that the temp used to determine shutdown is factory calibrated for each part (see page 76 in the datasheet you referenced). Of course Speedfan may not be accurate as well. Also the individual core temps were 5C to 8C lower than the case temp. To Jim, The stock fan and cooler were not the problem. I modified the case for better air flow and bought better case fans and the I7 stabilizes at 60C using Prime95. The following numbers are from my last test. The BIOS setting (ASUS P6T SE motherboard) is Silent mode (fans speed up when things get hot). Prime95: I7 60C cores 52C-55C Idle: I7 43C cores 28C-30C Mobo: 43C HardDrive: 37C Room: 26C Charlie |