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Bulding a PC and ran into serious issue

DdMac679

DdMac679

macrumors member
Original poster
Jul 25, 2009
85
0
United States
I am currently building a new PC. I am using a Coolermaster V8 with an i7 processor and when I turned it on for the first time tonight I immediately received a CPU overheat warming. I was able to see what the temp was running at (185 F) before it automatically shutdown. I know my fan is working and fan speeds are at 2000 RPM, so that leaves only the thermal paste. Now this is my first time having to apply thermal paste so I am sure it is beginner error. I applied a small amount of paste in the middle and proceeded to evenly and lightly spread it across the CPU till completely covered where the V8 would reside. I am at a loss and I am not sure what is the correct step to take.
 
Are you sure the Coolermaster is sitting on the CPU properly? Make sure the screws are holding down evenly. I would re-mount the Coolermaster and when you pull it off, you should get an idea by looking at the paste whether it was contacting fully or not. When tightening the screws, do one screw, than the next on the opposite side from the one you just did. Work in a clockwise direction.

I'm not familiar with the V8, do you have to use those stupid plastic pins to mount it or does it have a bracket that eliminates them with normal screws?

As far as the Thermal paste goes, you can spread a thin layer around using an old credit card or any plastic card. Make sure your getting enough paste on though.

With temps that high, I would think that the heatsink wasn't contacting properly.
 
As far as I tell it is. It uses a bracket instead of the plastic pins and everything seemed pretty tight to me earlier. Will have to wait till morning before removing and remounting the fan.
 
mistake one was spreading around the paste.

The iCore CPU have a heat spreader on them. The correct way to apply thermal paste is put a rise size amount dead center. Then take the heat sink and just put it on. The heat sink will spread everything out.

Also never touch the stuff with your fingers the oils in your hands will mess up the bonding.
 
So I will need to remove the V8, clean and reapply the thermal paste? When you say rise amount, do you mean a pea size glob or a small line across the cpu?
 
DdMac679 said:
I immediately received a CPU overheat warming
Click to expand...

How immediately? If it was within a minute or two you may just have a bum temperature sensor. I cant imagine a cpu (even an i7) could get up to 85ºC instantly, though i could be wrong. Does it physically feel hot? Dont just start running your fingers all over the cpu, but carefully touch the top of the heat sink and move down toward the cpu. If it feels really hot then you have a cooling problem. If it feels kinda hot you may have a sensor problem.
 
You said you know the fan is working properly, but you got an overheat and the rpm’s didn’t change?

Be sure you thoroughly clean the CPU and the heat sink after you take it apart. Also, be careful not to ruin the pins of the CPU removing the heat sink.
 
DdMac679 said:
So I will need to remove the V8, clean and reapply the thermal paste? When you say rise amount, do you mean a pea size glob or a small line across the cpu?
Click to expand...

Pea size glob dead center the pressure of seating the block evenly will spread the heat sink grease sufficiently enough also make sure you're using the silver grease rather than the white the white grease is fine for simpler transistors but my not be effective enough for dissipating heat away from a CPU.
 
DdMac679 said:
So I will need to remove the V8, clean and reapply the thermal paste? When you say rise amount, do you mean a pea size glob or a small line across the cpu?
Click to expand...

Yes you will. You can apply thermal paste either way you described, although I prefer the old one line and spreading it evenly with a business card trick.

Also from what you've described, the problem isn't the way you applied thermal paste, more that your heatsink didn't set properly on the CPU. Do a thorough check next time.

Also, if you're planning on OCing, use a better TIM than the one Coolermaster provided you with the heatsink, get MX2 or MX3 instead, the couple of degree difference they make does count.
 
NoSmokingBandit said:
How immediately? If it was within a minute or two you may just have a bum temperature sensor. I cant imagine a cpu (even an i7) could get up to 85ºC instantly, though i could be wrong. Does it physically feel hot? Dont just start running your fingers all over the cpu, but carefully touch the top of the heat sink and move down toward the cpu. If it feels really hot then you have a cooling problem. If it feels kinda hot you may have a sensor problem.
Click to expand...

I get the warning within 1 minute of powering up. From the quick time it is operational before shutting down, it doesn't feel hot.

-aggie- said:
You said you know the fan is working properly, but you got an overheat and the rpm’s didn’t change?
Click to expand...

The V8 comes with a fan control switch. When I turn it down I see the RPMs in BIOS drop and go back up with returning it to High.

wywern209 said:
i've heard acrtic silver 5 is an excellent cooling paste. i would use that instead of the white paste you got.
Click to expand...

AS5 is the paste I applied.
 
Rodimus Prime said:
mistake one was spreading around the paste.

The iCore CPU have a heat spreader on them. The correct way to apply thermal paste is put a rise size amount dead center. Then take the heat sink and just put it on. The heat sink will spread everything out.

Also never touch the stuff with your fingers the oils in your hands will mess up the bonding.
Click to expand...

Not true. Pea, star, line, completely spreading paste ALL have very similar success. The trick is to not overapply and make sure the heat sink is flush.

Also, the oils in your fingers modify the thermal coefficient of the paste, which is bad. You only care about proper bonding when using thermal adhesives. In those cases, you'll have no screws to maintain the surface contact.
 
chrmjenkins said:
Not true. Pea, star, line, completely spreading paste ALL have very similar success. The trick is to not overapply and make sure the heat sink is flush.

Also, the oils in your fingers modify the thermal coefficient of the paste, which is bad. You only care about proper bonding when using thermal adhesives. In those cases, you'll have no screws to maintain the surface contact.
Click to expand...

Hmm. I was going off my memory of directions of Arctic Silver 5. I know I never bothers to spread it out when ever I used it. It was small amount in the center put the Heat sink on and lock it down. That is what I did the 4 times I have pulled the CPU in my computer.
I will say with AS5 that after it been in a computer for a while (week or 2) when I pulled the heat sink the CPU got pulled out with it.
Just be careful when you remove the heat sink and pull straight up with it because the CPU might be glued to it and be coming out with it. Not a big deal and it will come right off. You just do not want to bend the pins when the CPU comes out.
 
The lever should hold the CPU in place while he removes the heatsink. All methods have their drawbacks. You risk air bubbles when spreading it. You risk under-applying or insufficient coverage with dot or similar methods. This point is especially true in mobile systems where it is difficult to apply the necessary pressure with the heatsink to spread the TIM.
 
chrmjenkins said:
The lever should hold the CPU in place while he removes the heatsink. All methods have their drawbacks. You risk air bubbles when spreading it. You risk under-applying or insufficient coverage with dot or similar methods. This point is especially true in mobile systems where it is difficult to apply the necessary pressure with the heatsink to spread the TIM.
Click to expand...

While that should be the case. It does not always work. I pointed out how it happen to me. I had the lever but it seems after 2-3 weeks of running I pulled the heat sink the CPU came out with it. The lever was still down.

I have never installed a mobile system but I know on the desktop I do not worry about not having enough pressure to spread it since locking the Heat sink down is what applies the most pressure and forces everything out.
On my atholon system it was put it on and close the heat sink lever which took a fair amount of force that took care of everything.
 
Just a quick update:

When I went to remove the V8 I noticed that it was loose. I removed, cleaned and placed the stock fan online to help troubleshoot the issue. I am currently running in BIOS at 33.5 to 34 C. This is a relief and at least I isolated the issue. I am thinking of sending the V8 back since I wasn't able to establish a tighter connection after several attempts. Anyone have a good suggestion on an aftermarket heatsink?

Thank you for all your help.
 
DdMac679 said:
Just a quick update:

When I went to remove the V8 I noticed that it was loose. I removed, cleaned and placed the stock fan online to help troubleshoot the issue. I am currently running in BIOS at 33.5 to 34 C. This is a relief and at least I isolated the issue. I am thinking of sending the V8 back since I wasn't able to establish a tighter connection after several attempts. Anyone have a good suggestion on an aftermarket heatsink?

Thank you for all your help.
Click to expand...

Are you planning on Overclocking?
If not the stock one will work just fine. Aftermarket ones only come into play if you want to do passive cooling or are planning on over clocking. Other wise stock is great.
 
Corsair H50 (closed loop water system, pump adds some noise though)
Prolimatech Megahalems (best air cooler on the market, period but expensive... $60-70 not including fan)
Thermalright Ultra-120 (used to be the best)

EDIT: Most of the above should by default support 1366, there is a newer revision of the Thermalright that should support 1366... otherwise, I'm pretty sure they sell adapters for the 1366.
 
Funkatronic said:
Yes you will. You can apply thermal paste either way you described, although I prefer the old one line and spreading it evenly with a business card trick.

Also from what you've described, the problem isn't the way you applied thermal paste, more that your heatsink didn't set properly on the CPU. Do a thorough check next time.

Also, if you're planning on OCing, use a better TIM than the one Coolermaster provided you with the heatsink, get MX2 or MX3 instead, the couple of degree difference they make does count.
Click to expand...

I disagree with the business card idea a the paper has two down sides first it absorbs the oils from the skin as well and can redeposit them in the thermal paste. Second if it's a new business card fresh off the press there is risk of a static charge buildup which could zap the CPU and screw it up for good.
 
When i smooth out my paste i use an old gift card or something thats plastic with a very straight edge. I did that to my current Q8400 and i can game for hours without the temp going over ~42ºC, and thats with the stock heatsink.
 
Glad to hear you at least found the problem. Almost every instance I've ever seen was because the cooler wasn't flush to the CPU. I'm surprised the bracket didn't allow you to get it tight, that's usually the preferred method. Better than those horrible plastic screws with the springs.

You might want to check that you had it installed correctly. There's usually a very specific way it has to mount, otherwise it ends up loose like you describe. Make sure the bracket is on correctly and that you aligned it correctly.
 
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