Bad H80i Temps

[cameron2134]

Hey guys, I recently just got a replacement H80i due to my first one having a faulty pump, so I got this replacement which seems to have a problem. The temperature is incredibly high in comparison to the first H80i (before it went faulty) and it is idling at around 40-50 degrees on my i5-3570k, and hitting up to 70 degrees under load, and 79 in prime95.

The first one sat at around 25 degrees idle and rarely exceeded 50 degrees under load...so something is definitely wrong. I installed everything correctly, same as last time, except this time I rotated the pump so the pipes weren't in the way of the RAM, and now facing the graphics card.

Anyone have any ideas on why the temps are so high?

 

[Feronix]

Re-do your thermal paste and re-seat the CPU block?

 

[cameron2134]

Re-do your thermal paste and re-seat the CPU block?

I'll try that tomorrow morning, and hopefully temps will drop down like a rock. Hopefully that will fix the problem and I'll see decent temps once again.

 

[cameron2134]

Well, I found the problem. Turns out, that the awful pre-applied thermal paste has barely even spread out on the CPU, there's just one strip on the side. Gonna order me some Arctic Silver.

 

[FTLN]

Also check that the block is sitting correctly on your IHS with enough pressure. If not then use some washers on the black plate to create more force on the IHS..

 

[233Kosta]

Well, I found the problem. Turns out, that the awful pre-applied thermal paste has barely even spread out on the CPU, there's just one strip on the side. Gonna order me some Arctic Silver.

What you want to do with arctic silver is after thoroughly cleaning both surfaces, prime them with just a touch of AS5 which you then rub into the surface with a cloth or kitchen roll or whatever takes your fancy. You want to see some surface discolouration, or rather the surface changing colour. How much it changes depends on its roughness, obviously with a mirror shine finish this would be a waste of time.

After that, you want to stick a little blob, about the size of a grain of rice, in the middle of your CPU's IHS. I measure it at about 1.5mm sticking out of the tube before I place it on the die.

Don't spread it, that's just asking for air bubbles.

Then seat the block, give it a little wiggle, and tighten it up.

After you boot, you want to give it a few thermal cycle (prime->idle->prime->idle and so on) to help it settle in properly.

This procedure should reduce your break in period to between an hour and a couple of days. Last few times I did it, I've not observed any break in, after about 5 thermal cycles it just works fine.