Help with temps from CPU upgrade

[Rogue666]

Hello, I just upgraded my CPU to a QX6850 quad and I'm getting large variations between cores(especially under load), and also hot core temps in general. I'm not overclocking, and don't intend to. I installed the stock Intel heatsink and fan(paste pre-applied to heatsink by Intel). I checked the heatsink and it doesn't so much as wiggle at all. Seems very securely attached. Are these temps something to worry about? Does it look like I need to reseat the heatsink?



Thanks for any help.

[Morrison5891]

It wouldnt hurt to try that... Those temps are 2 high

[BradleyKZN]

Reseat it, and if u can then get better thermal paste, get some, it makes a big difference. I had the same problem as you with my q9550.

[Rogue666]

Thanks for the advice guys. I popped off the HS and the pre-applied thermal compound had a 2mm wide line of missing compound across the 2 hot cores. I cleaned it and reapplied the stock Intel compound(Dow Corning TC-1996), and rotated the HS by 90'C when I reinstalled. Big improvement:



Now the previously hot cores are the cooler ones, but the temp difference is a constant 6'C across all loads now, and all temps are much lower. I'm assuming by the paired results that the rotation of the HS did not matter at all. Should I be concerned about the 6'C difference?

The Intel directions said to apply the whole contents of the syringe in the center, but I attempted the line across the printed text method for quad cores. When I did this the line, which I thought was somewhat thick, only dispensed about half the compound. I then applied a 2nd equal line next to it and smoothed it out somewhat into a rough rectangle with the syringe tip. Not the ideal procedure, I know, but it was my first time messing around with thermal compound. Anyway, would it be worth buying more compound to try again? Or should I be satisfied with the current results?

Thanks again for the advice,

[BradleyKZN]

Looks ok to me??