Hot Core i7-920 on high load: faulty CPU or fan?

[sahibabboud]

Dear all
This is my first post in this forum.

My Dell studio XPS 435mt (Bloomfield i7 920, no overclocking, 6 GIGs RAM) has been working well for the last 3 years. I used it mainly for internet / emails / presentations / database work and basic Standard and High Def video editing using AVIDEMUX and DIVX software.

In the last few weeks great deal of noise started to come out from the PC, the noise occurred soon after opening an HD or an SD video file and continued until I close the file then the noise will gradually go down back to its idle state.

I opened the case and did a thorough cleaning with a house hold Dyson (very carefully) and a lot of dirt came out but no effect on the noise.

After some googling around one possible reason was excessive hard disk activity, I had a look at the Resource Monitor and it did show high reading and writing activity coinciding with the noise. Good! I thought time had come for an upgrade so I went a head and installed a new SSD as my system drive and relegated my old hard disk for a storage purposes.

Unfortunately the noise persisted and it had become louder in the last few days. I came across HardWare Monitor software and run it at idle state then at time of maximum noise.

Idle state: Maximum noise

I can see cores temp went up from 61- 63 to 74-77, fan 0 from 1610 to 2766 and fan 1 from 1650 to 3082.

Is my CPU going to die? and what is meant by the Powers Package going up from 40 w to 149 w. Is it the fault of processor or the fans or the heatsink?

Sorry for the long story but please advise me on what to do.

Many thanks

 

[sahibabboud]

Whoops!
I think I have made a mess trying to paste the 2 HardWare Monitor data images. Could some one tell me on how to put an image in my post as I kept getting error message that my post was too long!

 

[klepto12]

I think that maybe you need to re-seat the Heat sink over your CPU. Clean the thermal paste off the cpu and heatsink then reaply new thermal paste and re-seat the heat sink.

 

[captaincranky]

The temperature rise is arguably from the software. Sounds crazy, I know. But, the only way (*) to account for that rise in power usage is, if the CPU's duty cycle has been elevated.

I'm not addressing this comment to the fact that you may indeed, still have to reseat the CPU.

However, a bad thermal connection doesn't really account for the power spike. (I don't think it does, anyway).

So, pull up "Task manager", and see which programs are using how much memory and CPU percentage, (on the "process" tab. And also check the "Performance" tab, to see what the CPU core graph traces may be able to tell you.

The CPU Vcore voltage hasn't changed, so the PSU or VRM aren't an issue.

A hanging app, or malware, can cause an enormous rise in CPU usage.

Just some things to rule out, before going further, and ripping the CPU Heatsink & fan off.

 

[sahibabboud]

The temperature rise is arguably from the software. Sounds crazy, I know. But, the only way (*) to account for that rise in power usage is, if the CPU's duty cycle has been elevated.

I'm not addressing this comment to the fact that you may indeed, still have to reseat the CPU.

However, a bad thermal connection doesn't really account for the power spike. (I don't think it does, anyway).

So, pull up "Task manager", and see which programs are using how much memory and CPU percentage, (on the "process" tab. And also check the "Performance" tab, to see what the CPU core graph traces may be able to tell you.

The CPU Vcore voltage hasn't changed, so the PSU or VRM aren't an issue.

A hanging app, or malware, can cause an enormous rise in CPU usage.

Just some things to rule out, before going further, and ripping the CPU Heatsink & fan off.

Klepto12:
Thanks for your advice.

Captaincranky:
Many thanks for your comments. In fact I did a clean install of WIN 7 PRO only a few days ago, I did not install any antivirus or malware hunting programs except the one that came with WIN 7.

I have to admit that I have recently updated AVIDEMUX to the last version (2.6.1). Prior to that I did not have any problem with noise. So to check it out I cold booted my PC, run AVIDEMUX and opened a video file and surprise surprise!

I could see the four cores temp climbing up and the fan running faster. Resource Monitor showed 12 to 14% CPU claimed by AVIDEMUX. When I closed the application all went back to normal. This clearly indicated that this version did cause a lot of CPU activity. I tried an earlier version but the result was the same.

I think I will go a head and reseat the heatsink and see what happens after that.

Thanks all for your input

 

[captaincranky]

Well first, you're quite welcome.

I have a couple more issues for you to contemplate.

It's sort of unusual for a thermal compound to simply fail, just like that. Normally you might expect a slower rise in temps over a protracted period of time.

14% CPU usage shouldn't provoke that temp rise you're experiencing.

Is is possible the HSF was jarred in any way? Is it possible that one of the infamous Intel push-pins popped out?

What HSF assembly are you using? A stock Intel won't do the job under high stress conditions.

I still think something strange is going on, given that 14% CPU usage, shouldn't account for a 100 watt jump in power consumption.

The comparison may be slightly abstract, but my Core i3-530 rig, idles at 20 watts or thereabouts, on the desktop, and doesn't reach its TDP of 73 watts, until the CPU hits 100%. And even at that I only get, at most, a 10c rise. (I have way too much heat sink on way too little CPU).

 

[Darth Shiv]

My guess is the fan bearing on the CPU fan is dry.

 

[captaincranky]

I'm curious if the wattage reading is off the CPU, or the whole system.

My guess is the fan bearing on the CPU fan is dry.

Possibly but, the tachometer seems to indicate they're turning, and speeding up with demand.

IMO, they temps are too high for the load he claims is being encountered. (And also were before).

With that said, after fully reading the OP again, he was inside the case banging around, and could have knocked the HSF loose.

 

[sahibabboud]

Well first, you're quite welcome.

I have a couple more issues for you to contemplate.

It's sort of unusual for a thermal compound to simply fail, just like that. Normally you might expect a slower rise in temps over a protracted period of time.

14% CPU usage shouldn't provoke that temp rise you're experiencing.

Is is possible the HSF was jarred in any way? Is it possible that one of the infamous Intel push-pins popped out?

What HSF assembly are you using? A stock Intel won't do the job under high stress conditions.

I still think something strange is going on, given that 14% CPU usage, shouldn't account for a 100 watt jump in power consumption.

The comparison may be slightly abstract, but my Core i3-530 rig, idles at 20 watts or thereabouts, on the desktop, and doesn't reach its TDP of 73 watts, until the CPU hits 100%. And even at that I only get, at most, a 10c rise. (I have way too much heat sink on way too little CPU).

Thanks Captain

The HSF is the original Dell's that came with my PC (studio xps 435mt). I think it is called P041K

I don't think I have jarred or even touched the HSF when I installed the SSD or cleaned the inside.

I have noted that the jump in power from about 40 to 140 took place immediately after the video file started to run, it did not build up gradually as expected. I am not sure of the significance of this jump.

 

[captaincranky]

Well, you couldn't have knocked a pin out, since it's a "bolt me in".

Your Radeon 4850 video card is pretty power hungry. (Not as efficient as a comparable card of this generation).

Unfortunately, those bolt in mounts on the stock HSF, limit your choices for replacement to near zero.

As I said earlier, comparing my i3-530 with your i7-920 is quite abstract. The i3-530 73 watt TDP includes the video usage.

Using the identical monitoring software, (SIW), in a LGA775 E6300 Pent Dual Core, I don''t get current or wattage readings, but with the LGA1156 socketed 530, I do.

So, get a decent TIM compound, "Arctic Silver" is widely used, and give it a shot.

Another quick question, when you say the "anti-virus that came with Windows", are you talking about "Windows Defender", or "Microsoft Security Essentials", which is the actual AV product, and is a separate download?

 

[sahibabboud]

Well, you couldn't have knocked a pin out, since it's a "bolt me in".

Your Radeon 4850 video card is pretty power hungry. (Not as efficient as a comparable card of this generation).

Unfortunately, those bolt in mounts on the stock HSF, limit your choices for replacement to near zero.

As I said earlier, comparing my i3-530 with your i7-920 is quite abstract. The i3-530 73 watt TDP includes the video usage.

Using the identical monitoring software, (SIW), in a LGA775 E6300 Pent Dual Core, I don''t get current or wattage readings, but with the LGA1156 socketed 530, I do.

So, get a decent TIM compound, "Arctic Silver" is widely used, and give it a shot.

Another quick question, when you say the "anti-virus that came with Windows", are you talking about "Windows Defender", or "Microsoft Security Essentials", which is the actual AV product, and is a separate download?

Thanks Captain

Near zero means I may find something better. First let us try the Arctic Silver and I will update you with the outcome. It is Windows Defender that came with WIN 7.

 

[Adhmuz]

Download both real temp and intel burn test, run IBT and monitor the CPU temperatures with real temp. Your idle is a little high at 60 degrees and peaking mid to high 70's a 10 degree rise in core temp isn't a whole lot and Bloomfield chips can reach 100 degrees C, if you had bad contact it would be much hotter. Can you locate the two fans, FANIN01 and FANIN02, I would think FANIN01 is for the CPU and the other is perhaps for a motherboard fan? And at over 3000 rpm is likely the source of your noise.

Also while its making this noise try opening the side panel, don't touch anything but try and hear for where the sound is coming from, if your brave you can slow down certain fans to try and pin point the source of your noise.

 

[captaincranky]

....[ ].....Your idle is a little high at 60 degrees and peaking mid to high 70's a 10 degree rise in core temp isn't a whole lot and Bloomfield chips can reach 100 degrees C, if you had bad contact it would be much hotter.

Pretty much every forum on the web disagrees with you about these temps.

 

[Hany EL-Nokaly]

I'd make sure the heatsink fins is not clogged with dust.
Also wipe old thermal compound and apply new one then reseat the heatsink.

 

[LNCPapa]

I cleared out some of the posts that went off track here - guys... please keep it civil and focused on the OP's questions. I also didn't bother picking out anything actually useful so if you don't mind, repost anything that it on topic.

 

[sahibabboud]

Dear all

I ordered Arctic Silver 5 from Amazon. It was delivered yesterday. This morning I opened the case and removed the heatsink and not surprisingly the whole thing is encased with dirt!. It took me an hour to clean it with soft brushes and Dyson vacuum cleaner, then I removed the old thermal paste and applied the Arctic Silver, reseated the heatsink, closed the PC case and rebooted.

What a relief!, the loud noise has gone, the idle cores temp readings were 41,42,40 and 43. I run my video software and loaded an HD video clip. With CPU use at 20% It worked! the temp maxed at about 50 to 55, no excess fan activity and no noise. Sweat success. I hope this improvement will be sustained for the foreseeable future.

It has been fruitful experience and now I know much more about the inside of my PC. I would like to thank every one who has responded and advised.

Cheers and have a good day!

 

[klepto12]

Glad we could help seems like what I suggested was correct as of right now hope it keeps it up.