Xeon E3-1230 Temperatures

[DarkNova]

I recently bought a Xeon E3-1230, running on a Supermicro X9SCM-F motherboard, as seems to be a pretty common setup around here.

As my usual practice with a new system, I proceeded to run some stress tests under 100% load to make sure the system does not have a fault that will appear later.

I loaded a recent version of Linux (Linux Mint Debian Edition) and did "modprobe w83627ehf" and "modprobe coretemp", and then ran "sensors" to get the CPU temperature information.

I then ran prime95, 8 threads, to fully load the CPU. With this running, the Core 0-4 temperatures range from 75-80C, and the "PECI Agent 0" temperature goes up to a max of about 86.0C. I'm not exactly sure why the PECI Agent 0 temperature is a few degrees higher than the Core 0-4 temperatures, but they do seem to change together.

I'm using the stock Intel CPU heatsink/fan, and I have it set to Full Speed in the BIOS, which seems to be working as "sensors" also shows it running around 2000 rpm.

I double-checked that the heatsink/fan was locked in place, and idle temperatures range from 24-35C so that definitely seems reasonable.

When fully loaded and the PECI Agent 0 temperature shows in the low 80s, the Supermicro IPMI interface shows "Medium" for temperature (not sure why they don't show the actual temperature here). But when it gets up to the max of about 86.0C then it goes to high, so even if the Linux sensors are reading slightly off, Supermicro's BIOS does confirm that it is running too hot.

My case has plenty of airflow, 3 other fans turned up all the way.

Has anyone else done a similar test and seen the same/different results? I thought that the stock Intel heatsink would be good enough to handle a full load as long as I wasn't overclocking, but it doesn't seem to be able to. Or is something not working right on my setup?

The Intel datasheet for the E3-1230 shows a TCASE of 69.1C, so that's why I'm concerned about these temperatures?

Should I buy an aftermarket cooler?

 

[mobilenvidia]

Thermal Compound used ?(I highly recommend a proper brand, ie Arctic)
This will make a big difference.

I would also go down the aftermarket HS/Fan combo.
There are a mountain of different combo's for every possible scenario

 

[Patrick]

Seems high to me. Maybe try to do thermal compound again and re-seat the heatsink? For that CPU, seems like a super high temperature.

 

[mobilenvidia]

You have an issue.

I've not run Prime95 for absolute ages, just cranked up latest version running Large FFT test (most heat)

CPU Temp before I started 39degC
CPU after an hour of stress testing 43degC
MB temp 37DegC

I've got a XEON X3470 running stock speed and voltages.
What I do have is the Noctua NH14 Heatsink but with a Scythe Slipstream 120mm 1900RPM fan replacing the Noctua 140mm fan.
The Slipstream fan blows a hurricane of air over the heatsink and over the RAM and motherboard heatpipes (horizontal heatsink fins)
The Noctua 140mm fan which is soooo quiet I use as a Case fan to blow air onto my SSD's

For you to get temps into 80's let alone 60's there is something afoot.

 

[DarkNova]

Thanks for the responses. Since so many people think the stock heatsink is not very good, I decided that instead of taking the time to remove & reinstall the stock, for $20 I ordered the Hyper 212+ which looks to have really good reviews, and has a lot better mounting system. It will be a pain to install since I will have to remove the motherboard, but it will be worth it if the temperatures are a lot better. It will come in a few days and I will post back with the results.

 

[mmmmmdonuts]

If it makes you feel any better DarkNova, I replaced the stock heatsink with a Corsair H50, since I was constantly having my MB read all my CPU temp as high at full load and the noise was killing me. (I think this is above 66C) Once I switched to the H50, even at full load with linx or Prime 95, I am either at low or medium. Got the 212+ on other machines and it is a fantastic heatsink. You won't be disappointed.

 

[DarkNova]

I installed the Hyper 212 Plus and things are running much better now. As a note to anyone else looking to install it on this motherboard, it fits OK (assuming you have enough clearance in your case), but if you try to install it in the standard "east-west" configuration with it blowing out the rear of your case, the heatsink will block a couple memory slots making it so you need to remove the heatsink to remove/add memory, and it will also block the first PCI Express slot. I didn't want to do this, so I installed it in a "north-south" configuration where it blows out the top of my tower case. You really need a case with a vent on the top for this to work. This doesn't block any PCI Express slots, and the memory is blocked somewhat by the fan, but it takes 10 seconds to remove the fan from the heatsink and so its not a big deal to have to do that if you want to change memory.

With this cooler, running Prime95 in Linux the "PECI Agent 0" sensor shows a max temperature of 61C and the cores show max temps of 55C. The corresponding temperature shown by the Supermicro IPMI utility is "Medium", but I think it is close to the edge of "Low" as I see it go down to "Low" sometimes when things drop about 1-2C. This is with the BIOS fan control set to either Optimal or Standard. At these temperatures, the BIOS is making the CPU fan run at 1100-1200 RPM. This motherboard does not provide very much control over the fan. It must think these temperatures aren't very high as it is only turning the fan up to around 50% PWM.

If I change the BIOS fan setting to "Full Speed", it will always run the fan at almost 2000 RPM and then the PECI Agent 0 temp gets up to a max of 59C and the cores to 51C.

With the BIOS fan set to "Optimal", at idle the CPU fan runs at about 600 RPM and the PECI Agent 0 temp shows 32C and the cores 20-28C (pretty much ambient).

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Patrick]

The CM Hyper 212+ and 212 Evo coolers are basically my favorite air coolers at the moment. There are much better performing tower coolers, but my average purchase price has been <$30 which is great.