Are my temps too high?

[gelat]

I have an Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen 3, with an AMD 6750 (flashed to a 6790, but no overclocked), an Asutek watercooler on my CPU, an i5-2500K (not overclocked), and some 16GB G.Skill Ripjaws Z F3-12800CL9Q-16GBZL (not over-anythinged). I have a Corsair Carbide 400R, with 2 120mm intakes in front of drives, 2 120mm intakes on side blowing on CPU and GPU, and the 2 outtakes in the back, from the PSU and the watercooler. I also have a 120mm on top for exhaust)

I live in South Maine, it's hot as a goat, and my room AC keeps the room at 78 degrees. My ambient temps are 35-36 for the CPU, and the GPU is set with MSI afterburner, and is at 51 degrees idle. It was 47 degrees in the winter.

1. should I be worried?

2. on the 9th, an AMD 7950 shows up. It does run hotter.

[Papang]

Re: Are my temps too high?

Uhhh, what did you have before the 7950?

I have a 6850 which ran at idle at around 48c, that is until I removed the heatsink which turned out removing almost everything down to the pcb, cleaned with paint thinner the old original thermal solution, applied Arctic Silver and reattached. That alone shaved off around 5c because the factory heat pad was brittle/hard. Too bad the gpu chip was not accessible for lapping because that would have given me a couple of degrees more. The rest is done by the EVGA PresicionX app (similar to the MSI afterburner) which increased the default fan rotation from 22% to 32-35% and now I have a decent 42-43c at idle with room temps similar to yours. You can find on Youtube how to disassemble just about any video card on the market. With a cheap set of jewelrer screwdrivers (around $5usd) you are set to go.

If your 7950 is new, just set Afterburner to spin the fans more agressively like I did. Use should seat the thermal pad to optimum (or as good as it will get) in a couple of weeks or so. I waited till after the warranty to upgrade my thermal paste which I suggest you do too.

The CPU temps are pretty good so no worry there-that is water cooling for you. You have plenty of fans but air flow is another thing and which only you can judge and see. I used to use negative pressure (more sucking out than pushing in) but now I have a techbench which takes all the science out of this, but that is just me.

[gelat]

Re: Are my temps too high?

It is a 6950, flashed to enable more shaders. I had already taken off my gpu fan assembly and applied arctic silver on it. As for airflow, based on number in to out, I have pos air flow, which is what I have heard is best. Negative apparently is a dust sucker and can trap hot pockets. How do you measure your airflow?

Uhhh, what did you have before the 7950?

I have a 6850 which ran at idle at around 48c, that is until I removed the heatsink which turned out removing almost everything down to the pcb, cleaned with paint thinner the old original thermal solution, applied Arctic Silver and reattached. That alone shaved off around 5c because the factory heat pad was brittle/hard. Too bad the gpu chip was not accessible for lapping because that would have given me a couple of degrees more. The rest is done by the EVGA PresicionX app (similar to the MSI afterburner) which increased the default fan rotation from 22% to 32-35% and now I have a decent 42-43c at idle with room temps similar to yours. You can find on Youtube how to disassemble just about any video card on the market. With a cheap set of jewelrer screwdrivers (around $5usd) you are set to go.

If your 7950 is new, just set Afterburner to spin the fans more agressively like I did. Use should seat the thermal pad to optimum (or as good as it will get) in a couple of weeks or so. I waited till after the warranty to upgrade my thermal paste which I suggest you do too.

The CPU temps are pretty good so no worry there-that is water cooling for you. You have plenty of fans but air flow is another thing and which only you can judge and see. I used to use negative pressure (more sucking out than pushing in) but now I have a techbench which takes all the science out of this, but that is just me.

[profJim]

Re: Are my temps too high?

Positive case pressure is better if you have fan filters on all of the fans that blow intake air into the case.
I use a smoke source to determine if air is drawn into the case at all edges and seams and especially at the vent holes in the back of the case that don't have an attached fan.

In theory you could compare the total CFM ratings of each case fan, total intake vs total exhaust, but this only works if all case fans are running at their maximum speed. In theory, the mathematical CFM approach might work, but I'm sold on the smoke test.
Reality trumps theory more often than not.

[gelat]

Re: Are my temps too high?

None of my fans have filters. I like the smoke trick - very ingenious

Positive case pressure is better if you have fan filters on all of the fans that blow intake air into the case.
I use a smoke source to determine if air is drawn into the case at all edges and seams and especially at the vent holes in the back of the case that don't have an attached fan.

In theory you could compare the total CFM ratings of each case fan, total intake vs total exhaust, but this only works if all case fans are running at their maximum speed. In theory, the mathematical CFM approach might work, but I'm sold on the smoke test.
Reality trumps theory more of than not.