Q9550 of doom

uki7

New Member
So heres the deal. I have a Q9550 C1 and I am trying to run it at 3.4ghz. Now I can easily do this but I am not liking my temperatures. As of now when I play bad company 2 with my Arctic cooler 7 pro I get up to around 65c after 3 hours or so. I even went and ordered a corsair H50 and my temps were around 60/62 after load(playing battlefield). I have reset both coolers, changed TIM, added fans, cut custom air holes, and even removed fans. I feel like I am stuck in a nightmare where nothing I buy will cool my CPU! haha. So my real question is what should I do? I have already RMA'd my H50 and lost 30 dollars in doing so (dumbest idea of my life). I have roughly 400$ to spend on parts, and because of this never ending temp problem I am even thinking about just going i7. I think it could be my case? Cooler master centurion, because the PSU sits right above my CPU? BUt I have high cfm fans exhausting hot air and a 120mm in front bring cool air in. Would a new case like the Azza Solano help my temps a lot? And if you recommend a cpu cooler I just pray to God that it can cool my unruly cpu lol.
Bottom line I need suggestions!

Asus p5e
4 gigs ddrII 800 G.skill
Q9550 C1 @ 3.4 Vcore 1.1625 Idle 43c Load 65c (gaming not prime)
Cooler master Centurion case with custom screen grating on side lol.
Corsair HX620
Temps in house 70-72F
 
Those temps/voltages are perfectly fine, nothing to complain about, expecially for a C1 stepping. and temps up to 85c is fine, as long as you never exceed that.

If you have $400 to spend you should get a good case. CM Storm Scout and Storm Sniper come to mind. or the HAF 932 or HAF 922.

And just in case you are wondering the H50 can fit inside the storm scout.
 
Will a good case(full tower) lower my temperatures though? I am not really comfortable with 65c. I have heard from several of my squad mates that that's not really a healthy temperature to be gaming at.. And as for upgrades I should definitely go 1366 for long term upgrades(6core) correct?
 
65c is perfectly acceptable. And if your current system plays everything you need, there's no need to upgrade at all. If fact, socket 1366 is only just capable of supporting 6core cpu's (apparantly)

and knowing intel, their sockets have a limited life span.

Still, if you want to spend money, i would spend it on an AMD system. the Phenom II x6's are meant to be really good. you can already preorder them too.

As for a case, any will do as long as they have good airflow. I got the Scout as a birthday present and i'm really happy with it.

The CM Storm Scout is on sale for $79.99 at newegg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...9196&cm_re=storm_scout-_-11-119-196-_-Product

And for TIM, use Arctic Silver 5. It's tried and true to be better than most generic crap you get with stock coolers and such.

A good air cooler is the Thermalright TRUE 120 Black Edition:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835109022&Tpk=thermalright true

combine that with some AS5 and it should be good!
 
Thanks Man! I am going to go with the Azza solano 1000 (lots of fans/good reviews) and a Xigmatek HDT-S1283 + high cfm fan. And yeah I always use AS5.
 
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