Improving temps of i5 2500K with NH-l9i

[Halfdan]

I finally bought a Skyreach mini from a local user and transplanted my gear into it. I am using the following hardware:

- Sandy Bridge i5 2500K at stock speeds (see screenshots below for more info)
- Noctua NH-l9i with GC2 thermal paste
- Asus P8Z77-I
- Club 3D Radeon 7850 1GB
- HDplex 400W
- Dell 330W

Since the previous owner didn't add any thermal paste I used some GC2 paste from a couple of year back that I still had lying around. I also tried Arctic Silver 5 but the results weren't any better.

This is the third time I installed the cooler. The first time I used silver 5 but I felt I used to much so I redid it. The second time the temps did improve a bit but after taking the cooler off I saw that the paste didn't cover the whole CPU as I suspected. So I did it again as seen in album below.


Local temp here is 27C. Core temp shows idle temperature between 50-59C and 5 minutes after Prime95 they were up to 90+C (see album).

Before in my previous ATX case using a Intel stock cooler idle temps were comparable, so is this just the best I can get with a 2500K? I know @Josh | NFC doesn't recommend CPUs with TDP higher than 65W and this one is 95W. Also the outside of the case feels quite warm to the touch, so it seems the hardware is cooking a bit inside .

I was thinking maybe undervolting the 2500K but I don't know if that will accomplish anything.

 

[sebplane]

Maybe you should try to turn the cooler 90° in a way that the hot airflow exit through the rear and maybe remove the back i/o rear motherboard panel.

If @Josh | NFC can confirm it is the best way with motherboard fitted with special power card blocking airflow?

 

[Halfdan]

Thanks for the reply. I actually did turn the cooler to the position recommended by Josh. I also selected auto OCing on the 2500K and it seems the temps are now around 45C while clocked at 4,3Ghz. So I think it's ok now.