Hi, I was just wondering if anyone owning a Pentium CPU, preferably with a clock speed of 3.6 GHz or more (for accurate comparison) could let me know their idle and full load temperatures?
I am quite worried about mine (with a 660 at 3.6 GHz and with a 2MB L2 cache), which average at around 50 at idle and up to 65 under heavy load, despite an expensive and well reviewed HSF (Coolermaster Hyper48), Arctic Silver thermal compound, and three case fans, two of which are 120mm and very powerful at full speed. Any information would be appreciated.
Thanks!

This post has been edited by tomdrayson: Apr 25 2006, 02:00 PM

Its seems high even for a p4, i have a friend that had a 3Ghz p4 pverclocked to 3.5 and it was below 60, although he had a thermalright 120mm hsf. Your setup though seems adeqaute i would probably try a seperate temperature probe to see if it really is getting that hot or wether its just an error.

OK thanks. I have another question - my fan only increases to full speed under load (~3400rpm), like most fans I would assume; the temperature has maxed at 66, but is usually 64-65. At idle, the fan is almost silent (~1300rpm), therefore it is not cooling as much. Are "idle temperatures" supposed to be with the fan at full speed or not?
Also, could you recommend any websites for computer components in the UK?
Thanks again

This post has been edited by tomdrayson: Apr 25 2006, 04:16 PM

My intel 3.0 with a stock fan idles at 36° C and runs up to 44° when i doing graphics. I'm using speedfan to check temps. I've never seen it higher than 44.

Heres a website of a intel 3.0 overclocked to 3.6. The temps are for different heatsink/fan combos.

http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticl...127&articID=278

SRX660

Usually you would take the temps at the speed the fan would normally run at those temps however if you want you can turn the fan speed up usually to max to take some readings.

Favourite UK site is www.overclockers.co.uk best selection easiest to use site bar none and good prices and deals are always good. Ebuyer is one of the best for consitently low prices and has cheap delivery, scan and dabs are good but sometimes expensive, savastore is good to.

i have a P4 3.0ghz running at 3.25 ghz and i am running at 37-38 celsius at idle ( with stock cooling ) and only around 48-49 celcius under full 100% maxed out so im happy with that

even when it was clocked at 3 GHz it only idled at 37 celcius
and with thoose temps i can push it further but im happy that does seem really high

my girlfriends dad has a P4 3.2 GHz running stock cooling and his reaches 58 celcius under load and his isnt overclocked.

thoose temps are high what motherboard are you using? have you felt the heatsink is it hot?
i no this isnt accurate but it might give you some indication if the temps are actually that high.
and as warrior scott said see if you can get hold of a tempreature probe and cheack.

that heatsink is pretty good so its strange why ur temps are so high. you said you have 3 case fans but is the system in a well ventalated area. and what are the amibient temps?

troppo

This post has been edited by troppo: Apr 26 2006, 12:12 AM

The system was originally bought from PC World about a year ago, but since then I have upgraded most of it. The motherboard is an MSI MS-7046 according to Everest. I don't think it's particularly good - any upgrade suggestions? I have 2GB of DDR400 RAM so I can't go higher than that - are DDR2 (533/667Mhz) motherboards backwards compatible?
I tested tried the fan at full speed at idle - the lowest I saw the CPU was 47!!!! Shocking performance. How exactly do you check the CPU with a temperature probe? I can test the ambient temps with a normal thermometer right??
The air being blown out of the fan is cold (CPU @ 49 - idle), and the bottom of the heatsink (the nearest point to the die which I can touch) is also very cool (no higher than room temperature!). So it must be to do with the installation - which I have already checked twice. I used Arctic Silver and tightened all the screws holding the heatsink to the CPU - maybe they could be too tight??? I'm stumped here.
Thanks for all your suggestions!

The system was originally bought from PC World about a year ago, but since then I have upgraded most of it. The motherboard is an MSI MS-7046 according to Everest. I don't think it's particularly good - any upgrade suggestions? I have 2GB of DDR400 RAM so I can't go higher than that - are DDR2 (533/667Mhz) motherboards backwards compatible?
I tested tried the fan at full speed at idle - the lowest I saw the CPU was 47!!!! Shocking performance. How exactly do you check the CPU with a temperature probe? I can test the ambient temps with a normal thermometer right??
The air being blown out of the fan is cold (CPU @ 49 - idle), and the bottom of the heatsink (the nearest point to the die which I can touch) is also very cool (about room temperature!). So it must be to do with the installation - which I have already checked twice. I used Arctic Silver and tightened all the screws holding the heatsink to the CPU - maybe they could be too tight??? I'm stumped here.
Thanks for all your suggestions!

This post has been edited by tomdrayson: Apr 26 2006, 01:12 AM

Theres a rule of thumb you can try so to speak Do this test to get a idea if the sensor is accurate or not, after the computer has been at idle for 15 minutes or so very carefully touch the base of the heat sink

40c to 49c = comfortably warm
50c to 55c = warm near hot have to pull away after 2 or 3 seconds
55c to 65c = hot need to pull away after 1 second
65c and above = burnt fingers

Report what you find back

You could also use a themometer and touch its probe to the base of the hs.

That should give you an indicator of how hot if its at 70 or above you wont be able to touch the heat sink at all. You can do this with load temps as well.

Its not unusual for temperature sensors to be badly callibrated, sometime a bios update will fix this. Also make sure youre fan is blowing into the heatsink not out of it you want to blow cool air over the metallic surface not draw it from the base of the board as that will be hotter. Which is not good.

DDR2 isnt back compatible to 1 so you cant use the memory on a new DDR2 boards. The board i dont think is overly bad its just a cheap board(actually a good cheap board MSI is one of the more reliable budget board builders) its good for what it is, but thats what you get for a shop bought system.

Woah that shows my ignorance - I always thought heatsinks transferred the heat up to the fans, which then blew it out.......but it appears that my fan is infact blowing down into the heatsink as you said it should.

As I mentioned in my previous post - I can touch the base of the heatsink for as long as you want at idle (temp reads 49) AND under load for 10 mins (temp reads 62), and at idle it is definitely LOWER than 40C, probably lower than 30C, more like room temperature, under load it's hard to tell because the fan is blowing like crazy - I would guess at lower than 40 again. The side of the CPU enclosure-thingy (technical term) is around the same temperature as the heatsink base even under load.

Maybe the sensors are wrong after all - in the BIOS the temperature is about 5 degrees higher - that is - now it reads 49C in Windows, but if I restart and go straight into the BIOS it says 54, and stays like that, never decreases.

I suppose the next thing would be to get a sensor on the die....

About the BIOS update - if anyone can find one, you've done well! I can't remember the exact channels I have been down to get one, but I tried for a long time, then gave up.
The full details are:
Phoenix Award BIOS v6.00PG
(Award BIOS message - W7046ITH V1.10D) - don't know what this is
System BIOS date - 16/03/05 (or if you are American 03/16/05)

I couldn't get an update from the Phoenix site, and at eSupport you have to pay - or is this normal?

Thanks

This post has been edited by tomdrayson: Apr 26 2006, 03:42 PM

You get BIOS from the manufacturer what you need it to get the chipset and go on the MSI website http://www.msi.com.tw/program/support/download_center.php and enter the relevant info for your board and it will get you the bios, drivers and applications they provide, like corecenter the MSI system monitor which is pretty reliable. They organise the board by chipset not serial number which is why i cant just do it myself as you only provided a serial number.

My chipset is Intel Grantsdale i915P, the closest on the MSI site is Intel 915P Express, but the next thing to select on the site is a list of....things....which I have no idea how to choose from:
915P Combo
915P Combo V2
915P Combo V2.0
915P Neo-L
915P Neo-2 Platinum
915P Neo-2 Platinum (V1.0B)
915P Neo-2 V2.0
915P Neo-2 F-Series
915P Neo-3 Series
915PM-IRL
I can't find any information which looks remotely like any of these using programs like Everest and Sandra. None of these options bring up my MS-7046, and if I search for it on the site I get no results. I also downloaded MSI Live Monitor, which doesn't support my motherboard, apparently.
What are your thoughts on the cool heatsink base?
Thanks