[mikey2276]

Hello everyone. My computer is a Dell Studio XPS 9000. The 2009 model. It has an Intel i-7 950 CPU and it runs great. Although my comp runs great, I am quite concerned about the unexplained massive increase in CPU temperature. I work using Sony Vegas Pro 9.0. Naturally rendering videos increases my computer's temperature. Because it gets rather hot in the day I decided to move my computer over to an air conditioned room. After I set up, Speedfan temperature monitor reported my CPU to be idling at 65c. This was really surprising as inside (in the hotter room), it idled at 45c. When I rendered videos before moving to the AC-ed room, the temperature rose only to 80/85c. However rendering videos in the AC room, Speedfan reported brought my comp to 100c. (Which is the max for my processor). After seeing this I quickly took my computer back to the previous room. But rendering still equalled 100c. Games play at 75c when they used to play at 50-60c. Why this sudden increase in temperature? Is it that the sensors have become faulty? I checked all three fans in my computer and they are working fine. Mind you these three 120mm fans cooled this computer just fine - before the room switch. What's also curious is that it's only the CPU that reports elevated temperatures. My GPU (Nvidia Geforce GTX 260) reports the same usual temperatures: idling at 46c, working at around 60c. I spoke to a friend of mine about the situation and he was surprised to hear that my computer was working well while at 100c. There's been no performance change at all. Just higher temperature reports.
Are the sensors faulty? And if they are, how do i determine the real temp of my CPU? (my BIOS doesn't have a temp checker, or at least I didn't see any)
Other than sensors, what else could be happening?

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HI, have you tried running the dell diagnostic utility...i think it tests the sensors.



http://support.dell....02EE16785D39C5C

[deggitt]

HI, have you tried running the dell diagnostic utility...i think it tests the sensors.



http://support.dell....02EE16785D39C5C

[phillpower2]

Hi mikey2276
In addition to what deggitt has suggested you could give HW Monitor a try, you can download it from here http://www.cpuid.com.../hwmonitor.html

[mikey2276]

Thanks for the replies guys. I did the Dell Diagnostics and all tests passed. Everything's working fine. And I installed the HWMonitor, which reported roughly the same temps as the other temp monitors. But seeing that my CPU is idling at 65c in an air conditioned room WITH a fan blasting max on it, I think it's just time to call Dell about it. Something may be wrong with the heatsink. Or the thermal compound is worn down.

[happyrock]

unplug from the wall...get a can of compressed air from your local electronics store...NO NOT TOUCK ANYTHING inside the case without grounding yourself first...use your finger or a pencil to hold the CPU fan from spinning...blow out the heatsink fins and the fan blade...then blow out all the dust bunnies from the case...
also clean any case fan blades while you have the system open...plug it back in then fire it up and test...

[deggitt]

Hi, as the diag test on sensors was positive & you say that you have checked that all the fans are running ok ( i presume that you checked that the proc. heatsink fins are not blocked ) perhaps as this only happened when you moved it you might have knocked it or put it down somewhat heavily. If this was the case & as the proc. heatsink & fan are fairly heavy you might find that it has moved leaving a poor connection between proc. & heatsik. The remedy would be to lift of the heatsink clean & reapply thermal paste.

[mikey2276]

@happyrock: I cleaned it already...as this is usually the cause of problems like this. Temp still high.
@Deggitt: I'm thinking this is the case deggitt. I did notice the comp was hotter after I reinstalled the heat sink. I don't have thermal paste on hand though. And since a dell technician always arrives within the week for me, I called them up and explained the situation. However while this may be the CURRENT situation, it doesn't explain why the temperature increased so rapidly (overnight) in the first place. I went to sleep, woke up and it was just hotter. Which makes zero sense to me. It would loads of dust to collect there for that to happen, and when I opened my case, it was barely dusty. I don't know. While I'm pretty sure this is going to be resolved soon, I'm still curious as to know why it increased in the first place. Because if it's something I did...well then I'll know not to do it again. Or whether it was due to a change in the environment or something else. When I removed the heatsink last night I did notice that there was very little thermal paste. I mean the thermal paste looked practically like dust itself. Like a smudging of really dried up paste. That would explain constant heat. But not an overnight increase of so much. Ah well I'll keep pondering.

[deggitt]

Hi, changing from a hot enviroment to a cool enviroment can affect equipment in many ways, condensation is one but i don't think that this is the case here. Another is contraction of different materials giving poor contact in connectors etc. If the thermal paste had become hard the contraction of the aly. proc. heatsink could cause the interface between proc. & heatsink to become inefficient.

Please keep use informed & if Dell resolves this issue please let us know what they find.

All the best

[happyrock]

I did notice the comp was hotter after I reinstalled the heat sink.

that is the source of your problem...you didn't put the right amount of thermal paste ...to much is as bad as to little

or didn't get the heatsink attached properly

[mikey2276]

That is why my computer is so hot NOW. Now it's 40c hotter. (Roughly) But before I opened my computer, it increased by 20c...without me doing anything than regular video editing and game playing. I didn't open the computer or do anything. That is what I'm curious about: why the temperature rose the first time...

Oh and lol at your signature message. It's quite funny.

[deggitt]

Hi Mickey, whatever happened in moving your comp. it has all the symptons ( & from what you found when removing the heatsink ) of poor thermal contact between the proc. & heatsink. Your option are ...buy some thermal paste & reapply or let dell have a look...not sure which will be cheapest.

[mikey2276]

Okay like I said, I don't have thermal paste on hand now...so what I did just now was remove the heatsink and cleaned it again of dust. There was still some dust left. And I reinstalled the heatsink, making sure it went down all the way it could. (Tightening the screws all the way). It's now idling at 52c...which is totally better than the 65c it was idling at before. So....I've just bought myself some peace of mind. Though I'm still going to let the Dell technician do his do when he shows up. I mean I have it warrantied. Might as well put that warranty to good use.

[mikey2276]

Hi Mickey, whatever happened in moving your comp. it has all the symptons ( & from what you found when removing the heatsink ) of poor thermal contact between the proc. & heatsink. Your option are ...buy some thermal paste & reapply or let dell have a look...not sure which will be cheapest.

Deggitt. Ya I really want to apply the paste myself..because I'm a do it yourself kind of guy. But since it's warrantied, it's cheaper to let Dell just have a look at it. Which I will do. I do believe that that is the problem though. Poor contact. So thanks. For helping me arrive at that conclusion. And the rest of you all, of course.

[mikey2276]

Oh now it's idling at 48c.

[deggitt]

WOW......and it's not a full moon yet


PS don't let DELL know you lifted the heatsink