[csu266]

Built a new comp the other day, everything works fine now. I installed 4 fans, a stock amd heatsink/fan with arctic silver thermal compound between the heatsink and fan. Even with all this the comp temp seems to be a little high. After I start the comp the processor temp will be around 32 and then it will slowly rise to about 46, then I will start a game and play for an hour or so and when i come back the temp of the processor is stable at 56 and the mobo is at 36. These temps are all in celsius btw. Please help, I do not know what else to do, I have 4 fans, rearrange wires and such for better air flow, if you put ur hand on the back of the case, the fans are blowing cool air, its not warm or hot. The comp seems to run smoothly with no probs but I do not like it to be at 56 celcius, people usually are around 40. Any suggestions or comments. Please help!

[Advertisements]

Well if it is below 60 that really is fine from what i know about cpu temps, a game means your pc will be running at a high load and will give out the most heat at that time.

32 to 46 degrees on the stock cooler is good; what is the cpu btw. Your average person wont be at about 40 under load i just read an arctic silver review and i can tell you your figures fit right into there review table and are good tems for a new pc.

But if it runs fine why are you bothering, if something aint broke trying to fix it is the easiest way to break it. Unless you are going to overclock it then dont bother changing it if you are get a good cpu cooler.

http://www.overclock...lright_120.html
They are the best you can buy so if you one low cpu temps buy one of them, otherwise its fine leave it alone, if there was a problem your motherboard would detect it and shut it down(assuming its a new board).

[warriorscot]

Well if it is below 60 that really is fine from what i know about cpu temps, a game means your pc will be running at a high load and will give out the most heat at that time.

32 to 46 degrees on the stock cooler is good; what is the cpu btw. Your average person wont be at about 40 under load i just read an arctic silver review and i can tell you your figures fit right into there review table and are good tems for a new pc.

But if it runs fine why are you bothering, if something aint broke trying to fix it is the easiest way to break it. Unless you are going to overclock it then dont bother changing it if you are get a good cpu cooler.

http://www.overclock...lright_120.html
They are the best you can buy so if you one low cpu temps buy one of them, otherwise its fine leave it alone, if there was a problem your motherboard would detect it and shut it down(assuming its a new board).

[csu266]

Thanks for the comments. The reason why I was kinda worried was because I am a first time builder and I know that windows will shut off the pc when the temps get to about 70, but I also know that the processor has its limit at 95, since I have been at 57 under full load (Playing graphics intensive games and also installing big games and programs) and that is only 13 degrees shy of the max point before shut down I was getting a bit worried. I also have 4 fans and a stock amd cooler with artic silver compound. My processor is AMD Athlon XP 3000+, asus mobo, ati 9600pro 256MB video card, wd 80gig hdd, 1 gig corsair ram, 430w psu, dvd rom. All of these are brand new parts including the case, did not reuse anything. But thanks for the advice, I am also a strong believer of if it aint broke dont fix it, but I also do not want it to get to the point where it would be broke and I would have to purchase new parts. Just making sure I was good. Thanks again.

[warriorscot]

Yeah i can see why you would be worried but 13 degrees is alot in a cpu temp. Windows wont shut it off at 70 i know this from experience as my old clunker pc will hit 70 at times. Modern mobos have safety features that will stop you from having temps that would damage the pc. At those temps youre components will be good for 10 years at least so dont worry, you have very good temps.

[csu266]

Thats great to know thats for your advice!

[Doby]

The max CPU temp that AMD publishes in the Tech Docs is measured directly on the CPU die itself. The thermal diode is part of the Mobo and "reads" the radiant temp from the CPU. The BIOS/software readouts use the thermal diode and these temps are typically 10-15C lower than the actual on die temp. Most AMD CPUs have a max operating temp between 75C-90C measured directly on the CPU die, which is the point where the CPU will start to self-destruct. If a CPU was running at 75C on die temp, the thermal diode and BIOS/software readout would be about 60C, which is [content edited] HOT !

In my experience, CPUs run at temps above 60C indicated by BIOS/software readouts can start to experience system hangs or crashes. Some folks have not experience problems with BIOS/software temps up to 65C. I personally would add fans or do whatever is required to keep the max temp under full load below 55C to insure 100% stability

This all assumes that the thermal diode is accurate witch in a lot of times it is not and in my experiance they read high.

My advice, if the computer is stable when under fullload I would not worry about it if unstable I would use a thermometer placed near the bottom of the heatsink to get the true temp to determine if temps are the reason for instability

Rick

[csu266]

Thanks for all your replies, everything was good before now its not good. I did not change anything and my temps were as I stated before, 46 idle and 57 during full load, last night I was playing NFS hot pursuit 2 and after I came back i noticed the cpu temp at 62. So I shut it down and let it cool off and turned it back on again and the comp idles at around 52 now and max temp on load is around 60. This is too high, so I tried removing the termal paste as I thought I put too much and cleaned it all up and put more paste and added an extra fan. I have 3 blowing out the back, one blowing in from the side and one blowing in from the front. But now my cpu temp at idle is 57 and have not played any games because god knows what the full load temp is going to be and I might burn it up. Any suggestions, I have tried everything, new paste and did it exactly per instructions, extra fan, rearranged wires so they are out of the way of the air flow. I do now know what else, this is frustrating, things like this make me want to go back and buy a dell. By the way my house is air conditioned and my room and the rest of the house sits at around 70.

[warriorscot]

Right first things first you shouldnt have taken it off you should have checked it with a thermometer your thermocouple on the mobo might simply have been busted, also if it was stable thats fine. Second a new revelation amds dont work well with paste apparently you are supposed to use a pad.

If there was something wrong it would have shut down itself, you know you are really obsessed with your temps. Also are your fans identical you need to have a specific ratio of air in and out check out whats best for you.

See when you start playing with things that arent broken you break them this will teach you in future to be patient and leave stuff that aint broken alone. Get a thermometer and check the temp, you have probably put either too much paste ot too little go get the pad that came with the hsf and put it on see if that helps.

[csu266]

First of all thanks for the advice. Second of all, as I said before I left it alone and followed what you said about it being and it went upto the 60s all by itself. Now no matter what, this is not a good temp even if the comp is stable. The thermocouple is not broken as I checked it with a temp and also my fans were blowing out warm air. So I removed the heatsink and reapplied the paste and let it sit for a few hours and now my comp idles at 39 and have not played a game yet to see the max temp. So if I had not tinkered with it then it would be running in the 60s and basically frying itself, I have read many discsussions and forums and knowledge bases say that prolonged cpu temps of the 60s range is not good, it can cause problems. And yes I am a bit obsessive about the temps but I am the kind of person that likes to have it at the normal temp that most people out there have, a few of my friends have an identical system as mine and they are not overclocking and run their temps in the 40s. And the people that I know that are overclocking also have temps in the high 40s and low 50s. So now its fine because I reapplied the paste and am going to leave it alone, but am still thinking of a new heatsink and fan, its only 30 bucks and thats cheap insurance for me. I was looking at either the Vantec VA4-C7040 AeroFlow or the Thermaltake A1745 Extreme Volcano 12, I am not sure about the thermaltake though because I have heard that you need an adapter from 4pin to 3 pin to connect it to the motherboard, not sure though. Let me know what you think and let me know if they need an adapter from 4pin to 3 pin or if they will work fine with the 3 pin. Thanks again.

[warriorscot]

Well if you got it working thats fine, you just need to be patient alot of the time these things fix themselves, just dont worry yourself if it hits 70 then worry. Prolonged is all the time ,but mind you i have a cpu that reads 70 under load and its been runnin fine for 5 years. Check out the alaska heat pipe heatsink it looks good, alaska used to make the amd hsfs i dont know if they still do but they are good for a cheap hsf. Alot of fans will come with the convertor if it needs it they are not hard to get so dont worry about it.

When you ge a hsf mind and check the weight you dont want to break the board.

[csu266]

How do I know what weight my motherboard can take? I have never heard of the alaska hsf, the ones I was looking at were on www.zipzoomfly.com and im in the US so its about 31 dollars for the thermaltake and 25 for the vantec fan. I am not sure of the weights and also the weight that my motherboard can handle. My motherboard is a ASUS A7V8X-X. Thanks again.

[warriorscot]

Well i dont know where you can find out what your mobo can take but the weight should be in the specs list on the website. http://www.overclock..._Akasa_119.html
I know its uk but you can see the name and model. Just be sensible and dont go buying anyhting like an asus starice the thing ways at least a kilogram i saw one in a local computer shop and was very surprised by both its weight and size. An thermalright cpu cooler is what you are after if it overheats with one of those you will need to think about liquid cooling. (XP-120s are big and dont always fit in look at XP-90 if you dont think you have the room)