Info (anecdote) How to make a Pentium G620 hit 90C

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
17,575
9,265
136
This is a customer's computer, not one I built thankfully (who doesn't check the processor temps in a computer they just built? weird). As everyone here can probably guess, the heatsink wasn't making proper contact with the processor.

Well, in this case, it wasn't making any contact with the processor! Stock Intel heatsink, and none of the three stripes of heat paste had been disturbed :)

Though I have to say it surprised me a bit that when I gave the HSF a wobble before taking it off the first time, it seemed solidly installed, but when I was removing it and attempting to reset the push pins, at least one seemed a bit jammed so I think it/they got stuck in a position where there wasn't a noticeable wobble. After reinstallation I also checked that the inner part of each push-pin has made it through the other side of the board, level with the outer parts.

The temps were nearly 70C within a couple of minutes of booting Win10, and within a minute of running memtest SMP the processor temp was hitting 90C. Now it's a much more healthy ~35C idle and after a few minutes of prime95 it was slowly heading towards 60C.
 

Thunder 57

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2007
2,647
3,706
136
This is a customer's computer, not one I built thankfully (who doesn't check the processor temps in a computer they just built? weird). As everyone here can probably guess, the heatsink wasn't making proper contact with the processor.

Well, in this case, it wasn't making any contact with the processor! Stock Intel heatsink, and none of the three stripes of heat paste had been disturbed :)

Though I have to say it surprised me a bit that when I gave the HSF a wobble before taking it off the first time, it seemed solidly installed, but when I was removing it and attempting to reset the push pins, at least one seemed a bit jammed so I think it/they got stuck in a position where there wasn't a noticeable wobble. After reinstallation I also checked that the inner part of each push-pin has made it through the other side of the board, level with the outer parts.

The temps were nearly 70C within a couple of minutes of booting Win10, and within a minute of running memtest SMP the processor temp was hitting 90C. Now it's a much more healthy ~35C idle and after a few minutes of prime95 it was slowly heading towards 60C.

I'm honestly surprised it was only 70C after booting into Windows.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
17,575
9,265
136
I'm honestly surprised it was only 70C after booting into Windows.

It was probably worse when it booted from a HDD, I only noticed the problem after the SSD clone job.

I assume that in order for it not to have hit thermal shutdown that it was using Intel's Pentium 4-era tricks of clocking the processor down in response to high temps, so I guess the customer will be getting a three-way performance upgrade :) (CPU working normally now, RAM doubled to 8GB, HDD to SSD).

The high CPU temps make me wonder though if the board will have taken a reliability hit (though it must be ten years old already, so it's had a reasonable run so far), though perhaps the heatsink's fan would have been better ventilating surrounding components?

Hehe, found the video:

The Amiga's Project X game theme ftw! :D
 

Thunder 57

Platinum Member
Aug 19, 2007
2,647
3,706
136
It was probably worse when it booted from a HDD, I only noticed the problem after the SSD clone job.

I assume that in order for it not to have hit thermal shutdown that it was using Intel's Pentium 4-era tricks of clocking the processor down in response to high temps, so I guess the customer will be getting a three-way performance upgrade :) (CPU working normally now, RAM doubled to 8GB, HDD to SSD).

The high CPU temps make me wonder though if the board will have taken a reliability hit (though it must be ten years old already, so it's had a reasonable run so far), though perhaps the heatsink's fan would have been better ventilating surrounding components?

Hehe, found the video:

The Amiga's Project X game theme ftw! :D

Ha I remember that video. I thought it was fixed with Palomino but maybe they didn't get around to it until the Athlon 64. Sounds like quite the upgrade for the customer.
 

VirtualLarry

No Lifer
Aug 25, 2001
56,226
9,990
126
A Toshiba with a Core 2 is showing temps of 75-82C under full CPU load. I know that it could likely use a re-paste, but with my eyesight going, and my clumsiness, I don't think I'm up to it. Would a laptop cooling pad suffice?
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
17,575
9,265
136
A Toshiba with a Core 2 is showing temps of 75-82C under full CPU load. I know that it could likely use a re-paste, but with my eyesight going, and my clumsiness, I don't think I'm up to it. Would a laptop cooling pad suffice?


I wouldn't know, sorry. I've only had to do one re-paste in a laptop and that's because I was replacing the entire HSF.
 

mikeymikec

Lifer
May 19, 2011
17,575
9,265
136
Hm, that CPU only has a 69C max tcase so I wonder what the 90c measurement was.

I can't remember if the first run was with memtest86+5 5.01 or memtest86 7.4. After fixing the HSF issue and running 7.4 for the second run, I was getting temp readings much more in line with what I'd expect from that CPU under load.
 
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