Athlon 64 3000+ temps too high?

[youph]

I?m sure this question is asked tons of times, but I tried searching and couldn?t find a topic specific to my cpu, so here goes?

I have an Athlon 64 3000+ on socket 754 that seems to be overheating. I idle at around 45 C and it goes up to 60 C at full load. This is after I removed the heatsink & fan, cleaned off the thermal paste, reapplied the paste and reseated the heatsink/fan.

I reseated the heatsink because after rebooting out of linux into windows, I just happened to see my CPU temp at 71 C!!! (Also, does anyone know if linux idles different than windows which would cause the CPU to heat up more than windows?) My brother (who knows more about cooling than I) said that was dangerous, so he helped me clean the heatsink & reapply the paste. I had apparently applied way too much paste when I originally built the system 2 years ago.

Honestly I?m afraid to boot back into linux because I don?t have a utility to monitor my CPU temp for X.

So, my question is, is 60C still a dangerous temp for my processor? I enabled cool & quiet which should be downclocking my CPU at times of idleness, but I?m still worried 60C is too high for my very humble 2 GHZ processor.

Also, any suggestions on a new heatsink/fan? I have the stock retail heatsink/fan now.

Thanks

 

[RallyMaster]

try one of those Zalmans or the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. you might also want to tell us how much case cooling you have.

 

[youph]

I have a CoolerMaster aluminum case, forget the model, with one 80mm fan on top and 2 120mm fans on the rear.

My major conern is if those temps are too high for my processor.

 

[RallyMaster]

definitely a bit high.

my friend's newcastle 3000+ idles at 25-28C and loads at 45.

try changing a heatsink and adding some intake fans to the case.

 

[youph]

Ok thanks for the quick reply

 

[imported_rod]

Yeah, that's hot. My winchester 3200+ idles about 5-10C above ambient.

Is the case in a bad location, where it can't get good airflow?
How much thermal paste did you apply?
What motherboard is it? Some MoBo's have been known to give faulty temp readings...

RoD

 

[youph]

The case has good airflow and is located on the floor with nothing around it. I forgot to mention my case also has 2 x 120mm intake fans in the front.

I applied a very thin layer of thermal paste and used a credit card to wipe off excess (like I said my brother helped me do it the correct way.)

My mb is an epox nforce4, but I'm pretty sure the cpu temp readings come from the in chip sensor on all modern cpus.

The only thing I can think that would cause the high temps is that since I had applied way too much paste when I originally built the system, maybe some of it was still cacked on the chip/heatsink (maybe burnt up paste crud?, remember the temps were above 71C when I got scared and removed the heatsink & reseated it)) and is causing a less-than-optimal thermal junction between the cpu & heatsink.

I'll take RallyMaster's advice and get the Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro. I'll get some alcohol and remove as much paste from the chip as possible and see what happens.

 

[MyThirdEye]

I have the same processor. I idle around 26-32 degrees.

 

[youph]

Originally posted by: amjohns5
I have the same processor. I idle around 26-32 degrees.

This is what I assume would be more normal.

Well thanks to everyone who replied. I'll be getting a new heatsnink/fan asap and clean my CPU off before installing it.

 

[A554SS1N]

For a newcastle processor, you should be looking at the mid 30's on idle (about 35C) and mid 50's on load (upto 55C). Tbh, it depends how warm the room you are in, is... there is also a possibility that the thermal sensors are reporting the temperatures inaccurately - they can be upto 10C out. If the system is completely stable, and the room is warm anyway, I wouldn't be bothered about it... if it's cool then I'd be worried more when it comes to summer, but again if it's stable, it's Ok, just a little on the high side.

 

[pulsedrive]

Originally posted by: youph
The case has good airflow and is located on the floor with nothing around it. I forgot to mention my case also has 2 x 120mm intake fans in the front.

I applied a very thin layer of thermal paste and used a credit card to wipe off excess (like I said my brother helped me do it the correct way.)

Actually you said the 120mms were in the back of the case, so we rightly assumed exhaust.

Also, that is NOT the correct way to apply thermal grease. If you are using AS5, which would be my guess, and it really doesn't matter if you are using another brand this will still hold true.

You put about a dab of the grease, about the size of a grain and a half of rice on the center of the CPUs heat spreader and then let the pressure from the HSF being but on the CPU spread out the grease. Do not spread it out yourself.

 

[Jotho]

I'm not sure which motherboard you have, but if it's an NF3 s754 board, you probably have issues with the temperature sensor reading incorrectly. On cold boots, my temps can be 5-7 degrees higher than after a reboot from Windows. It's odd, but no bios update yet has fixed it with my K8N Neo Platinum.

EDIT: I should add that when I changed my HSF to the AC Freezer 64, temps dropped 3-5 degrees but are still lower after a reboot than when I first turn on the computer.

 

[MyThirdEye]

For your info, i'm using the stock Heatsink and Fans.

 

[xirtam]

Girlfriend's computer went out, so I had her take mine. She complained a month later about it shutting off a lot. I went and had a look. It's running at over 90 degrees C. You can almost boil water on the processor. Now that's high. I'm surprised the thing still turns on.

It's an Athlon XP 2200+. I think I'll be getting a new motherboard and processor soon... just don't understand why the heat sink worked fine when I had it and sucked later, but these things happen. I'll definitely be investing in a decent HSF.

 

[KBTuning]

my sisters athlon 2000+ died due to overheating after she managed to KNOCK OFF the heatsink... make sure its still seated correctly and that your CPU ising pushing like 2 times teh voltage into the cpu.... AthlonXp's are not the coolest running cpu ever but 90C is WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY hot... i think my dads old 2400+ made it to 57C once but that was w/ a crappy Volcano5 on it.

 

[youph]

Originally posted by: pulsedrive

Originally posted by: youph
The case has good airflow and is located on the floor with nothing around it. I forgot to mention my case also has 2 x 120mm intake fans in the front.

I applied a very thin layer of thermal paste and used a credit card to wipe off excess (like I said my brother helped me do it the correct way.)

Actually you said the 120mms were in the back of the case, so we rightly assumed exhaust.

Also, that is NOT the correct way to apply thermal grease. If you are using AS5, which would be my guess, and it really doesn't matter if you are using another brand this will still hold true.

You put about a dab of the grease, about the size of a grain and a half of rice on the center of the CPUs heat spreader and then let the pressure from the HSF being but on the CPU spread out the grease. Do not spread it out yourself.

Ok let me restate this.

On my case there are a total of 5 fans, 2 x 120mm exaust on the rear, 2 x 120mm intake on the front and 1 x 80mm blowhole on top.

And thanks for the thermal paste tip, I didnt know one should have the heatsink actually spread out the paste.

 

[youph]

Originally posted by: Jotho
I'm not sure which motherboard you have, but if it's an NF3 s754 board, you probably have issues with the temperature sensor reading incorrectly. On cold boots, my temps can be 5-7 degrees higher than after a reboot from Windows. It's odd, but no bios update yet has fixed it with my K8N Neo Platinum.

EDIT: I should add that when I changed my HSF to the AC Freezer 64, temps dropped 3-5 degrees but are still lower after a reboot than when I first turn on the computer.

Like I said earlier, I have an epox nforce4 754 motherboard, I forget the model but I dont think epox made more than a few nf4 754 boards.

 

[youph]

Originally posted by: A554SS1N
For a newcastle processor, you should be looking at the mid 30's on idle (about 35C) and mid 50's on load (upto 55C). Tbh, it depends how warm the room you are in, is... there is also a possibility that the thermal sensors are reporting the temperatures inaccurately - they can be upto 10C out. If the system is completely stable, and the room is warm anyway, I wouldn't be bothered about it... if it's cool then I'd be worried more when it comes to summer, but again if it's stable, it's Ok, just a little on the high side.

This machine has been rock solid stabiloty wise since I've had it. I changed mobo once from a VIA chipset MSI board to the nforce4 epox board I have now to get PCIe. I've never had any lockups or reboots ever. But, I thought 70C was WAY to high a temp for such a humble processor.
EDIT: The system is in a room that ranges in temp from about 60F to 75F. I do notice the temps drop when I open my window (which is close to the system.) So the system is not in an overly warm place.

I also just noticed tonight that my 2 intake fans don't seem to be sucking in much air. I recently moved, and I'm thinking maybe the fan power connectors got jostled loose in transport. I will check it out later and update what I find in this thread.

Once again, thank you everyone for your very helpful and insightful commentary.

 

[youph]

Ok well the temps seem to have dropped a bit. I switched the power connectors on my intake fans and routed the internal cables a bit better which should help airflow.

I still idle around 40C, and go up to 52C at load but this seems to be OK since I have 0 stability issues.

 

[professor1942]

Originally posted by: Jotho
I'm not sure which motherboard you have, but if it's an NF3 s754 board, you probably have issues with the temperature sensor reading incorrectly. On cold boots, my temps can be 5-7 degrees higher than after a reboot from Windows. It's odd, but no bios update yet has fixed it with my K8N Neo Platinum.

EDIT: I should add that when I changed my HSF to the AC Freezer 64, temps dropped 3-5 degrees but are still lower after a reboot than when I first turn on the computer.

I think that is normal... cpu heats up alot when first turned on, then cools down after idling in Windows a couple minutes. BIOS will always run the cpu hard (instead of idling it), therefore the temp you see in BIOS is closer to 'load' than 'idle'.

I have a Newcastle 3000+ as well and it idles around 36-37, up to about 50 under load.

 

[PingSpike]

Originally posted by: professor1942

Originally posted by: Jotho
I'm not sure which motherboard you have, but if it's an NF3 s754 board, you probably have issues with the temperature sensor reading incorrectly. On cold boots, my temps can be 5-7 degrees higher than after a reboot from Windows. It's odd, but no bios update yet has fixed it with my K8N Neo Platinum.

EDIT: I should add that when I changed my HSF to the AC Freezer 64, temps dropped 3-5 degrees but are still lower after a reboot than when I first turn on the computer.

I think that is normal... cpu heats up alot when first turned on, then cools down after idling in Windows a couple minutes. BIOS will always run the cpu hard (instead of idling it), therefore the temp you see in BIOS is closer to 'load' than 'idle'.

I have a Newcastle 3000+ as well and it idles around 36-37, up to about 50 under load.

There's a load on the cpu while in bios?

 

[youph]

Originally posted by: PingSpike

Originally posted by: professor1942

Originally posted by: Jotho
I'm not sure which motherboard you have, but if it's an NF3 s754 board, you probably have issues with the temperature sensor reading incorrectly. On cold boots, my temps can be 5-7 degrees higher than after a reboot from Windows. It's odd, but no bios update yet has fixed it with my K8N Neo Platinum.

EDIT: I should add that when I changed my HSF to the AC Freezer 64, temps dropped 3-5 degrees but are still lower after a reboot than when I first turn on the computer.

I think that is normal... cpu heats up alot when first turned on, then cools down after idling in Windows a couple minutes. BIOS will always run the cpu hard (instead of idling it), therefore the temp you see in BIOS is closer to 'load' than 'idle'.

I have a Newcastle 3000+ as well and it idles around 36-37, up to about 50 under load.

There's a load on the cpu while in bios?

I think the poster is saying the BIOS doesn't have an elegent way to idle, i.e. it doesn't HLT the processor, just spins in a thight loop (while polling hardware, sleeping for en event etc.), which is the same as running under 100% load.

 

[jmke]

is "60°C" high? yes

is "60°C" too high? nope, not at all; anything below 70°C is perfectly fine, and I would not spend money on a 3rd party heatsink if you can live with the noise the stock A64 is making.

 

[youph]

Originally posted by: jmke
is "60°C" high? yes

is "60°C" too high? nope, not at all; anything below 70°C is perfectly fine, and I would not spend money on a 3rd party heatsink if you can live with the noise the stock A64 is making.

Well here's the thing.

Tonight I was playing Rome Total War Barbarian Invasion (great game btw) and the system shut down. I set in the BIOS to shutdown @ 70C and apparently it did just that.

Upon rboot I see my CPU temp @ 67 so I think I'm gonna need to get that replacement heatsink/fan for piece of mind.

I have spoken to many people about my problems and the consesnsus is that there is just not good airflow inside my case. I think this is really the problem since I didn't do a great job routing the cables and whatnot.

I plan on cleaning up my system internals trying to keep airflow as efficient as possible, but I will also inatll a new heatsink & fan just in case.

EDIT:
I thought about it and before I buy a new heatsink/fan I'm gonna try and see if I can get a stable system as is. I will clean the insides up and tie the cables down to increase air flow in my case & clean the fans off (im sure they are full of dust) and see what happens.

 

[youph]

UPDATE:

Ok, I got the arctic silver and alcohol and decided to reseat the heatsink one more time with the new thermal grease.

I removed the heatsink/fan, cleaned off all of the stock thermal grease from the chip & heatsink (remember I did this already about 3 weeks ago but used stock paste, that was what I was cleaning off this time), applied a very thin layer of arctic silver and reseated the heatsink/fan.

I then cleaned my case (heatsink was cleaned last time i reseated the chip so was OK) fans of dust (they were pretty dusty) and put her back together.

Magically, I now idle at a sane 33-36C and go up to about 50C at 100% load. I can't believe this was all due to using the stock thermal grease but thats what I'm thinking. Either that or a combination effect with bad airflow due to the dusty fans.

Weird stuff but I'm happy now.

Thanks to everyone's input in this thread.