Athlon 64 3800+ Temp.

[MetalMusicMan]

Hi, I recently purchased and Athlon 64 3800+ processor and have been using it on my new computer system. I have been having problems with heat, for instance, my processor idles at about 125ºf - 130ºf, which isn't so bad... However, during stressful operations, it can get as high as 152ºf! What is odd, is that my processor seems to get hotter during certain programs which you would think are not stressfull at all. For instance, playing Doom III, my processor has peeked at 147ºf-- but playing Diablo 2 and Baldur's Gate 1 (yikes! that's an old game! ), it has reached a max of 152ºf.
My processor fan/heatsink is the stock one from AMD. Here are my system specifications:

AMD Athlon 64 3800+
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra
1GB Corsair XMS Pro XL 2-2-2-5
160GB Seagate SATA 7,200 RPM x2 on a RAID 0
Thermaltake Xaser III SuperTower Case with 7x Spire 36CFM 80mm Fans

I think the heat is really hurting my performance because my buddy, who has a 3800+ and a GeForce 6800GT beat me in AquaMark3D scores in the processor rating.

Can this heat have any long term affects on my processor? Such as damaing it, etc.? Should I worry or is this normal? Thanks.

 

[Farmer]

In that order, thats 51.67 C - 54.44 C, 66.67 C, 63.89 C, 66.67 C.

MetalMusicMan:

Well, there it is. Get a new HSF. For such a fast processor in such a hot case, an aftermarket HSF is smart, even if you dont OC.

My 3200+ and 9800XT run at around 41 C - 50 C Load also on MSI mobo (this is exceptionally hot also). Your numbers are not that far of (plus, your equipment is faster, thus hotter). What is your room temp? Maybe try running with case open?

 

[MrCodeDude]

That's pretty hot. How are you monitoring your processors temperature?

If you're using MBM5 or something, MBM5 inflated my procs temperature on all three A64 mobos I owned.

Get a temperature probe or even MSI's temp monitoring program.

 

[MetalMusicMan]

To Farmer:
My house temp is typically about 70º, but my pc is in the basement, which means it's cooler. The temperature inside my case is typically never above 80ºf, and at idle it is 75ºf. So it certainly isn't the surrounding temperature--at least I don't think so.

As far as aftermarket products go, I can't seem to find many that fit the stock bracket-- I'm really not liking the idea of removing the bracket entirely, but it seems like 90% of the Socket 939 heatsink/fan combo's require you to remove the bracket and install the heatsink manually with screws and whatnot. The main one that I have been looking at is the Thermaltake Venus, as it fits the stock bracket-- however, my same buddy mentioned above uses it and he's only 1-3ºf cooler.

There is another Heatsink/fan combo that I think looks interesting, but I've never heard of the brand and haven't read any reviews so I am a bit skeptical... The product is the Scythe FCS-50 with Heatlane Technology. It's a rather innovative design that I have yet to see on any other products, but I haven't heard much about it.

Thanks for the feedback and the ºC conversions.

To MrCodeDude:
I am using the MSI CoreCenter Monitoring program. I'm not familiar with MBM5, what is it?

 

[Farmer]

MBM5 is Motherboard Monitor 5, a freeware (?) third part prog.

Well, keep in mind your friends ambient temp/case temp may be lower than yours.

I think the heat is really hurting my performance because my buddy, who has a 3800+ and a GeForce 6800GT beat me in AquaMark3D scores in the processor rating.

By how much?

 

[Er0si0n]

MetalMusicMan:

I too have a MSI Neo2 Platinum mobo, and a 3800+. As does a friend of mine. My temps are like 55 degrees idle, he gets similar temps, but a couple degrees lower. The problem seems to be with the Mobo bios incorrectly reading the temps. Atleast thats what I hope the problem is. We just have to wait until MSI updates the bios to fix the problem.


/Er0

 

[klah]

Do you have the bios v1.2? Seems to have fixed this for many people: http://forum.msi.com.tw/thread.php?threadid=60458

 

[Er0si0n]

well...there ya go...flashed to the 1.2 bios and my temps dropped more than 10 degrees...

 

[iwantanewcomputer]

i doubt it is that hot...try the bios flash

 

[MetalMusicMan]

Wow, I didn't know that there was an update for the Bios. Did it just come out?

Thanks alot for the response and help, I'll download that right away and let you know my results.

On a side note, what do you all think of that Scythe FCS-50 cooler?

 

[Demo24]

check out hte giga-byte CPU cooler for the A64 and P4. works pretty good. or so the reviews say

 

[imported_theEman]

That is pretty hot.

 

[MetalMusicMan]

Wow, sure enough, the bios upgrade to 1.2 did the job. The highest I've seen my processor in the passed 2 hours or so is 113ºf, but I haven't gamed with it yet. Still, that's a HUGE improvement over what it was before. Thanks guys.

 

[Nebor]

Originally posted by: theEman
That is pretty hot.

Well you know, some like it hot.