Can these high temp readings be correct?

[russbiscuit]

My Athlon 64 3000+ (Winchester) @ (2.39Ghz, 8X299, 1.45V) consistently reports very high temperatures, but doesn't crash, and after recently replacing my cheap piece of junk heat sink with a Zalman 7000B-Cu and i'm still getting almost as high readings. I don't think it's a BIOS reporting problem either because I have the lastest bios from Foxconn.

Using NForce Monitor i get temps of around 36-37 C and 62 C at load with Prime95. But strangely, even at the load, neither the Zalman or the old heatsink feel even warm to the touch. I've been using some ARtic Silver II (probably at least 4 years old, I don't think they make it anymore). Does thermal compound spoil? Could that be the problem?

Running Prime95 doesn't crash the computer, even at those high temps, but I'm afraid to leave it going for more than a few minutes for fear of damagin my CPU.

For reference here are my rig's specs

Foxconn Winfast NF4XK8MC-ERS (this uATX board used to be in a small case...i've since transitioned to a mid-tower with 2 120mm fans)
Ultra 500W XConnect PS
Sapphire X1800XT 256mb
1 GB (2 X 512) Corsair ValueSelect DDR

 

[RallyMaster]

Whoa...that is high. I certainly think your mobo is reporting the wrong temps. My friend's mobo keeps reporting his temperatures as 127C. Don't worry about it, it will be fine.

 

[Operandi]

That is pretty high for that CPU and HS/F combination but certainly not dangerous. I would suspect either the board is reading the temp wrong or the Zalman is not making good contact with the CPU.

 

[russbiscuit]

Originally posted by: Operandi
That is pretty high for that CPU and HS/F combination but certainly not dangerous. I would suspect either the board is reading the temp wrong or the Zalman is not making good contact with the CPU.

Could this be caused by old thremal grease? Anyone know how Artic Silver II compares to Artic Silver 5?

 

[F1shF4t]

well the temps are quite high, but then again it could be the mobo, mine asus one in the second comp reports the cpu temp 10C higher than whats its supposed to be.
I use the standard thermaltake compound so i doubt it will make a huge diff.
Anyways stop the fan and see if the heatsink will heat up, when its just becomes too hot to hold ur finger on it for a few sec its at around 60C.

 

[russbiscuit]

Originally posted by: Dark Cupcake
well the temps are quite high, but then again it could be the mobo, mine asus one in the second comp reports the cpu temp 10C higher than whats its supposed to be.
I use the standard thermaltake compound so i doubt it will make a huge diff.
Anyways stop the fan and see if the heatsink will heat up, when its just becomes too hot to hold ur finger on it for a few sec its at around 60C.

Well i stopped the fan while running prime95, nvmonitor reports temp going up to 80C, but no lock ups, and to the touch the heatsink felt a little warm (instead of totally room temp like normal), but definitely not hot. I've had older chips where the heatsink got very hot, and this is not like that at all. I don't really see how I could have messed up the contact between the HSF and the chip...especially when this has been the case with 2 different HSFs

I realized I don't actually have the newest BIOS...i don't have a floppy drive available, but I will in a week or so and then i'll try updating and see if i have the same problem.

I have all the temp shutdowns and cool n' quiet shut off in the BIOS because obviously they would all be activated at these high temps. But i'm wondering if the built in cut off in the Athlon64 will kick in if in fact the temps are really getting too high and it's not just being misreported in the BIOS?

 

[letdown427]

What are your room/case temps? I'd say it probably is over reading a bit. If you want to flash the BIOS, there is a windows based utility, winflash, that will do it for you, I've used it about 5times without any problems, and many people have used it a lot without any issues. In fact, I haven't heard anyone say they've had a problem with it.

It's definately worth getting the latest BIOS before taking any more drastic action though, the 62 is a bit too high I reckon.

 

[pkme2]

I recommend this over the software readouts. :thumbsup:http://www.weatherconnection.com/product.asp?itmky=776713&s=froogle
http://www.gen-x-pc.com/cputemps.htm
My readouts are on my rigs are as follows.

Ambient 25C
CPU working 35C
CPU under load 45C
Mobo 32C

I use a PC-60 for its excellent heat dissipation qualities. I change out the fans to Yate Loons especially the top exhaust to 120mm.
Or you can get the PC-7B that has two 120mm and you can add 2 more.

I still use my generic AMD HSF and that saves a few dollars for other things.
I add slot fans for my GPUs and its just me. I've been doing this for a longtime and even if I really didn't need it, its a habit hard to break.
Still, exhausts helps. Its your choice again. http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=120&page=2

 

[JEDIYoda]

also in the latest issue of maximum PC they confirmed what i have been thinking all along
using too much Thermal paste will cause your temps to be way too high also.
You need only create a bond between the heatsink and the chip.
The heatsink should not be surfing on gobbs of thermal pasdte!

 

[DerwenArtos12]

Pull the heatsink off, wipe off all the thermal paste on the hsf but not the cpu and re-install.