CPU overheating

[John Loo]

Hi,

From my BIOS I can see that my Pentium 4 HT 2.4ghz is running at 80 celcius plus! Sometimes 90 celcius and more! Is this normal for a Pentium chip? Cause I really think something's wrong here. It's reaching boiling temperatures! I seriously need some help here (before my pc blows). Thanks.

* I can't find any software to monitor my processor temperature outside of my BIOS for my Asrock M266A motherboard.

 

[stevty2889]

Definatly something very wrong there..make sure the CPU fan is spinning and not plugged with dust. Shouldn't be running much warmer than 50c under full load(2.4 with HT is a Northwood core).

 

[John Loo]

Yup, the fan is spinning and I don't see much dust on it. I downloaded SpeedFan, here's the reading:

Temp1: 77-79 celcius
Temp2: 40 celcius
HDO : 48 celcius

I'm not sure but I think Temp1 is the CPU's temperature. It sure is lower than what my BIOS read but it's still too hot, right? Or could the readings be wrong? From my observations, the casing gets a little warm when I'm using it. So what do you think?

 

[andyandyandy]

Whoa, my P4 2.4 is normally round 40 and 50 on hot days thats way to high. Check for dust in the heatsink, or mabye your temp sensor is faulty.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Either I'm from another planet or parallel universe, or you have some sort of marginal system configuration.

A Northwood P4 2.4C should be idling at near room temperature, and the load value should not exceed some temperature around 40C to 45C. I had one that was OC'd variously at 20% to 25%, and it still ran cooler than most CPUs I've seen before or since.

The 2.4E -- if there is actually a Prescott at that speed rating (probably -- but I haven't checked recently) -- should run hotter.

By comparison, at 70F room, I have a 3.2E here running at a 14 multiplier and OC'd to 3.44Ghz and FSB 984. It seldom shows a load value over 106F or 41C.

But then, I've got a heatpipe cooler and motherboard duct . . .

Do you have a thermal sensor with thermal tape that connects to a front-panel fan-controller/monitor? That would be one way to check the reliability of the on-board thermal sensor for CPU_TEMP.

 

[Alaa]

i have a 3Ghz 630 processor and magically goes from 38C idle to 60C under load is this a problem? should i RMA it? the fan doesnt want to spin with a speed more than 1500 RPM anyfixes?

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Alaa
i have a 3Ghz 630 processor and magically goes from 38C idle to 60C under load is this a problem? should i RMA it? the fan doesnt want to spin with a speed more than 1500 RPM anyfixes?

60C load is pretty normaly for a prescott, not a problem unless you hit about 72c.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: John Loo
Yup, the fan is spinning and I don't see much dust on it. I downloaded SpeedFan, here's the reading:

Temp1: 77-79 celcius
Temp2: 40 celcius
HDO : 48 celcius

I'm not sure but I think Temp1 is the CPU's temperature. It sure is lower than what my BIOS read but it's still too hot, right? Or could the readings be wrong? From my observations, the casing gets a little warm when I'm using it. So what do you think?

I would remove the heatsink, clean off the old thermal paste/pad from the CPU and heatsink. Apply a fresh thin coat of thermal paste, and re-install the heatsink. Something is very wrong there.

 

[Alaa]

Originally posted by: stevty2889

Originally posted by: Alaa
i have a 3Ghz 630 processor and magically goes from 38C idle to 60C under load is this a problem? should i RMA it? the fan doesnt want to spin with a speed more than 1500 RPM anyfixes?

60C load is pretty normaly for a prescott, not a problem unless you hit about 72c.

i dont think that its stops there ..but i will test that and report..it was running fine for 5+ months

 

[Alaa]

it doesnt get past 65 till now..hope that it doesnt reach more than tht

 

[996GT2]

Well, you probably do have a problem, but just FYI the BIOS is not a very accurate source of temp information, and different models or motherboards can vary the temp readings by a LOT even with the same processor in them.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

John Loo never told us whether he has a Prescott or a Northwood.

That particular Northwood, at least with certain production runs, ran so cool that it would sometimes idle at a lower temp than the mobo, and you'd think something was wrong with your temperature sensors.

Of course, it could also depend on the mobo.

If it's a Northwood, then there is a REAL problem. If it's a Prescott, it still seems high unless he's upped his voltages to some insane level.

Alaa said he had a Prescott 630. What memory is he using? What kind of mobo?

I can see these high temperatures with the stock cooler, but I never used a stock cooler on my 3.2E. It has a TR SI-120. Even at room temperatures of 80F, the load under S&M or Prime95 never goes over something around 110F to 113F (43C). With an XP-120, my brother's 3.0C Northwood loads up to 118F at room temperature just above 70F.

. . . And that performance (on my Prescott) occurred with the VCORE set at just below 1.4V. I've since run it up as high as 1.4625V, and it only shows a 2C increase in load temperature.

I'd look at the heatsink retention mechanism and the thermal paste. If you're using a stock cooler, I'd also look into a better cooler like a heatpipe design. My 120x38mm fan spins at 2,200 rpm, and if you have a stock cooler with a little 70mm fan on it spinning at 1,500rpm . . . .well . . . . then I can see how these temperatures get up there on the Pressy -- 478-pin or LGA775 either way . . .

Mr. Loo also failed to mention if he over-clocked his system. But then, I've OC'd my own 478-Pressy, and I've explained my temperatures and cooling. Anyway, a 2.4 Pressy or Northwood should over-clock reasonably well with the right mobo and a good cooling system.

What other factors, the PSU for instance and its adjustment, would cause excessive thermal leakage from the processor cap?

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: BonzaiDuck
John Loo never told us whether he has a Prescott or a Northwood.

That particular Northwood, at least with certain production runs, ran so cool that it would sometimes idle at a lower temp than the mobo, and you'd think something was wrong with your temperature sensors.

Of course, it could also depend on the mobo.

If it's a Northwood, then there is a REAL problem. If it's a Prescott, it still seems high unless he's upped his voltages to some insane level.

Alaa said he had a Prescott 630. What memory is he using? What kind of mobo?

I can see these high temperatures with the stock cooler, but I never used a stock cooler on my 3.2E. It has a TR SI-120. Even at room temperatures of 80F, the load under S&M or Prime95 never goes over something around 110F to 113F (43C). With an XP-120, my brother's 3.0C Northwood loads up to 118F at room temperature just above 70F.

. . . And that performance (on my Prescott) occurred with the VCORE set at just below 1.4V. I've since run it up as high as 1.4625V, and it only shows a 2C increase in load temperature.

I'd look at the heatsink retention mechanism and the thermal paste. If you're using a stock cooler, I'd also look into a better cooler like a heatpipe design. My 120x38mm fan spins at 2,200 rpm, and if you have a stock cooler with a little 70mm fan on it spinning at 1,500rpm . . . .well . . . . then I can see how these temperatures get up there on the Pressy -- 478-pin or LGA775 either way . . .

Mr. Loo also failed to mention if he over-clocked his system. But then, I've OC'd my own 478-Pressy, and I've explained my temperatures and cooling. Anyway, a 2.4 Pressy or Northwood should over-clock reasonably well with the right mobo and a good cooling system.

What other factors, the PSU for instance and its adjustment, would cause excessive thermal leakage from the processor cap?

There is no 2.4ghz prescott with hyperthreading, it's a northwood.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Well, I said I couldn't recall that speed being in the Prescott family.

I DO remember the 2.4C I had. That's why I cannot . . . freakin' . . . . imagine . . . . having a cooling problem with it.

There WERE different production runs. The 2.4C processor "to have" had "30 caps" between the processor pins. If I didn't feel the need for speed, I would have stuck with that processor a while longer. I had the sucker overclocked to 3 Ghz with the FSB at 1000. Tom's Hardware had used it as part of the recommended components to support the OCZ EL Gold DDR500's which were new at that time -- early 2004.

 

[Zap]

Originally posted by: stevty2889
60C load is pretty normaly for a prescott, not a problem unless you hit about 72c.

For Prescott, not a problem until you hit close to 90ºC. That's what they are operationally rated for, and maximum 110ºC survival. I've had an overclocked Prescott running at between 80-90ºC and it was still stable and within specifications. Of course my Abit IS7 reported on the high side according to many, though accurate according to Abit.

 

[stevty2889]

Originally posted by: Zap

Originally posted by: stevty2889
60C load is pretty normaly for a prescott, not a problem unless you hit about 72c.

For Prescott, not a problem until you hit close to 90ºC. That's what they are operationally rated for, and maximum 110ºC survival. I've had an overclocked Prescott running at between 80-90ºC and it was still stable and within specifications. Of course my Abit IS7 reported on the high side according to many, though accurate according to Abit.

Yeah, but at 72c throttling kicks in and kills the performance..

EDIT: at least for the LGA775 prescotts it's 72c, my my socket 478 2.8 prescott @3.5ghz didn't get hot enough for me to find out what the throttling temp is for the 478 versions.

 

[John Loo]

No, I never touched the processor in overclocking, don't think my retailer would have overclocked it either. I used to have a 180W, I think, PSU. I found out about it recently and got a better 450W PSU. I had to send back my motherboard to the retailer for warranty claims since it failed, which I think is caused by that lousy PSU a month back. I just got it back and I don't think the guy at the shop put new thermal paste when he put the processor back. But before I go rush out to get some thermal paste, are you guys absolutely sure that lack of thermal paste can cause my P4 to get so hot? Do you guys have any links to instructions on how to remove/replace the heatsink+fan and applying new thermal paste? Preferably with pictures. A few other questions, my hd is making loud noises everytime I use it but SpeedFan's S.M.A.R.T info says it's fitness and performance is 98% or so. Really? Another thing is, I'm not sure whether the guy put thermal paste for another Athlon pc of mine. What's the average temperature of your Athlon for any of you with Athlon's who have thermal paste applied? My Athlon 3200+ is running averagely at 43 celcius. What kind of thermal paste should I use for my Athlon and P4? Just one last note, even if the motherboard's sensors (for my P4) aren't accurate, I think it would only be off by a few celcius since the casing get's a little warm when I'm using it (my Athlon's casing is always cool).

*Err, what's Prescott and what's Northwood?

 

[John Loo]

No, I never touched the processor in overclocking, don't think my retailer would have overclocked it either. I used to have a 180W, I think, PSU. I found out about it recently and got a better 450W PSU. I had to send back my motherboard to the retailer for warranty claims since it failed, which I think is caused by that lousy PSU a month back. I just got it back and I don't think the guy at the shop put new thermal paste when he put the processor back. But before I go rush out to get some thermal paste, are you guys absolutely sure that lack of thermal paste can cause my P4 to get so hot? Do you guys have any links to instructions on how to remove/replace the heatsink+fan and applying new thermal paste? Preferably with pictures. A few other questions, my hd is making loud noises everytime I use it but SpeedFan's S.M.A.R.T info says it's fitness and performance is 98% or so. Really? Another thing is, I'm not sure whether the guy put thermal paste for another Athlon pc of mine. What's the average temperature of your Athlon for any of you with Athlon's who have thermal paste applied? My Athlon 3200+ is running averagely at 43 celcius. What kind of thermal paste should I use for my Athlon and P4? Just one last note, even if the motherboard's sensors (for my P4) aren't accurate, I think it would only be off by a few celcius since the casing get's a little warm when I'm using it (my Athlon's casing is always cool).

*Err, what's Prescott and what's Northwood?

 

[John Loo]

Oops, double posted. Sorry.

 

[Zap]

43ºC doesn't sound too bad for an Athlon of any kind.

There's two types of thermal throttling, one is lowering multiplier on Prescotts at 3GHz and up to 14x, and the other is a cycling on/off of the processor.