General PC temperature

[MaleK]

Hey guys i have been getting some errors from windows to terminate some games like Splinter Cell chaos theory and F.E.A.R. and i was wondering if it was because my temp isnt right.
I believe that normally if my temp would be high, windows wouldnt get an error but the pc should crash or atleast restart or something...

I have an:
AMD athlon XP 3000+
Gigabyte 7NNXP
1024 Kingston
6800GT 256 AGP

I was wondering if anyone could tell me for each CPU, mobo and video card what are the best temp and till what temp i dont have to worry about.

thanks again for reading my post

 

[Matt2]

CPU temp should ALWAYS be under 50*C under load.

GPU temps can be a lot higher, 70-80ish*C is normal, above that, I would start thinking about some aftermarket cooling.

Your northbridge will probably be around 50*C, mine gets to 55*C under load.

 

[Beef Taco]

Originally posted by: Matt2
CPU temp should ALWAYS be under 50*C under load.

Not to thread hijack but, my AXP3200+ hits 55-56*C under load...thats not too high is it?

 

[MaleK]

thx for replying so quick, what do you mean with northbridge? i dont know what that is :/
I currently have an external fan + the cooler on my cpu and i get 64C.... when i didnt have the external fan i would get like 70C+ so i guess that wayy to much. Does this mean that my fan on my cpu isnt working right?
Atm i have a cooler master (its like a little turbine) and the fan on it seems to be working ok. How can i check if somethings wrong?

 

[alimoalem]

Originally posted by: MaleK
How can i check if somethings wrong?

replace the fan and see if it cools down? otherwise, you could take off your side panel and have 2 external fans blowing

 

[zagood]

Actually, sounds like you need another case fan. You should at least have one on the lower front blowing cool air in, and one on the top back blowing hot air out.

What case are you using?

Also, check for dust buildup on the heatsink fins underneath the fan. If it's all crusty it can up your processor temps 10-20c.

-z

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: MaleK
thx for replying so quick, what do you mean with northbridge? i dont know what that is :/
I currently have an external fan + the cooler on my cpu and i get 64C.... when i didnt have the external fan i would get like 70C+ so i guess that wayy to much. Does this mean that my fan on my cpu isnt working right?
Atm i have a cooler master (its like a little turbine) and the fan on it seems to be working ok. How can i check if somethings wrong?

You'll be needing at the very least one more case fan. Like what zagood said. You should have one on the front of the case sucking cold air in and one in the rear or top sucking hot air out. Your temps are very high. If you CPU is that high...definitely check for dust buildup around the heatsink and fan.

Did you put the computer together yourself or was it pre-built? What heatsink do you have on your cpu?

For your system you should be getting an ambient around 30c, CPU around 40-48c, and vid eo card around 50c.

 

[MaleK]

Thanks alot everyone for replying so quick, as for fans i already have 2 that bring air inside and 2 that get it out so i dont think i dont have enough fans.. but since even with the external fan on my pc and still getting very high cpu temp its prob the fault of the cpu cooler right?
I dont have any dust on the fans, just a week ago cleaned the whole thing...
What is the way to see if the cooler on the cpu isnt working right? because the fan on it is working good... i have it on 3000rpm atm is that enough? even if i get it up to 3700rpm + external fan i still get 63C with all applications closed.

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Did you put the heatsink on yourself? What did you use for thermal paste? It might be possible that you put too much paste on. Only a thin layer is needed.

 

[MaleK]

no i didnt put in on myself, do i take it off and see if there is too much? is it possible that its not put on right? like if its a little on the right and not covering the whole area?

 

[Cdubneeddeal]

Originally posted by: MaleK
no i didnt put in on myself, do i take it off and see if there is too much? is it possible that its not put on right? like if its a little on the right and not covering the whole area?

Most likely it's put on there right. I personally would take it off and see how much compound is on there. Just make sure you have some compound or AS5 available after you take it off!

 

[MaleK]

thanks alot for all ur help, ill take it tomorrow to the comp store im doing my placement year because i dont have any compount with me.
I hope its just the cooler and nothing more serious... at start i thought it was the video card i just got causeing me the problems :/
thanks again

 

[jondl]

It seems like you don't know much about the components.. so i don't think you should mess with the heatsink.. my best guess is that the cooler isn't good enough for the stress you put on your cpu. You have a socket 754 cpu and those tend to get pretty hot unlike the newer socket 939 cpus that uses less voltage. My recommendation is to replace your heatsink with maybe a thermalright xp-90. There are plenty of places selling these for around $35 shipped. I would suggest getting someone that knows what theyre doing to install it. A chipped IHS (metal plate on your CPU) can be pretty bad.

 

[MaleK]

Hey i took it today morning to the comp store im at and i put the top technician to look at it. He told me that its normal for an AMD cpu to work even at 70C because amd's always work at higher temp then intels.
I changed the air flow from my case, making the cold air come in from the bottom and the hot air to come out from the top. Ill see if the temp will decrease and if i get cpu freezes or errors. But until now everything works strangly ok... dunno why :/

 

[Finns14]

give it to me in F what do you all live in england???

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Originally posted by: MaleK
Hey i took it today morning to the comp store im at and i put the top technician to look at it. He told me that its normal for an AMD cpu to work even at 70C because amd's always work at higher temp then intels.
I changed the air flow from my case, making the cold air come in from the bottom and the hot air to come out from the top. Ill see if the temp will decrease and if i get cpu freezes or errors. But until now everything works strangly ok... dunno why :/

Oh God your comp store's top technician is an idiot. AMD CPUs generally run COOLER than Intels, which is one of the main reasons why people buy them. If your temps are in the 60's, I'd say check the HSF to see if it's on properly.

 

[Finns14]

in F plz my comps thermometer is in F

 

[nugglets]

Originally posted by: t3h l337 n3wb

Originally posted by: MaleK
Hey i took it today morning to the comp store im at and i put the top technician to look at it. He told me that its normal for an AMD cpu to work even at 70C because amd's always work at higher temp then intels.
I changed the air flow from my case, making the cold air come in from the bottom and the hot air to come out from the top. Ill see if the temp will decrease and if i get cpu freezes or errors. But until now everything works strangly ok... dunno why :/

Oh God your comp store's top technician is an idiot. AMD CPUs generally run COOLER than Intels, which is one of the main reasons why people buy them. If your temps are in the 60's, I'd say check the HSF to see if it's on properly.

the 939 AMDs run cooler, sure. but he has an XP 3000+, not a 64. XP's ran notoriously hot. my 2200+ with an older thermaltake hs/fan with AS5 and a deskfan blowing on it runs at about 52C while playing CoD2 and the like. idle temp is around 47C. before i put the AS5 on it, and without taking off the side of the case and using the deskfan it was at 60 or so constantly and could hit 70 on full load if the room temperature was already pretty hot(which is often the case living in southern california).

granted, that tech is still an idiot as anything over 55-57C is bad news for the life of the CPU. trust me, ive burned up a couple different XPs out of laziness.

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Originally posted by: Finns14
in F plz my comps thermometer is in F

1. Don't be a lazy ass. Use a freaking F --> C converter.
2. Everyone uses Celcius for computer hardware. It's much easier.
3. Your grammar sucks. I couldn't even understand your first post. Please fix it.

 

[heroesproject]

if you're reaching in the 60's.. and you didn't overclock.. it means your ambiet is either too high in case.. as in, you'd need to have a better exhaust fan.. or perhaps something like a blower to let out your hot air..

otherwise.. you can also check your thermal paste on your heatsink to ur cpu.. if there's too little or too much it won't conduct and transfer the heat efficiently.. another thing it could be is that your heatsink has too much dust in it.. in the event that you take out your heatsink to reapply thermal paste.. i'd recommend cleaning your heatsink and fan with maybe a can of compressed air or doing it by your grubby hands.

tell us how it works out.