Have I been doing it wrong all this time?

[hifisoftware]

I agree with Mullzy. Make sure that you have fan(s) blowing air out of the case in the back. Then play around to see if istalling a side cover helps.
My system got much coler (CPU temp) when I changed case from cheap with side open case, to nice Enermax case (70$ much more then 5$AR cases at Fry's but I am very happy with it)

 

[Sheriff]

Take the HS off and then clean it and the CPU. Next reapply a small drop of AS on the CPU, reasemble with the fan to blow on the HS because the Radeon 9700 runs hot and of course that air rises to the HS.

Check temps and if satisfied reasemble the Case

 

[SaltBoy]

Bump for Update

After cleaning my cpu core and heatsink, applying a fresh new blob of AS3, and reseating the heatsink, I was able to lower my CPU temperature by about 4C. Its idle temperature is now at 49C and after a heavy load I haven't seen the temperature get above 53C yet.

Of course, I still would like to bring the temperature down even more. I figure that air flow is now my biggest issue, so I think some higher-powered fans would do some good. After all, my Hard drives make more noise than my panaflo's. Of course, I don't want anything TOO noisy. Could anybody suggest some fans with a good CFM-noise balance? Thanks!

 

[Zap]

Which Panaflo do you have, the 12L? If so, you can probably get a 12M that pushes much more air and still isn't too noisy.

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER

Originally posted by: trexpesto

Originally posted by: DAPUNISHER
Honestly, your concern over temps is seriously outdated. The max operational temp is 85-90c and even with a margin of error of +/- 10c

I thought that 85C was the death temp, not running temp?

I've read articles that stated the XP survived extremely brief spikes as high as 125c before shutdown without permanant damage.

You read correctly - I had a Duron 1.8Ghz up to 121C for around two minutes before I realised something was wrong (wasn't in the BIOS monitoring temperatures), and it still works perfectly. I had to use a large desk fan for 10-15 minutes to cool the thing down before I touched it. That'll teach me not to check if the fan plug is on all three pins

Oh, and SaltBoy: your temperature won't affect Windows performance. Period.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: DopeFiend
Oh, and SaltBoy: your temperature won't affect Windows performance. Period.

Are you sure about that? In the past -- repeatedly -- after playing both WCIII and UT2K4 for about an hour straight, the frame rate drops substantally. At that time, I stop playing and reboot the machine to see what the temperature is. Normally, it's at 57-58C at that time. The post speed of the floppy drive is much slower. I figure my machine is trying to cool down by affecting its performance.

Could something else be going on in the background while the frame rates suddenly drop?

 

[imported_Phil]

Originally posted by: SaltBoy

Originally posted by: DopeFiend
Oh, and SaltBoy: your temperature won't affect Windows performance. Period.

Are you sure about that? In the past -- repeatedly -- after playing both WCIII and UT2K4 for about an hour straight, the frame rate drops substantally. At that time, I stop playing and reboot the machine to see what the temperature is. Normally, it's at 57-58C at that time. The post speed of the floppy drive is much slower. I figure my machine is trying to cool down by affecting its performance.

Could something else be going on in the background while the frame rates suddenly drop?

Yes, I'm sure about that. Athlon XP CPUs will not slow down when they get hot.

Now, your motherboard with thermal clock-throttling enabled, that's a different story. Turn it off.

 

[SaltBoy]

Originally posted by: DopeFiend

Originally posted by: SaltBoy

Originally posted by: DopeFiend
Oh, and SaltBoy: your temperature won't affect Windows performance. Period.

Are you sure about that? In the past -- repeatedly -- after playing both WCIII and UT2K4 for about an hour straight, the frame rate drops substantally. At that time, I stop playing and reboot the machine to see what the temperature is. Normally, it's at 57-58C at that time. The post speed of the floppy drive is much slower. I figure my machine is trying to cool down by affecting its performance.

Could something else be going on in the background while the frame rates suddenly drop?

Yes, I'm sure about that. Athlon XP CPUs will not slow down when they get hot.

Now, your motherboard with thermal clock-throttling enabled, that's a different story. Turn it off.

Hmm... I'll have to find that. Thanks for the tip!