Help me! Pentium 4 Thermal Throttling??

[RoyalTenenbaum]

Hey there,

Alright, so I've got a question.

I built a new PC last week. It's run for about 6-7 hours total. I noticed that my heatsink wasn't making full contact with the processor. Therefore, my processor was running hot (I noticed 90C). I fixed the problem and now it runs at about 35C. My question is.....

Does Pentium 4's Thermal Throttling prevent damage from being done or just prevent frying from being done? And whats this I hear about something having to be enabled in the BIOS for it?? Should I be worried? It seems to work fine right now, although my blue Antec LED fan now blinks (I have NO idea why). Should I keep it the CPU?

Thanks VERY much! I really appreciate it.

 

[WarCon]

If the throttling didn't actually protect the CPU then it would have no purpose. You should be fine. As far as your LED goes no clue. (And if it is powered off the header of the mobo, make sure that the combined power of the fan and LED doesn't exceed the headers rating or you will risk damaging it).

 

[RoyalTenenbaum]

Thanks very much for your help. I found this online about installing the fan...

Connect to a non-variable power connector only. For best performance, Antec recommends that LED fans only be connected to a standard (steady-voltage) 12V DC power connector. If your motherboard or power supply supports fan speed control, DO NOT connect the LED fan to that variable-voltage header or output.

My 865PERL Intel board does have fan speed control I think, so I don't know how I'm supposed to plug these fans in?

Thanks!

 

[RoyalTenenbaum]

Forgot something...both the fan and the headers are 12V, so I hope nothing is getting damaged!

 

[WarCon]

Its not the voltage rating that would be the problem, its the current rating. BTW your motherboards fan headers are all speed controlled (motherboard meets the WfM (Wired for Management) specifications).

Your processor fan header can handle a generous 1.6amps or 19.2watts of power (actually pretty nice).
Your chassis fan headers are pretty standard at .6amps or 7.2watts of power.

Edit: You might have get a 3pin fan header -> hard drive Molex connector adapter with a sensor connector (if you want to monitor CPU fan speed).

 

[RoyalTenenbaum]

WarCon,

Thanks for your help. One more question, if you will...

Is thermal throttling something the chip automatically does or do you have to change something in the BIOS?

Thanks!

 

[bacillus]

look under APM configuration in bios to choose the throttling down clock ratio!

 

[WarCon]

The chip will automatically start the throttling process (initiate the signal to your motherboard), but you can adjust the level of throttling in bios (how much it throttles) in most cases.

 

[THUGSROOK]

90*C?

throttle or not ~ id be very surprised if you DIDNT hurt it.

 

[Byte]

Originally posted by: THUGSROOK
90*C?

throttle or not ~ id be very surprised if you DIDNT hurt it.

90C is not that bad. If you look at Intels White Papers you can store these procs up to 85C and recommends it not go above 75C in opporation. Also when temps reach 135C, there is a cutoff. So running at 90 probably didn't do anything at all. Temperature measurements are not accurate at all. They only measure the diode, in which the motherboard must translate. Between each motherboard that are average differences of 10C. I recently took out a 2.4C from a mobo that was reading 60C stock. I put in a 2.8C o/c 3.2 and it reads 35C. I'm using a Zalman CNPS7000Cu/Al, these are some of the most failsafe heatsinks to get.

If you have had an AMD however, you would have totally cooked it! (i did once, i had a Alpha for socket 307s, it had like very little retention force, Athlons need something like 20lbs)