How hot is too hot?

[nmcglennon]

My CPU temp is running at 149 degrees and my cases runs at 89 degress is this too hot? I have 8 fans in the case minus not counting the HSFs. I keep getting all sorts of random crashes and I am thinking it might be heat related.

 

[JSSheridan]

That is a bit on the hot side, I'm assuming that is 149*F, which is 65*C. I think common opinion is that the temp should always be less than 50*C or 122*F. Can you give us some details about the HSF on the CPU and thermal material? Peace.

 

[Doh!]

8 fans, 149F & random crashes? I would say it's definitely too hot. Re-seat the heatsink & make sure it's seated properly (flat contact with the die). 8 fans, if not configured properly, can actually degrade the cooling result. Just try with one intake and one fan blowing out & add one fan at a time to see the temp. difference.

 

[Jeff7181]

Looking at your rig... 4 hard drives??? 4???? That's where a lot of the heat is coming from...
What's the temp in the room the computer's in?

Everything looks like it's within manufacturer's specs... but higher than what most people would like to see.

Take the side panel off the case an aim a box fan at it, then see if the crashes stop... if they do, it's definately heat related.

 

[xSauronx]

is your hs/f on properly with a proper application of thermal paste? is the fan blowing onto the hs or away from it? is your case in a restricted area (between a desk and a wall maybe? or, like mine, in a cabinet?) that would hamper airflow. i had a major airflow prob in this cabinet and had to run some duct tubing from my case fan and psu fan to move the heat away, solved some probs i had when oc'ing and running a heavy load

 

[nmcglennon]

I have an Antec case. Upon inspection inside, while the computer was running, I found that my graphics card blocks most of the airflow. the intake in the bottom just sits there and the air cannot circulate up near the processor area.

The 4 harddrives (RAID!) have 4 fans on them, and the air stays relatively cool in the area around them, but it might just be blowing the hot air to the central portion of the motherboard.

The processor's HSF is AMD's own brand that came with their retail processor. I put artic silver on there and have no problems with the contact to the processor. The heatsink gets clogged with dust it seems which in turn cannot be cooled, which turns the Fan part of the HSF to be useless.

Since fans don't seem to be working, should I go with other methods such as watercooling? Right now I just leave the side panel off and let the air ventilate into the motherboard directly. I keep the room the computer is in at roughly 73 degrees.

 

[eklass]

i would say you need a different HSF unit. my athlon 2000 with a thermaltake volcano 9 runs at 43C under full load. anything 50 and up is kinda high

i've never used a stock HSF unit (less my 486/DX2)

 

[Jeff7181]

No, you don't need water cooling for that by ANY means... you just need to clean the dust out of it periodically... you might even consider a fan filter if your computer gets that dirty inside.

 

[Tekman]

-Check CPU cooler is good mounted
-You must have good airfloow near CPU cooler
-May be you well overclocked then if you have small CPU cooler (or box) will have high temp even with 8 case cooler's.
-I know that becouse on my 2.4 P4 OC at 3006 MHz I get in Prime after few hour's runing with Zalman 6500-cu 46c temp. (26 room temp.) but before with box temp. will raise constantly and after half hour CPU will crash at 65c...
I have 4 case fan's in my Chieftech box
26 room temp and 27-28 idle is cpu temp.
work on good CPU cooler

 

[nmcglennon]

Ya I went out and bought a better HSF and its seems to be running alot better now. No random crashes. Thanks for your input!