How hot is too hot?

[midnight70]

I have a P3700E @ 933, running 1.8v. At idle, it sits around 44-45C, but during heavy gaming, it rises to 51-52C ... is this something I should be concerned about? What is the nominal temp I should be striving for?

I'm currently still using the stock heatsink/fan.......

Thanks,

Midnight

 

[Rotax]

Well, I'm not sure bout P3s but my CPU is running at 45C full load. This was before I played w/ cooling some. Before that I was upto 57C at times. My new heatsink and cooling idea is working much better now though. But I'm not sure what those Intel chips should run. Aren't the "E"s a .18 micron? Those should be cooler...not sure though. There should be some 'P3 Head' coming along to tell ya whats up though, just thought I'd tell ya what mine does...

 

[rocmonster]

<< I'm currently still using the stock heatsink/fan....... >>



get better cooling with a better heatsink/fan. Your temps should drop 10c easily.

 

[midnight70]

Actually, this is my second 700E (one is mine, one belongs to my work).... they are both 'box' versions, meaning they both came with retail heatsink/fan units....

I &quot;broke&quot; the other one off and replaced it with a dual fan 5000rpm unit that keeps the temperatures in the same place .... since it made no difference, I left the stock hs/fan on the newer one. Both are cB0 stepping SL454 models.

Yes, the &quot;E&quot; is the .18 micron coppermine CPU.

 

[LarryJoe]

1.
Get an ORB and you will drop 3C-5C

2.
Make sure you have a front case fan at the bottom sucking in and a rear case fan below the ps sucking out.

You should be in the low 30's.

I had the retail hs/fan on my &quot;old&quot; PIII600@800 and no rear case fan and had temps like yours. After adding an orb and the rear case fan, my temps are in the low 30's. Boots up at 25C, max in high 30's.

LJ

 

[vvvvvv]

that temp is too high. it will ruin the processor. get an arctic cooler.

 

[Lark888]

I don't know that it will ruin the CPU but you can certainly get cooler temps in the 30's idle and 40's loaded with a better heatsink and good thermal grease. The GORB with decent silicon grease is reasonable cooling setup. An Alpha PEP66 with Artic Silver is a top notch cooling setup but will cost another $25 or so to do. Lark

 

[KenG]

I agree. Too hot. Although who am I to second guess Intel?

Still, the stock h/s uses thermal tape I believe. If you remove it and clean the tape off completely and THEN apply some thermal grease (even the cheapo stuff from Radio Shack is way better than the tape), I'll bet you see a big improvement even with the stock h/s.

If you don't get into the 40's under load then get an Alpha PAL and some Arctic Silver thermal grease.

These numbers are all relative of course to both ambient temp and system temp/cooling (fans). If it's 34 C where you are then you're not going to get the numbers everybody is talking about.

 

I have a alpha pal-35t, artic silver.
Mine still idles around 38-40c.
Cant get it much lower.
When I get a cusl2 to replace my msi815 then i may try and get it perfectly even.

 

[KenG]

That's about right Sammy. Idle at around 38-40. Load at 42-45 ish.

 

[Coki]

The temperature is fine. Nothing will happen to your cpu. get a Golden Orb and that's it.

Don't waste your money buying a $30 cooler.

The CPU's are made to handle high heat.

 

[KenG]

That might be exactly right as far as safety of the chip goes. After all PC Probe's LOWEST alarm for cpu temp is something like 67 C.

But as far as overclocking goes, it may need to be a lot cooler, right?