Is my CPU too hot?

[Gaidal]

Hi, guys. I have a generic cpu fan/heatsink and a Fong Kai-FK603 case. I installed Asus Probe and here's what it told me.

CPU Temp with about 11% load is about 57 C
Chassis Fan 3013 (rpms I assume)
CPU Fan 5273
Power Fan N/A (never did buy the probe for that)

From my understanding, that CPU is running too hot. It should be in the 40's at least, right? This is a non o/c processor also, btw. Just by the information that the probe shows it seems like my chassis fan sucked, but I wanted to get the expert's opinions before I get another one.

AMD Thunderbird 950
Asus A7V 1.005c revision
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 40.0 GB 7200 rpm

Thanks for your input!

 

[dadx2mj]

Sounds pretty hot to me I would suggest reseating your heat sink and using some arctic silve thermol compound.

 

[Gaidal]

Well from what I remember, the way the brackets worked on the heat sink that about 1/4 inch of the processor was NOT covered by the heat sink. Would this account for the excess heat? Perhaps there was a way to adjust them that I didn't see when I was putting it on there.

Also, does the chassis fan look up to par?

 

[Mikewarrior2]

No, you shouldnt' be getting temps in the 40s... If you were actually reading core temps, you'd see temps in the 50s all the time. See sig for more details.

A7Vs tend to read a bit higher than core temp, but to make sure:

What heatsink do you have?
And What is your ambient case temp?



Mike

 

[Gaidal]

I don't remember exactly the heatsink/fan combo because it came with my case. I *think* it might be CoolMaster but I'm not sure.

I'm not sure about ambient case but the motherboard temperature reads at 39 C.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Okay, there is your main problem... Work on some case cooling to get that MB temp down(and corresponding Ambient Case Temp).

Changing a heatsink wouldn't hurt, but i think case cooling will have a greater effect for you.


Mike

 

[Gaidal]

So that would be a stronger chassis fan or another fan mounted in? I also have a front case fan in there, too.

 

[Nerdwannabe]

Why people keep thinking 57C is hot for T-bird processors?
They can stand up to 90C (1.2G can take 95C)

These processors are not like the old K6 processors (60C maximum).

Try to cool it more won't do a thing.

btw, if I see 57C from motherboard read out, I would add 15% margin of error. I would 57C is actually 66C

 

[Gaidal]

Well the thing is is that I'm wondering if this is related to a lock up I'm having.

Every time I turn my computer on the morning it'll lock up as soon as windows starts at least once. After restarting, it works fine for the rest of the day. This is probably power supply related, but I figured it could be heat as well since on a fresh turn on the temp is already in the lower 50's.

I thought I also read a thread on the general board that said T-bird had different yields as to what sort of heat the processor could take.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

NerdWannabe,

Because for one very important reason: Socket A temp measurement sucks. Plain and simple. Keep the temp under 55C REad and you should still be within core temp limits.

Let's see why. Let's assume a compression of 4, using a PAL6035. KT7 UL bios, which adds 10C to "read" temps. 25C Ambient Case temp.

1.0ghz @ 1.8V: Theoretical Temp=46C. Read Temps=30C+(10)=40C

1.2ghz @ 1.85V: Theoretical Temp=51C. Read Temps=31.5C + (10)=41.5C

Lets now look at a Taisol CEk733092, Same parameters as above

1.0ghz @ 1.8V: Theoretical Temp=55C Read Temps=32.5C +(10)=42.5C

1.2ghz @ 1.85V: Theoretical Temp=61C Read temps=34C +(10)=44C


The higher the overclock you get, the more and more ineffective the readings get. Hence a 55C max "read" temp and you should be okay.

Of Course, this would all be different if you could actually measure core temp.

Mike

 

[smp]

That's exactly the reading I get off of my A7V + 900 tbird combo too.. 57c.. It's funny that Mikewarrior mentioned case cooling first, cause that's exactly what I'm up to right now. I just need to buy me a dremel already. I got a cooler master heatsink/fan on there, one case fan (80mm) and a slot fan... that's it.. I think my Mobo temps (in the probe) are like mid thirties too.. I also want to buy a FOP38.. I've never actually looked at one, anyone know if it would fit on a A7V?
thanks..

PS Gaidal.. check your bios and see what it says.. Mine says ten celcius less than the asus probe.. I didn't overclock either.. I damn well want to though.. but this stuff with the high temps is discouraging.. and I've never overclocked anything.

 

[Gaidal]

BIOS says almost identically what the probe does. That's why I installed the ASUS Probe, to see if I got a different reading.

I have almost the exact same setup (Cooler Master heatsink/fan, and 80 mm front case fan), but without the slot fan. One thing I was wondering about was that the case fan was set to blow to the front of the case. Made more sense for me to have it blowing towards the back, but that's not the way it fit.

I was kind of wanting to o/c up to 1 ghz, but not with temps already like this.

 

[Mule]

when i first got my 1.1 ghz rig with Asus A7V my temps were 55C max, 36C mobo. After adding an exhaust fan it went down to 50C max and 31 mobo. Then I added a 120 mm, 7volt intake fan which just reduced the mobo temp to 27C, but didn't effect the cpu.

But for a 900 Tbird, it does seem kinda high, even if it is still within spec.

If you have a mobo temp of around 30C and your heatsink/fan is placed properly with some thermal paste I say you're alright.

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Mule,

That's when you know you've done enough case cooling to help your Heatsink/Fan out...

I ssuspect gaidal will get more initially out of cooling his case(he has a 39C mb temp) rather than upgrading to a heatsink that will be going into a warm enviroment.


SMP,

You need both for good cooling... An alpha that has no access to cool air will not perform well.


Mike

 

[Gaidal]

Mike, what do you recommend for a relatively cheap way to cool my case?

 

[Dantzig]

The temp readings given off by the A7V seem very high to me. I don't know if they're more or less accurate than those given by other motherboards, but they are higher.

I have a full-tower case with the following fan configuation:

Exhaust fans:
1 80mm fan mounted above motherboard
Power supply
1 80mm fan mounted above power supply

Intake fans:
1 80mm fan mounted in front of case
1 80mm fan mounted in blowhole above CPU/Northbridge area
1 80mm fan blowing cool air from top section of case into lower section

I have a Taisol CEK733092 mounted on my Athlon 1GHz @ 1.07GHz (default voltage)

Asus probe reports the following temperatures after 4+ hours of continuous 100% CPU utilization:

CPU: 53/127 C/F
MB: 31/87 C/F

The room temperature is about 75F and the inside of my case feels like its at room temp when I open it up. Even though these temps seem very high, my system is 100% rock solid stable! In fact, I can OC the CPU up to 1155MHz @ 1.8v and everything is still fine.

I have a FOP38 on order to see if that will make a difference. I'll post my findings

 

[Dantzig]

Gaidal - To better cool your case, I would recommend:

1. Make the fan in the front of your case an intake fan (turn it around, it should fit either way!). Cost: $0

2. Adding an exhaust fan at the back of your case above the motherboard/CPU. Cost: about $8

3. A blowhole would also help if you have the time and ambition to add one. It's a fun DIY project and it looks nice too Cost: $10-$25

In any case, you should try to balance your fans so that you have the same amount of air leaving the case as you do coming into the case.

What brand is the chassis fan you currently have? If it came with the Fong Kai case, it should be fine.

One other thing: for case cooling, the bigger the fan, the better! Larger fans usually move more air than a slightly smaller fan at only a slightly higher volume (if you're concerned about that at all).

 

[Gaidal]

Thanks Dantzig.

I'm not sure precisely what you mean by making the front case fan an "intake" fan but it's currently blowing air to the front of the case, which doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I tried to install it the other way (blowing air towards the back of the case and out the back) but it didn't seem to fit.. I'll try it again though.

I have one exhaust fan I believe that came with the case. It's hooked at the back of a long gray exhaust pipe that sits right over the processor. Did you mean another one? I couldn't tell you the brand either, unfortunately.

Blowhole sounds cool, where can I get some info on that?

Of course, now that I think about it, I probably should see which way the air is actually blowing with that front fan. *g*

 

[Dantzig]

Silly me. I forgot that the Fong Kai cases have a neat little "Rear Fan Duct Cooling System" that brings in cool air and directs it at the processor.

So your cooling setup looks something like this right now:

Exhaust fans:
Power supply

Intake fans:
1 80mm(size?) blowing cool air on processor (Rear Fan Duct Cooling System)
1 80mm(size?) mounted at front of case

A slot fan ($8-15) may improve airflow in your case. . . I don't know what else to suggest for your particular case.

 

[Gaidal]

Actually I can feel air coming out the back of the Rear Fan Duct cooling system. Perhaps the fan is reversed in there, as I never really bothered to check it! I assumed its purpose was to draw air from the immeditate area of the heatsink and project it out the back.

 

[Dantzig]

Hmm...that makes sense now that I think about it. Since the Rear Duct fan is exhausting hot air from the case, perhaps you should reverse the fan on your heatsink to suck the cool air through the heatsink and blow it straight up.


BTW, I received my FOP38 w/ 6800RPM Black Delta fan today.

Asus probe temps:

CPU: 50/122 C/F
MB: 28/82 C/F

I'm using silver heatsink grease. These temps cannot be right!

 

[Mikewarrior2]

Danzig,

how so? the nature of socket-a temp readings(socket-thermistors) is a compressed reading result. You won't see the full "core temp change" when reading from a socket-thermsitor, more like reading 1/4th to 1/5th of the change.


Mike