Is my Pentium 4 1.8Ghz too hot?!: up to MB temp 46° and CPU temp 56°C under load!..

[Dance123]

Hi,

I have a Pentium 4 1.8Ghz over here and after heavy playing of MS Flight Simulator 2002 at highest resolution and all features on I get following temperatures from Motherboard Monitor:

CPU temp: 53, 56, 55, 54, 55, 43, 42, 43
MB temp: 44, 46, 46, 46, 46, 43, 41, 40
CPU Fan: Min 4687, max 4821.
CPU Speed: permanent at 1811 MHz

PC setup: P4 1.8Ghz - Asus P4T i850 - 4 x 128MB RDRAM 800Mhz - Maxtor 60GB 7200rpm - GeForce 3 card - etc.. PC is not overclocked in any way! I have the standard P4 cooler, should I get a better one like those from Zalman, or won't this help?!!

Now, I don't have any problems at all with my PC, but aren't these temperatures rather high?! What could be the cause of this? Also, since my CPU speed remains permanent at 1811Mhz, does that mean that my Pentium 4 didn't start thermal throttling?! Isn't that strange with those high temps?! Maybe the P4 thermal throttling feature failed to kick in?!! Isn't this a dangerous situation for my PC?!

Do I actually risk damaging my PC with these temperatures, perhaps in the long term?! Could I damage my motherboard since especially the MB temp seems very high and if I am correct P4's thermal throttling only reacts to high CPU temps and not MB temps, so do I risk damaging my mobo or anything else?!

Which are the maximum allowed MB and CPU temps for a Pentium 4 before any damaging could occur?!

Thanks in advance for all good feedback!

Mike.

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Thats a little warm. Nothing to be concerned about. If you want you could make sure you have a couple of case fans blowing air in and then exhausting it. It won't cause any harm in the long run. These are rated to run fine under temps up to ~80-90 degrees C (not that I'd want mine that hot)

 

[o1die]

My 2.4b at 2700 runs at 45-58 celcius, depending on whether the a/c is running. I've had 4 p4 northwoods, and all ran at similar temps using the stock Intel heatsink and thermal paste.

 

[Dance123]

Thanks for the replies. Maybe the CPU isn't something to worry about, since if it would get too high thermal throttling should kick in, is that correct?

But what about my MB temp that can go to 46°C? Isn't that dangerously high and do I risk damaging my mobo or any other component (in the long run)?! Perhaps somebody knows more about this, but as far as I know Pentium 4's thermal throttling doesn't react to mobo temps, only to CPU temps, so my mobo doesn't have any protection when it would get too hot unless Asus has protection build in for that?!

 

[WarCon]

Sounds like either your room temp is pretty high or you need a few additional case fans.

 

[Leon]

These are rated to run fine under temps up to ~80-90 degrees C

No. For P4's, 68 C is the max, any higher and the thermal protection kicks in, downclocking the cpu.

 

[anazoal]

There is something wrong with your case ventilation. Are your MB temps your case temps? If so, that is a little high. Do you have an exhaust fan? For a non-o/c'd 1.8, that should be enough. Also, your HSF RPMs are high.

To check if MBM is getting incorrect readings, use a thermometer and measure the air temp coming out of the PSU (& rear exhaust fan).

 

[GtPrOjEcTX]

Originally posted by: Leon

These are rated to run fine under temps up to ~80-90 degrees C

No. For P4's, 68 C is the max, any higher and the thermal protection kicks in, downclocking the cpu.

gotcha....but he's still alright with the temps he's getting. (btw the chip shuts itself off at 130C)

 

[WarCon]

Originally posted by: GtPrOjEcTX

Originally posted by: Leon

These are rated to run fine under temps up to ~80-90 degrees C

No. For P4's, 68 C is the max, any higher and the thermal protection kicks in, downclocking the cpu.

gotcha....but he's still alright with the temps he's getting. (btw the chip shuts itself off at 130C)

Ok I am nit-picking but the spec sheet actually says ~135C.........

BTW thats on a totally separate thermistor circuit that can not be accessed externally (so can't be shut off inadvertently), so those temperatures are not necessarily in correlation with what the other on-die thermistor/mobo measuring circuitry see. Until every mobo manufacturer follows Intel circuit recommendations for reading the internal thermistor, I take every temperature reading as something that can only be a relative figure used to measure differences in that particular type of mobo (their circuit design creates little or no compression as it cancels/negates the path resistance to the A/D convertor circuitry).

I am waiting for heatsink manufacturers to start including a top deep center INS heatspreader thermal diode as that is how Intel gives their max temp specs anyway. Another nice thing mobo manufacturers could include is a readable output that let us know for sure when it triggered the throttling circuitry.

I am not holding my breathe though.

My advice is if you think your system temps are high for no good reason (lack of decent heatsink, lack of or improper case circulation, cool ambient temps) then maybe you need to question if your mobo is giving comparable temps to other mobos. I would find someone with the exact same mobo and ask what their temps are (including room temp and case temp). I personally verify with stability testing that my system is ok. If can't pass stability tests then I know something is wrong and then I start really troubleshooting.

Good luck.........

 

[Dance123]

Originally posted by: Leon

These are rated to run fine under temps up to ~80-90 degrees C

No. For P4's, 68 C is the max, any higher and the thermal protection kicks in, downclocking the cpu.

I know thermal throtthling kicks in at a certain CPU temperature, but what about that MB temp of 46°C I measured with Motherboard Monitor (Asus probe also gives an MB temp of 46°C by the way)?! What's the maximum MB temp and what protects it, because as far as I know thermal throttling only reacts to CPU temps (in my the 56°C) and not MB temps?! So what about that?!!!