Opteron Temperature

[SOPSman]

I just put together a system that uses an Opteron 146 processor with an ASUS SK8V. I bought afan/heatsink made by Spire to cool it.

I'm concerned about the temperature of my chip. It seems its been idling around 40 degrees C, and under load, peaks at 66 degrees C. Which is hot. The AMD literature says the max operating temp for that chip is 70 degrees.

So question 1 is, is it running too hot?

And question 2 is, if it is running too hot, is there a better fan/heatsink I could be using? Should I allow for more airflow in the case? There's a rear fan that just blows hot air out, but it seems there's no way for the case to get cool air in.

Thanks to anyone with answers.

-R.

 

[Atodd]

When I built a Athlon 64 system recently it ran 57 degrees C at idle. Personally, I thought that was pretty hot. However, that is with a stock fan. I never got a chance to test the processor under full load. Even with this in mind, I seriously doubt that the highest possible operation temperature is 70. Usually AMD cpus start getting funky around 85.

 

[540mb]

I'd recheck how well the heatsink is seated on the chip. Also reply the thermal compound (remember just a small amount). A jump of 20+ C from idle to load is not good for the CPU. Something is wrong, unless the ambient temp is REALLY high and/or you have no case fants at all.

 

[Bateluer]

Using any thermal compound like Artic Silver? My temps dropped around 3 to 5^C on my 2.4C when I added AS5.

 

[SOPSman]

The ambient temperature has been in the 90's here lately...farenheit.

How do I go about separating the CPU from the Heatsink?...and how do I remove the compound? I heard the compound Spire ships with their products is no good...

Thanks

R

 

[540mb]

You should just have to unmount the heatsink from the socket clips. You can remove the compound with rubbing alcohol and a paper towel. Make sure not to leave any paper towel or alcohol on the heatsink when you are done.

 

[Markfw]

With the ambient in the 90's thats HOT, but a nice Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 would probably make a small difference.

Get some A/C !

 

[MDE]

Originally posted by: Markfw900
With the ambient in the 90's thats HOT, but a nice Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 would probably make a small difference.

Get some A/C !

Or a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu.