Should I worry about these temps?

[dabuddha]

I just put together my new PC. I got the DFI Lanparty Ultra 2 B motherboard with an XP 3000+ cpu.
I installed MBM and it's giving me the following idle temps:

143F CPU Diode
123F CPU Socket
100F Case temp.

I put it all in an Antec P160WF case which has 2 120mm fans for cooling purposes. I used arctic silver 2 for my cpu.

I'm running Prime95.exe now to see how my temps do.
My cpu diode temp jumped to 176!

This is weird. The air coming out of the 120 MM exhaust fan in the back feels about 80F at most. It's actually quite cool.

 

[dabuddha]

Also I saw an option in my bios about CPU Throttling. What exactly is this? The manual for this motherboard is a POS!

 

[Cerb]

What heatsink and fan?

 

[dabuddha]

SLK900-A and a panaflo 80mm fan blowing onto the heatsink.

 

[Cerb]

Then yeah, those are some high temps. The HSF is not leaning, right (it could be if installed so the raised part of the socket is on the wrong side)? When touching the HS, just one of the side fins, is it extremely hot? It should be hot enough to be uncomfortable. Not warm, not scorching, but you'll feel pain after a few seconds of holding it there. If all that's fine, chances are there's just cable mess or something in the case. Case pics could help if that might be the issue.

Good luck.

 

[dabuddha]

The HSF is not scorching hot. I can hold my hand there for a bit. When I put the HS on the cpu, I put the raised/lowered little edge on the side that's up. So on the "bottom" side of the CPU, I can see some of the processor. I'll try and see if I can get a pic in a minute.

 

[dabuddha]

It's not too clear but here are the pics:
Warning Large file sizes

pic1.jpg
pic2.jpg
pic3.jpg

 

[SuperPickle]

Did you use a thermal interface? -- thermal paste like Arcic Silver or a waxy thermal pad? Before installation, did you remove the sticky protective plastic sheet that came on the heatsink ?

These are not meant to be insulting questions, just possible errors. I think Cerb may be right that the HS isn't seated correctly - perhaps too high. You may try removing and reseating the HS making sure it's not resting on the cam box at the top of the socket.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: basilisk420
Did you use a thermal interface? -- thermal paste like Arcic Silver or a waxy thermal pad? Before installation, did you remove the sticky protective plastic sheet that came on the heatsink ?

These are not meant to be insulting questions, just possible errors. I think Cerb may be right that the HS isn't seated correctly - perhaps too high. You may try removing and reseating the HS making sure it's not resting on the cam box at the top of the socket.

Not insulting at all I did remove the protective plastic sheet before mounting the heatsink. I'll try to reseat the heatsink again today. As far as cable clutter goes, I cleaned it up pretty good. I'll try to get some pics of it this morning.

 

[Jaxidian]

I use, as a rule of thumb, that if something is hotter than 55C/131F, then I fear that there could be damage. Personally, I don't like CPU temps much higher than 40C/104F but keeping them below that isn't always possible.

At your temps, I would be quite concerned. You said, under load, your temps are 80C/176F. That's far too high.

I agree with the majority of the posts here that are saying that they think your heat sink may be improperly installed. However, if you think that is not the problem, then please answer these questions to help people help you:

? Do you have any case fans blowing in your case? If so, how many and where are they located? Also, if you have one in the front, have you verified that the front of the case isn't sealed off (this happens on some cases)?

? Do you have any case fans blowing out of your case? If so, how many and where are they located?

? What is the air temperature in the room you have the computer in?

? Is your CPU overclocked? If so, give details of the FSB, multiplier, and voltage.

? Is the fan on your HSF blowing or sucking?

Let people know these answers and they can help you a bit more if the problem is not an improperly mounted HSF.

 

[Jaxidian]

I was just looking at your pictures and it appears that your HSF is blowing and the case fan right next to it is also blowing. You also said your fan on your heat sink is a Panaflo which isn't a very stong fan. I BET you that case fan is taking 90% of the air that the Panaflo tries to take.

Do this as an experiment:

Keep your case side panel off and unplug your rear case fan.

After doing this, boot your computer up and put the CPU under load and check the temps. See if this helps you any.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Jaxidian
I was just looking at your pictures and it appears that your HSF is blowing and the case fan right next to it is also blowing. You also said your fan on your heat sink is a Panaflo which isn't a very stong fan. I BET you that case fan is taking 90% of the air that the Panaflo tries to take.

Do this as an experiment:

Keep your case side panel off and unplug your rear case fan.

After doing this, boot your computer up and put the CPU under load and check the temps. See if this helps you any.

The case fan is sucking. Meaning it's blowing out of the case. The cpu fan is blowing into the heatsink, not sucking out of it D) I'll try taking off the side panel and unplugging the rear case fan.

Right now, after waking up and having the computer idle, the temps are:

Diode: 140-145F
CPU: 120F
Case: 100F


[*]I have 2 case fans. One is in the front, blowing into the case. The other is in the back, blowing out of the case.
[*]The ambient temp is around 70-80 i'd say
[*]The cpu is not overclocked. I'm running it at normal speeds
[*]the fan on the HS blowing into the heatsink

 

[AsiLuc]

I agree with Jaxidian, your cpu-fan isn't having monopoly and he doesn't like that.
Where do you live? Maybe the ambient temperature is just frigging high.

 

[Cerb]

Originally posted by: AsiLuc
I agree with Jaxidian, your cpu-fan isn't having monopoly and he doesn't like that.
Where do you live? Maybe the ambient temperature is just frigging high.

D'oh! completely forgot about that! Yeah, post ambient. My case temp is 90F, ambient ~75F (but humid).

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: Cerb
D'oh! completely forgot about that! Yeah, post ambient. My case temp is 90F, ambient ~75F (but humid).

He did:

Originally posted by: dabuddha
The ambient temp is around 70-80 i'd say

Those are some pretty warm ambient temps but not too warm. I think it is that case fan that's killing you. If you have that case fan there, you need to have it blowing into the case. If you NEED to have that case fan blowing out, then try flipping your CPU fan over and having it suck air off of the heat sink, blowing air at that case fan for it to blow out.

Either way, if you just unplug that fan and you still have really high temps, the problem is something else but I'd still do something about this. That's a HUGE no-no in my book.

 

[dabuddha]

Originally posted by: Jaxidian

Originally posted by: Cerb
D'oh! completely forgot about that! Yeah, post ambient. My case temp is 90F, ambient ~75F (but humid).

He did:

Originally posted by: dabuddha
The ambient temp is around 70-80 i'd say

Those are some pretty warm ambient temps but not too warm. I think it is that case fan that's killing you. If you have that case fan there, you need to have it blowing into the case. If you NEED to have that case fan blowing out, then try flipping your CPU fan over and having it suck air off of the heat sink, blowing air at that case fan for it to blow out.

Either way, if you just unplug that fan and you still have really high temps, the problem is something else but I'd still do something about this. That's a HUGE no-no in my book.

If I do make the back case fan blow in, should i reverse the flow of the front case fan so it blows out then?
I kinda liked having it blow across my hdd
I'm also thinking about replacing all of my fans with some better fans. a 92mm fan over my 80mm fan but I'm not sure which one to get? My wife doesn't like the adda fan I have laying around The 2 120mm fans that are in the case are the antec ones that came with it. I like how quite they are but I'd like to know how much air these guys are pushing.

 

[Cerb]

*yawn* OK, finally went back over the thread and your pics. Having had this myself, here's the problem: the exhaust fan is almost touching the CPU fan. Both are trying to pull from the same source of air, and are fighting one another. I can't believe I didn't notice this sooner. Slowing the fans down might help, as would making the CPU fan suck air from the heatsink. I just switched cases, and with all the same parts, temps went down almost 10C just from having about 2.5" between the CPU fan and exhaust.

As far as getting new fans...of course I'll recommend Panaflow and Aerocool. You don't need a lot of air moving, but it needs to be able to move freely.

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: dabuddha
If I do make the back case fan blow in, should i reverse the flow of the front case fan so it blows out then?
I kinda liked having it blow across my hdd
I'm also thinking about replacing all of my fans with some better fans. a 92mm fan over my 80mm fan but I'm not sure which one to get? My wife doesn't like the adda fan I have laying around The 2 120mm fans that are in the case are the antec ones that came with it. I like how quite they are but I'd like to know how much air these guys are pushing.

Something to consider: Can you put a PCI slot fan in above your video card? In some case/mobo setups, you have an extra slot or two above your AGP slot where they slots in the case are pretty much useless. If you can put a slot fan in there (and get a slot fan where the air intake is pointing up towards your cpu), that would be ideal.

If you cannot do that, I think I would consider taking your CPU fan, flipping it upside down, and have it suck the air off of the CPU and let that back case fan suck that hot air right out of your case. I think that would be a better option than turning around your front case fan to have it blow out. That won't really work well since heat rises, and also those fans tend to be pretty blocked as far as their air flow goes.


As far as your questions about good fans to use, I'm going to let somebody else answer that. I'm not very well caught up on good fans.

 

[dabuddha]

I won't be able to put a PCI slot fan on top of the video card. The apg slot takes the top most opening in this case. I did reverse the fan on the cpu. I'll monitor the temps and update the thread with the new temps. I'll try to take some pics of the case so you can get an idea of how it's all setup.
Thanks for all of the info/help btw

 

[dabuddha]

Ok the case pics are up:

pic4
pic5
pic6

 

[NewBlackDak]

I was having this same problem with my SLK3700AMB. The rear exhaust fan was overpowering the CPU fan. If I took the side panel off the case then all was fine. With both case fans plugged into the fan only molex on my PSU the temps went WAY down. Dead-spots were forming in the case air-flow, and causing heat to build up in those spots. I still think it's strange that less airflow resulted in overall better temps. I'm cooking with water now though, so none of it applies any more.

 

[dabuddha]

My temps seemed to have dropped drastically.
Currently it's:

Diode: 125F
CPU: 113F
Case: 95F

 

[Jaxidian]

Originally posted by: dabuddha
My temps seemed to have dropped drastically.
Currently it's:

Diode: 125F
CPU: 113F
Case: 95F

At least we're getting you to normal ranges now. Is this at idle or under load? If this is under load, then that's not too bad - you're still under 55C (131F), which is what I consider too hot to be stable (at least when you're not OCing).

Also, that fan you have on your video card is a good thing for us with your setup - wish I had known you had that guy earlier.

If I were you, I would try to do one of these things (not necessarily in this order):
1) If you could get a fan on your side panel blowing in at the middle of your motherboard (not at your cpu), with your CPU fan sucking, that would give you even lower temps.

2) If you could get a case fan at the top of your case blowing out, then I would turn your CPU fan back to blowing, flip your back case fan around so it's blowing in, and that would work out well too.

3) Since you have that Arctic Cooler on your video card, that can be considered an out-going fan for the bottom half of your case (i.e. HDDs and your incoming fan in front). Because of that, I would try having your CPU fan blowing at the CPU and have your rear case fan blowing into the case. Assuming you don't have passive cooling in your PSU, then it will suck that hot air out. There's a chance you'll have hot spots near your floppy/optical drives, but that's not too important.


If you can do any one of these 3, I bet your temps drop a little more. Also, to better inform us in future posts, please post idle and load temps.

-Jax

 

[boomer6]

I have a P160 as well, with AMD XP running 2217mhz with a SLK947 heat sink (Arctic Silver 5) on Asus A7N8X Deluxe. There is also a BFG 5900 vid card, 2 HDDs, and DVD-RW pumping out heat in there.

I am using 2 - 120 mm case fans, both hooked up to the fan connection on a Antec True 480, with the front running at 1500RPM. The Antec PS fan is running at 970 RPM.

I started with a 80 mm Thermaltake Smart Fan II running at 3000 RPM. Temps after 18 hrs Prime:
- Ambient - 26 C / 79 F
- Case (from P160 Probe near Heatsink) - 34 / 93
- Case (from P160 Probe near top of case) - 39 / 102
- Motherboard - 33 / 91
- CPU Socket - 42 / 108

I threw on a 92 mm Zalman at 1614 RPM. With 10 mins Prime:
- Ambient - 26 C / 79 F
- Case (from P160 Probe near Heatsink) - 38 / 100
- Case (from P160 Probe near top of case) - 41 / 106
- Motherboard - 33 / 91
- CPU Socket - 45 / 113

I changed the speed on the 92 mm Zalman to 2657 RPM. With 4 hrs Prime:
- Ambient - 25 C / 77 F
- Case (from P160 Probe near Heatsink) - 36 / 97
- Case (from P160 Probe near top of case) - 37 / 99
- Motherboard - 32 / 90
- CPU Socket - 41 / 106

I switched back to the 80 mm Thermaltake Smart Fan II running at 3000 RPM. Temps after 4 hrs Prime:
- Ambient - 25 C / 77 F
- Case (from P160 Probe near Heatsink) - 33 / 91
- Case (from P160 Probe near top of case) - 38 / 100
- Motherboard - 32 / 90
- CPU Socket - 42 / 108

So, based on my experience, it does seem like the larger/higher speed fan causes a lot of churn in the case airflow. Look at the case temps - with the higher airflow, the hot / topcase air mixes a lot more with the rest of the case, putting hotter air at the Heatsink fan. This flow dynamic could be hurting you with your temps. I am also not sure if the larger deadzone in the middle of the 92 mm fan hurt at all. Even with lower CFM, the 80mm in my case performed as well as the 92mm fan.

From what I have been reading, a big goal is to keep the CPU temps below 50C / 122F. So, you might try a 80mm fan to possibly improve the case airflow dynamics.

It would be nice if there was a fan that fit into the top 5.25" slot on the front of the case - that way you wouldn't have to drill a hole in the top of the case. I kept it open because, in my old case, I think the CDRW basically overheated, which contributed to its failure.

Hope this helps!