What are ideal temps?

[bball1523]

I am planning on purchasing an AMD 64 3200+ Venice and MSI k8n Neo4 Platinum mobo, along with a bunch of other devices that you can see in a thread I posted in the hardware forum. I am a beginner and am learning day by day about all the important things I need to know about computers.

Right now I want to know what tempuratures I should look for when it comes down to ideal/avg temperatures for all the hardware I'm going to be using, with stock equipment, and no overclocking? For example, when my computer is idle, what temp should I have? When playing games and when loading high cpu programs?

Right now I don't really have plans to buy extra hsf, or fans because I heard that the stock fans will keep things cool since I won't be overclocking. Is this true or should I purchase a HSF, and some case fans?

thanks

 

[BonzaiDuck]

It depends -- on everything. Even the choice of motherboards.

AMD has received "green" awards for producing processors with lower power consumption and lower heat leakage.

Heat leakage is defined in a "spec" or specification published by the processor manufacturer (on their web-sites). Intel calls it "thermal design power" or TDP.

After looking at several reports and customer reviews, there is a consistency or statistical distribution of temperatures for idle and load -- from which you can glean a seat-of-the-pants average.

I cannot tell you precisely what to expect. It will also depend on case ventilation and case size, as well as your choice of CPU coolers and your fan deployments.

With either AMD or Intel, you're doing pretty well if -- for a room temperature value of say 75F -- the idle temperature is 5 or 10F above that, and your load temperature is 20F or less above idle. The spread between idle and load is pretty much determined by the thermal resistance of the CPU cooler.

Since circuit traces on the motherboard conduct heat as well as current, cooling down other components also helps. Especially, the AGP or x16 graphics card is probably the hottest item under the hood. Cool that down, and the processor, chipset and memory temperatures should also drop.

The lower your load temperature in comparison to the CPU's thermal (shutdown) limit, the better.

 

[Tiamat]

ideal temps are when you system doesnt crash randomly. Numbers dont matter.

 

[furballi]

Assuming the temp probe is working properly, you should expect to see 33C idle and 42C load (Prime95 max heat) at 25C room temp. Add 1C for each degree rise in room temp.

The idle temperature cannot be lower than the room temp. On a well-vented system, the difference between room and idle temps can go as low as 5C.

 

[bball1523]

Originally posted by: furballi
Assuming the temp probe is working properly, you should expect to see 33C idle and 42C load (Prime95 max heat) at 25C room temp. Add 1C for each degree rise in room temp.

The idle temperature cannot be lower than the room temp. On a well-vented system, the difference between room and idle temps can go as low as 5C.

so if I have stock equipment, these are the temps I should expect?

And do you suggest I buy a heatsink fan?

 

[furballi]

Yup, plus/minus 3C...BIOS at default (no overclock).

 

[Xfinity]

Using Folding@Home to stress the system, I got the following temperatures as result with closed case and AcoustiPack installed:

System: Asus A8N-E w/ NB47J, Athlon 64 3800+ Venice & Thermalright XP-120

Ambient (Room): 32 degrees Celsius
Ambient (Case): 34.6 degrees Celsius

Temp1 Idle: 45 degrees Celsius
Temp3 Idle: 30 degrees Celsius

Temp1 Load: 54 degrees Celsius
Temp3 Load: 40 degrees Celsius

I used AS5 when fitting the XP-120 on the CPU and the same goes with the NB47J on the nForce4-chip.

Question is, which one is the temperature generated by the CPU? I am using SpeedFan 4.24. Physically touching the NB47J under load is a lot hotter than the XP-120, but that is maybe because of a lot smaller surface area. The other question is, is the temperatures "safe"? Should I reseat the XP-120?

 

[furballi]

It is clear that the 30C temp is wrong because your CPU temp CANNOT be lower than the room temp. I would think that if your room temp is actually 32C, then your min CPU temp must be at least 37C to account for the temp gradient at the CPU. Add at least another 10C if you're running Prime95 under MAX HEAT LOAD.

Bottomline...37C to 47C for the best case scenario.

 

[Xfinity]

Originally posted by: furballi
It is clear that the 30C temp is wrong because your CPU temp CANNOT be lower than the room temp. I would think that if your room temp is actually 32C, then your min CPU temp must be at least 37C to account for the temp gradient at the CPU. Add at least another 10C if you're running Prime95 under MAX HEAT LOAD.

Bottomline...37C to 47C for the best case scenario.

Yeah I figured that, a temperature cannot be lower than it's surrounding. But if my temps for the CPU are 45-54C, isn?t that a little high depending that I am using an XP-120 and a 120mm fan?

 

[furballi]

42C to 47C is under Prime95 at max heat with a ROOM TEMP of 25C. You need to add about 7C to this number if your room temp is 32C.