What's a safe temperature range for a PC to operate?

[balbrich]

I think my system is running too hot, but I'm not sure what's "normal". It's been around 90 degrees celsius, or 194 degrees fahrenheit. That seems a little warm to me.

Thanks

System specs:
P4 3.0
1GB RAM
256 mb 6800GT vid card
75 GB Raptor HD
120 GB WD HD

 

[MobiusPizza]

Well expected from a P4
You didn't overclock did ya?
Your room isn't like 30 degrees is it?

Well I used to run my Athlon TB 1.2Ghz at 90 degree after getting some stupid cooler with even 2 fans in it. I switched to a better fan (5000rpm lmao) and the temperature dropped to 50 degrees

 

[nick1985]

90C is deffinately WAY to high. is that CPU a preschott?

 

[balbrich]

Yeah, I though it was too high. It's a Norwood, or Northwood, whatever that is.

 

[nick1985]

what kind of heatsink is it? are you sure its properly installed?

 

[balbrich]

It's a pcToys QuietMaxx 5700 Socket 478 Heatsink and Fan. It had a blower tube on it to force air to the rear case fan, and out. However, it didn't fit in my case, so I took it off. I can get it to run at ~3,500 rpm via my mobo software settings.

As far as installation, it is possible I don't have it seated correctly. Additionally, I used the grease that came with it and should have probably used this Arctic 5 stuff I've been reading about.

Do you know of an kick butt CPU fans? What about 120mm case fans?

Other factors my work buddies pointed out ... my system is in the hottest room in my house due to the way the sun rotates around my house, and it's usually around 75F. The biggie, is that it sits in on one of those cubby holes in a deks with a PC slot. However, it's 75% open and totally enclosed. But, I'm aware that it should probably be out in the open entirely.

 

[balbrich]

Correction, it's 75% open and NOT totally enclosed

 

[Ewat]

Wow that's really high. I always thought that it isn't safe to run CPUs above 60C.

 

[theMan]

im supprised the pc still works. what are the temps inside your room? make sure the case, and the hsf arent filled with dust. reseat the hsf with arctic silver 5 thermal paste.

 

[balbrich]

So, it's fine to take the heatsink off of the cpu and re-seat it with new paste? Anything I have to do to make sure I don't damage the chip?

 

[t3h l337 n3wb]

Yeah, I'm kinda surprised your components haven't fried yet... P4's just run really hot.

 

[lxskllr]

A northwood shouldn't be anywhere near that hot. I've got a 3.06@3.50 and I'm at 35 full load with fan at about 3000. I'm wondering if your temp sensor is boogered up. Do you feel heat blasting out of the case? I bet you could run it fanless and have better temps. I would definately try reseting the heatsink to see what happens.