CPU Temp at 72 degrees C! 2

[stiej]

Hi,

My CPU (Athlon 1.33ghz overclocked to approx 1.45) run at 72 odd degrees celcius. When running at the factory speed of 1.3Ghz it hangs around the 60 - 65 mark.This seems way too hot, is it?

I have a normal fan/heastsink. What can I do to bring the temp down? What fans/sinks do you recommend? Is that "glue" stuff any good that you squeeze between the heatsnk base and the cpu surface?

Thanks in advance...

Steve

 

[lichen86]

whoa, 72C is way too hot.. that is definitely in the danger zone. You want to get that puppy down to at least 50C or better. Are you using a slot A or socket A?? Socket A cooling is very easy and inexensive to find. Here are my recommendations:

-Always use a high performance fan/heatsink. Make sure it is rated for well above your clock speed

-Thermal paste is a must. Preferably you want to use Arctic Silver III, it is the best at conducting heat.

-Make sure airflow in your case is adequate. I lowered the temp in my case by about 7C by switching all my cables to rounded ones. They work! Also make sure you have an exhuast fan on the back or side of your case to draw all that hot air out. Its also better to have a power supply that points a fan downwards on you CPU. The cheap ones don't have this. Don't skimp on your power supply, it is one of the most important things in your system!

-lastly, if you really want to get hardcore, figure out what chipset your mobo uses and download a program that will let you tweak it. With the right stuff, you can lower your CPU idle temps by up to 18c!! However, that is only for idle. I use wpcredit for my AMD 761. Good luck!

 

[paparazi]

Too Hot!!
Dito with the temps, should be idling in the mid 40's C with max's in the low 50's.
Get rid of the generic heatsink/fan, fit one of the new copper bottomed jobbies rated 2.1+ if you really want top banana then the thermalright SLK800 would be my choice, main reason is it's an all copper heatsink that has one of the best temperature coefficients but can be fitted with several differant fan sizes 60/70or80mm so you could pick a larger 80mm fan with a CFM rating around 30ish which will give you a damn good cooler without too much noise.
Don't forget a couple of ordinary 80mm case fans, one in the lower front sucking IN cool air and one at the top back EXHAUSTING warm out (these alone can take temps down 5-10C.
Note* high quality thermal paste (Artic SilverIII or similar) applied to the small raised core (mouse dropping sized amount only)
Recess in heatsink base MUST be positioned over the socket "A" writing. Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[TomCologne]

They're both right, but replacing parts may not even be necessary.
Heatsink and fan could just be clogged up and thus obstruct the airflow. Depending on the environment, like Forced Air heating, two curious cats, smoking, it doesn't take long.
Bad contact between CPU and heatsink surface is another possible cause.
A thorough, yet cautious and gentle cleaning and checkup on the sink's seating may save you some money and time. After reading a couple of reviews, it seems to me that you have to do a lot of research, even high prices and well known brands do not always ensure good quality, see i.e.Tom's Hardware Guide.
The case itself should also have a little room.

By the way, how and when did you discover that problem?

The current version of Soyo's Hardware Monitor for Windows on my computer reports a CPU heat value that is below room temperature! The Bios, however, shows credible results.

You're not alone,

TomCologne

 

[paparazi]

When I read back your post I realised you were asking
quote "is that glue stuff any good etc" so this may mean that you are not using any at all??????????????????
If this is the case and you have bare heatsink to CPU core contact then you have found your problem.
It is absolutely essential that paste is applied, normal practice is to "wet" the contact area of the heatsink (translucent layer of paste) and then apply a small rice grain amount of paste to the small raised CPU core, all surfaces must be spotless before hand.
I take TomColognes point about blocked heatsink and it goes without saying that the heatsink veins and fan blades need a good clean to remove all dust build up, once clean check for free fan rotation.
Martin Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[stiej]

thanks very much for all the tips. Yes, i am NOT using ANY paste! The fan baldes are dusty but I do have a case fan at the front-bottom sucking in and oneat the back-top blowing out.

Canyou recmmend any websites that sell all this stuff?

once again, thanks.

BTW, I use SiSandraPro2002 for my CPU temp indications. How reliable is Sisoft. Then agin, it does seem to tally with what the BIOS says too.

 

[SQLScholar]

in the UK try

http://www.overclockers.co.uk

They do thurmal paste, and H/W aswell

That heat must be great for grilling burgers and stuff on.

HTH

Dan ----------------------------------------
There are 2 types of computer, the prototype and the obsolete!!

 

[sfortis]

hey man,its a miracle that your overclocked athlon still havent burned!!!

Apply a thermal paste urgentrly!

 

[stiej]

Hi,

I would appreciate if someone would describe very accurately how to pply thermal grease, and more importantly where NOT to apply it and how much to use/not use.

Thanks in advance...

Steve

 

[stiej]

Hi,

Yet more help needed!!! I have the Gigabyte ga7-vtx-p mobo. Socket A with the kt266a chipset. Where can i get a program/utility to manipulate the idle times of the cpu to bring down the overall temperature? I have searched downloads.com but found nothing of interest.

 

[joejava]

hi,
I have been going through a heat sink fan educatiopn as well as I forgot to order one last week with my AMD xp 2100+ and ASUS A7N8X mobo. I bought a generic fan at CompUSA (where they also sell the Artic SilverIII or similar) to get me by until a good one was ordered and shipped. I first put in the generic HS/fan without the white silicon paste that came with it and the CPU overheated right away and board shut down in about 30 seconds.

I then applied the paste by putting it on bottom of Heat sink and using the plastic carton edge to spread it evenly and thinly on bottom of heat sink.
The CPU now runs at about 30 to 35C with the chip actually underclocked. Asus default BIOS setup is the pits.

so you can see the "paste" makes all the difference in the world for AMD.

paparazi ,
do you leave the "mouse dropping" on the CPU core as a ball for the HS to spread out or do you spread it out manually before putting on the HSF.
Also how would you use a razor to scrape off the old stuff?

 

[TomCologne]

Here are two links that might be useful:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,3973,751774,00.asp

http://www6.tomshardware.com/howto/20020918/diy_2-05.html

There are lots of sites describing the procedure of mounting the heatsink if those two will not do it for you.

Two more remarks:

Dust and dirt stuck between the heatsink's fins are hard to see with the fan mounted. Although this would hardly cause those temperatures over 70 C, it can make a difference of some 3 C. I took the fan off for an initial cleaning and now use pipe cleaners to sweep the fins from time to time with the fan on the heatsink.

Use a dust filter with the intake fan(s), either the ones from the computer accessory market or cut a piece of those home aircleaner mats to size, which works fine one one of my computers.

Stay cool,

TomCologne

 

[paparazi]

OK! there is a very good step by step explaination on the Artic Silver website but the gist of it is:
First clean heatsink base and CPU (spotlessly) some use alcohol, I use thinners but apply to the link free cloth and not directly to the CPU also remember NO made made fibres which can create static.
Once clean put a food bag (thin polythene)on your hand and work a small amount of paste into the heatsink base (only needs to be in the centre, where the core will contact, postage stamp sized and the paste only needs to be the thinnest of applications so it is a translucent layer.
DO NOT USE A METAL APPLICATOR, razor or otherwise, infact anything that could scratch or mark either surface.
Now apply the rice grain sized drop to the centre of the CPU core, nowhere else! just the raised bit in the centre of the CPU (still with the bag on your hand to prevent paste contamination from your hand), yes I prefer to spread this evenly but this is not necessary, understand the paste DOES NOT form a layer between the core and base,it just replaces the trapped air (poor conductor) with paste and allows metal to metal contact where it can, to form the best heat transfer possible.
Refit heatsink by holding squarely (don't allow it to tip although you may have to loosely to get the clip on one side) but once engaged hold squarely and firmly in place whilst the other side clip is depressed and engaged (allowing the heatsink to tilt whilst pushing down on the clip can damage the edge of the core)
One last note* if you are using one of the metal partical type pastes, try not to get it anywhere else as the paste does conduct and can residual short.
Martin
Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[stiej]

Thanks a lot for all the help. Until I get my hands on a decent heatsink and fan I went out and bought some coolermaster thermal compound. It was only £3.99 from PC World. I took my pc to pieces, cleared the tons of thick dust from everywhere - an blades, cards/board, heatsink fins and reinstalled the ide cables and power cables. It is much tidier inside, with visually far more "space" for airflow. Believe it or not, there was some odd looking insect dead in the corner of the case bottom! Anyway, with the insect removed, PC reassembled and case back together, My system runs at, 5 - 7 degrees C cooler. Not much since this still keeps me in the mid to high 60s, but better than the low 70s. I may get a themalright heatsink (S6) with heatsink and bid fan (btw my [generic] fan looks feeble anyway). So, soon my system should be nearing the 50s temperature wise. Overall though, my systems is overclocked too. It is conventionally a 1300 (not 1333 as i thought) but the mobo is clocked at 133 rather than the 100 which I believe is best suited to the 1300Ghz and the multiplier at 10.5. Gigabyte Easytune is used to cranked up the bus to 138 resulting in an overall figure of 1460Ghz +- 5 Mhz.

thanks again.

 

[lichen86]

Steij-
Check out this link for the chipset tweak utility. Stuff there on your chipset too.

http://www.broadbandreports.com/forum/remark,4902040~root=ocusa~mode=flat