Creeping Temp of XP 2000 3

[Rubic]

I just put together an Athlon 2000 XP system. I tried to tackle the heat probs in Advance, i.e, Lian Li case, thermalright SK6 heatsink which I lapped, arctic silver III paste paper thin, round IDE cables. I even modded the case slightly as the rear case grill was slowing air flow (in my view the one weak point of this case), so I cut it out with a dremmel and replaced it with a finer one. My only concession was to use a 4500rpm thermaltake fan on the CPU as I didn't want a lot of noise.

At first my impression of the sytem was great: Ambient 27C (I have no AC), case 32C, CPU 47C idle to 53C at 100%, which it maintained for days. Good enough I thought. But over the following 4 weeks the CPU temp has crept up: Now 51C idle - 55C @ 100%. Case & ambient temp are the same. Yes, I know an extra 4C is not life and death, just annoying having gone to so much trouble, and a bit worrying not knowing the cause. What can have changed?

For what it's worth, here are my few brainstormed ideas: 1)Thermal paste was too thin initially and has somehow changed physically with heat/time to reduce the contact area (I followed the website instructions to the letter). 2) The CPU is doing different things as I have added software to the system. I read somwhere that it can switch into different activity states, even when idle, which is the basis behind certain cooling software. 3) Unseen dust between the heatsink vanes has reduced heat convection (I checked the intake filter, which is pretty clean).

Incidentally, the system under W2K is rock stable, so perhaps I shouldn't care less.

I would really like to know what the experts think. Have I missed somthing?

Thanx in advance,

Rubic

 

[Kicket]

i m not an expert
but i think u really need cool ur machine down a little bit......

my p4 stabled at 32c
ff

 

[mistanapesis]

My Athlon 900mhz is running at 47c,(case 29c) I have found temps creep up too. But it has been due to dust and I have 2 cats(hair) clogging fans\airways. I have also found that temps do get higher the more stuff you install, ....I guess its more for the system to look after and so temp goes up. 55c seema little high to me, I live in Scotland....pretty cold here anyway so it helps. If your unsure....Dont do it!

 

[mithrilhall]

What is the allowable temperature range for the cpu and motherboard? If you fall within those I would not be too concerned. Keep and eye on the temp and it continues to rise then I would be concerned.

 

[Rubic]

The only time my temp hits 55C is when rendering video: The CPU is flat out 100% and this is usually for several hours. I take your point about cats, Mistanapeis - we have 2 and there is usually fur in the front filter a few days after cleaning it. God knows where else it gets.

Athlons can run up to 90C, so I'm well short of that yet. I think 32 is OK for the motherboard.

 

[LoneAdmin]

I have seen this "symptom" before. I use AMD 2000 xp's in about 30 new machine I installed in my office. A new chips temp will rise then level off. I have not seen this documented but I have experienced ít enough. I have a PIII 1GHZ here at home and it runs at 33C. I have an Athlon 900 MHZ which runs at 45C. My Athlon 2000 Xp's run at around 50C. Athlons will run hotter than PIII and P4's in my experience. The temps you are running are nothing to worry about. Go here and check this AMD link out:

http://139.95.253.213/SRVS/CGI-BIN/...00000000023317675,K=6273,Sxi=7,Case=obj(3737)

 

[Rubic]

Thanx LoneAdmin, I feel reassured that someone else has experienced this- Kinda weird though. And Athlons are Just hot chips.

Rubic

 

[ANFPS26]

Has the room temperature increased by 4C recently? "A little knowledge is a dangerous thing....."

 

[Rubic]

Hi Nobrain,

No, I've taken this into consideration. As I said in the original post it's mostly 27C, and for uniformity this is when I record the CPU & case temp. Sometimes RT is less and the CPU temp falls in proportion. The bottom line: for a given ambient temp the CPU is hotter than 4 weeks ago.

Thanx,

Rubic

 

[Guest_imported]

How about the rpm of the CPU fan? Some BIOSs will show this figure along with temp. How about changes in humidity?


ROGER - GØAOZ.

 

[Stretchy]

Athlon XP chips are tough little blighters to cool. My 2100 idles at 50C when its cool outside, but over the last 2 weeks as the weather has been hotter it idles at anytyhing between 51 - 57C. This used to be a worry but I've come to the conclusion that its perfectly safe. I've done everything short of strapping a water cooler to my cpu to cool it and the lowest ive seen it since i first turned it on is 48C. They work hard so they will heat up quickly _______________
Stretchy [Pipe]

 

[Rubic]

Roger: If anything the fan speeds are fractionally higher, as the bearings have bedded in. I'm not sure what effect humidity has on convection. For the last month it has been consistantly high 70-90% average. I'm no physicist but my guess is that higher humidity increases the thermal efficiency of air cooled systems since moist air has higher specific heat capacity. But this is a good point, not often considered, and I would be interested in other's opinions.


Stretchey: I'm comming to that conclusion too: These guys just run hot. The number 47C for an idle temp comes up a lot for well air cooled systems. I think when the ambient temperature drops to 22-24C (I'm having a hot summer) this will be my ballpark too. But I still maintain that my CPU appears to have got hotter independent of current ambient temperature.

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Maybe my new FAQ will help. If it doesn't, I'd be happy to field any comments you may have.

faq602-2213

CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[Dogers]

another point to add is that artic silver will also settle in - this is a documented fact on their website, the temps can change by a few degrees..

also, as has been mentioned- dust! this can slow down air/fan speed, although admittedly in this case its probably a bit too soon to really make a difference, unless your environment is particularly dusty or youre a heavy smoker

if you want to try and drop the cpu temp some more, the best heatsinks currently available are the alpha 8045 and the swifttech mcx462, however even these are beaten by water cooling setups, in both cooling power and noise level. another thing to note, for both those coolers (and any water cooling kits) you WILL be paying a bit more than you'd expect for a cooler!

 

[Rubic]

I thought I should let you all know: The ambient temp dropped today to 24C, as did the CPU, to 45C! During DIVX encoding at 100% CPU use, this maxed at 50.5C. The Case temp was 26C. I am well pleased.

My interpretation is that above cetain ambient temperatures, and hence case temperature, the rate at which heat can be removed by the heat sink starts to approach the rate that heat is produced by the CPU. Since a smaller propotion of the total heat is being dissipated both the case temp and CPU temp will very gradually rise, perhaps over days. Eventually a temperature equilibrium will be reached but it will be higher than predicted if there was a linear relationship between ambient and CPU temp. In other words there is a time-dependedent decrease in cooling efficency at higher temperatures.

I think this is just a physical limitation of enclosed, air-cooled systems. What it tells me is to get that AC unit installed.

Thank you to all who contributed.

 

[Stretchy]

Hehe mines gone up to 56C after installing 2 new fans...They are supposed to be Blue LED fans (80mm) but instead they are flashing blue LED fans!! I really dont want them to flash so if anyone knows anything about fans plz tell me if i can remedy this? I will gladly deal with the extra couple of degrees C if it looks cool.

Nice FAQ btw CitrixEngineer (I gave it a deserved score) _______________
Stretchy [Pipe]

 

[CitrixEngineer]

Thanks for the vote, Stretchy!

I've updated the FAQ yet again, and put in some really excellent links, to articles written by some people who are seriously into heat/airflow engineering - and a few more straightforward articles for those who don't want all that technical info but want more than I provided.

Your temp might have gone up due to the type of pressure in your case - my attention has been drawn to the fact that both positive and negative pressures can cause increases in case temperature.

If both your new fans are exhausts, it's possible you have too much negative pressure. Airflow equilibrium is the key.

What type are the fans (make & model)? Is there anything on the manufacturer's website to indicate why the LEDs would flash as opposed to remaining static? Or is this "As designed"? CitrixEngineer@yahoo.co.uk

 

[Rubic]

Stretchey: Don't take offense, but they are blowing air out of the case not in, arn't they?

 

[Stretchy]

These are the two base intake fans... They are sucking cool air in at the bottom and front of my case. The web site where i bought them said nothing about the fans flashing. They are AKASA 80mm LED fans

Thx _______________
Stretchy [Pipe]