Question to computer experts: CPU temperature

[Zacabeb]

My old computer failed so I had to put together a new system. But I'm afraid the cooling is insufficient. So, I need some advice from those of you who are familiar with building computers. :)

The system currently consists of the following:

Case: AOpen H600B (vanilla thermal management)
Mobo: Intel D875PBZ
CPU: Intel Pentium 4 2.80c
RAM: 2 x 512 MB DDR modules @ 400MHz
Graphics: Creative Radeon 9200
Sound: Sound Blaster PCI128 (from old system)
Hard drives: 2 x Western Digital WD1200JB
Other: DVD±RW drive, floppy

Hyper-threading is enabled, and the memory is installed to operate in dual channel mode.

When running the system idle at a room temperature of 25°C, the CPU temperature is around 35°C. When running NFS:PU or NFS:HP2 for a few minutes, the CPU temperature rises to around 50°C.

And in addition, there is my old Voodoo2 card and a newer sound card (not yet bought) waiting to be installed in the system, and possibly my old Hollywood Plus card, plus I must take into account that during summertime, the room temperature may rise to about 30°C in this room.

What are normal CPU temperatures for the Pentium 4 at 2.8GHz, and does anyone who is familiar with the AOpen H600B case know what the best way to improve thermal management is? I do not want to replace the original CPU fan as I'm not willing to take that risk with my first-time DIY attempt.

What on earth am I supposed to do :confused:

[FeZ]

Hi Zacabeb,

I dont know about your case and that Mobo but I would say that a P4 (with default heatsink) idling at 35 is not bad. When you say it goes up to 50 degrees after some minutes of gaming, does that mean it stays at 50 or does that mean it will go up and up and up ?

What I usually do when building/testing a system is to run a Burn In test and/or some Hardware monitor to see how hot things get.

The easiest I found is Sisoft Sandra http://www.sisoftware.net/ a neat program that checks all components in your system. It comes with a Burn In Test that shows you the stats while running it.

I do have a AMD Athlon 2000 that idles at 50 degrees and gets up to 70 degrees under full load. Running very stable even on hot summer days, for more than 2 years now. I had to fiddle about a bit with the heatsink, fans because with the original heatsink it would go up to over 75 degrees and lock up.

I think the critical temperature for Intel P4 is 85 degrees, but you may need to check that for yourself to be sure for your specific CPU. If under full load (maybe for hours) the system does not get near that temp, you should be fine.

[Myshkin]

Zacabeb,

I have the exact same mobo and cpu, with the standard cpu heatsink with thermal tape, one fan drawing air in on the front, two blowing out on the back... I have seen my CPU temperature reach 50C before under heavy load on a warm day, but that has been the limit. 50C is not bad at all. Most of the time it is around 37-40C more or less.

The only thing I can suggest, not being familiar with your case, if check out the air flow. Where are you drawing air into the case and how well, and how much air are you blowing out? Do you have old-style cables that might be blocking good airflow, or do you use new rounded cables that (supposedly) improve airflow?

Apart from that, you could get a better CPU fan or even go with water-cooling if you are worried.

[p5.]

Originally posted by Zacabeb
When running the system idle at a room temperature of 25°C, the CPU temperature is around 35°C. When running NFS:PU or NFS:HP2 for a few minutes, the CPU temperature rises to around 50°C. If this is the max. temp your CPU reaches, it's not a problem at all. If this reading is accurate, you are still more than 20 degrees below any kind of danger zone. I haven't checked, but the max temp for your CPU is probably around 90 degrees.

Don't know anything about your case, but if it doesn't have an exhaust fan, add one, as it can reduce internal and CPU temps by 5 degrees or more. Also, if you have a generic power supply, it is probably generating a lot of heat itself. Newer and more expensive power supplies (eg Seasonic, Nexus) are a lot more efficient and produce less heat.

Re CPU fan replacement, it's one of those things that probably won't go wrong, but still can. If you're going to do so, I would recommend a heatsink that bolts on to your mobo rather than one that attaches to the socket, since you can crack your CPU core during the heatsink attachment process. The bolt on method pretty much eliminates this as a concern as well as being a better way of attaching a heavy heatsink. I think the latest Thermalright heatsinks bolt on.

But as mentioned, if 50 degrees is your peak CPU temp, you don't really *need* to do anything as this is well within operating spec.

Paul

[Zacabeb]

Thanks for the replies. :)

According to Intel, the maximum rated temp for this CPU is 75°C. When it reaches a critical temperature (which, I don't know), it will idle intermittently to virtually drop to a fraction of its clock frequency and reduce the temperature. But after talking to Intel support, the tech estimated that I was about 5°C above the norm. And this is without the additional stuff I'd like to add to the system installed.

However, I guess that in a 3Dfx game, the Voodoo2 would generate heat but the Radeon would idle and generate little, and vice versa, so I'm not sure how much extra heat there will be when I put that in. I may also add a FireWire card in the future, and upgrade to a better graphics card. So no doubt there will be more heat generated in there, and that's what worries me.

I currently use flat IDE cables, but I'll go looking for round ones. The current ones aren't obstructing airflow much (the HD and floppy bay is suspended in the middle of the chassis), but it is very annoying to have the IDE/floppy cables and the power cables battling for space. I don't like that. My old chassis was a fulltower with the 3½ and 5¼ bays at the top and the mobo at the bottom, it was way easier to manage. The mobo was also shorter.

Then again, building it myself was the only way to get a proper system, so it is worth the trouble. For a while, I actually considered to avoid all this and just get a turnkey computer... &( ...good thing I came to my senses.

[D_Man]

That maximum temperature is for the actual CPU. Unless the thermistor is on the CPU you can add 5 to 10 degrees to your readings depending on where your thermistor is located.

I would just make sure that you have good air flow - cool in at the bottom and hot out the top. Keep the cables tied neatly out of the way as well. If in doubt just add a couple of fans :)

Dave

[Zacabeb]

The thermistor is located within the CPU, as far as I am aware. The desktop board has two additional thermistors to monitor chassis temperature, but I have yet to find their exact locations. The latter temperatures remain at about 5°C above room temperature, so they are currently at about 30°C.

[Behemoth]

I really wouldn't worry too much about temps in an Intel PC, as the CPU will throttle back if it needs to anyway :) So just enjoy your PC :)

[Vette Boss]

Zacabeb,

Sorry to hi-jack your thread for a minute but, I am having the same sort of worry about my new computer too. The CPU fan is only going around 2700-2800rpm, the temp is under 40c in normal use, but it can get much hotter after playing a game for a bit. Is 2800rpm really enough to cool 3ghz? Most fans I've seen are running at least 3500rpm.

I was looking at the Thermaltake P4 Spark 7+ (Xaser Edition) which goes at 6000rpm for $23.


Again, I'm sorry to take attention from you.

[Zacabeb]

Don't worry about hijacking it, the more people discussing the issue, the better. :)

[chris]

John: It would be okay if the temperature doesn't go above 50°C. But if it goes above 50°C, and keeps rising, then you'll have to install better cooling.

Get a copper heatsink, some Arctic Silver thermal compound, and high revving (6000+ rpm) 80mm fan (if it will fit).

Install those and heating problems should go.

ALso, ensure adequate air-flow through the case.

[D_Man]

Originally posted by Zacabeb
The thermistor is located within the CPU, as far as I am aware. The desktop board has two additional thermistors to monitor chassis temperature, but I have yet to find their exact locations. The latter temperatures remain at about 5°C above room temperature, so they are currently at about 30°C.

I'm not totally certain that Intel has the thermistor on the CPU. They used to have them on the die that the CPU is mounted on. It reports the CPU temp but it is a bit lower than the true CPU temp.

Dave