Can anyone recommend a half-decent freeware CPU/motherboard temperature
monitor for WinXP?

I have a Sempron2600 in an ASRock K7VT4APro motherboard, both only a
few weeks old. The thermal cut-off shuts down the system within 30
seconds of the CPU load hitting 100%. I don't know what actual
temperature this is, and I think I need to find out - it seems to me
that this is way too early. I know you shouldn't run your CPU at 100%
for too long, but a couple of minutes shouldn't cause a thermal
shutdown. My other system (Athlon3200+ in an Asus A7N8X) works fine -
the "Asus PC Probe" utility sets off an alarm when the CPU temp hits a
user-defined limit - I have mine set to go off at 65c. The CPU temp is
normally around 60c, and it won't hit 65c until several minutes at 100%
load. Of course, the Asus app doesn't work on ASRock boards, and ASRock
don't appear to produce an app of their own (please let me know if I've
missed it), hence the request.

Grateful for any tips,

CC

Your BIOS should give you a good reference point if it has temp/health
monitor. Most do now.
SiSoft Sandra will show you temps too.It's kinda overkill just for that
though.
Lastly, have you checked Asrock?

"magnate" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> Can anyone recommend a half-decent freeware CPU/motherboard temperature
> monitor for WinXP?
>
> I have a Sempron2600 in an ASRock K7VT4APro motherboard, both only a
> few weeks old. The thermal cut-off shuts down the system within 30
> seconds of the CPU load hitting 100%. I don't know what actual
> temperature this is, and I think I need to find out - it seems to me
> that this is way too early. I know you shouldn't run your CPU at 100%
> for too long, but a couple of minutes shouldn't cause a thermal
> shutdown. My other system (Athlon3200+ in an Asus A7N8X) works fine -
> the "Asus PC Probe" utility sets off an alarm when the CPU temp hits a
> user-defined limit - I have mine set to go off at 65c. The CPU temp is
> normally around 60c, and it won't hit 65c until several minutes at 100%
> load. Of course, the Asus app doesn't work on ASRock boards, and ASRock
> don't appear to produce an app of their own (please let me know if I've
> missed it), hence the request.
>
> Grateful for any tips,
>
> CC
>

"magnate" <(E-Mail Removed)> writes:

> Can anyone recommend a half-decent freeware CPU/motherboard temperature
> monitor for WinXP?

I'm using SpeedFan on my oldish ECS mobo:
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php


Kai
--
Kai Harrekilde-Petersen <khp(at)harrekilde(dot)dk>

On 22 Oct 2005 08:35:53 -0700, "magnate" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>Can anyone recommend a half-decent freeware CPU/motherboard temperature
>monitor for WinXP?
>
>I have a Sempron2600 in an ASRock K7VT4APro motherboard, both only a
>few weeks old. The thermal cut-off shuts down the system within 30
>seconds of the CPU load hitting 100%. I don't know what actual
>temperature this is, and I think I need to find out - it seems to me
>that this is way too early. I know you shouldn't run your CPU at 100%
>for too long, but a couple of minutes shouldn't cause a thermal
>shutdown.

You should NEVER encounter a thermal shutdown, no matter how long you
run your processor at 100% load. Something is definitely wrong with
your setup.

First thing I would check is to make sure that your heatsink is
attached properly, seated flat and has a proper (very) thin layer of
thermal compound between it and the processor. Also check that there
is nothing causing problems with the air flow for the heatsink and
within the chassis.

FWIW I had a similar problem with one of my systems in a small form
factor box using an AthlonXP 1700+ (consumes about the same power as a
Sempron 2600+). System would shut down after about 30 seconds of
heavy load. The heatsink was seated fine and seemed to be working
properly, but the fans were causing a problem. I had my CPU fan
directly underneath the power supply fan and both were blowing in the
opposite direction. End result was that I was making a little pocket
of rather low-pressure in the middle of this small chassis and not
much air was flowing through the heatsink. Flipping the CPU fan
around (such that it sucked air up through the heatsink before being
sucked out by the power supply fan) solved the issue. System now can
stay locked at 100% load for hours on end with no shutdowns.

Chances are that your system has some sort of similar issue. Either
the fans aren't properly cooling the heatsink or something with the
heatsink just isn't making proper contact with the CPU.

-------------
Tony Hill
hilla <underscore> 20 <at> yahoo <dot> ca

On 22 Oct 2005 08:35:53 -0700, "magnate" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Can anyone recommend a half-decent freeware CPU/motherboard temperature
>monitor for WinXP?
>
>I have a Sempron2600 in an ASRock K7VT4APro motherboard, both only a
>few weeks old. The thermal cut-off shuts down the system within 30
>seconds of the CPU load hitting 100%. I don't know what actual
>temperature this is, and I think I need to find out - it seems to me
>that this is way too early. I know you shouldn't run your CPU at 100%
>for too long, but a couple of minutes shouldn't cause a thermal
>shutdown.

Not true - assuming normal human tolerant ambient temps and reasonable case
ventilation, you should be able to bash the hell out of the CPU and not get
thermal triggering... unless maybe it's an early Prescott.:-) According to
MSI's CoreCell, My Athlon64 3500+ (Winchester) goes just above 50C, say
52/53 when I pound on it.

You should first check for BIOS updates - I've seen wild variations in
reported temps from some systems, especially socket As for some unknown
reason: some which were showing >60C dropped 10 degrees with a BIOS update.

Socket As have been the trickiest -- most nerve-wracking? -- to install a
heatsink on IME. If you're sure about reported (triggering) temps being
too high, I suggest you take off and reinstall the heatsink and do *NOT*
reuse the thermal interface material which came originally with the
heatsink: the AMD boxed one is definitely a phase-change one-shot use as
are many 3rd party suppliers. You need to scrape off the old TIM --
carefully with a plastic scraper and maybe some solvent like Goo-Gone --
and use a good thermal grease or a fresh phase-change pad. Make sure you
orient the heatsink correctly so it's not hung-up on the ledge of the
socket and sits on the CPU rubber pads nicely.

If you decide to replace the heatsink/fan I've found the
Spire/Speeze/MASSCOOL WhisperRock to be a decent, reasonably priced,
low-noise unit - if you want a copper slug, there's the FalconRock and also
a "full copper unit". All MASSCOOL units are currently in stock at
NewEgg... which won't be much help to you in the UK:-) but you can take a
look.

> My other system (Athlon3200+ in an Asus A7N8X) works fine -
>the "Asus PC Probe" utility sets off an alarm when the CPU temp hits a
>user-defined limit - I have mine set to go off at 65c. The CPU temp is
>normally around 60c, and it won't hit 65c until several minutes at 100%
>load. Of course, the Asus app doesn't work on ASRock boards, and ASRock
>don't appear to produce an app of their own (please let me know if I've
>missed it), hence the request.

I see Kai has recommended Speedfan http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php and
I've been meaning to try it because I dislike CoreCenter. I've seen quite
a few Speedfan recommendations in the MSI Forum - check which monitoring
chip you have on the mbrd to check against those supported, so you're sure
it'll work but Speedfan covers most of them. Either eye-ball it or use
Sandra to check mbrd info.

--
Rgds, George Macdonald

"George Macdonald" <fammacd=!SPAM^(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> I see Kai has recommended Speedfan
http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php and
> I've been meaning to try it because I dislike CoreCenter. I've seen
quite
> a few Speedfan recommendations in the MSI Forum - check which
monitoring
> chip you have on the mbrd to check against those supported, so
you're sure
> it'll work but Speedfan covers most of them. Either eye-ball it or
use
> Sandra to check mbrd info.

SpeedFan works great as long as you have HSF and case fans that report
nonzero RPMs. A zero RPM on either fan can cause SpeedFan's thermal
diode readings (on the CPU and the chipset) to wander off high. This
bug is mentioned, briefly, on the SpeedFan site at the bottom of page
1.

Since I use a two-wire case fan (no RPM sensor), I have to wire my HSF
fan to _both_ the HSF and case fan headers so both read the HSF fan's
RPM. And SpeedFan is happy. ;-)

On Sun, 23 Oct 2005 16:24:37 GMT, "Felger Carbon" <(E-Mail Removed)>
wrote:

>"George Macdonald" <fammacd=!SPAM^(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
>message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>>
>> I see Kai has recommended Speedfan
>http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php and
>> I've been meaning to try it because I dislike CoreCenter. I've seen
>quite
>> a few Speedfan recommendations in the MSI Forum - check which
>monitoring
>> chip you have on the mbrd to check against those supported, so
>you're sure
>> it'll work but Speedfan covers most of them. Either eye-ball it or
>use
>> Sandra to check mbrd info.
>
>SpeedFan works great as long as you have HSF and case fans that report
>nonzero RPMs. A zero RPM on either fan can cause SpeedFan's thermal
>diode readings (on the CPU and the chipset) to wander off high. This
>bug is mentioned, briefly, on the SpeedFan site at the bottom of page
>1.

Ah thanks. I tried it today on my MSI Neo2 Platinum (MSI-7025) with
Winbond W83267 and it seems to work fine for me for the CPU fan which is my
main issue: the CPU fan ramps up and down from a max of ~3300rpm when CPU
is busy, down to quite low values when idle; setting "Automatically
variated" and a min of 40% slows it to ~2000rpm; setting a min of 30% slows
it to ~800rpm. This is obviously highly non-linear and I'm not sure I want
the fan running too slowly so I've set the min at 40%.

The "North Bridge" fan just doesn't seem to be speed controllable - too
cheap?:-) If I set its min speed below 90% it seems to stall and show rpm
of zero, then oscillation betweeen zero and some ridiculously high numbers.
I'd seen similar behavior under CoreCenter though it seemed to eventually
recognize the anomalies and quit trying to control it.

>Since I use a two-wire case fan (no RPM sensor), I have to wire my HSF
>fan to _both_ the HSF and case fan headers so both read the HSF fan's
>RPM. And SpeedFan is happy. ;-)

I have an Antec Sonata with a variable speed fan in the power supply, which
has a special wire/molex connector coming from the P/S for the case fan,
which varies its speed in the same way.

The noisiest thing in my system is the fan on the 9600XT video card which
ocasionally makes quite a buzz on startup but settles down later as it
warms up - it's been like that since almost new so I've just left it.

--
Rgds, George Macdonald

Just wanted to say thanks for all the replies - I've downloaded
Speedfan and will give it a try. I will also check the airflow inside
the case and the interplay between the PSU fan and the CPU fan - that
may be part of the problem.

Just one more thing - I'm now confused about the gungy stuff you spread
on the CPU before putting the fan on - thermal wotsit doodah compound.
Some have told me that I've probably used too little and am now getting
poor heat flow up through the heatsink, but in this thread people say
it should be a very thin layer, and even to scrape it off prior to
applying more. Can somebody please talk an idiot through the
application of this stuff? I've been building PCs for ten years now and
I've never built one with an overheating problem. I just unpack the CPU
and fan, squirt on the gunge and put it all together. It usually works
fine. If I ever change the CPU or the fan, I apply another squirt of
stuff just to be on the safe side.

CC

"George Macdonald" <fammacd=!SPAM^(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in
message news:(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> The noisiest thing in my system is the fan on the 9600XT video card
which
> ocasionally makes quite a buzz on startup but settles down later as
it
> warms up - it's been like that since almost new so I've just left
it.

My video card makes absolutely no noise. None whatever. That's
because my mobo is an Asus K8S-MX with integrated video, so I have no
video card with noisy fan. ;-)

Felger Carbon <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> My video card makes absolutely no noise. None whatever.
> That's because my mobo is an Asus K8S-MX with integrated
> video, so I have no video card with noisy fan. ;-)


My deepest condolences. You have shared memory.
1200x1024x32bpp at 72 Hz refresh eats 354 MB/s of
your RAM bandwidth. Plus latency ever x? transfers.

-- Robert