System temp too high!! Help!!

[Moonspell]

Hi guys!! Recently Ive opened the case of my pc and removed the dust from the CPU fan because I was experiencing high CPU (processor) temperatures (above 65oC when playing games).

Now my processor's temp (CPU) is below 55oC which is fine.... however for some reason my system temp is above the limit.
The hardware doctor program I have shows the high limit to be arounf 40oc for the system temp, and is 41oC.

Im very puzzled because before I clean the box from the dust the system temperature used to be around 30oC or even 28oC!!!
Now ans after 1 day I opened it, shoots up in a few minutes to 41.
The case was very gold and had no problems. Now for some reason the system temp is way above the levels it was before I removed the dust.

Please if anyone has any idea for this tell me...
I forgot to mention that i do not have a case fan. Just the CPU fan. Never needed it because as I said before.... I never had problems with the temperatures...

Thanks alot for reading my message!
Waiting for reply!
Regards
Moonspell!!

 

[Matt Jason H]

Welcome to PC-R

Open the case up and feel the air temps, or just feel around the case, if it seems unrealistic - it is. These programs/sensors are very unrelable, if you have a thermometer or temperature probe you could check it with it would be good. However on-board temp sensors are never to be trusted.

 

[floppybootstomp]

From reading your post there, Moonspell, it occured to me that there must have been a fair bit of dust there for your CPU temp to drop so drastically.

Assuming your CPU fan is blowing down, that dust would have presented a buffer and air would have dispersed around the case, rather than through the CPU heatsink fins, therefore giving you a lower case temp.

Now the air from the CPU fan has a free passage, I'd guess that more air is flowing through the heatsink fins and less through the case, hence the higher case temp.

I'd strongly recommend you fit at least one 80mm Case fan (if your case permits) preferably exhausting at the rear. Try a medium airflow model, a compromise between airflow and noise, it's very likely that will drop your case temp.

 

[Moonspell]

system temperature

Well thanks a lot for the advice.

To tell you the truth the whole case is warm.... by even youching it from the outside.
Yesterday i itted a new CD-Recorcder so I had to open it so the whole case inside was warm.

I knew I had to buy a system fan cooler... Now I have to figure it out myself how to fit it!! Never done this before!!

Well something else I would like to mention. My system temperature although it shoots up in a couple of minutes to 41oC (only 1 degree above the limit indicated in the hadrware doctor programm) it stays constant at 41oC. Is is dangerous at 41oC?

Anyway... I'll follow your advice... thanks a lot again!"!!
Take care!

 

[Moonspell]

to floppybootsomp

Hi there and thanks for the advice.
I agree with what you said before... however when i first bought the motherboard and the processor with the fan cooler, everything was fine. Meaning that the air generated even from the CPU cooler is circulating to the whole system.

Now its different!

I fixed the CPU temp and the system temp got worse!!
My luck I guess!!

A system fan will do the job for now....
thanks again!!!
take care

 

[eein]

41 degrees is not too high at all. But it depends where this is measured. The CPU die can get up to around 125 with no problems, but this may occur when the ic package is around 80 degrees which may be when the heatsink is at 60 degrees.

If you are really bored and have time, you can go to intel or amds web site and get the thermal transfer info for the package for the CPU you have and then work it out. You would also need to know the thermal resistance of any heatsink compound or pad that you have used and of your heatskink. It is then quite easy to work back from your measured temp and decide if it is bad for the device.

 

[floppybootstomp]

originally posted by eein:

The CPU die can get up to around 125 with no problems, but this may occur when the ic package is around 80 degrees which may be when the heatsink is at 60 degrees.

Eh? We talking Celcius or Farenheit here?

Any AMD CPU ever reached 125C is only gonna be good for a key chain ornament.

AMD's own reccomendation is no higher than 90C and I've known chips to fry on temperatures of less than 90C. Also, most AMD CPU's will become unstable at anything over 60C.

To clarify, I'm talking about CPU temps measured with either a thermal probe or motherboard CPU temp probe, and displayed via software either dedicated to a probe or through a programme such as Motherboard Monitor. Or using the Bios hardware monitor.

As for needing to know the thermal resistance of the heatsink compound you're using, I honestly don't think that's really going to make much difference to your overall temp. The only thing that really matters is the temperature you have at present and then deciding what steps you're going to take to reduce it.

In my experience, the biggest deciding factors with CPU temp is firstly the heatsink/fan combo, then how well it's mounted and finally, to a smaller degree, the quality of the thermal compound used.

I've tried quite a few compounds and Arctic Silver III does seem to have a slight edge on most of them, but it's minimal.

 

[Moonspell]

system temperature

Guys thanks for the advice....

According to the software provided with the motherboard for temperature monitoring on CPU and system, my CPU temp is below the low limit (low limit is 55oC, current status 54oC).

The temperature for the system is only one degree above the limit. The software provided has a limit of 40oC. The past two days however the system temperature was shooting up to 41oC without reason.
Anyway.... i think I'll sort this problem by fitting a fan for the case....
thanks a lot guys!
take care

 

[eein]

If you note what I wrote I said the cpu DIE can reach around 125 degrees. I then go on to say the external temps will be lower.

And knowing thermal resistances is of use if you want to translate back to the die temp, not something that would be of much use here, but I was just trying to highlite how easy it is to determine the max allowed measured temp.

Most of the compounds you can buy for computers that come in nice shiny packages are much of a muchness. You have to look to proper alternative methods of sinking the package to the heatsink to improve cooling. There are a lot of better ways of cooling, but not that are commonly avaliable in PCworld or for reasonable money.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Originally posted by eein
If you note what I wrote I said the cpu DIE can reach around 125 degrees. I then go on to say the external temps will be lower.

Fair enough, I take your point, and understand. My apologies

And knowing thermal resistances is of use if you want to translate back to the die temp, not something that would be of much use here, but I was just trying to highlite how easy it is to determine the max allowed measured temp.

Aye, perhaps, perhaps. But methinks a little deep for just cooling a CPU, but, depends how far you want to get into it, I suppose.

Most of the compounds you can buy for computers that come in nice shiny packages are much of a muchness. You have to look to proper alternative methods of sinking the package to the heatsink to improve cooling. There are a lot of better ways of cooling, but not that are commonly avaliable in PCworld or for reasonable money.

I'm intrigued Care to let us in on a few? I'm aware of water cooling and 'fridge' type cases, not totally beyond a great deal of us, any other methods that I'm unaware of?

I've found that common old heat sink compound available from RS in a big tube, is almost as good as ASIII when it comes to good thermal compounds. As is a lapped surface on the heatsink.

Other than that, I know nowt :yawn:

 

[Moonspell]

Everything back to normal!

Well first of all I would like to thank you guys for the advice.

At last I know what was the problem that caused that sudden change (increase in the system temperature).

When I opened the case and cleaned the CPU fan I also removed the heatsink. This removed also the thermal paste that was in contact with the processor.

However, the processor was not giving high temperatures (according to the Windbond doctor sofware supported by my motherboard the low limit for CPU temp is 55oC). The status temp after cleaning the fan was 54oC. So the processor's temp was lower than before.
However when I felt the side of the case with my hands... I could feel it warm in the area where the processor is positioned. So you might conclude that the case was getting warm because the thermal paste was not there!

I resolved the problem by fitting 2 case fans at the back of the case, blowing cold air inside the case, tiding up loose cables and finally putting thermal paste between the heatsink and the processor.

Now the system temperature even after the pc is on for more than 6 hours doing hard work (running a lot of programs and playing games) is 29oC (lower than the low limit of Windbond doctor 35oC).

The CPU temperature has dropped even lower than before. Now is 38oC, and after palying games can reach maximum 41oC (lower than the Windbond doctor low limit of 55oC).

And most importantly I can feel the case being cold again!

So... everything is back to normal!
Thanks a lot for the advice again!
Take care!
Moonspell
:spin:

 

[floppybootstomp]

Good news, Moonspell. Odd you have the rear fans blowing in rather than exhausting but, whatever works, hehe