CPU cooling advice

[K.hassler]

I have an ATHLON XP 3000, My current temp on my CPU is 54 c or 127F,
Is my cpu supposed to be cooler is this about normal for my cpu..

Thanks,

Kyle172

 

[Doug Whitesell]

AMD says you shouldn't exceed 85C...but that's when the core is supposed to
fail. I have an XP 3000+ (333FSB) with a ThermalTake Volcano 11 heatsink and
I load up to 43C on a bad day.

The thing to remember here is that if it's stable then you don't have a
problem. However, if you think that this temperature is too high there are
several things you can do:

1) More case fans and higher airflow ratings
2) Get a new heatsink and use Arctic Silver 5. Be advised that this will
void your warranty if you happen to have one. For heatsinks I reccomend the
ThermalTake Volcano anything.

Regards.

 

[Winnie Da Pooh]

Doug, what exactly will void the warranty, new heatsink or Arctic Silver?

AMD says you shouldn't exceed 85C...but that's when the core is supposed to
fail. I have an XP 3000+ (333FSB) with a ThermalTake Volcano 11 heatsink and
I load up to 43C on a bad day.

The thing to remember here is that if it's stable then you don't have a
problem. However, if you think that this temperature is too high there are
several things you can do:

1) More case fans and higher airflow ratings
2) Get a new heatsink and use Arctic Silver 5. Be advised that this will
void your warranty if you happen to have one. For heatsinks I reccomend the
ThermalTake Volcano anything.

Regards.

--
Doug Whitesell
zigspalffy33 [at_symbol] verizon [dot] net
all your base are belong to us

I have an ATHLON XP 3000, My current temp on my CPU is 54 c or 127F,
Is my cpu supposed to be cooler is this about normal for my cpu..

Thanks,

Kyle172

 

[Rob Stow]

I have an ATHLON XP 3000, My current temp on my CPU is 54 c or 127F,
Is my cpu supposed to be cooler is this about normal for my cpu..

Most people are comfortable with a temperature in the low to mid
forties, while overclockers and others who like big noisy fans
will often get temps another 10'C lower.

If your 54'C is when the CPU has been running at 100% for
a couple of minutes, you should be OK.

If it is 54'C at a smaller CPU load, then you might have reason
to be concerned about what is going to happen when the CPU hits 100%.

 

[Doug Whitesell]

If it's an AMD retail processor, both.

AMD does not recognize processor warranties for processors that have had
third-party (i.e. everyone but AMD) cooling solutions. This includes thermal
interface material, heatsinks, whatev.

Now before you go smearing arcitc silver on your processor here's a few
things to know:

1) AS anything is slightly capacitive (i.e. it can bridge close-proximity
electrical paths if over-applied == dead processor) so follow Arctic Silver
Inc's instructions to the letter (www.arcticsilver.com if memory serves)
2) If you're stable then don't worry about it if you have no need to
overclock.
3) Don't sweat your CPU temperature if you don't want to push the limits.

Hope this helps, and don't overapply that Arctic Silver--there's a reason
they sell it in small tubes

--
Doug Whitesell
zigspalffy33 [at_symbol] verizon [dot] net
all your base are belong to us

Doug, what exactly will void the warranty, new heatsink or Arctic Silver?

AMD says you shouldn't exceed 85C...but that's when the core is supposed to
fail. I have an XP 3000+ (333FSB) with a ThermalTake Volcano 11 heatsink and
I load up to 43C on a bad day.

The thing to remember here is that if it's stable then you don't have a
problem. However, if you think that this temperature is too high there are
several things you can do:

1) More case fans and higher airflow ratings
2) Get a new heatsink and use Arctic Silver 5. Be advised that this will
void your warranty if you happen to have one. For heatsinks I reccomend the
ThermalTake Volcano anything.

Regards.

--
Doug Whitesell
zigspalffy33 [at_symbol] verizon [dot] net
all your base are belong to us

I have an ATHLON XP 3000, My current temp on my CPU is 54 c or 127F,
Is my cpu supposed to be cooler is this about normal for my cpu..

Thanks,

Kyle172

 

[Chip]

Most people are comfortable with a temperature in the low to mid
forties, while overclockers and others who like big noisy fans
will often get temps another 10'C lower.

If your 54'C is when the CPU has been running at 100% for
a couple of minutes, you should be OK.

If it is 54'C at a smaller CPU load, then you might have reason
to be concerned about what is going to happen when the CPU hits 100%.

I agree about 54C being OK, but I would suggest a couple of minutes is a bit
short a time to tell. I would say after about 30 minutes to be safe.

Whereas the CPU heats up fairly quickly, it takes the case internals much
longer to heat up. If the case airflow is not really good, then the case
temps will rise slowly and with them, the CPU temps too. (Since the CPU
temp is always going to be linked to the temperature that surrounds it.)

So leave it 30 mins or so running "toast" or Prime95 and see what the temps
are then. If they are still 54C, then that's OK.

Chip.

 

[Robert Redelmeier]

I agree about 54C being OK, but I would suggest a couple of minutes is a bit
short a time to tell. I would say after about 30 minutes to be safe.

Whereas the CPU heats up fairly quickly, it takes the case internals much
longer to heat up. If the case airflow is not really good, then the case
temps will rise slowly and with them, the CPU temps too. (Since the CPU
temp is always going to be linked to the temperature that surrounds it.)

So leave it 30 mins or so running "toast" or Prime95 and see what
the temps are then. If they are still 54C, then that's OK.

Agreed on the need to heat up the thermal mass of the heatsink
and case surroundings. 15 minutes minimum, 30 or more needed
for watercooling.

Try to find out where the temperature is being measured.
Mobo mounted thermisters can read considerably low depending
on the air circulation around them. On-die measurements are
better and respond _much_ faster.

ShamelessPlug: You might try my `cpuburn` suite. I know
it's hotter than Prime95, but don't know about `toast`.

-- Robert author `cpuburn` http://pages.sbcglobal.net/redelm

 

[Dorothy Bradbury]

Verify your case inlet vents are sufficiently large, often it's a barely
3x1" cutout in a plastic trim piece. Sometimes a side-mounted grill
(not even fan) can make a big difference.

Then you may want to check if there is a fan port behind the CPU.
o CPU coolers invariably recirculate a high %age of their airflow
---- delta-T re in-case-temp & CPU-temp is less = less cooling
o An exhaust fan near a CPU cooler removes that heat from the case
---- so the CPU cooler no-longer recirculates hot air

This also takes the load off the PSU fan, re "AMD PSU".
So cooling the CPU isn't just CPU-cooler related, it's a system.

 

[Dave]

I have an ATHLON XP 3000, My current temp on my CPU is 54 c or 127F,
Is my cpu supposed to be cooler is this about normal for my cpu..

What's the room temp? Is the CPU overclocked and over-volted? All these
are things a relevant.

My CPU is at 48C. Is that too hot? No, my room temp is 27C, the XP2000+
T-bred B CPU is at 2.0 GHz/FSB 160 (std 1.667/FSB 133) and the voltage core
is 1.75V (1.6 std) using the standard AMD heatsink and fan.

The highest temp I saw for the CPU was 54C when room temp was 35C but the
base of the heatsink did not feel that hot when I felt it with my finger. I
did a rough and ready test with a thermometer and it read 13C lower than
MBProbe, which is what I use to monitor the temps, etc. On my set-up,
MBProbe's figures are almost exactly the same as the BIOS figures for
everything.

I just dropped the voltage down to 1.7V and the CPU is 2C cooler, room temp
is the same. That gives you an example of how settings can affect the CPU
temp.

Dave

 

[chris]

I have an ATHLON XP 3000, My current temp on my CPU is 54 c or 127F, Is
my cpu supposed to be cooler is this about normal for my cpu..

Thanks,

Kyle172

54 oC is still way below the design temperature. As mentioned in an
earlier thread, the chip is supposed to trip at 85 oC. I bought myself an
Athlon 2500+ (Barton core) yesterday, and it seems to run around 38 oC in
normal mode, and around 46 oC when the FSB is pushed to 400MHz instead of
333MHz (3200+ CPU "clockspeed"). This is with the stock AMD heatsink/fan
mounted, I guess I'm lucky with this chip

Cheers,
Chris

BTW any comments on the thermal pad of the AMD heatsink? I left it for the
time being, and the temperature profile seems o.k. to me, but if people
here have better experience with thermal grease, please let me know.