CPU temps, what is "safe"

[CoyoteBoy]

I have a barton 2500+ XP with the stock cooler and in ~23C ambient
temps I have 40/42 sys/cpu and under load I have 50/53. One of my
cooling fans lost a blade in a freak pencil falling incident and
naturally developed vibrations that were giving me white-finger lol.
So I pulled the fan out and the CPU temps dont seem to have altered by
more than a degree, but by god is it quieter than it ever was! All I
have left is the PSU fan and cpu fan.

Now I have a 120mm fan I was going to throw in the front but those
load temps dont seem too bad when the max die temp is ~85C IIRC. Whats
a safe margin and should I be worried about temps reaching low 50s?

 

[Conor]

I have a barton 2500+ XP with the stock cooler and in ~23C ambient
temps I have 40/42 sys/cpu and under load I have 50/53. One of my
cooling fans lost a blade in a freak pencil falling incident and
naturally developed vibrations that were giving me white-finger lol.
So I pulled the fan out and the CPU temps dont seem to have altered by
more than a degree, but by god is it quieter than it ever was! All I
have left is the PSU fan and cpu fan.

Now I have a 120mm fan I was going to throw in the front but those
load temps dont seem too bad when the max die temp is ~85C IIRC. Whats
a safe margin and should I be worried about temps reaching low 50s?

I'd not be worrying until the high 70's.

 

[spodosaurus]

I have a barton 2500+ XP with the stock cooler and in ~23C ambient
temps I have 40/42 sys/cpu and under load I have 50/53. One of my
cooling fans lost a blade in a freak pencil falling incident and
naturally developed vibrations that were giving me white-finger lol.
So I pulled the fan out and the CPU temps dont seem to have altered by
more than a degree, but by god is it quieter than it ever was! All I
have left is the PSU fan and cpu fan.

Now I have a 120mm fan I was going to throw in the front but those
load temps dont seem too bad when the max die temp is ~85C IIRC. Whats
a safe margin and should I be worried about temps reaching low 50s?

No, CPU temps in the low 50s for that CPU are fine. However, your hard
drives may appreciate a fan cooling them, and it'll prolong their lifespan.

Cheers,

Ari

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[Lee M.]

No, CPU temps in the low 50s for that CPU are fine. However, your hard
drives may appreciate a fan cooling them, and it'll prolong their
lifespan.

Cheers,

Ari

What's a typical or reasonable delta between case temp and CPU temp? With
an XP 1800 or 2200 I was typically 5 or 6C. With my XP2700 I am seeing
about 12C at idle and 15-16C under load. I have two case fans, inlet at
front and exhaust at rear in addition to the PSU fan. One difference from
the slower processors is that my video card and Northbridge are now fan
cooled. With the slower processors I had passive cooling on both.

 

[Chris Hill]

I have a barton 2500+ XP with the stock cooler and in ~23C ambient
temps I have 40/42 sys/cpu and under load I have 50/53. One of my
cooling fans lost a blade in a freak pencil falling incident and
naturally developed vibrations that were giving me white-finger lol.
So I pulled the fan out and the CPU temps dont seem to have altered by
more than a degree, but by god is it quieter than it ever was! All I
have left is the PSU fan and cpu fan.

Now I have a 120mm fan I was going to throw in the front but those
load temps dont seem too bad when the max die temp is ~85C IIRC. Whats
a safe margin and should I be worried about temps reaching low 50s?

I wouldn't. The only thing that might concern me is hd temps; they
don't like it hot either. I like to keep drives below 40c if I can.

 

[DK]

I have a barton 2500+ XP with the stock cooler and in ~23C ambient
temps I have 40/42 sys/cpu and under load I have 50/53. One of my
cooling fans lost a blade in a freak pencil falling incident and
naturally developed vibrations that were giving me white-finger lol.
So I pulled the fan out and the CPU temps dont seem to have altered by
more than a degree, but by god is it quieter than it ever was! All I
have left is the PSU fan and cpu fan.

Now I have a 120mm fan I was going to throw in the front but those
load temps dont seem too bad when the max die temp is ~85C IIRC. Whats
a safe margin and should I be worried about temps reaching low 50s?

You are safe. For the sake of silence, I've been running both PSU
and CPU fans at a minimum for three years now. It results in CPU
temps ~51C idle and 56C under full load (chipset temp varies 34-36C).
No problems whatsoever, rock solid.

DK

 

[geoff]

My first case had 80 mm fans, one in the front bottom, two in the rear top,
and the MB was about 32c and the cpu, an AMD 3200, around 38c.

I upgraded stuff but kept my MB. The case I have now is a P180 with 120mm
fans, and an AMD 4400 dual core. The MB stays around 25c and the CPU about
34c.

-g

 

[CoyoteBoy]

You are safe. For the sake of silence, I've been running both PSU
and CPU fans at a minimum for three years now. It results in CPU
temps ~51C idle and 56C under full load (chipset temp varies 34-36C).
No problems whatsoever, rock solid.

DK

Superb, thanks for the info!

 

[CoyoteBoy]

I wouldn't. The only thing that might concern me is hd temps; they
don't like it hot either. I like to keep drives below 40c if I can.

That google investigation found that most drives failed when away from
~38 degrees IIRC, hotter and colder led to earlier failure!

 

[OhioGuy]

Just keep it under 150 F, and you'll be fine.

Superb, thanks for the info!

 

[CoyoteBoy]

Just keep it under 150 F, and you'll be fine.

Its always below that even with the CPU fan off lol. The mobo
throttles the CPU speed above 160F but I didnt want to rely on that.
Since winter is just round the corner I might run it for a while and
see how low it stays.