OK, so lately, when running a couple CPU intensive applications (Ad-Aware and Spyboy, actually) my computer restarted itself. It even did it while merely browsing the internet. I went into my BIOS and my CPU temp was 52 degrees celcius. I’m not sure it that is too high, but it seemed higher than it should be. (I have an AMD Athlon XP 1800, BTW.) I turned it off, fiddled around with the heatsink and CPU (added some more thermal grease and removed the cpu shim that is suppossed to make it cooler, but looks like all it does it make the heat sink less connected to the CPU.)
When I restarted, I went into the BIOS. The temp was around 41 degrees…sucess! Then it slowly crept up until it stopped at 50. I put on the warning temp to 55, and the turn off PC temp to 60.
Is this too hot? Average? I just got this heatsink a few months ago I don’t want to shell out money for a new one.
According to Ask AMD Processor Support the max operating temperature for your CPU is 90[sup]o[/sup] celsius.
In practice you don’t want to push that limit. While it may operate up to that temperature the higher the temperature the shorter the lifespan of your CPU. That said in the 50-60[sup]o[/sup] range you’re doing fine…close to normal. People who go nuts on cooling may get the temp in the 40[sup]o[/sup] range (or even a touch lower) but I think you are fine where you are.
In short, whatever your problems, I doubt the temp of the CPU is the issue. Of course, some other card or component (e.g. harddrive) might be overheating and causing issues but that is harder to determine.
My AMD computers get hot. So I changed to Intel. My AMD require alot of fans: one on the power supply, on one the cpu, one on the case & one more running from a PCI slot.
**Ladybug! Ladybug! Fly away home;
Your house is on fire, your children all gone; (or, your children will burn)
All but one, and her name is Ann,
And she crept under the pudding pan. **
The traditional poem above is still repeated by children today, but many say it got it beginnings in Medieval Folklore and referred to the burning of hops vines to clear the fields after the harvest. The ladybugs would fly away, and the larvae would crawl away, but the pupa would remain fastened to the vine and burn.,
In Europe, during the Middle Ages, insects were destroying the crops, so the Catholic farmers prayed to the Virgin Mary for help. Soon the Ladybugs came, ate the plant-destroying pests and saved the crops! The farmers began calling the ladybugs “The Beetles of Our Lady”, and they eventually became known as “Lady Beetles”! The red wings represented the Virgin’s cloak and the black spots represented her joys and sorrows.
From here
On a related note (related to PC cooling, not ladybugs), is it better for my side panel to be on or off? I know that while it is on there is better airflow, but it can also create a oven-like effect, and depending on how god my airflow is in the first place, it might be better off with it slightly off, just kinda resting against it. For the record, in addition to the CPU fan and power supply fan, I have a front fan sucking in air, and a rear fan blowing out air.
Hmmmmm…with two case fans in addition to the PS fan, I don’t think cooling is an issue, unless you’ve got some HOT stuff in there. However, due to the rather elevated CPU temps you’re reporting, I’d strongly suggest you purchase some heatsink compound, pull the heatsink off your processor, and apply a liberal amount of the compound to it before reattaching the heatsink/fan assembly. And as suggested earlier, check to be sure your fan airpaths are clean and free of heavy dust accumulation. Remove each fan and vacuum it and the intake vents if need be.
bouv: I doubt that overheating is your problem. Signs point to either insufficient power, bad RAM, or a bad motherboard. Check your voltages, especially the +5V and +12V voltages. If +5V is under 4.75V or so, you may have found your culprit. Also, run the memtest86 memory diagnostic software. If this doesn’t help, open the case and examine the capacitors on the motherboard, especially around the CPU socket, to see if any are bulging, leaking, or have burst. To check the CPU more thoroughly, use the Prime95 software from mersenne.org.
What graphics card do you have? If it’s something that gets particularly hot, I’d suggest you get a slot exhaust fan. These go in the first PCI slot and suck hot air off the graphics card, blowing it out the back of the case.
In any case, I’ll second Q.E.D.'s suggestion to use thermal paste. Remove the heatsink and processor, clean them completely to remove any trace of previous thermal pad or gunk, then apply a PAPER-THIN, EVEN LAYER of thermal paste to the CPU CORE ONLY. A razor blade is good, as you don’t want to touch the compound with your fingers.
Are you guys (or gals if that’s the case) crazy? The temps specified in the OP are nowhere near abnormally high. Check the link I provided earlier to AMD’s web site that specifies a max temp of 90[sup]o[/sup]C for their chips. Further, check out Tom’s Hardware for a list of 55 coolers and their operating temp range. The best of them manage 57.7[sup]o[/sup]C and most are in the 60-70 range. The CPU in the OP is running downright cool in comparison.
Further, removing and reinstalling a heatsink is a major pain and usually requires the PC to be gutted to achieve. You also stand a chance of damaging the CPU depending on the mounting method (I’ve heard stories of people cracking their CPU). If you have an overheating problem then fine but this is not something you want to try just cuz.
If you absolutely must replace the heatsink be sure to use thermal paste and not a thermal pad. The paste does a much better job then the pads. I’ve been partial to Arctic Silver but there are many options (although you might want to look at comparisons as they are not all created equal…some work noticeably better than others).
Side panel off would be better for cooling, atleast in a room with good airflow or ceiling fan. However, dust build-up would increase. I used to leave my side panel on almost always to aid cooling, but I did have to return a hard disk due to dust build-up. Luckily for me it was still under warranty.
Whack-a-Mole: If you’ll read my post, I started off by saying that his CPU wasn’t overheating, and suggested alternate explanations for his problem. Now then: The Recommended Operating Temperature for AMD CPUs is about 50C. This is the temperature that the CPU will run given adequate cooling that conforms to AMD recommended specifications. The Maximum Operating Temperature for AMD processors varies between 69-73C, depending on model. This is the temperature where AMD no longer warrants the CPU to operate correctly. The oft-quoted 85-95C figures are when you can expect the CPU to be PERMANENTLY DAMAGED. Any decent cooler, including the one that comes free with the CPU, should keep the CPU at around 50C max load, CERTAINLY under 60C, if properly installed with a good ambient temperature. A better cooler will keep it in the 40s, and a very good cooler even in the high 30s maximum load.
Now, as for my recommendation to use thermal paste, even if a CPU isn’t overheating, it’s just good practice to use a proper thermal interface. There’s also the possibility that the temperature of his CPU might be read incorrectly, thus making the actual temperature significantly higher. Using thermal paste will reduce temperatures, extend the CPU’s lifespan, and provide a safety margin for things like dust buildup and fan failures. It takes five minutes and costs $1, why not?
I would suggest you not rely on Tom’s Hardware Guide for anything factual. None of the results they produced in the article you linked to in any way reflected reality.
If you have Windows 2000, you may be having the same problem I did. My computer would suddenly start restarting itself. So I turned off the option to have it automatically restart when it came across an error. Well after I did that, I started getting BSOD with some error msg about a system dump or something. At that point I’d have to restart anyway. It was a recent development so I checked to see what I’d installed recently and you know what it was? The latest updates from Microsoft that I’d downloaded. The weird thing was that every single update (like 15 of them) were shown in the Add/Remove Program section. That wasn’t something I’d ever seen before. So I uninstalled them all. Took me about half an hour because I was forced to restart each time. Worked like a charm. Computer doesn’t restart or give me those errors anymore.
I run Win XP, and I turned off the auto-restart thing, so now if I get an error hopefully I’ll see what it is before I restart.
As for my video card, I have a GeForce 4 Ti4200 (I’, not sure of the maker, I think it’s an Asus, but I’m not quite sure.) It has it;s own fan, so I wouldn’t think a PC slit fan is needed, but then, the fan does nothing but blow right onto the sound card, so maybe the fact that the air has nowhere to go is causing problems (but then, my PC was crashing with CPU intensive applications, not graphics intensive.)
I have thermal paste on my CPU, and I wiped off the old stuff and put on a new layer when I checked the heatsink. I’ve been having problems in general with this thing lately (such as a memory address violation that occurs whenever I try to update/reinstall Java, there’s a thread about those problems around somewhere.) Maybe I need a good ol’ reformat and just clear any crap out of the hard drive, and maybe a new stick of RAM (that is what the memory address is referring to, right?)
Man, computers are so…spitefull. You call them one bad name for not loading a webpage quick enough and they find everyway to get back at you.
