Dodgy Processor = High Temperature?

[Alanmelon]

In the words of (Max Bygraves?), "I wanna tell you a story"...

A couple of years ago I bought a crud PC from Time/Tiny, and subsequently tore it apart (as you do). With the original motherboard my processor temps were fairly high, if I remember correctly.
Shortly afterwards, due to a crummy power supply, and even crummier mini ATX case and motherboard, I upgraded. With the new motherboard and existing fan I was getting temps in the mid to high 60s.
Fine, got a new heatsink and fan, some nice new thermal paste, and yet still temps were in the low to mid 60s. There were, however, no side effects or symptoms, so I left it.
Two weeks ago, the upgrading obsession got the better of me again, and I thought it was time for some nice new RAM and a new motherboard, and (for the hell of it) a more expensive heatsink and fan. I put it all together meticulously, and, yep, you guessed it temperatures are in the mid to high 60s, often knocking 70.

The processor is the common factor in all of this and is an Athlon XP 2200+. Could the problem be a dodgy processor, dodgy temperature sensor, or a continued inability to fit a heatsink properly?

[paulyoung666]

where are you picking the temp up from , the bios ???????? , as for the heatsink , did it have a pad on it ???????? , did you remove it ????????? , and did you follow the thermal paste instructions to the absoloute letter ????????? , hey loads of questions

[Ben]

Hiya,

Atlons always run quite hot if I remember correctly But it does seem damn hot Although if your not seeing any problems then I guess that it will be fine.

I use "Speedfan" for my temps (and checked them though the BIOS too) it will slow the fan down when needed and speed it up when the cpu gets too hot

My idle temp is around 32C and load temp is about 44 - 45C - But thats with a P4 2.6C and a decent Heatsink/fan

I would flash your bios to the newest version if you havn't already and double check temps in bios to any software temp you might be running.

[SOSAGES]

athlons are cheaper and run hoter its fine to see it running in the early 70's if you want to take the temp down then u will need a fan and heatsink that will sound like a small jet engine and will suck any small mamals into it ruinning in the 60's is fine i have the same cpu (well overclocked) with a good cooler and 3 fans in the case top get it to run in the 45-50 range i had to underclock it about a gig and thats not easy ive hada few athlons now and so do all my mates but i recently (early last year) got a p4 2.8 on day of release and havnt looked back cant hear it and it dosnt go above 40c

[Alanmelon]

The temperatures are from both Speedfan and BIOS and seem fairly consistent. The current heatsink/fan is a Thermaltake Volcano 9, it did not have a pad on it, and I did follow the instructions to apply a very thin layer of paste. I even applied the heatsink a couple of times to check that there was enough to bridge any gaps, but not too much so it oozed out of the sides. As I have said, this processor has never had a temp below 60 degrees irrespective of heatsink or motherboard.

[SOSAGES]

its fine...its by design

[Stuartbe]

Originally Posted by Alanmelon

In the words of (Max Bygraves?), "I wanna tell you a story"...

A couple of years ago I bought a crud PC from Time/Tiny, and subsequently tore it apart (as you do). With the original motherboard my processor temps were fairly high, if I remember correctly.
Shortly afterwards, due to a crummy power supply, and even crummier mini ATX case and motherboard, I upgraded. With the new motherboard and existing fan I was getting temps in the mid to high 60s.
Fine, got a new heatsink and fan, some nice new thermal paste, and yet still temps were in the low to mid 60s. There were, however, no side effects or symptoms, so I left it.
Two weeks ago, the upgrading obsession got the better of me again, and I thought it was time for some nice new RAM and a new motherboard, and (for the hell of it) a more expensive heatsink and fan. I put it all together meticulously, and, yep, you guessed it temperatures are in the mid to high 60s, often knocking 70.

The processor is the common factor in all of this and is an Athlon XP 2200+. Could the problem be a dodgy processor, dodgy temperature sensor, or a continued inability to fit a heatsink properly?

Make sure that you have not put too much thermal paste on.. To much can be worse than none at all !!!!

Allways try and use heatsink's that have thermal pads as these are better than the paste.

HTH

[Alanmelon]

Originally Posted by SOSAGES

its fine...its by design

Thank you, given that it hasn't exploded yet (touch wood) I thought that might be the case.
Slightly off topic, but bearing in mind price and performance, if I wanted to upgrade the processor (Socket A), what would you recommend the minimum should be for me to appreciate a performance improvement?

[SMHarman]

Originally Posted by Alanmelon

Thank you, given that it hasn't exploded yet (touch wood) I thought that might be the case.
Slightly off topic, but bearing in mind price and performance, if I wanted to upgrade the processor (Socket A), what would you recommend the minimum should be for me to appreciate a performance improvement?

Whats the rest of your system - pure Mhz are not the key performance driver anymore. RAM bottlenecks (I see you just bought new), or lack of, or HDD speeds or GPUs all slow things down. What do you want the extra speed for? Games, Video Editing, Database manipulation / queries?

[philip.j.fry]

Originally Posted by stuartbe

Allways try and use heatsink's that have thermal pads as these are better than the paste.

I've always been told the opposite

Look into a new fan. I've got an athlon 1.4 and for the last two years I've had a super orb cooler, loud and the temperature was always around the 70 mark with no problems. However, I've just fitted a coolermaster that has a (manually adjustable) variable fan. On it's lowest speed, my cpu never goes above 55 degrees and it's a lot quieter than my orb. The fan says it is rated up to 2800+ so definately reccommended.

If you wanted super cooling and can afford it though, go for a water cooled system.

[Millay]

I am sure there is a way you could harness the heat of your processor? plumb it into your central heating system perhaps, or use it to cook food (which I have seen done in a magazine)

[Bifta]

Thermal pads are the work of satan and should be removed straight away, always use a good thermal paste, like Arctic Silver III, and only use a pea sized amount, it's only supposed to fill the inconsistencies in the heatsink plate and the processor core to create a better contact.

[basa]

Originally Posted by Alanmelon

Thank you, given that it hasn't exploded yet (touch wood) I thought that might be the case.
Slightly off topic, but bearing in mind price and performance, if I wanted to upgrade the processor (Socket A), what would you recommend the minimum should be for me to appreciate a performance improvement?

To my mind a greater improvement might come from a faster HDD, say upgrade from 5400 to 7200 rpm or from 7200 to 10000 rpm.

(PS: I go with Bifta re. the pad v paste - a smear of Arctic Silver = )

[Enterian]

Also, don't neglect case cooling. If the inside of the case is as hot as hell it don't matter how good your CPU heatsink/fan is.

[philip.j.fry]

Originally Posted by Millay

I am sure there is a way you could harness the heat of your processor? plumb it into your central heating system perhaps, or use it to cook food (which I have seen done in a magazine)

I've seen it piped to the garage for underfloor heating.