CPU Cooling - Odd Issue

[lowman]

Hey everyone - I have an odd situation. My Audio Workstation is running an Athlon 64 2.2 GHz processor, 2 GB of RAM on a Gigabyte motherboard. The case is a Thermaltake 5000 full tower, so there is plenty of room inside. The case has 5 fans (2 side, 1 rear, 1 hood and 1 front) plus the CPU fan of course. The wiring is neatly bundled and out of the way so there is plenty of air flow. I only have 1 IDE drive, and the other 2 are SATA so there are not a lot of IDE ribbon cables in the way (I don't even have a floppy so that's even less stuff in the way). The case also has 3 sensors which display temps on the front LCD display. I have 2 sensors on the heat sink and one about 6 inches from the CPU unit so I can get 2 readings off the CPU and 1 of the case temp. The 2 CPU sensors on the sink have been giving a temp reading of around 75-80 degrees F WHEN IDLE, which I think is VERY HIGH. The Gigabyte motherboard has a built in BIOS app which gives the current CPU temp, and get this - it reads 45 degrees CELSIUS, which is around 113 degrees F...which is WAY over the top. Obviously, I have the system shut down until I can figure out what the hell is going on. The fans are all working fine, no dust whatsoever in the case...I am a bit confused...and these are all readings when there is no load on the processor at all. Any ideas?

 

[lowman]

One more thing...I have an Antec 550W True Power power supply - it has the front control unit for adjusting voltage. I am not a master electrician, and I thought I would mention the power supply - is it possible that the voltage settings could be causing too much heat? Even so - how could the difference between the sensor temps and the motherboard temp display be so far off? Any help is appreciated.

 

[lowman]

Temp Issue

I know I could be over-worrying this issue - I read some earlier posts and it looks like I should be OK - I am just thrown by the temps since they are idle temps...

 

[Masque]

75-80 degrees F is room temperature.....nothing to worry about there at all. As far as the 45 degrees Celsius, that's also about standard....neither warm nor cool as far as processors go.

You're fine. Calm down, relax and enjoy your new system. Sounds pretty sweet! :grinthumb

 

[lowman]

Thanks Masque

I appreciate the reassurance Masque - initially, I had rebooted and saw a quick mobo message that said "Check System Health", and that's when I noticed the temps...I still want to know what the message was about (I should check the alert thresholds to see if they are way too low - maybe that's it). Anyway...thanks again for the info...it is much appreciated...

 

[Masque]

No problem.

The "check system health" message could've been related to any changes the motherboard saw and was simply alerting you to it. Could've been nothing......I'm not familiar with Gigabyte boards.

 

[lowman]

Thanks...

Much appreciated...this site RAWKS...

 

[lowman]

You were right

You were right Masque - the "Check System Health" was only the mobo alerting that the system fan was not working (which it is). With my case and mobo, there are known issues where the mobo won't detect the system fan running, and lists it's RPM's at 0. I turned the alert off, rebooted, and no errors at all (I also verified the fan was actually running as well). Anyway - thanks for shedding the initial light on the subject...

 

[Vehementi]

If you needed a 2nd opinion, 45C is a fine temp to run a processor at, even idle. 45C is the actual temperature of your processor core, and 80F (~30C) is the temp of your heatsink (obviously) so you're alright there.

 

[lowman]

Thanks Vehementi

I appreciate the additional input and opinion Vehementi...always welcome...