If you came into this forum going to ask this question, please read this first...

In only the direst of situations is any component of your computer under any thermal danger.
Examples include if you lived at all close to the equator, used stock cooling, the equivalent, or less, and run your 1.4GHz Athlon Thunderbird at full load all day long. (Most modern CPUs have thermal safeguards, if not all). And generally if the ambient temperature of the room your computer is inside exceeds the point in which you start sweating after prolonged inhabitance. This can be easily fixed by opening a window. Sounds like a few people here should try it (since it's the first step in getting out more) :D

The universal relatively safe temperature that your processor (undoubtedly your hottest component), Intel or AMD, Pentium or Athlon whatever should run under is...

(drumroll please)

60 degrees Celcius or 140 degrees Fahrenheit

Even if you exceed this once in a while it would be OK, but if it was me I would look into cooling it down. Now granted 50C sounds alot safer and more comfortable to me, you can't always keep it around there without spending some extra money. And you can't always spend some extra money ;)

There are simply too many posts asking this same exact question. It was the same way with the Overclocking thread (http://www.techspot.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=9388). If I was a moderator I would make this post a READ, delete the violating posts, and shoot the violators a PM with a warning about following the stickies :blackeye:

Thank you for your time everyone. I do hope I won't have to answer another question about this.

Actually, according to all the documentation I havbe read, anything under 70c is "safe" but safe isn't always good, especially since it isn't the steady high temp that causes most stability problems, it is the fluctuation of the temps. The most common cause of this fluctuation is shutting off the machine. When you shut down, all the components that get hot tend to cool off(I know its hard to believe but its true) This is usually a big factor in thermal failures. Not saying it is necessarily bad to shut down your machine, just using it as a good example of the heat and cool cycle which is more deadly than a constant 70+ temp reading.

That is something I forgot to mention, but the thread was aimed at the newbies who always ask if their processor/case is too hot.

Much thanks for bringing that up, though.

This is now sticky to the icky.:p

Also, for every 10 deg C rise in temps, component life is halfed (for semiconductors), though I've never known a cpu to wear out. They become obsolete long before they are likely to fail due to wear and tear. Thermal noise also increases with temp, so your cpu will operate more reliably if the temps are kept low.

All this is theoretical, and in practice, if you keep the temps below the recommended safe limit, then everything will be fine for the usable lifespan of a typical PC (say 10 yrs).

A hot case is very bad for hard drives, which have a typical life expectancy of around 5 years under 'normal' conditions.

Actually, according to all the documentation I havbe read, anything under 70c is "safe" but safe isn't always good...

MMM. that confuse me, StormBringer... Yes, it is safe if you re running a system under 70c, but PC MODDER magazine (Mad Modder wrote the article) AMD can running up to 95c?

I am curious, I know anything above 70c is not safe but why AMD told the consumer that some of AMD can capable to run in 95c. :eek:

Can you tell me each of AMD kind in maxmium temp (AMD athlon, XP <non-barton and Barton chip>, AMD 64 chip, AMD FX51 and 53)?

Same goes to P4.

<<TS Special Forces or Editor May edit this!>>

Alright. Reading this answered one of my all time questions that I keep forgetting. My pc is running right now at.... 82.0 F. I would believe that is good. Hopefully. Good Sticky! :D

Okay, so if Half-Life 2 crashes with 'memory cannot be "read"' errors, and I am getting the BSOD saying 'IRQL_IS_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL' whilst trying to install windows, then proceed to my BIOS and upon checking my CPU temperature, it is idling 76C/168F, whilst my mobo is at 22C/71F... does this mean my AMD Athlon XP 3000+ is definetely too hot and causing the problems?

Apologies if i sound daft asking, but I just want to make sure first...

My Western Digital Caviar 120GB hard drive recently failed after 14 months, I have tried each Samsung 512MB dimm by itself, removing Audigy 2 and switching to onboard sound (a7n8x), and swapping my GeForce FX 5200 for a ATI 9800 Pro, but the problems seem neverending since this my recent hd failure, and installing hl2. :blackeye:

Thanks in advance. d.

does the same 60C temp apply to video cards and RAM?

For video cards and RAM, your motherboard/case temp ("ambient") is the one to look out for there. I'd say as long as your ambient temperature is about 35 C or below, you don't have anything to worry about with your video card and RAM. (RAM is right there in the motherboard, and any video cards that are powerful enough to create heat issues have their own built-in fans.)

Depending on your processor and video card, you'd probably be fine with higher temps than 35, but if you have a newer Athlon or an Intel P4 (especially Prescott) system, you'll want to keep those case temps well below that -- those processors can run 15 to 30 degrees above ambient.

I'm not sure what the critical temps are for video cards or RAM, but I'm sure you could find that under "thermal specifications" at the manufacturer's web site.

Hope that helps!

A good case (aluminum prefered) - a few intake fans - a few exhaust fans - A duct mod (to exhaust hot cpu air out) - if u feel creative a top exhaust port and an intake port next to the pci and agp slots - A fan contol device such as a rheobus (baybus) so you can control fan speeds when you are gaming /idle- A good aftermarket gpu cooler so u can squeeze a few extra fps outta the vid card. In addition pick up a nice heatsink/fan for the cpu.

This is coming from an X-heat obsessed junkie. If your case temp exceeds ambient (room temp) you may want to look into getting a few of the above mentioned items. As far as chip temps are concerned each chip will differ by a varience depending on the processes and hardware config you are running.
Somebody mentioned that if you are worried about your chip lasting for years keep your temps down - most of us upgrade once a year or every other year - so who cares about the temps really ..lol as long as they do not exceed operating temps set out by manufacturers specs by much there is also a +- tolerance in terms of tempature.

My 2 cents cheers

Can someone tell me what are the positives/negatives of leaving the case side panel off?

I use MBM5 and had the panel off all day, when I got home I checked the highest/lowest temps.... I couldn't believe the CPU temp actually dropped as low as 24c :O !!

The case was off because I went about 'fabricating' [butchering:knock:] a CPU duct... fixed a mesh screen on there and everything... but it doesnt' seem to make much difference... maybe a degree or two.

Kinda scratched up the panel a bit too so as a 'solution', I covered it with a big piece of super-thin vinyl...wondering if the vinyl is actually thermally counter productive??? Like not letting heat dissipate through the metal as easily??

I have a P4 2.6c...my average ambient temp [case temp] is 38c ... and the CPU has reached 52c before under stress [believe that was the highest ever]...

MOBO is ASUS P4P800 Deluxe.

Any comments welcome.

:cool:

AMD is very thankfull when you burn your cpu.....'cause u need to buy new one.....Business is Business and Business is Good!

I just read in a tech bulletin today that the error message you posted indicates bad ram chip. I see you mentioned testing them individually, but maybe tyhey are both toaasted. Good Luck!

Can someone tell me what are the positives/negatives of leaving the case side panel off?

I use MBM5 and had the panel off all day, when I got home I checked the highest/lowest temps.... I couldn't believe the CPU temp actually dropped as low as 24c :O !!

The case was off because I went about 'fabricating' [butchering:knock:] a CPU duct... fixed a mesh screen on there and everything... but it doesnt' seem to make much difference... maybe a degree or two.

Kinda scratched up the panel a bit too so as a 'solution', I covered it with a big piece of super-thin vinyl...wondering if the vinyl is actually thermally counter productive??? Like not letting heat dissipate through the metal as easily??

I have a P4 2.6c...my average ambient temp [case temp] is 38c ... and the CPU has reached 52c before under stress [believe that was the highest ever]...

MOBO is ASUS P4P800 Deluxe.

Any comments welcome.

:cool:

Hey

I dont think there are many negative aspects in refrence to leaving the side of your case off except maybe a dust buildup. If you are doin maintenance to the case its ok to leave it off for a while but dust and dirt particles in the air will cling to components. Motherboards especially. Excessive dust could possibly cause a short on the board. The vinyl u attached to the case I cant comment on- maybe it could cause the metal or aluminum to sweat although i cant say for sure. As long as you have a few intake fans and a few exhaust fans and hardware such as a bay/rheo bus to control the speed of the fans you should be ok. If it were me if leave the side closed. I have seen some gunk buildup between the fins of cpu heatsinks and northbridge coolers that would make grown men cry lol. My case is a lian-li full aluminum tower. So even in the summer its fairly cool. These cases are fairly expensive but worth the investment if you would like to maintain a constant temperature from within the case to prevent the hardware from overheating.


Cheers - hope this helps

Hey

I dont think there are many negative aspects in refrence to leaving the side of your case off except maybe a dust buildup. If you are doin maintenance to the case its ok to leave it off for a while but dust and dirt particles in the air will cling to components. Motherboards especially. Excessive dust could possibly cause a short on the board. The vinyl u attached to the case I cant comment on- maybe it could cause the metal or aluminum to sweat although i cant say for sure. As long as you have a few intake fans and a few exhaust fans and hardware such as a bay/rheo bus to control the speed of the fans you should be ok. If it were me if leave the side closed. I have seen some gunk buildup between the fins of cpu heatsinks and northbridge coolers that would make grown men cry lol. My case is a lian-li full aluminum tower. So even in the summer its fairly cool. These cases are fairly expensive but worth the investment if you would like to maintain a constant temperature from within the case to prevent the hardware from overheating.


Cheers - hope this helps

Thanks for the reply!

Umm... It's a metal case, not aluminum :( ... and the average case temp, as I mentioned, is around 40c...

My friend has a CoolerMaster aluminum case and his average case temp is only 30c :O !!

ANd no, I don't have all those fans...

All stock only! ... just the one exhaust fan in the back ... and now the 'fabricated' cpu exhaust duct lol ...

I have no idea how/where to place any other fans...intake or exhaust...

not like there is alot of room in there to play with .... mind pointing me in the right direction with regards to adding all of these 'few' exhaust and 'few' intake fans ?? :D

Cheers!

Thanks for the reply!

Umm... It's a metal case, not aluminum :( ... and the average case temp, as I mentioned, is around 40c...

My friend has a CoolerMaster aluminum case and his average case temp is only 30c :O !!

ANd no, I don't have all those fans...

All stock only! ... just the one exhaust fan in the back ... and now the 'fabricated' cpu exhaust duct lol ...

I have no idea how/where to place any other fans...intake or exhaust...

not like there is alot of room in there to play with .... mind pointing me in the right direction with regards to adding all of these 'few' exhaust and 'few' intake fans ?? :D

Cheers!

40 degreees Farenheight or 5 degrees celcious give or take a degree
Not too bad Especially from a steel gauge case. If i am correct in my metallurgy- The best dissipation of heat comes from gold or platinum (but who can afford/want ) a gold case Next we have copper -but copper has a tendancy to produce a lot of oxides when exposed to moisture and ambient air. The next logical choice would be aluminum -most high performance cases are made of aluminum. Cost to performance ratio. Aluminum is a non ferous metal which means that it contains little to no iron and holds no magnetic charge. (which is fantastic news for static sensitive ic's :P ) For those who disagree - Research Ampere's Law and Magnetic Field Density. Iron is also a wonderful conductor of heat. Next we have steel which is unfortunately on the bottom of the food chain so to speak. If you want to lower case temps u will need to invest in a aluminum case period. No matter how many intake fans or ducts u put in a steel case to cool it down- the fans are only sucking air from your room at its current temperature- So the temp inside the case cannot be lower then room temp. Adding hot hardware to the mix will also heat up the case as well. Everyone will have an opinion on what the correct configuration for placement of fans in order to get maximum airflow and heat exhaust to and from the case. You will also be restricted in how many fans you can place in the case by the number of physical intake and exhaust ports u may have.

My configuration is as follows.
2x 80 mm intake in the front bottom of the case.
1x 120 mm intake in the side blowing directly on the pci/agp area of the mobo.
1x 120 mm exhaust directly above the cpu fan and agp/pci area of the mobo.
2x 80 mm exhaust inb the back of the case (on above and 1 below the pwr supply)

The 120 mm exhaust fan above the cpu and agp/pci is there to exhaust any heat from those hot areas. Heat rises - encourage it.

I also have a rheobus which is a device to control the voltage output which in turn controls the speed of the fans. What type of fans you choose is up to you.
I have had both cheap and expensive fans. I have never noticed a difference in performance. I have never had a fan fizz out on me. (knock on wood)

Cheers

I read on a board somewhere recently that this guy used mouse pads to line the inside of his case to suppress all the noise from all the fans he had going.....
my question is, would this be counter productive, as it insulates the case except at the fan ports......or is it a practical idea ?

And with the need for all these fans for cooling purposes...is there any other practical noise pollution solution ? :rolleyes:

I read on a board somewhere recently that this guy used mouse pads to line the inside of his case to suppress all the noise from all the fans he had going.....
my question is, would this be counter productive, as it insulates the case except at the fan ports......or is it a practical idea ?

And with the need for all these fans for cooling purposes...is there any other practical noise pollution solution ? :rolleyes:


LOL - sounds like a fun project- I dont know how much it would work though. But who knows lol. I found this sound dampener

http://www.bigfootcomputers.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=Bigfoot&Category_Code=700.63

- Its from a canadian site in my city but im sure you can find it on the net or a cpmparable product somewhere. I havent used it yet - but it has been on the market for a while. I am used to the low resonance hum of my case so sound dosent bother me. As they say with great performance comes great noise levels - or something like that :D

Cheers

LOL,,,as a self-confessed 'X-heat obsessed junkie.' you might be cautious about any 'fun little projects', as they start out that way......HeHe :D

So, having said that, here is a neat little article I found when out trolling' around out there on sound proofing your PC:

http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1558,506,00.asp

peace..

O... thas a nice link.
Thanks pizzada - nice info. I used to be heat obsesed too lol.
Well maybe im in denial lol. Yep ..projects that i still have nightmares about today started out small :D

Right now, my overclocked Athlon 2500+ runs at 159F/ 71C constant. It's been very stable. I have 4 fans in the case. 1 blowing in, 3 out. Plus I have a very large CPU fan with a large heatsink. I never shut my computer off and I have my HD's power down after 15 mins.

Haven't had any problems. Even ran doom 3 - no probs. Athlons run HOT!

That seems a little hot for that chip- it should be 60 F underload or less (as far as i can remember) depending on the cooling intake/exhaust and case metal.
Most thoroughbred amd chips run much cooler then some intel - due to the wattage and power requirements of intel. We know that More watts/power = more heat. Im not sure of the exact numbers but I can get them for you if you are interested in reading. The older generation thunderbird series were notoriously hot. What kind of cpu cooler do you have?
Copper core or aluminum? Did you apply the thermal past correctly? What type of paste did you use?

Ok talk to you later

It's an Athlon XP 2500+. I have arctic silver plus a very large & oversized cooling fan. I'm going to replace it shortly with a 3200+ XP Athlon, I'll probably buy an athlon heat shim.

Ah ok
Nice chip.
I use the arctic silver 5 as well.
What is the material of the cpu cooler?
I bought the thermaltake extreme volcano 12 - its solid copper with a lot of cooling fins it keeps my chip pretty cool even under load.

Cheers

Hi all...new to this Forum...
Anyhow...the only Temps I can see on my Custom Built System are the Ambient / Core Temps within my NVidea Control Panel.

Generally the Core Temp for the GPU is around 49 degrees Celcius (no gaming) and up to 60 degrees celcius (intense part of HL2)....their is also waht they call the Ambient Temp which varies between 36 to 45 degrees celcius in the same above conditions.

I'm assuming these Temps are for my Vid Card and not what I'm reading in Posts as "Case Temps" and Ambient Processor Temps" ??

Is thier some software around which will show my Processor Temp?
Anyone see anything abnormal with the Temps I've given?

My system:
Intel P4 3.2e Gig
MOB is a Gigabyte P4 Titan Series / Intel 865PE Chip set
1024 MB PC 3200 DDR 400 RAM (2x512 MB)
Enermax Dual Fan 460 W PS
2 Additonal small Cooling Fans
200 Gig 7200 Hard Drive (2 seperate Drives - running my Paging File on idle Drive)
EVGA GeForce 6800 GT GPU (not overclocked and stock cooling)
17" BenQ LCD Monitor

I'm asking as I have had a couple of "freezes" while playing HL2...I know their are many issues with this game but temperature does make me wonder.
Also, I had my 6800 GT OC to 401 Mhz / 1.1 Ghz from the stock 350 Mhz / 1.0 Ghz and the temp really didn't show much of a rise? Nor did I really seem to notice much difference in game play, so I've elected to run it not Overclocked.

Any comments on my Post would be much appreciated.

Cheers
B

Variations in temp also cause chip creep - where they loosen themselves out of sockets due to contraction and expansion.

Hi all...new to this Forum...
Anyhow...the only Temps I can see on my Custom Built System are the Ambient / Core Temps within my NVidea Control Panel.

Generally the Core Temp for the GPU is around 49 degrees Celcius (no gaming) and up to 60 degrees celcius (intense part of HL2)....their is also waht they call the Ambient Temp which varies between 36 to 45 degrees celcius in the same above conditions.

I'm assuming these Temps are for my Vid Card and not what I'm reading in Posts as "Case Temps" and Ambient Processor Temps" ??

Is thier some software around which will show my Processor Temp?
Anyone see anything abnormal with the Temps I've given?

My system:
Intel P4 3.2e Gig
MOB is a Gigabyte P4 Titan Series / Intel 865PE Chip set
1024 MB PC 3200 DDR 400 RAM (2x512 MB)
Enermax Dual Fan 460 W PS
2 Additonal small Cooling Fans
200 Gig 7200 Hard Drive (2 seperate Drives - running my Paging File on idle Drive)
EVGA GeForce 6800 GT GPU (not overclocked and stock cooling)
17" BenQ LCD Monitor

I'm asking as I have had a couple of "freezes" while playing HL2...I know their are many issues with this game but temperature does make me wonder.
Also, I had my 6800 GT OC to 401 Mhz / 1.1 Ghz from the stock 350 Mhz / 1.0 Ghz and the temp really didn't show much of a rise? Nor did I really seem to notice much difference in game play, so I've elected to run it not Overclocked.

Any comments on my Post would be much appreciated.

Cheers
B

Nice rig :)

I think this program called sisoft sandra i think it will help you out.

http://www.sisoftware.co.uk/index.html?dir=dload&location=sware_dl_3264&langx=en&a=

I will look for another program to moitor vid card temps- right now im too tired lol.

Try dropping the quality of the game a little bit - for example drop the eye candy down a tad - tun off anti aliasing or some visual options within the game- set the res to 1024x768 - it may help ease the load off the gpu and cpu.

Hope this helped.

Cheers

Hey thinks for the info........I presently have been running all of my games...Doom3, HL2 & recently Far Cry with the Highest settings. However, I do keep AA & AF at "none" and vertical sync "on". If I turn off Vertical Sync I see a lot of tearing on the screen, I take it this is because my refresh rate on my LCD monitor is 75 Hz and the info is coming way to fast from my GPU for the final product.....I think?

Anyhow......I have been playing with the resolution set at 1280 x 1024, so perhaps bumping it down will help....

Yes it is a pretty cool rig.....one of the first things I noticed was the loading time to my desk top when first starting up....from pushin g the power button to clicking on applications is around 20 seconds.......not like my dinosaurs at work!!

In 2 months I have had HL2 do a crash twice now......not a huge deal as it is a computer, but curious as to why. Tried bumping my paging file to 1.5x my Memeory as Microsoft recommends.....had it around 512 MB before....now its at 1500 MB....we'll see if that makes a difference.

Thanks for the help!

B

While it's a point much debated, the basics are very simple.
Temps for a well cooled box and it's cpu should be +10 - 15 deg C over whatever the ambient air temp is, while the board should be between 5-10 deg C.
All systems should run cool with a better HSF or faster fan and or more case fans, unfortunately more fans generally means more noise, to avoid that use 92mm fans, and while the temp can saftely go to 50 deg (my personal maximum) and above it's best to keep it all cool.
Good quality cases and HSF's are worth the extra cash.
Using the Lian case allows placing the drives at an angle to divert the air flow onto the board, sure they are $ exe but they are a very good case.
Always add a blowhole in every case you own, temps will drop dramatically and the fan needs to be only a quiet 15-20 cfm.
Adding another fan in the rear will show that the bottom fan needs to be slightly faster than the top one by at least 10 cfm, (testing done for you) courtesy of much testing with a Digi-Doc 5.
Basics don't change between different boxes and systems, there should never be a question asked like (is my cpu too hot) when the simple stuff is done "first" the rest is easy.
My 3200 64bit cpu system runs at 36 deg C, overclocking may lift that depending on how much of an O/C, while my duals do by their nature run slightly warmer, 40 deg C would be my temp limit at 100% on any MP dual cpu based system in a well cooled case, mine are only MP 2400's.
Intels will always run cooler, my older soc 370 1.4g P3 Tualtins / S230T Tyans run at 34 deg no problem with tiny stock Intel HSF's
The best purchase one can buy is an air conditioner, so all temps I quote derive from a room temp of a comfortable 25 deg C, as your room temp rises so will your cpu and board, all assuming the box is well cooled to start with.
It really is easy to figure what you should expect to have.
:cool:

Hello dudes, new freshman on the board :-)
This quite intensive discussion brings me to the probs I recently had myself.
Since short I run a Gigabyte GA-VT600-1364 MoBo with 512Mb & AMD Athlon XP 3000+, too low on mem I know 1Gb would be a large improvement here.
Installed it in a simple tower case with the stock cooling, that came with the set.
When I first converted to the new board I had my XP home SP2 and my "old" soft installed.
After having everything installed without any probs, had a few sudden shutdowns, but after years of experience with the microsoft productline who wonders about that. ;-)
Anyway, when it finally came down to working with it, it wouldn't last more then 10min before a sudden shutdown appeared with several different error-messages telling me what was wrong.
Went over the log of my installation and couldn't find anything that could make this happen.
Finally, I installed MBM5 and I found out that overheating was what caused my trouble, when the MoBo reached 45°C, CPU was around 65°C then, the bloody thing collapsed or went it into thermal protection and restarted the system.
First I tried working with the case open, helped a bit, let's say a minute or maybe 2.
Then I removed the power-unit cause it was sitting close to the CPU-unit and it's airstream went into its direction, again I gained a few minutes of "joy".
Then I thought I found the ultimate solution and mounted a P1 CPUcoolingfan on the VIA KT600-chip's alu cooler, again I gained more pleasure-time this time an ashtonishing 5min.
Sick and tired of this, I went up the addic, dug up my 15" deskfan, which I use during summer to cool of my room and me, pointed it on the MoBo switched it on on Level3 & "Hurraaay" everything stays cool and the system runs stable for hours & days.
The Mobo stays at a "cool" 30 to 35°C and CPU runs within a respectable 40 to 50°C.
Wanting to know why stock cooling didn't do it's job, I went investigating one another.
I mean don't those designers/engineers know how to design an adequate stock-cooling?
Yes, they do but...
I found out that XP SP2 blows the usage of your CPU to it's max capacity, between 94 & 100% of usage, when you start-up or run anything, this causes CPU to heat fast, the fact that CPU temp stayed in range (max @ collapse was 65°C) and that the MoBo heated up to over 45°C, which was the sign for it to go into siesta-mode, prooves that the stock CPU-cooling is effective but it "blows" all it's heat over the board and that one can't have it.
So, modding of my case is an essence, which will turn out in buying a new case that I will be modding further, and doesn't scare me of, placing extra fans neither.
The sound is ennoying, but, hey, nothing will beat the level of db's produced by my deskfan.
The question I ask myself:


I dont think there are many negative aspects in refrence to leaving the side of your case off except maybe a dust buildup. If you are doin maintenance to the case its ok to leave it off for a while but dust and dirt particles in the air will cling to components. Motherboards especially. Excessive dust could possibly cause a short on the board.


What about all the extra fanning then?
I mean for an electronic device that has a reputation, and I know, saw too many of them inside, for being the next best vacuumcleaner besides swedish Nillfisk.
The placing of extra fans won't improve on how-to keep your Mobo clean.
Installing airfilters? Wont I disturb and reduce the airstream of the air taken in too much?
Do I place two fans to make sure I overcome that reducing factor?
Placing an extra fan for exhaust, to take the "hot" air out because the airsytream itself isn't strong enough anymore to blow it's way through and out the case?
In the end, I end up with more fans than the systems power-unit can handle.
I can also build the entire thing into an old still-working fridge and have my temp and no dust too.
I'm joking here, but what are the parameters for "good judgement" in this.

Little comment on some previous posts here::


The most common cause of this fluctuation is shutting off the machine. When you shut down, all the components that get hot tend to cool off(I know its hard to believe but its true) This is usually a big factor in thermal failures.


This is indeed true, but the power switch is still the one-and-only most effective systemprotecting firewall during abscense.
Also, when shutting down, fans stop running too, so the hot-components will go to a temp peak before they will start cooling down and this is where a lot of damage occurs.
Further on, indeed, hot elements that cool down are subject to fysical damage, for example cracks.
Best thing here would be, like in cars, that fans keep running until the system's temp drops below normal temp-range.


MMM. that confuse me, StormBringer... Yes, it is safe if you re running a system under 70c, but PC MODDER magazine (Mad Modder wrote the article) AMD can running up to 95c?
I am curious, I know anything above 70c is not safe but why AMD told the consumer that some of AMD can capable to run in 95c.


Ever heard of warranty failsafe?
CPU's are designed to be able to sustain these high temps not for actual working in this region but for making sure the CPU doesn't get burned by anything that goes wrong.
Normally, Mobo's switch off when CPU's reach 80°C and when everything is cooled down you still have working gear left.
Otherwise, half of us would be in stores at least twice a week for new CPU's, not mentioning the law-suits they would have to face.
Greetz,
ßeetlejuice

the location where u stay also plays a important role to the temp for example inmy place during summetr the room temperature is around 31 c to 32 c

now that increses the base temp ideally room temp should be around 27 c so for me the temp always goes up a couple to degrees in winter

say my avg temp(pc) in winter is around 35/48 for my board/cpu and in summer
this around 39-40/52-54, this is ideal temp

this even after i have twio fans directly blowing coolair on the motherboard that is side fans.

Not sure how many fans, and where they are blowing in your case. I found that airflow is quite an important aspect in the cooling of the PC, so you might want to just reorganize your casing fans (or maybe add more).

I'm also having some heating problems of my own, but its not causing too much problem. My HDDs are basically overheating a little, causing a little slowdown. I don't have enough 5.25' bays to add some of those great HDD cooling items, and I don't want to put some of those HDD coolers as they will cause the bay below unoccupiable. I've already stuck some mini heatsinks on the sides of the HDD (or the sides of whats carrying the HDD) and it seems to work a little, but not good enough.

any ideas? :P

i have a question my pc has 5 fans and my cpu is a P4 3.0ghz.
my fans r 1 in the front blowing in 1 in the back blowing out 1 on top blowing out and 2 on the same side blowing out and i was wondering if i should change the way the top one and side ones r blowing for maximum air flow
thanks

your side and bottom fans should blow air in unless the side fans are up high (not in the middle)

Your rear fans should be up top and exhaust only. Follow the natural flow of air. Hot air rises.

I have 2 sticks of crucial ballistx 4200
#1 is 82 farenheight #2 is 104 right now, and thats about average.
Is the difference a big deal?
I have a digital doc 5+
the video card is always over 100
ge force 6800 ultra

intel p4 3.46ghz 49*c idle good? i just put arctic silver 5 on it and a new sunnon 84 cfm fan on it.

I thought the whole idea of this sticky is to tell you immediately what is good and what is not.....

Read the first page.

ok i understand the CPU temps parts.. but what bbout for video cards? at what temps should u start to worry?

my video card used to run at 33C on the GPU and 34C on my memory at idle..

under load, 38-39 on GPU and 39-40C on GPU memory..

however jus last night i installed couple more fans.. and unused PCI slot covers

but now my GPU memory runs much warmer.. now idling at 39 >_< right now.. its at 41C n im jus surfing.. MSN-ing n music-ing.. nothign heavy on vid card lol its much hotter than my CPU. n that has never happened b4 :hotbounce

its almost like.. its set to say to be 6C hotter than the GPU.. wut might have i done wrong?

The more fans you add, the harder it is to control the air flow. Install them one by one & see the effects your placement has on case/CPU/GPU temps.

well after reading all this it seems i am lucky my cpu (P4 2.8) is idleing at 28C (just barely over clocked) and my system temp is at 34C with two case fans, one in one out.

well after reading all this it seems i am lucky my cpu (P4 2.8) is idleing at 28C (just barely over clocked) and my system temp is at 34C with two case fans, one in one out.
wow... that's nice and cool ...

What case do you have? Aluminum? Brand?

Too lazy to read this thread again, I may have already posted this but my P4 2.6c (no overclocking) idles at about 34-38C and case is always way hotter at about 40-45C. Case is steel with just one exhaust fan...no clue how/where to mount any intake fans...

my case is just some cheap case i found online. i have no idea what brand it is. im not even sure if its alum or steal. but my cpu cooler is one of those cooler master aero fans (alum.). put an intake on the front or side. the side will help a lot with mobo temps.
for some reason my temps went up. idk why cuz i didnt change anything but now the cpu is at around 32-35 and so is the case. another thing that is strange is when i turn down the cpu fan the temps seem to go down buy a few degrees.

EDIT now its running at 2.99 GHz and it idles at 23C! haha i love it and running UT2004 it gets up to about 36-37 all with the fan at lowest possible setting.

Everyone seems to be obssesed by keeping the computer cool, and yes of course this is a good thing, but the question I would like to know is can a computer run to cold? For example, my mates pc (athlon 64, 1gb memory not sure of the other specs, but I know he uses a water cooler for his processor and graphics card cooling (home built)) ,runs at nothing more than 2 celcius under load and -4c not under load. IS this too cold? Can you have problems running too cold as well as too hot? Would like to hear feedback. Thank you.

Yogi

DAMN that guys comp is like a fridge!! but i don't think u can make a computer too cold, he might have to worry that his water cooler isn't icing up though lol. as long as it's a closed circuit and it's not getting any water what's so ever on any parts it doesn't matter how cold is stays i'll ask my comp tech teacher monday and see what he thinks.

damn. i thought mine was cool. i running music and internet and chatting on msn. my cpu is 38C/100F and my Motherboard is 36C/96F. that seems high compared to your lot...

my cpu is a amd 64 4400+ dual core.
motherboard is an asus a8n sli deluxe

Thanx for the quick reply guys! Yes it certainly is a nice cold PC!! Mine is running at about 55c under load and about 48 not under load. I have an amd sempron 2600+ (socket A) running windows ME with 512mb ram. I thought that 55c would be a little to hot, but readig here I am glad to see that it is an ok working temperature, would like to try and get it down a bit though! Thanx again!!

Yogi

not really.... you would have to get a extreme temps before you would start having problems.

Well, actually there is such a thing as too low a temperature on a number of levels.
Too low a temperature in relation to room temperature and humidity will cause condensation (rain) on the cooled surfaces if they get cool enough. Its the same thing you get on the windows of your house in fall / winter .... warm damp air contacts cold window, air cools and drops the excess water onto the window surface. This is not something "GOOD" for the inside of a PC.
Kick the temperature down a notch further, like below 0C and you get frost build up, not as much of a problem until the frost melts and drips on your electronics. I have actually seen this happen to the backside of peltier cooled CPUs in the past.

Worst case scenario is running the CPU below the manufacturers recommended temperature - and I doubt anybody but the most rabid cooler will have this problem. Well those and a few I know who tried keeping their server outside in -40C weather (note: that’s a bad idea unless you generate enough internal heat to keep within the operating specs of all the components)

didn't consider condensation. Where I live it is very dry!