Before asking "Is this too hot?"

You're absolutely right. I've been prowling these here forums and been telling everyone about them inaccuracies.

But you get people once in awhile going "these things say my temps like xx, while these other stuff says xx".

As far as I know you'd be investing in quite abit of money if you want perfect readings. Not to mention alot of time and effort to calibrate those machines too. Personally I don't think its feasible at all, just live with the fact that you could be running your CPU/GPU/NB 20 degrees cooler/warmer than you think.
 
That's actually a very interesting point. I've wondered about my own system for a while -- I use a top-of-the-line CPU cooler (Zalman CNPS7000B-AlCu) and excellent thermal compound (Arctic Silver 5), and my case is ventilated well enough (it very rarely goes over 30 degrees Centigrade, and even then it only hits 31 or 32) that it seems very odd that I get readings of 50-60 degrees at idle and 70-80 (!) degrees at full load with my Prescott. I mean, I know those CPUs run hot, but considering my hardware, that's just ridiculous.

So, the way I see it, what's happening is one of three things. (1) The situation you described is going on here and my CPU temperature gauge is giving inaccurate readings, (2) my Prescott for whatever reason came out of the factory wrong and inexplicably runs hotter than even other Prescotts, or (3) there's still some problem with the ventilation in my case. Granted, that Zalman heat sink is so huge that it comes within a couple centimeters of my power supply, so things are a bit cramped... but when you consider that the side of the power supply facing the CPU is one big fan, it seems unlikely that's the source of my high temperatures.

In any case, I'm really not too worried about my temps, since they've been high since I built my PC at the end of 2004 and it's been running reliably ever since. By the time it becomes a problem, I will have built my next PC. But still, it wouldn't hurt to find out if anyone else has inexplicably high temps and the temperature gauge is to blame...
 
Another Overheating Fix Suggestion

When I was trying to lower the temp in one of my computers I put in a new solid copper heatsink with a 120mm fan. The original heatsink from Intel had a round Copper plug in the center of an aluminum heatsink. The copper plug sticks out past the aluminum just barely. The copper plug also just covers the inside section of the cpu. My new Solid Copper heatsink covers the whole cpu and more. I thought this will do the trick but to my disbelief it actually ran 3 degrees hotter. When I took off the new heatsink I noticed that the corners of the cpu actually put dents in the bottom of the solid copper heatsink. So I took a straightedge and put it diaganoly across the cpu and sure enough the corners stuck up more than the center. My new heatsink wasn't even touching the cpu except at the corners and where the thermal paste was in the center. I called Intel and explained the problem and the ***** told me to put more thermal grease on the cpu. That's when I realized what kind of training the techs get at Intel. After looking at several of my CPUs after that one, I noticed the same problem on a couple more. It actually looks like stamping strikes that raise the corners. I still have a year left on the warranty so I'm not going to fix the problem just yet. The fix would be to use a very flat machined block of steel (I use a machined block of aluminum but will soon invest in a machined block of stainless steel) covered with sandpaper taped to it and carefully sanding the corners down in a figure 8 motion. I have done this before with heatsinks that I have found to be way out of tolerance. Depending on the severity I usually start out with 220 grit, then 400 grit and end up with 800 grit. I know doing this with a CPU will void the warranty so I will wait one more year. The hole in the cpu cover will have to be plugged as well if there is one, and then removed after sanding. Also be prepared to lose all the markings on the cpu so scan it or take a picture of it for future reference. Sometimes I wonder if these little problems are part of the design so you basically have to use Intel parts.
RadRob
 
Well, I can say one thing -- if my CPU is somewhat concave, it isn't part of a ploy to get me to stick with my Intel heatsink, because that one ran hotter than my Zalman. Granted, it wasn't as big of a difference as I was hoping to see, but it's enough to tell me that the Intel one wasn't cutting it.

If and when you do that work on your CPU, I'd be interested in hearing the results. Definitely not something I'm going to try, but kudos if that actually works for you.
 
hey people, i know this is sort of backfiring everything everyone said, but i have a time -quite old but has 2 fans, one that runs at 5200rpm and one that runs at 2900 rpm, and im using speedfan 4.32 to see the pc's temperatures, first sensor in conjunction with the first better fan is usually about 38c and has the blue arrow pointing own which is good, BUT the other sensor in conjuction with the second fan is usually 54c and a little red flame symbol comes up next to it, i dont know but i dont fancy the fact my computer blowing up to pieces because i overclocked my nvidia geforce 5200fx - 307/516 - do u think i should "unoverclock" my graphics card?? or buy another fan - or just leave it :) help will be highly appreciated!! please help!! thanks :)

amd athlon xp 2400+ no oc'ed - 1.25ghz
1024mb ram
nvidia geforce 5200fx
2 cd drives, 1floppy and card reader

thanks again!! :)
 
We need to know more about what program you're using, and what the 2 temps are showing. We're just assuming the first is the CPU, and the second is GPU.

If this is the case, you'd have to check operating temps for the 5200fx. If it is within range, it should be fine. Bear in mind that if overclocked, the range would change, and usually change LOWER, meaning that there's a lower max operating temp.

If the overclock doesn't end up doing anything for you (no improvement in performance) maybe you should lower it. Performance in benchmarks are not counted, unless thats what you do on the PC: benchmark on a daily basis. A significant increase in benchmark points does not necessarily mean you'd have significantly better framerates.
 
well, i think that is the case, fan 1 is the one at the back of my pc, which is drawing air in, and fan 2...i cant locate, but there is a fan in the middle of the motherboard, but it doesn't react when i lower its speed to check which fan it is which, so i don't know where fan 2 is??? speedfan 4.32 which is apparently pretty good, and it seems it too, mainly monitors the sensors in your computer and the temperatures they read, and also it lets you control the speed of the fans and lets you monitor voltage, speed, temp etc. but the sec i take the cover off, the temp of that fan sensor goes down, so i was considering to make a hole in my case, but its a slide door case, and i was thinking that it can be put infront of the fan...which i think is number2??... to let air come out of it and put a mesh on the hole??? i don't know

i know this seems like a stupid question, but how do i check the temperature range of my graphics.... :-? i think oveclocking has improved, but bare in mind i forgot to mention that i overclocked my graphics using coolbits by changing the settings from standard 2d to performance 3d and clicked auto detect to optimize it without "harming", but speed fan says im overheating on fan 2??? :)

http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=201 - here is the link to get speedfan 4.32, it only around 1.5mb

help is highly appreciated, i know annoying for you but very highly appreciated!! thankyou ;-)
 
Hmm... good question about checking temperature ranges.... Its actually more difficult than I'd imagine to find the temp ranges for graphics cards.... It was so much easier to find them for CPU.

Googling might be a good idea, I'd have done it for you if I had more time today. If you find any technical specs for the 5200, just link it here and I'll take a look.
 
You all would be sweating after you've heard my gfx card after temp.

the outside temperatures are around 45 C in the day and i have severly overclocked my 6600gt and during full load the temp reach to about 85 C
 
Does onboard Graphics overheat the cpu more

I'm using onboard graphics at the moment and my cpu is idling at 59 degrees Celcius, I've seen it hotter. Before i took the heatsink off and cleaned it, it used to idle at 80-85 Degrees celcius. I was wondering if using onboard graphics would help the cpu to overheat?

I have a intel processor, 3.0 ghz, 1gb ram, 80 sata hardrive and 128mb 16x onboard graphics (which is crap)

Cheers
John
 
After getting a new video card I noticed my core tempature shoot up to 77 c. So I opened the case and pointed a fan at it. Yes a regular household fan. I noticed on the first page you guys talking about fluctuation in temp can mess things up. Sometimes ill forgot to tunr on the fan and my comp will be at 76 core temp. Ill then turn on the fan and it will zip down to 40 c. Am I majorily endangering my computer?
 
I very much doubt the slow cool-down that a fan produces will be to much of an issue compared to lets say water or peltier cooling. I also have used the desk-fan quick fix, and yes it is a quick fix and not a solution for your cooling woes.

A reasonable compromise hack would be to get a decent sized fan installed (bigger is better) and bolt it to the side where your panel would normally be.
Just don't forget the finger guards (ouch) - As a note for those interested a friend of mine made a side panel out of case fans and meccano and powered the whole mess externally. from the same switched power bar he uses for the external drives and such (remember to power down those bricks eh)
 
Alright thanks for the feedback. Btw it goes down about 35 celcius in 1min. But yeah I forgot about the radiator type cooling systems, I wonder how much they can cool a machine in a 1min period.
 
Okay, so here's my setup and problem.
I have several fans:
1x 80mm top exhaust
1x 80mm side intake
1x 120mm rear exhaust
1x pci ??mm

Processor: AMD athlon 64 x2 4200+
idle temp: 50C

When I play games like HL2 or TF2, my processor temperature will hit 85C. From what i've read, that's pretty bad. I'm not sure why it gets that hot. The room it is in isn't hot and i thought the 120mm fan i just put in would help it a lot. I'm not sure what to do and i'm not that computer savvy, so I decided to ask those who actually know what they're doing, so shoot those suggestions at me please.

Thanks
 
Its all HOT HOT HOT .... and that aint good...

You listed the following fan setup
1x 80mm top exhaust
1x 80mm side intake
1x 120mm rear exhaust
1x pci ??mm (most likely exhaust)

I am assuming your power supply fan is set as an exhaust from the case.

With all those exhaust fans it looks like your case sucks :haha:

In all seriousness though you seem to be rather low on the makeup air.
To get rid of heat you not only have to exhaust that hot air but you need to replace it cool air at the same rate.

My suggestions - without see the actual physical setup and layout of the case would be as follows.

- Add some intake fans to the front of the case if you can since it cant hurt to keep your drives cool and not have the case blow in your face (been there, done that, dust in the face is not good)
- change the rear 120mm to intake since I believe its right next to your CPU and GPU so cooler air here is better for your system
- Upgrade the supply fans to higher cfm values (noisier but better airflow in compensation)

If you have some way to measure temperature I recommend measuring the air temperature at each of the fan locations and see what happens as you change things around.

Since you already have the case open to move fans around you might as well give everything a good cleaning to get rid of any dust build-up. Also make note of where that dust is collecting since that can give a clue on how the air is flowing in and through your case.
 
Running close to 70c is just to hot. depending on the processor and cooling most people have temps around 38c-45c. Both of my machines have eVGA 780i mobos and QX9650s. I have 2 of CoolIt Systems new 12 TEC Boreas chillers cooling my QX9650s. Temps at idle are 15c-18c-24c-22c underload 24c-26c-28c-26c I also had a QX6850 being cooled by the Boreas,and those temps were 14c-12c-12c-10c idle and 20c-18c-17c-14c underload. Intel said the QX9650 was supposed to run cooler,but as you can see the QX6850 run cooler.
 
My video card is it running hot?

I hava a xfx 8600 gt and it runs about 67 degrees celsius. I have a Dell Dimension 4700, what should I get to cool it down (It has a fan and heatsink on it)
 
about the leaving the side off of the case, i read in a "upgrading and repairing pc's" book that it can actually raise the temp because instead of the fans sucking the air past the parts, cooling them, they suck air from the outside, and spit it back outside.
 
Thats true, if you have good airflow. If you have poor airflow hot zones can develop that are allowed to dissipate with the case side off. Also for diagnostic purposes you can place a larger fan to blow onto your motherboard/video card which will keep it as cool as you are going to get on air.
 
to hot

I agree 100%. Thats whats makes the CoolerMaster 830 Stacker such a great case.It has really great airflow,and with both side panels being mesh all that trapped heat escapes. I have been using CoolIts Freezones going on 3 yrs now,and the latest one," The Elite " really gets the job done. They sent one to me for testing going on 3 months ago, i also have two of their new 12 TEC Boreas Chillers which out performs the Elite , but its very expensive. Just the bare bones version io belive is over $600. The one they sent to me a little over a month ago for testing & review came pre-installed in a silverstone TJ-07 case.I belive that over $1000 including shipping, but it also cools two SLI or Crossfire cards and also both chipsets. It comes with the heatsinks for the cards,but if you want the chipsets also cooled you have to call and have them. For a person that wants the best cooling for just their processor,the Elite is the way to go. With a QX6800 OCed to 3.86 temps did not go above 42c underload.
 
What about the HDD Temp?

I have read a lot here about the temps of the CPU mobo etc. but what about the hard drive? Mine are running at 51 C to 56C which seems a little high don't you think? Hard drives are very sensitive to high temps unlike these other components.
 
51C and 56C is pretty high, I fixed my hot hard drives by just putting a fan in front of them to blow air over them, my samsung 80gig runs 12C, and my WDC 80gig runs 30C. You can also buy special fans and stuff that fit around the hard drives to cool them. Also seperating the hard drives by 1 bay really brings down the temps.
 
thanks.
I am not sure how to fit a fan on them. They are set in on their side perpendicular to the mobo and fit exactly in a compartment. There are not any vents in the case near them I am not sure how to attach a fan there.
 
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