CPU really hot !!

Spunge

I have a core 2 duo e4400, not overclocked with stock cooler.
For the last few days i noticed crysis was running a bit slower, not unplayable, just thought it was the server or something. Anyway, i just checked speedfan there and core temps were 81C :eek:.

I was shocked. The cpu had been idle at like 25C-30C just last week. I havent overclocked or messed with the fan or anything. Went into bios and
it was it still 80C , so i messed with the fan to see if it was seated properly and it was. I just underclocked it there to 1.8Ghz and temps are down to 45-50 idle.

Ill get some thermal paste see if that helps it but is it not strange for such a huge jump in temp without even touching the heatsink or anything? could it be a problem with the cpu itself ?

TerrorFirmer

Remove the heatsink, clean both it and the cpu, reapply thermal paste. It does sound unusual for such a large jump though in such a short space so firstly are you sure

1) The fan is actually operating normally
2) That you aren't using a program that has the fan automatically set to low speed
3) The heatsink is secured properly to the motherboard? You didn't knock out a clip when fiddling with it in recent times? The heatsink might look secure, but not be locked down fully...

Spunge

The fan looks to be operating normally(looking at it right now).
Im pretty sure i dont have anything going to lower its speed.
Ive had some trouble before with the heatsink not being firmly attached but im sure its in quite firmly now.

I dont have any thermal paste on hand so ill have to wait till tomorrow to try that out. Hopefully thats the problem.

Temps have gone up mid 50s, just running winamp and opera.

MooseJam

buy one of these it works great and looks cool

http://www.komplett.ie/k/ki.aspx?sku=343076

TerrorFirmer

If you want a dirt cheap aftermarket solution, this is pretty good and you won't have to remove the mobo to mount it, uses standard clips. I have one, very impressed with it for the price. Cpu idling low to mid 30's with 1Ghz overclock.

Spunge

I did want to get a new cooler so i could do some overclocking, maybe to 3Ghz. I was going to get Arctic Freezer one, ill have a look at that one, thats the kind of price range id be going for anyway.

I just bought this cooler, 3d rocket 2. Its excellent easy to install and keeps my overclocked x2 3600+ @ 33degreee diel 40degree when playing crysis
http://www.elara.ie/products/detailsfull.asp?productcode=MMEE080539

Note: Make sure you have the space in your case (Excuse the rhyme)

Anti

Deffo sounds like your hsf is not making proper contact with the cpu. When applying the thermal paste only use a small ammount ( size of a small choclate chip ) And spread it out evenly ( i find some cling-film over the tip of the finger works best )

bogwalrus

how tight should the heat sink be to the processor? does it have to be really taught to get the best out of cooling?

Anti

Tight, but not too tight. You want the cooler to make good contact when attached. And there should be hardly any movement if you try to gently move it with your hand.

Spunge

Well i got some artic silver thermal stuff but now temps are back to as hot as ever.

At first, it was 25c idle, 35c load, then as the day went on increased more and more then back to 60c idle and 80c again under load. Thought maybe i put the stuff on wrong so did it again but alas now its back to 60c+ idle.

Going to hopefully get a new cooler today.

superfly

have a read of Tomshardware report on the latest coolers
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/CPU-Coolers-Phenom-Core2,review-30115.html
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/CPU-Coolers-Phenom-Core2,review-30238.html

bogwalrus

whats normal temp at idle for a core 2 quad? and whats bad. I think my hsf is not tight enough to the cpu. its idle at 40c at the moment and stays like that in idle.

sebastianlieken

bogwalrus wrote: »

whats normal temp at idle for a core 2 quad? and whats bad. I think my hsf is not tight enough to the cpu. its idle at 40c at the moment and stays like that in idle.

well it depends on what cooler ur using, whether youre case has good airflow, and what the ambient temperature in the room is. there can be a play of like 15C or more depending on the answers to those questions....

40 would be a bit on the higher side, but then again, it could be the optimum temp depending on ur set-up

requiem1

bogwalrus wrote: »

whats normal temp at idle for a core 2 quad? and whats bad. I think my hsf is not tight enough to the cpu. its idle at 40c at the moment and stays like that in idle.

That seems about normal what is your ambient temp and what are the coretemps? with the heating on these days your room temp could be alot higher than you think, is it a stock cooler?

Anti

Best thing to do is download coretemp. And post us up a screen shot of it running just after 10 mins of being idle. Then another of 20 mins of intense workloads. Also what Case do you have? What cpu cooler is it ? If you dont know can you use a camera to take pics of the inside of your case?

For example, my Q6600 idles at 35c and maxes out at 61/63c.

bogwalrus

At the moment i have a nzxt lexa on its side with the panel off so i can fidle. The airflow is obviously not good like this with just one front 120mm fan blowing in and two exhaust at back and top. and to make things worse i have a seriously hot northbridge heatsink that is very close to my very big Zalman CPNS9500A LED cpu hsf. But to be honest this fan is barely warm to the touch (should it be with the idle temp of 40C).

Its either doing a great job with the fan or maybe the contact is actually bad but to be honest it seems to sit quite nicely with a small amout of arctic silver to contact with the cpu. It does slide easily enough though. you have to apply a nice small bit of force to move it but its nothing i would honestly see as effecting the contact with cpu (but this is first build so i could be just naieve).

Funnily enough i have no heating on in the room as this comp does a great job as being a radiator aswell as a pc:D Those evga 8800gts 640mb cards are serious heat demons. I put one of those thermaltake HR graphics card heatsinks on and it and its so hot to the touch after a few mins. they are supposed to be fantastic for the 8 series card-far better than the stock hs.

RoyalMarine

bogwalrus wrote: »

At the moment i have a nzxt lexa on its side with the panel off so i can fidle. The airflow is obviously not good like this with just one front 120mm fan blowing in and two exhaust at back and top. and to make things worse i have a seriously hot northbridge heatsink that is very close to my very big Zalman CPNS9500A LED cpu hsf. But to be honest this fan is barely warm to the touch (should it be with the idle temp of 40C).

Its either doing a great job with the fan or maybe the contact is actually bad but to be honest it seems to sit quite nicely with a small amout of arctic silver to contact with the cpu. It does slide easily enough though. you have to apply a nice small bit of force to move it but its nothing i would honestly see as effecting the contact with cpu (but this is first build so i could be just naieve).

Funnily enough i have no heating on in the room as this comp does a great job as being a radiator aswell as a pc:D Those evga 8800gts 640mb cards are serious heat demons. I put one of those thermaltake HR graphics card heatsinks on and it and its so hot to the touch after a few mins. they are supposed to be fantastic for the 8 series card-far better than the stock hs.

id be careful of the heat from thet 8800gts. when i leave my case open i need a jumper on cos its chilly.

bogwalrus

ha ha. good1.

i was thinking there the last day. If you have your comp set up near a wall where the otherside of the wall is outside (not your sisters bedroom) then why not make a hole in the wall about 120mm wide, get a certain length of tubing with the same diamater and connect it to your comps side panel. You could then attach some kind of fan to go in the tubing to suck air from outside and blow onto your case. With the really cold temps outside it would be a nice and effective way of keeping things cool in the computer. you could then have some sort of shutter system to block up the tubing when you arent using the comp.


and something more on topic:

with all the problems i was having with my comp i brought it into a tech shop today cause i was worried about my health. It got to the stage where i was up all last night again deleting .inf files from command prompt in the hope windows would just load fully. i did learn alot though about commands and stuff. that setupapi.log is a really cool tool to use. I told him to fix the memory module problem and to check if i applied the heatsink firmly enough. SInce i live in the country and no1 i know knows anything about comps other than this tech guy i figured it was a good idea to bring it in so he could maybe give me advice and so on. hes a young polish lad that worked as a programmer systems repairs person over in germany. only been in ireland a year. sound like.

RoyalMarine

bogwalrus wrote: »

ha ha. good1.

i was thinking there the last day. If you have your comp set up near a wall where the otherside of the wall is outside (not your sisters bedroom) then why not make a hole in the wall about 120mm wide, get a certain length of tubing with the same diamater and connect it to your comps side panel. You could then attach some kind of fan to go in the tubing to suck air from outside and blow onto your case. With the really cold temps outside it would be a nice and effective way of keeping things cool in the computer. you could then have some sort of shutter system to block up the tubing when you arent using the comp.

thats exactly what im doing at the moment. 2 120mm fans attached together inside a plastic conduit through an old vent hold in the wall. im making a panel for my pc case that will attach to the conduit leading into the room.
and 1 120mm fan on the top and rear of the case blowing it out.

should be promising. just cant forget to put a lip on the conduit outside to stop rain getting to the fans

bogwalrus

that sounds mad royal marine:) must have taken you a good while to setup. I actually did a google search after i posted my last comment and i found one issue which might be a problem and that is moisture. supposedly since there is mo0re water present in the air outside you will be bringing it into the case where condensation could occur (and probably will) from the heating of the air from the components. you should look into it cause it might cause you some issues.

i got my comp back and its working fantasticaly. I couldnt believe this. my gts was going around 100 -110c on crysis so i put an akasa 80mm fan on it and now im playing crysis on high and it doesnt go over 35c. Amazing.

RoyalMarine

bog, i hit that snag already. so i abandoned the idea

glad to hear the comp is running perfect