CPU Temperature, Is 70 deg. C high? Options

[JSonnabend]

I hope this is an appropriate forum for this post (my computer is a piece of audio hardware, after all).

I have a two year old Athlon XP 1600+ system. I notice that my CPU temperature runs pretty consistently at 70 deg. celsius. From what I can tell through research, this is high. Should I be concerned about my CPU dying?

TIA.

- Jeff

[maikmerten]

Should I be concerned about my CPU dying?

50 deg. celsius is "normal". You should check your CPU-cooler. Perhaps just some dust






(Images from http://www.dau-alarm.de/g_cpu5.html - check out this site if want to see some really horrible stuff)

This post has been edited by maikmerten: Jul 16 2004, 17:48

[JeanLuc]

Not drectly because AMD's Palomino Core (XP1500-2100) was designed for max. operating temperatures of 90°C.

Nevertheless, I would consider some things ...

1. Open your PC, unmount your cooler and clean heatsink and ventilator (dust & dirt will cause extra heat conduction resistance and will, in general, decrease the airflow's efficiency) ... remove the heat conduction pad (if one is applied) and apply a drop of e.g. Arctic Silver heat conduction paste ... afterwards, re-mount the heatsink.

2. Check for core voltage settings ... most Palomino models will run smoothly with a reduced core voltage (you can use e.g. Prime95 for system stability testing afterwards).

3. Install a software ''cooler'' like e.g. CPU-Idle or CPU Cool that will halt the CPU if no 'real' power is required.

4. Go out and buy a more sophisticated cooler

[maikmerten]

Not drectly because AMD's Palomino Core (XP1500-2100) was designed for max. operating temperatures of 90°C.

That´s correct. However some "hotspots" may be even hotter than 70 °C.

[TwoJ]

You probably have the thunderbird core which puts out a lot more heat than other cores. personally if has been going for 2 years like that I doubt it will make any difference now but you may have a hot case which might be more damaging on other components like your hard drive!
So if you lost your hard drive on the next reboot - do you have a backup?

[kerminen]

Yes, it is way too high...

Do you have a case fan installed in the front part of your case? If not, get one. (Like AMD recommends on their site). A good quality _and_ silent case fan should cost 8-10euros. Depending of what kind of power supply is, you might need a exhaust fan, too. So maybe total 2 case fans. And get silent fans, like from http://www.nexustek.nl/ , I am a happy user of their 80mm fan (I can't hear it), their products have succeeded well in reviews.

And get some new thermal paste to install under the processor fan

Very good instructions and the _right_ amount of paste to apply in a very informative video:

http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/Support/0,,238_251_6244,00.html

[kerminen]

I have quite plenty of experience of AMD processors: Duron, Thunderbird, Palomino, and TBred-B(currently under the heat sink).

Normal operating temperatures (depending on the cpu heat sink quality) are under low cpu load 55-59, and under 100% cpu usage (like Folding@Home 24/7 ) 60-65 celsius.

(Overclocking, of course, increases the temperature even more)

If you are not a overclocker, you could try decreasing cpu core voltage (like JeanLuc mentioned), even decreasing by 0.25 decreases the temperature a lot (or even 0.5)

[Matth]

The only time I ever had 70C on my AMD CPU, it was with a rotten cooler and no case fan.

If the cooler is a no-name, and maybe not the greatest performer, I'd go looking for one of the 80mm fanned alternatives
http://www.spire-coolers.com/fcc.asp?prodid=86 - like the Spire Falconrock or WhisperRock models.

Other makers have similar models, and this style generally cools well, and quietly, better than any 60mm fanned effort!

[elmar3rd]

Last summer, the CPU temperature (measured with AIDA) often reached 90°C and more on my 2000+ (Palomino, boxed with AMD-fan).
It was a very hot summer and my hamster didn't eat or moved for days. Of course, the system freezed quite regularly, so i stripped of the case and decided to take away the ventilator from the hamster and put in front of the now naked computer.

But what really helped, was CPU-Idle, which decreased the temperature by 30%.
Usually, the CPU temperature is now about 50°C and the CPU-Diode about 35°C.

This post has been edited by elmar3rd: Jul 16 2004, 19:36

[xmixahlx]

holy *&^$

my pc barely runs at 90 F

[Audible!]

70 Celsius, assuming you're getting an accurate reading, is much too high. The original Thoroughbred and Palomino cores both ran rather hot (but this is still too hot).

I'm tempted to suggest that you check the thermal compound layer between your heatsink and processor core (you want a very thin layer only on the core itself and the corresponding portion of the heatsink) and clean your heatsink to remove dust.

What may also help is adding one or two low power fans to your case if you do not have any already. An intake fan is very important, as is ensuring there is sufficient airholes to allow it to operate properly. One common method of doing so is to cut the metal fan "grill" out of the front of the case (making sure you remove the components from the case and vacuum any stray pieces of metal out), which increases airflow and reduces noisy turbulence.

I'd also recommend a new heatsink and fan combination, though depending on where you live it may be more affordable to swap in a new processor (an AXP2000+ Thoroughbred "A" core chip is around $50 in the US, with much higher speed chips being only slightly more expensive) along with a heatsink.

If you are running an operating system without an effective idle thread (windows 9X) it might be wise to examine rain, CPUidle or another such application as well.

This post has been edited by Audible!: Jul 16 2004, 23:31

[plonk420]

90C seems absurdly hot; i have no idea how your mobo didn't shut itself down unless it was pretty old.

my first 1800 (not sure what model name) ran around 50C with a noisy volcano 7, the 'rents had a Volcano 5 that was somehow quieter that around about the same.

now i have a 2400 with a Thermalright SLK-947U with a 92mm Vantec stealth, a 120mm blowing air over my HDDs that also sucks air in, and a 120mm that blows air out, and it the system is quieter than my G4. oh, and the CPU now runs around 40C give or take a few degrees.

i'd say invest in a decent HSF, slap on some arctic silver, and you should be good to go...

edit: eeeek! that would be 40C in the winter... Asusprobe is reporting 55C, but that's considering the house is 76F and my room is prolly 82F or so...

This post has been edited by plonk420: Jul 18 2004, 08:57

[LordSyl]

70ºC is overkill - Although the cores are "designed to work at up to 95ºC" electromigration will go out of control at those temperatures, the CPU will not stand such torture for long.

You may find interesting to check a overclocking forum, so you can find which solution is best for your needs.

[breez]

As long as there is no stability problems and the temperatures don't go over the AMD's specified ~85-90C there is no reason to worry (although the temperature sensors in even today's motherboards are not very accurate or well calibrated). CPU's life expectancy goes down? Most probably not an issue since the CPU will be obsolete in few years time.

[ChS]

As a comparison my XP1800+ runs at 34 degrees C, and that's after cleaning the HSF and after a couple hours of gaming. If I remember correctly my old 1Ghz Thunderbird Athlon which was known as a hot running CPU would normally run at around 48 degrees Celsius.

[NeoRenegade]

Last summer, the CPU temperature (measured with AIDA) often reached 90°C and more on my 2000+ (Palomino, boxed with AMD-fan).
It was a very hot summer and my hamster didn't eat or moved for days. Of course, the system freezed quite regularly, so i stripped of the case and decided to take away the ventilator from the hamster and put in front of the now naked computer.

But what really helped, was CPU-Idle, which decreased the temperature by 30%.
Usually, the CPU temperature is now about 50°C and the CPU-Diode about 35°C.

And how is the hamster doing?

[elmar3rd]

And how is the hamster doing?

He's fine, and the CPU too. But as already said, I expect less lifetime for both now.

[Thomas]

Yesterday I visited guy who had 113oC on his AMD. He turned off turn-off special BIOS option cause his computer turned off after 5 minutes of working. I wonder - is his processor damaged because of 113oC?

[CiTay]

Yesterday I visited guy who had 113oC on his AMD. He turned off turn-off special BIOS option cause his computer turned off after 5 minutes of working. I wonder - is his processor damaged because of 113oC?

Such an enormous temperature hints to improper fit of the heatsink. He should take it off, re-apply heatpaste and install it properly again, rather than ignoring the obvious problem. And he should check case ventilation, too. I would worry about the CPU, yes... maybe some long-time stability tests are in order, but only AFTER he fixed the heatsink issue!