How hot is too hot?

K

krinks

Geek Trainee
Hi there,

I have the following system:

Asus A7V8X-X motherboard
500MB Kingston Value RAM (400mhz, PC3200)
AMD Athlon 2500XP
ATI Radeon 9600 (current drivers)
Creative Labs SB Live! Value (current drivers)
PCI USB Card (4 external/1 internal ports)
80GB hard drive
Lite-On CD-R drive
Lexmark X93 color printer/scanner
Hewlett Packard P1100 21” monitor
Monsoon Speakers
Logitech Cordless MX duo (mouse/keyboard)
Logitech Freedom 2.4 Cordless Joystick
Logitech QuickCam
Logitech Wingman Cordless gamepad
500W power supply

My processor is running at around 1.4ghz at the moment, and I noticed that there is an option in my BIOS to increase the processor speed. My question is #1--if I do this, how hot is too hot for my processor to be running for extended periods? #2--What else do I have to set in the BIOS for the chip to be running at that speed? I'm not really sure what speed is normal for the 2500XP. Some guidance would be greatly appreciated.
 
krinks said:
...My processor is running at around 1.4ghz at the moment, and I noticed that there is an option in my BIOS to increase the processor speed. My question is #1--if I do this, how hot is too hot for my processor to be running for extended periods? #2--What else do I have to set in the BIOS for the chip to be running at that speed? I'm not really sure what speed is normal for the 2500XP...
Click to expand...
Well, that all depends on whether you have a thoroughbred-core 2500+, or a Barton core. The TBred is clocked at 2.0~GHz, a FSB of 266MHz, and an L2 cache of 256k. It runs hotter than the barton core, and doesn't quite perform as well. The Barton core 2500+ runs at 1.83~GHz, has a 512k L2 cache, a 333-400MHz FSB, and outperforms the TBred despite the fact that the clocks are lower. It also runs substantially cooler, and lends itself to much better overclocking. With either processor, the maximum temperature rating for extended use is 60*C (120*F). I prefer to keep them cooler than that, but that's the most you can get by with.
 
I'm not sure what core I have.

Anti-Trend said:
It also runs substantially cooler, and lends itself to much better overclocking. With either processor, the maximum temperature rating for extended use is 60*C (120*F). I prefer to keep them cooler than that, but that's the most you can get by with.
Click to expand...

Hm...it seems to me that my temperature is running hotter than 60*C. I'll have to double check later, since I'm at work right now, but I seem to remember seeing that the temperature reading in the BIOS was about 62*C and a temperature cutoff of (I believe) 90*C. My cooling fan will support up to an XP 3200 though, so I don't know if I'm reading that right or not. Maybe I just need more cooling fans in my case or something.
 
A good heatsink can help as well, but you may just need to clean off your current one (and the CPU core as well) and reapply a thin layer of thermal compound---preferrably Arctic Silver.
 
Big B said:
A good heatsink can help as well, but you may just need to clean off your current one (and the CPU core as well) and reapply a thin layer of thermal compound---preferrably Arctic Silver.
Click to expand...
B's right, bad (or no) thermal interface material can definately impair the efficiency of your heatsync. It wouldn't hurt to take the 'sync off, blast it with some canned air, and throw some arctic5 on there. Also, even with a killer heatsync you can overheat if your chassis isn't moving enough air. If the inside of your chassis is running at 63*C, you can't really expect your CPU to run any cooler, now can you? These days, a good chassis can be pretty inexpensive, so just replacing a problem chassis is a viable option.
 
Well the system's pretty new. I just overhauled it in mid-January, and I had it open about 2 weeks ago to put in a DVD-ROM drive, and everything looked okay. Wasn't much dust, and I did blast the dust that I did see.

Also ... I just checked the hardware monitor, and it says my board temp is at 42*C and the chip is at 57.5*C. I think I'd still like to get a good cooling fan since I don't know if that's still a bit on the high side.
 
Yeah, it is kinda high. You can get some pretty cheap coolers that work very well for a small price. Thermalright's SK-7 runs about $25 for the heatsink itself, but you can use most fans 60-80mm.

The other thing is the airflow in your case. While a new heatsink is probably in order anyway, it's effectiveness will be hampered if you don't have proper airflow through the case.
 
Well, I just bought some new round cables for my hard drive/floppy/CD drives, and installed them. I also installed some monitoring software to keep an eye on things, and my temperature has gone down somewhat.

The software (Motherboard Monitor 5) is telling me that my average CPU temperature is now 51*C with an average board temp of 39*C. This seems better to me than it was, but I'm still going to buy a case fan and throw it in there. It can't hurt :)
 
yeah 51C is a lot better and adding another case fan, depending on where you add it and which one it is will certainly help the system temp, thus helping the cpu temp.
 
Airflow is critical through a system, so a few well placed fans will certainly help you quite a bit.
 
That vent cooler will work fine, assuming the exhaust is not being bottlnecked by air intake. Many systems suffer poor ventilation that is caused by lack of intake, which in turn limits the amount of hot air the exhaust fans can expell from the system. If you don't have adequate intake, there's really no reason to add another set of exhaust fans. Chances are that the ones you already have are probably not even working to capacity. In this case the logical solution would be to replace the whole chassis, choosing a replacement with cooling in mind.
 
i got a 1.8 celeron
256pc2100
onboard video
no idea what motherboard-i got it off an emachines

when i start up a game i crank up my blower, but my cpu temp climbs like crazy. then i lower it and the temp drops. every time i crank up my blower idle or under load my temp shoots up. usually about 5-7 degrees farenheit.
my idle temp on my cpu is 82 and under load its about 96-99

im thinking its just how i have my fans set. i have a blower on top of case
80mm fan blowing in, on rear
80mm fan blowing in, on window

how should they be, i have no clue.
 
The fan on the top should be an exhaust fan, the fan in the rear also, and the fan on the side should be an intake.

The problem here is that you will have two exhaust and one intake, so I suggest you add another intake in the front of the case.
 
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