CPU Temperature?

wolfman

Hmmm, sorry never had a Socket A motherboard myself.

You'll need to double check, but in having an Athlon XP 2200+ I think that's a Socket A cpu/board. This means you'll need a heatsink/fan that can fit a Socket A motherboard.

I was always a Pentium 4 person back then so never looked at the AMD equivalents. They can be tricky to get hold of.

eBay would be a good place to look. I searched for "socket A heatsink" and got quite a few results.

This is the pick of the bunch:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Thermalright-SP97-Socket-A-Full-Copper-Heatsink_W0QQitemZ170067709964QQihZ007QQcategoryZ101194QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

They're quite big though, so you'd need to make sure it'd be able to fit inside your case. It's probably of similar size to this:
http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/main_product_si97.htm


I'd firstly confirm if you have a Socket A motherboard though. Do you know the make/model?

Then check you have adequate space inside your case. The above example I gave will keep your cpu super cool. Thermalright are very good. I used to have one on my Athlon64 3500+. All you'd need to go with it is a nice silent 80mm fan. Oh and a grain of rice sized blob of Artic Silver 5.

Aliktren

Did the original poster build the PC himself?, if not I'd question initially the need to rip out the processor and clean and then reapply compound. (and yes, artic silver is good stuff)

I'd start with :

Whats the room ambient temperature, is the PC sitting near a heat source, how long ago since you cleaned it out, if it's a long time get a can of compressed air, open the case, and clean the dust out of everywhere.

Have you actually checked the Processor fan is spinning ?

You can buy aftermarket fans from lots of places (overclockers UK, QuietPC) but you need a case that supports extra fans otherwise you will be stuck for mounting them. You can buy a little Akasa device that fits into a expansion slot and just vents out of the back of the PC, they are pretty handy in a pinch though they are a little noisy (but cheap)

Also, check what software is running in the background on your PC, I've had my system hiot max temperature before now because as well as it's day job a background task was hammering the processor as well.

Check the clearance of your PC and make sure the fans have clear ventilation out back and front, at least a few inches. If you have lots of cables hanging around in the case try to cable tie them up, this may improve airflow.

If you go the reapplying compoud route remember that you must completely clean the processor and heatsink.

Another approach is to buy a better heatsink, lots of those available online for less than 20 quid. (again take a look at places like overclockers and quietpc)

Hope that helps

Alik.

BillScarab

What case fans do you have a the moment? Do you just have a PSU fan? My PC came with just a PSU fan so I added an 80mm fan at the front to suck air in and another 80mm fan at the back to push it out. That made a reasonable difference.

I also put a new cooler on my Graphics card, it was the original version of this

http://www.arctic-cooling.com/vga2.php?idx=41

That helps to cool the case as it blows the hot air from the Graphics Card straight out of the back of the case unlike the original fan which blew the hot air back into the case.

The easiest and cheapest things to do though are clean the inside of your PC and tidy up the internal cabling to improve the airflow.

You could also take a dremmel to you case and cut a few extra vents in it to try and get more air in.

j_davies

wolfman wrote:

Hmmm, I'd maybe try a different piece of software. Speedfan is very good.

Speedfan reads the same as PC Wizard, so it just goes to show preperation leads to a marvellous outcome, and a frequent blow out of dust helps also.

wolfman

j_davies wrote:

Speedfan reads the same as PC Wizard, so it just goes to show preperation leads to a marvellous outcome, and a frequent blow out of dust helps also.

Hmm, doesn't mean it's accurate though. They're both obviously just reading from the sensors on the motherboard. I'd question the accuracy of the motherboard sensors then.

I'm not saying the readings you've got aren't possible. I just find it difficult to be likely that you're getting 14C when you're cooling the CPU on air which is probably at an ambient temperature of 20-25C. Ie, it's cooler than what you're cooling it with.

j_davies

wolfman wrote:

Hmm, doesn't mean it's accurate though. They're both obviously just reading from the sensors on the motherboard. I'd question the accuracy of the motherboard sensors then.

I'm not saying the readings you've got aren't possible. I just find it difficult to be likely that you're getting 14C when you're cooling the CPU on air which is probably at an ambient temperature of 20-25C. Ie, it's cooler than what you're cooling it with.

NO NO NO they are not just obviously reading from the mobo, they are reading a correct temperature and thats a fact, and the mobo is all fine and dandy.

wolfman

j_davies wrote:

NO NO NO they are not just obviously reading from the mobo, they are reading a correct temperature and thats a fact, and the mobo is all fine and dandy.

Ok, ok. I was just pointing something out.

Unless you're running a vapo-system, water cooling or live in a very cold house (in which case I apologise), then simple physics (nothing to do with computers/sensors) will most likely prove such a reading wrong.

j_davies

wolfman wrote:

Ok, ok. I was just pointing something out.

Unless you're running a vapo-system, water cooling or live in a very cold house (in which case I apologise), then simple physics (nothing to do with computers/sensors) will most likely prove such a reading wrong.

Lol, as long as your right you carry on

wolfman

j_davies wrote:

Lol, as long as your right you carry on

Never said I was right, more so that you were wrong. You obviously don't don't have an open mind.

Try going on a hardware/overclocking site and post you get 12C on air and see what they say.

matty_c608

I will get a can of compressed air and try that also.

Here is my system spec:

http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/document?docname=c00032382&lc=en&cc=ca&dlc=en&product=234971&os=228

Doesn't mention my socket type I don't think...?