CheekyChimp

Anyone know what a reasonable CPU temp should be. mines running at 60 degrees C and is worrying me

Neil Smalley

Which processor?

60C is hot for a P4, but ok for an Athlon.

J4CKO

iTrader: (1)

Mine was 50+ so I bought a new heat sink and fan, Coolermaster HAC V81 for about 15 quid, now runs at 38 to 46, cleaning out the build up of gunk and making sure it has thermal paste on it helps.

CheekyChimp

yeah is an AMD, would putting another fan in the case opposite the CPU help?

Mr.Cookie

Waits for someone to post -20oC mine are 41oC (shuttle 1.7 celeron) and 38oC (XP2500 full case with far too many fans)

Mr.Cookie

Cheeky

If you can put one fan at the bottom front drawing air in and one at the top back expelling air

Si

Daz34

Can you be a bit more specific on the processor model & the software you are using to get its temp

CheekyChimp

Cheers man, I would do but there isn't much room in my case, at the moment the fan is stuck with trusty gaffer tape to the inside of the case. There is quite a meaty big bit of plastic blocking any airflow from the front (unless you count the hole where my beloved DVD drive was - boo hoo)and only a thin holed plate at the back. Pretty bog standard case really, but nowhere really to attach the fan to.

CheekyChimp

AMD athalon 1.1Ghz on Asus A7A266 motherboard

CheekyChimp

using Asus Probe

Mr.Cookie

er what fan is stuck with gaffer tape to case

Daz34

Asus probe is notoriously low for cpu readings. If you have a broadband connection download SiSoft Sandra 2004 from here & run the mainboard info module.

CheekyChimp

cookie, I bought a cheap fan from Maplins just said case fan it's about 5 inches square, sorry dude i'm a wizz with the techie stuff but crap with the hardware. I knocked this system up myself and this is the only problem i've had so far.

Mr.Cookie

s'okay i thought you meant cpu fan

Is fan behind some form of grill or is it just stirring the air, have you tried cpu fan other way round, this makes a 3oC difference (iirc) to my XP

Si
Ps There's loads more knowledgable peeps on here than me i just build em for mates and i've still got mates

CheekyChimp

no grid but will try turning the CPU fan. I do have some other related problems such as a hardware error message pointing to the VCORE +5V Voltage running between 4.3V and 4.89V, this seems to make my PC crash, freeze and then not start up again for a while, oh and my second hard drive (master on secondary IDE) does not appear anymore in BIOS or windows. But that's another kettle of fish 90% of the time everythings fine though.

Mr.Cookie

Can you run system with case cover off (i.e no kids sticking fingers anywhere dangerous) until you can sort out some decent cooling out.

Si

CheekyChimp

yeah, the sides have been off for the last 2 years due to sheer laziness but just put em back on after a spring clean, will remove, dust and hope for the best. cheers dude

Fatman

I know that people strive for ever lower CPU temps - I used to do the same myself. I was forever reorganising the inside of my CPU case for theoretically better airflow (saddo, I know! ). However, unless your PC is actually unstable due to the CPU temp, then why bother yourself with trying to reduce it? Adding more fans will probably just make the PC noisier.

It's claimed that CPUs have a longer service lifespan if they run at a lower temperature. However, who's going to be running their current Athlon/P4 in 20 years time anyway?

By the way - sounds like your power supply could be the source of your problems. If you're going to invest money - get a decent PSU.

CheekyChimp

just got a new 350W psu about 3 months ago after the other one blew, I need a damn upgrade anyway to cope with Half Life 2 in a couple of months. Any suggestions for affordable motherboard and CPU combos (looking for at least 2Ghz if not more)

Mr.Cookie

Asus A7N8X Deluxe (£80) and XP2500 (£60) only problem is you'll need better memory than your probably running asuming your even running ddr.

Si

Daz34

Haven't you heard, it has been delayed till at least April 2004 due to the leaked code

CheekyChimp

bugger, at least I've more time to save! anyway what do you reacon I can do with 640MB of bog standard SDRAM then (other than use it to make pretty picture frames), is there any market for second hand RAM considering DDR is fast becoming the norm?

Daz34

see if one of these is near you

CheekyChimp

not bad but I have a cunning plan to load it off to my brother who currently has a machine built mainly from the leftovers from about 4 half decent machines. (he he he) Until he gets a job he'll have to put up and make do. Anyway i've been posting throughout my whole shift at work and I'm damned if I'm going to spend the early hours of the morning going on about this, As a matter of fact my PC's running fine just now, it'll be dead by morning but it's behaving and I'm happy cheers for the advice guys, most helpful indeed. Goodnight.

CheekyChimp

.... and now it's completely dead. It worked for about 10 mins yeaterday then froze and won't restart. It briefly returned to life to tell me in BIOS that the system hung due to improper CPU speed (which is bullsh*t!) and has not since restarted (despite many many presses of both restart and the power button). It comes to life (it turns on!) but nothing on screen, no friendly beep, no start-up, nothing! I think it's finally died on me but if there's anything that can be done to bring it back to some workable state I'm desperate to know...