High CPU Idle temp

Gas Panic! · 5 Feb 2006 at 19:21

For some reason, my Athlon 64 3200+ idles at 55c. I haven't overclocked it, and it's running on stock Heatsink + fan combo. What sort of temp. is safe for it to be operating at, and is it worth me buying a new HS+F? I changed my Mobo last week, and I guess the thermal compound must have been messed up. I've tried reseating it, and cleaning up some of the excess etc, but it's no good. If it's worth me getting a new HS+F, which would you all reccomend?

Thanks.

Defcon5 · 5 Feb 2006 at 19:27

Aaaargh shes gonna blow!

I hope you havnt loaded the cpu!

either the hsf isnt seated properly, of the temp is being read wrong. where are you getting the temps from?

And 60 is the max temp.

clone · 5 Feb 2006 at 19:30

New motherboard ABIT?

Gas Panic! · 5 Feb 2006 at 19:55

Whoa, now I'm scared! :O

It's an Asus, and I'm reading it from Everest Home Edition, which is an all-in-one PC monitoring app.

What exactly is "loading the CPU"?

IzaLearnin · 5 Feb 2006 at 20:18

"Loading" - Making it work, eg. running a game.

Gas Panic! · 5 Feb 2006 at 20:38

Oh, not yet, no... but that's because I'm busy with work. I was planning to next week, though!

So I guess a new HS+F is reccomended, then?

M@rt · 5 Feb 2006 at 21:11

Even a stock HS & fan should keep it idling in the 30's. So unless your running it in a case with no ventilation its not seated properly/far too much thermal paste.

New h/ & fan can lower temps but unless your overclocking I would just sort out the stock one.

leezer3 · 5 Feb 2006 at 21:31

Just a thought- Update the BIOS of your board. After updating the BIOS of my MSI RS480-IL, my idle temps went down around 15c. (Has never crashed due to CPU heat with any BIOS ver!)
Also, remember the golden rule- If it's stable, then its fine

(Different sensors are more accurate than others)

-Leezer-

Gas Panic! · 5 Feb 2006 at 21:42

Right, I've taken the side of my case off, opened the window in the room etc, and apart from acquiring hypothermia, not a lot has happenend. I've just ordered some Arctic Silver 5 paste, some lint-free cloth and Isopropyl Alcohol from eBay (all for £10, bargain), and I'll apply that when it arrives. The thermal pad on the HS/F is pretty screwed tbh, so I guess that could be the problem.

Thanks for you help everyone.

Edit: Board came with the latest BIOS version.

Gas Panic! · 7 Feb 2006 at 16:57

Right, I wiped off the old thermal pad, and put on some Artic Silver 5 paste... I used the amount reccomended (1 1/2 grains of rice) and it idles at 47c now... again, this is with no O/C and stock HS/F. 47 is better, but still far too high for what it should be... so, any ideas?

Btw.... is AMD CoolnQuiet reccomended? Would that get it down to 30c-ish?

iraiguana · 7 Feb 2006 at 17:51

well the cool and quiet just declocks the cpu (make it run slower) when it decides it is getting too hot, so would save it but not really solving the problem and slowing ure computer down. I would use the asus monitoring software as could be a compatability problem eg asus probe and see if that makes a difference. If u have the equipment u could always do a direct measure of the cpu temp with a probe, but i doubt u have it. and then check all the bios settings to make sure u have not oc'ed it by mistake in any way. and then if all that fails double check speed with cpu-z and then buy a new heatsink and fan as ures seems to be underperforming badly.

Gas Panic! · 7 Feb 2006 at 17:57

I installed the Asus temperature monitoring software, and that reported my CPU as being around 52c... this is really not cool (oh dear!). I don't want to have to fork out for a new HS/F if I can help it, but there's not much else I can think of. Why would it be underperforming?

Gas Panic! · 7 Feb 2006 at 20:08

Right, checked the temperature in BIOS, and it stayed at a constant 44c... back in Windows, I'm reading 54c. Wth is going on? :S

Defcon5 · 8 Feb 2006 at 21:01

Id trust the bios tbh, the prog could be reading the chipset temp or something

n3x · 9 Feb 2006 at 08:31

woh thats way too toasy!

Have you updated your bios?

What is the case temp?

Gas Panic! · 10 Feb 2006 at 23:17

My Motherboard is 36c, GPU is 41c (Overclocked), Hdds are 32c... and my CPU is 53c. The BIOS is the latest version.

SS86 · 11 Feb 2006 at 09:12

Rivey said:
Right, checked the temperature in BIOS, and it stayed at a constant 44c... back in Windows, I'm reading 54c. Wth is going on? :S

you sure it isnt your gpu that is 54c

Gas Panic! · 11 Feb 2006 at 13:01

-Mike- · 12 Feb 2006 at 21:27

iraiguana said:
well the cool and quiet just declocks the cpu (make it run slower) when it decides it is getting too hot, so would save it but not really solving the problem and slowing ure computer down.

Wrong.....

AMD's Cool'n'Quiet™ technology is an innovative solution available on AMD Athlon™ 64 processor-based systems that can effectively lower the power consumption and enable a quieter-running system while delivering performance-on-demand, for the ultimate computing experience.

It lowers the cpu speed and voltage while its idle. Not while it overheats.

As has been suggested, why don't you use the monitoring software that came with your motherboard. Install that and tell us what you get.

Gas Panic! · 13 Feb 2006 at 01:08

I got the same temps as reported in Everest, unfortunately.

So I guess this means that there's no rational explanation for the weird temp, other then the fact that my HS is borked? Though I'm not sure how that is possible. :S

Thanks for your help.