XP Pro temperature?

kr236rk · 20 Sep 2012 at 19:54

Hi,

Just upgraded an ancient XP Basic pc to XP Pro. Not quite sure what the benefits of doing this are but was wondering what the optimal running temperature for the CPU was please?

Thanks,

Ric

j.col · 20 Sep 2012 at 20:29

download realtemp or core temp.
it really depends on the cpu and also ambient (room) temps.
my i5 750 is idling at 31.C and my room temp is roughly 20.C
idle temps dont really tell us much, its load temps that do.
dowmload prime95 and run the blend test, keep an eye on temps.
it would help us if u told us the name of the cpu

for your cpu info, download cpu-z, this will tell u the name of the cpu, speed, ram, mobo etc....

also upgrading to xp pro will not make a difference to temps then it was with xp basic

kr236rk · 20 Sep 2012 at 21:15

Thanks j.col,

Am slightly fazed because i ran Basic for years on this Optiplex GX270 without a hiccup then as soon as i loaded the Pro disc i got a 'temperature incident'. I downloaded HWMonitor earlier on, it gives 34-35C, that's warmer than my other P4 XP (Basic) which is 29-30C. The XP Pro has a 3.06 Ghz P4 Northwood CPU.

Ric

j.col · 21 Sep 2012 at 20:45

iirc u are fine up to 80.C with that cpu.
it could just be warmer if its slightly more clogged up with dust etc....
u have nothing to worry about regarding the cpu.
have u run a game or anything to see what the temp rises to?

kr236rk · 21 Sep 2012 at 20:54

j.col said:
iirc u are fine up to 80.C with that cpu.
it could just be warmer if its slightly more clogged up with dust etc....
u have nothing to worry about regarding the cpu.
have u run a game or anything to see what the temp rises to?

Thanks, I loaded a video edit software to the XP Pro and it maintained its 34/35C, & that was after running several clips through the editor. I keep the lid wedged open (the pc opens and closes like a hinged book) and a small desk fan blowing cool air into the case, right by the heatsink in fact. When I am finished using the pc I just close the lid and switch off the fan, no worries.

It just scared the hell out of me when I got that temperature alert which shut the pc down, happened about 3 times in succession. As soon as I opened the lid and got the desk fan running, no more shut-downs.

Everything seems to have settled down now

j.col · 21 Sep 2012 at 21:01

is the fan on the cooler running?

kr236rk · 21 Sep 2012 at 21:58

j.col said:
is the fan on the cooler running?

There are two fans inside the Optiplex GX270 (slim desktop), one on the psu and one on top of the heatsink. Both fans are running and there no sign of dust build-up.

Having siad this, the fan on top of the heatsink is a tiddly affair compared to larger pc's of more recent times. If there was a way to customise a larger more powerful fan into the heatsink arrangement I would do, but that's impossible because your are totally restricted by the casing / power supply / wiring. The GX270 is one of the most restrictive case interiors I have seen, it's like a proto lap top basically. But the fact you can just clip it open and shut when you want is a massive if unintended advantage, if you do need to cool off the cpu.

btw. that P4 cpu is more powerful than my 2Core, 2.80GHz compared to 3.06GHz!

JonSmith · 21 Sep 2012 at 22:49

kr236rk said:
There are two fans inside the Optiplex GX270 (slim desktop), one on the psu and one on top of the heatsink. Both fans are running and there no sign of dust build-up.

Having siad this, the fan on top of the heatsink is a tiddly affair compared to larger pc's of more recent times. If there was a way to customise a larger more powerful fan into the heatsink arrangement I would do, but that's impossible because your are totally restricted by the casing / power supply / wiring. The GX270 is one of the most restrictive case interiors I have seen, it's like a proto lap top basically. But the fact you can just clip it open and shut when you want is a massive if unintended advantage, if you do need to cool off the cpu.

btw. that P4 cpu is more powerful than my 2Core, 2.80GHz compared to 3.06GHz!

If they are old sometimes the thermal compound can dry and crack meaning the heat sink does not interface with the CPU properly, although those old P4s run very hot anyway. Also, it is categorically NOT faster than you dual core as the clock speed is not the only measure of chip performance. As an example, my laptop contains a 1.3GHz Penryn core 2 duo and has equivalent or greater single core performance to a 3.2GHz Pentium 4.

kr236rk · 21 Sep 2012 at 23:42

JonSmith said:
If they are old sometimes the thermal compound can dry and crack meaning the heat sink does not interface with the CPU properly, although those old P4s run very hot anyway. Also, it is categorically NOT faster than you dual core as the clock speed is not the only measure of chip performance. As an example, my laptop contains a 1.3GHz Penryn core 2 duo and has equivalent or greater single core performance to a 3.2GHz Pentium 4.

Thanks. The thermal compound was replaced about two years ago when I upgraded the cpu. I do not understand the cpu GHz rating, this P4 is rated higher than my dual core which surprised me. Yes, I would agree that P4s might run hot - I found a post I made about heat coming from the vents of this pc when it was still running XP Basic - I upgraded to XP Pro several days ago.

JonSmith · 21 Sep 2012 at 23:58

Running XP pro should not affect the temperatures at all, I've run home, windows 2000 and even windows Vista on a P4 system and the OS used did not affect the temperatures in any way. Differences are to be expected due to different heat sinks, thermal compounds, age, quality of CPU, case and even power supply dumping heat into the case.

kr236rk · 22 Sep 2012 at 04:48

JonSmith said:
Running XP pro should not affect the temperatures at all, I've run home, windows 2000 and even windows Vista on a P4 system and the OS used did not affect the temperatures in any way. Differences are to be expected due to different heat sinks, thermal compounds, age, quality of CPU, case and even power supply dumping heat into the case.

Thanks, probably the latter: it is a tiny case filled to the rafters, most of the heat a couple of years ago was coming from the psu but if any of this heat was remaining inside the case there is nowhere for it to go. If anything the Pro is running cooler now than the Basic but I keep the lid ajar, just to be on the safe side, no worries