Safe System Temp and CPU

O

Outie

n00b
Joined
Feb 21, 2005
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12
Hey guys,

I just got my lian li case (PC-V1100) in today and was wondering what a good system and CPU temp are for a DFI Lanparty NFII Ultra B motherboard with a AMD XP 3000 Barton in it.
Right now I am running 50C for system temp and 51.5C for cpu temp.

Thanks
Outie
 
What size and how many case fans are you running? Coming from someone that has never owned an Athlon XP (and correct me if I'm wrong), 50C system temp seems a bit warm.
 
I have the same mobo, with a mobile Athlon XP.

DFI's temp sensors, I think, are a little high. It showed my Mobile idling in the 50s with 1.65 vCore - that can't be (and in fact wasn't) right. Also, I do believe that the Mobo temp sensor readout is for the temperature of the NF2 U400 northbridge, and that chip will get hot, especially with just an aluminun heatsink on it.

Are these load or idle temps? Load temps in the 50s, while kind of high for stock frequenices, are well within tolerances of the Barton core - it's going to take temps well above 60C to fry a Barton. Once again, under load, that NF2 U400 chip is certainly going to get hot with just an aluminum heatsink on it.

However, if these are idle temps, we have big problems. 50c idle on a 3000 Barton means that chip is going to be well above 60 (which is way too high) under load. In such case, you need to take off your heatsink (hopefully either the retail one or a suitable all copper after market one), clean off the core and heatsink surface, and use some Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste, in a layer JUST thick enough to cover the die, and put your heatsink back on. I can't see any reason for the NF2 chip to idle at 50 other than the sensor being high, but you may want to treat the heatsink for it to AS5 as well.

You may also want to re-examine the general airflow in your case. The generally accepted best cooling method is to have front fans pull air through the front, and rear fans exhaust out the back, to create a steady flow of air throughout the entire case.
 
Thanks for the great replies,

I have a swiftech heatsink on the cpu with thermal paste (artic silver 5) on it. I am using the Lian Li pc-v1100 case which has a 120mm fan on the front for intake and one on the back for exhaust. I think my problem is with the fan on the heatsink. Its a low noise panaflo fan that uses a low RPM (80mm) that the hardware doctor doesnt even recognize.

I just went out and bought http://www.maddogmultimedia.com/products/techietoyz/fans.asp (the TurboFlow Dual Ball bearing High Speed Fan - Auto Temp. sensor/Man Speed Adj MD-TTF-DB-A1357 $17.99 midway down -page)

So hopefully that will help with the temps..

and yes at idle it site System Temp 51.5 and CPU 50.0 (using hardware doctor)

What do yall think can/should i do anything else besides the cpu fan

Outie
 
Ok got the new fan in spinning around 4700 RPMs. System temp down to 40.0C and CPU around 45.0 C. An improvement for sure... Still to high? Let me know

Outie
 
There is one other quick way to check and see if the sensor is WAY off - use your fingers. Have the chassis open, and run a load test on the system.

If it's cool to the touch, it can be surmised that the heatsink is less than 37 C/ CPU temp of probably low 40s. If its warm to the touch, I'd esitmate heatsink temp to be in high 40s, CPU in low 50s, and if you can't keep your fingers on the heatsink, that puts heatsink in the 50s or 60s, and the actual die is a lot higher than that.

Once again, I really do think the sensor is off. Every sensor is different, you get a feel for what a normal range is, and then only really worry about the temp reading when it is out of the normal range for that particular sensor/CPU combo.

BTW, I once took a WinXP installation done on a Soltek NF2 mobo and hooked the drive up to my DFI NF2 - it showed a CPU temp of 127C :eek: The sensor's not always right folks.
 
Also, I believe that the XP is basically the same as my CPU for temps. It will automatically shutdown at 70C, so it will be some amount above 70C when it will harm it.
 
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