CPU temp - question

MR DAZ

Lads,

What temp should your cpu be running at during games?

P4 2.8ghz

Its running about 60-63 degrees(playing FarCry)

and between 34 - degrees during normal use.

Also what is the best heatsink to get

Cheers

Dazza

zoro

I've an AMD 2100+ (Barton Core i _think_) and it runs at a ridiculous 74 degrees sometimes. I have been known to open my case sides and let my nearby window cool it about 15 degrees if I'm worried!!

duridian

Best heatsink for P4 is probably the Thermalright SP94 and for AthlonXP the Thermalright SP97. They are quite dear and you have to buy a separate fan for them, but they perform very well and use heatpipe technology. Another good cooler is the Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu which is supposed to adapt to fit Sockets 478/754 and Socket A.
Mr.Daz if you have Prescott core your temps are quite good and if Northwood they ain't too bad either.
Zoro your temps do sound too high, have you any stability problems? It could be that your XP is a Palomino core since the Bartons are 2500 and upwards. Palominos run quite hot, though it shouldn't be as high as you say.

zoro

Zoro your temps do sound too high, have you any stability problems? It could be that your XP is a Palomino core since the Bartons are 2500 and upwards. Palominos run quite hot, though it shouldn't be as high as you say.

Ah that's the one - I couldn't remember if Barton or Palamino's ran at the high temps (plus I didnt know bartons were 2500 and up)
Funnily enough I've had no stability issues! Very strange though, as my temps are extremely high - disturbingly so too :dunno: The only problem that I've been having is that my burner dies randomly on me so I've had to disconnect it completely. I originally thought that it was a PSU/cooling issue, but I know now that it' isn't - It's probably the drive that died on me.

MR DAZ

Thanks Duridian

Its a Nothwood...

One other quick question

Whats is the main difference between presscott and northwood?

[CrimsonGhost]

Zoro, do you have an MSI motherboard? They are known to report temps incorrectly. Try updating your bios. At that temp you shouldn't be able to touch your heat sink for too long. Try it and it should tell you straight away if you are really running that hot.

duridian

The Prescott is the newer Pentium 4 core, main differences are:

Northwood has 512KB Level2 cache Prescott has 1024KB(1MB), (the extra cache memory is partly to try and compensate for the slow down caused by the pipeline increase)

Northwood supports SSE & SSE2 instructions, Prescott has SSE3 as well(though this instruction set is not widely in use by software yet so its benefits have yet to be seen)

Northwood has 20 Pipelines, Prescott has a longer process with 31

Northwood core is only available up to 3.4 GHz, Prescott can go and is already available at higher clockspeed.

Northwood is not available in the newer form of cpu called LGA775 (lands grid array) which has the pins in the motherboard socket rather than on the cpu. Prescott is available in both Socket 478(up to 3.4GHz only) and in LGA775.

Northwood is built on a 0.13micron process, Prescott on a 0.09micron process

Northwood's voltage rating by Intel is 1.525V or 1.550V, Prescott's is lower at 1.38-1.4V

Prescott also runs much hotter than Northwood(up to 20degrees celsius more at idle)

For now Prescott is the main cpu from Intel and Northwoods beyond 3.4GHz aren't expected. It is expected that a 64 bit Prescott cpu will eventually be available and also that the FSB will be stepped up to 1066MHz as well as the possibilty of another level 2 cache increase.

If I have left out any other points of interest between Northwoods and Prescotts then feel free to add them in.

BTW Zoro what CrimsonGhost says is a possibility, though I thought it was more a thing with the AMD 64 boards by MSI. Can't do any major harm to try the touch test and see if the heatsink feels unduly warm.
My Palomino 2000+ used to crash out and restart if it hit 60 degrees until I improved my cooling so 74degrees sounds crazily high tbh.

MR DAZ

You dont work for Intel by any chance

Cheers

duridian

Nope but my best mate does Seriously.

BloodBath

Those temps are a little high for a Northwood. Ideally your max temp fro a Northwood should be under 60c but 63c is nothing to worry about.

For a cheap temperture drop just buy some artic silver 5. It's about 6 euro for a tube. This alone will drop temps by at least 5c. If you want better cooling get the thermalright sp-94 like Duridan said. It's the best P4 heatsink you can get. Stick a decent 92mm fan on there and you will get big temp drops.

You wouldn't need it unless you plan on overclocking though. Your 2.8 should get to at least 3.4 easily enough.


BloodBath

zoro

My heatsink is ridiculously warm

duridian

Well maybe you should try a better heatsink on that Athlon, your not using the stock one are you? cos the one that came with my Palomino wouldn't keep the temps down at all. I'm sure that even a mid priced heatsink would improve those temps, a bit of Arctic Silver like BloodBath mentioned would definitely help too.