CPU Temp High

Craigmagu

hi
first time posting, but anyways im after building a new comp for myself, the specs are:
CPU : AMD Athlon 64 x2 6400+ 3.2Ghz
MoBo : Msi K9N Ultra
Graphics : GF 9600Gt 700MHz 512Mb ddr3
Case : Anted Sonata III Miditower With 500W PSU
DVD Burner : Acer (Not sure exactly, it came with my last pc)
H/D : 160 Gig Sata
O/S : Win XP Sp2

the sytems runs grand mostly just the cpu temp jus on idle is hoovering around the 49-50 deg C, and then when i play games like crysis or assasin creed it shoots up to the 70s, and thats with the game setting on stard without changing them to high or anything like that, ive checked around few sites and they all say the max temp should be 55-63 deg C.

ive reseated the heatsink and used arcticsilver 5 heat compound, and stil idles high and goes to high 60's 70's.
the fan i got on the cpu is the one that comes with the processor.

would anyone have any ideas on this? i kinda want to get the temperature down a good bit but unsure whats the best approach to this, any help would be much appreciated

thanks craig

requiem1

reseat your cooler man those temps are way too high even for idle, you've probably not put it on right or else used too much thermal paste

Anti

yup, a grain of rice ammount of thermal paste is all you need. nothing more.

Craigmagu

ive reated the heatsink already more than once, and i have only used a grain of rice sized amount of thermal compound on it, went by the arcticsilver 5 manual bit by bit, and stil no joy, the only other thing i can think of is to go for a different cooler but i dont want to go spending loads if it not going to sort the problem, even now just after turning on the computer and logging on here, (havent done anything alse) the cpu is at 49 deg C

Anti

is the fan speed set to pwm or manual iun the bios ? If so turn it off and set it to its max. Since its the reference heatsink it should be fairly quiet. You could also try speedfan to control it from windows.

Craigmagu

how do i change the fan speed through speed fan? i just got it there and it installed grand, tells me the fan speed and everything else

Anti

Check the faq on their website, it will tell you how to set everything up. Usually you will have to set speed control in the bios to manual.

Craigmagu

em not sure how to turn the cpu fan speed to manual setting in bios, the fan is only running at 3013rpm so am maybe thinking that this might be ssome part the reason the cpu is heating up this much

Anti

3000rpm seems fine. Have you checked th ebase of the cooler to see if it is concave or convex? As this can severly limit the performance from it.

You could buy a new cpu cooler from somewhere like komplett.ie or dabs.ie. A decent one shoudl set you back no more then 30€.

Also, what progran are you using to measure the temp? Download coretemp and see if thats gives the same readings.

Craigmagu

well im using 3 diff programs - speedfan, core monitor(came with the motherboard), and cpuid hardware monitor andall three give pretty much the same reading, i was thinking about maybe going to try liquid cooling sys but not sure what they are like for cooling,

Anti

You could try liquid cooling, but it is a bit more expensive then a new cpu cooler.Just wondering, do you have adequate air flow in the case. And by this i mean is the a fan pulling cold air in and one pushing the warm air out ?

Craigmagu

i think ive solved the problem, went out after work and bought myself an akasa evo 120, and man is it a big cooler, takes up the width of my case but its doing the job so far, had to strip the mobo out again and all that but after it all the idle temperature is now around 33-36 deg C, and when i play unreal tournament 3 or crysis the temperature stays around the 40-44 deg C mark, seems to have done the trick, and that should drop a bit more when the arctic silver 5 compound is past the break in period (something like 200HRS!) but hope all stays around where it is now.

of and found out the original heatsink was a slight bit warped wehen i put a steel rule across it to see if was flat but it wasnt so that could have been the problem with it all.

thanks for the advice anti was much appreicated

craig

:):D:)

Anti

Aye, if the cooler is anyway convex or concave it will drasticially reduce the cooling potential. That akasa cooler is pretty decent alright. Glads its sorted now too

Craigmagu

i was wrong yet again, the fan does do wonders dont get me wrong, just i heard something about the new graphics cards out needing high watts to run, so checked up my graphics card and guess what!! it needs 400WATTS!! i am shocked, my processor needs 125watts or 135watts and my power supply is only 500watts, so think the lack of power might be causing the processor to heat up a good bit :(:(