SillyDog701

[Matthew]

So I just put together my first system but I appear to have an overheating issue. Here are the main specs:

ANTEC Sonata case w/380 W PS
ASUS P5P800 Motherboard
1 GB of Kingston DDR 3200 RAM
Intel P4 3.0 GHz CPU

I used the heat sink which came packaged with the CPU and appears to have a stuck on thermal paste/pad on it. I did not add or remove anything.

My problem is the BIOS hardware monitor shows the CPU is sitting at 91 degrees Celcius which from what I can see is about 30-40 degrees too hot. I am not gaming or overclocking or anything like that, just powering up and installing windows etc.

What is the temperature I should be aiming for? Any suggestions on how to reach that or ideas about what may have gone wrong? The CPU went in no problem and from what I can see the heat sink is in properly as well, although I'm not sure how to confirm this.

Any thoughts or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217

[Don_HH2K]

I don't know much about the temperature with PC overclocking, but I do know that on my older machine, which had a temperature gague on the front, it said that anywhere from 50 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit was safe. I do know that, however, it is usually OK to overclock by a 5% margin without getting an overheat. But, I have a Pentium-100 (original) that doesn't even have a case fan and has some dusty old non-working CoolerMaster fan on top of the heatsink, that's been overclocked to 120MHz, without any trouble. But, since 20MHz is 20MHz, and in your case a 20% margin would be 600MHz, I wouldn't try that. You might be safe somewhere near a 200MHz jump to 3.2GHz, anything above, you'll need some good cooling gear.

I do know that they make liquid nitrogen cooling systems, if you're willing to spend the money on such, that would probably allow you to double the speed without overheating, even though your system would crash (a lot), since liquid nitrogen is naturally about -282 degrees Fahrenheit (I think).

Just remember that when you overclock, you have a higher risk of damaging PC componentry (usually highly sensitive materials like RAM, I lost two 16MB modules by stepping up to 133MHz) or having a crash that will have you lose data.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20050302 Firefox/0.9.6

[Matthew]

Thank you for your input but I can't even keep it cool when doing normal activities. I have no intention of overclocking and right now I am even afraid to boot it up and experiment because I don't want to cause any damage.

I am wondering does the new P4 3.0 530J have some kind of thermal protection where it will shut down by itself if it really starts to get too hot? I want to at least install the ASUS Motherboard thermal monitoring utility and see what it says. So far I have only seen the BIOS monitor which registed just over 90 degrees Celsius.

I am guessing that the heatsink is not set in place properly. The twist pin connectors that attach the heatsink/fan to the motherboard seem a little fiddly and flimsy. I don't even want to take them off in case I break them although a new HS/Fan is WAY cheaper than a new CPU!

Thanks again.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217

[Ron Williams]

Another thing about over clocking is your warranty becomes void with intel, though I dont know about AMD I would think it is the same.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1

[Don_HH2K]

OK, my mistake, I usually relate overheating to overclocking.

Chances are, you've either got a clock or voltage problem with the processor. Check the specs in your BIOS, make sure it's running at the specified clock speed and voltage. If the voltage is higher, not only will the processor short out, but it will run a lot hotter before it does. 91 degrees Celsius, well, nine more degrees and you can boil water. I would really check the settings on everything -- in the BIOS, on the mainboard itself, the power supply, and if all else fails, make a call to tech support.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.2) Gecko/20040804 Donzilla/0.6PR1 (like Netscape/7.2; wml/1.3)

[Ron Williams]

91 degrees celsius wow i'm surprised something has not already "fried" or shorted.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.6) Gecko/20050223 Firefox/1.0.1

[Matthew]

AH HA! It looks like I may have solved it and yeah at 91 degrees I'm surprised it is still working at all!

After much fiddling with the ridiculous plastic twist pins, which hold down the heatsink to the CPU, I managed to get the HS back off. The thermal paste that was on there was about 80% untouched. It appears that when I put it on and fussed around trying to lock those crazy pins in place it wasn't pushed down all the way. So after much experimentation with the HS off the CPU I tried again to reattach it and booted it up. It is now comfortably running at 45-50 degrees CPU and 27 degrees motherboard temp. so it all appears to be fine.

I have to say that all my "brand" name components have been great except for those crazy plastic flimsy HS clips, no wonder Intel sells replacements at $2 a set, they must know people are going to go through them like crazy. I just hope I never have to take them out again.

Thanks again for all the input.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.7.5) Gecko/20041217

[Touchphone]

Dear Readers,

You are all on the right track about the Intel P4 530J kit.
The reason why it runs so hot is a contact issue. What that means is the thermal tape under the heat sink is not doing its job, and in many cases the heat sink clips are not properly secure.
There are three steps in fixing this problem:
1. Remove the M/B from the case and then the heat sink. Remove the tape and replace it with thermal paste (plenty off to make good contact). As gaps are known for high cpu temp
2. Clip the heat sink and view the reverse of M/B to make sure that it's done properly. If not, then vibrations and gaps will cause high temp.
3. Put it all back in the case and you are ready to fire it up.
You should notice that the temp is now running between 35c - 38c in idle.
At full load it should not exceed 49c.
As i have done plenty of these all with the same success.
Good Luck

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1)

[keith]

I don't know why many people experience over heating problems. I have a 286, a senix with windows 95, a computer nwith ME, and my latest,l an XP Home edition, and i haven't been using overly big processors, and so it works hard to get the job done, and i never ever have had an over heating problem.

Keith

UserAgent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 6.0; Windows NT 5.1; SV1; .NET CLR 1.1.4322)

[emreka]

Check your Thermal compound! Intel stock fans are very good and silent, you wont need to purchase another if youre not overclocking but you should wipe the crappy Thermal tape on it and use a better one! I'm almost certain this is your problem. I believe normal temrerature for your CPU is 20 (at most- normally 10-15) Degrees Celcius higher than room temp. But plenty of it is not good unlike what people tend to think, the closer the cpu is to the heatsink the better it transmits the heat. Make it as thin and smooth as possible and it'll do it.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; tr; rv:1.9) Gecko/2008052906 Firefox/3.0