CPU Overheating

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2008-05-12 12:31am

So today, out of curiosity, I decided to check my CPU core temperature, and it was in the high 70s (celsius, of course), while idle. This was some cause for alarm, so I turned off my computer, opened up the case, and tried to remove some of the dust from the CPU fan. I also left the case open in case it was an airflow problem, and tried again - the BIOS indicated the overheating problem had not gone away. I booted into Windows to perhaps do some research; at this point, the computer did an automatic shutdown, from what I assume was excessive heat. I checked the BIOS again, and this time the temperature was at 100 and rising (I didn't wait to see if it would stabilize and turned it off immediately)

I'm guessing that I might need some new thermal paste, and perhaps a fan (I'm using the stock fan right now, which was going at about 1750~ RPM), along with tightening the fan onto the mobo. Is there anything else I should check? What are the chances that permament damage has already been done? I'm not quite sure how long the CPU has been running at a higher-than-desirable temperature, seeing how this is the first time in months that I've checked the running temperature.

I'm running an Intel C2D 6300, without any overclock.

Post by **Sea Skimmer** » 2008-05-12 02:00am

A CPU temp of 100 degrees C stands a very good chance of damaging a processor, very few processors are safe to heat beyond about 85 C and mostare limited to more like 77. But hey, if the computer works, it works.

1750rpm is too low to be maximum fan speed, your fan may not be getting enough voltage, it may be going bad, or some setting or another might be limiting its speed. Considering how cheap a fan is I’d go and replace it with something nice, and then see if the problem persists. If it does then a new heat sink and thermal paste would be the next step. Obviously you’d want to see how the temperature changes with the case open and closed after any hardware upgrade, to see if you also need improved case cooling.

One thing to keep in the back of your mind though, is simply that the heat sensor might have gone bad. I don’t know any way of testing for that, but I do know one person who eventually narrowed his ‘overheating’ problem down to that.

Ariphaos · Post by **Ariphaos** » 2008-05-12 06:37am

Sea Skimmer wrote:A CPU temp of 100 degrees C stands a very good chance of damaging a processor, very few processors are safe to heat beyond about 85 C and mostare limited to more like 77. But hey, if the computer works, it works.

One thing to keep in the back of your mind though, is simply that the heat sensor might have gone bad. I don’t know any way of testing for that, but I do know one person who eventually narrowed his ‘overheating’ problem down to that.

This may be it. It really shouldn't have been able to report much past 90...

Still, doing the standard stuff (re-doing thermal paste, new fan, clean heatsink) is a good precaution, assuming your processor isn't already dead.

Jaevric · Post by **Jaevric** » 2008-05-12 09:19am

I've been doing some research on a new heatsink lately myself because I want to replace the stock Intel one on my Q6600. There's a bunch of good ones on the market right now, at least; hopefully you can switch the heatsinks out and things'll be working.

What software are you using to report the core temperatures? I'm not an expert but it is my understanding that some of the software is less than reliable; I was pointed at CPUID Hardware Monitor as a good program for checking core temperatures. Some programs display surface temperatures instead of core temperatures, or so I've read -- I'm not an overclocker so I only recently started learning more about this sort of thing.

Hope your CPU is still under warranty at least! I'm not sure why your reported temperatures would have gone *up* when you blew the dust off the fans.

Executor32 · Post by **Executor32** » 2008-05-13 04:19am

If you get a new heatsink, and you have enough clearance for it between your motherboard and the side panel, I would suggest the Zalman CNPS 9700 NT. I have one on my C2D 8400, and I've not yet seen a temp over 45C, even under load.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2008-05-13 03:24pm

I did consider the possibility the heat sensor was malfunctioning, but considering I have one in each core and both were reporting pretty much the same temperature, it seems more likely my CPU was overheating than both heat sensors were malfunctioning and reporting the same information. I looked up the speed for the stock Intel fan, and it turns out it's maximum is around 1700 RPM, so the fan isn't the problem. I'm thinking that when I opened up the case and cleaned out the fan/heatsink, I might've inadvertently loosened the heatsink, which would explain why the BIOS reported the temperature even higher later on.

I used CoreTemp and Intel Thermal Analysis Tool - all reports were the same. Right now, I'm going to apply some new thermal paste and reseat the heatsink and see what happens.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2008-05-13 04:03pm

While I seriously doubt that it hit 100C (your CPU would've fried by then), I still recommend you remove the heatsink and clean off all of the old thermal compound off of the sink and processor. (Use rubbing alcohol for this if you don't have any "goo gone") Then re-apply some more (preferably artic silver 5 if you can get it), but make sure you apply THIN LAYERS. You want to help conduct heat, not insulate the processor. To get the best result, use an old credit card to spread out the compound into a flat, thin layer. Wipe any excess onto the center of the heatsink. (if you do it right, there should be very little excess to deal with)

However, if you really want a decent heatsink, look into one of these.