CPU temperature

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devonwoody

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What temperature should my cpu be running at?

I have been experienceing too many lockups on my PC and have seen the temperature range upto 37c.

PC 36ooAMD dual core, 2gb ram, 350 gb hard drive,nvida card9600.

Found dust had blocked the ventilation inlets 2 days ago (had 2 lockups within 10 minutes) and lockups whilst PC was left unattended.

Ran for 48 hours of intermittant use no lock ups after that clean up, but today locked up after 5 hours of continuous use this morning and temp. was 37c.
 
DW,

I had a very, very similar problem as you describe. It can also symptomatic of a memory problem. I reseated the DIMMS which helped for a while but it started to reoccur. Eventually gave up and replaced the motherboard. Problem solved. I hope it's the simplest fix in your case, so try reseating the DIMMS first.

Ike
 
My collegue also had to replace m/board for exactly same reason, just changing memory didn't work.

My own CPu is currently running at 46 degress as I write this.

regards Woody
 
What software are you using to monitor the temperature?

Does the temp of 37c refer to actual CPU or Motherboard?

What is the tempertature of the CPU @ idle and CPU under load?

I believe that most software is pretty inaccurate reporting temps (but hopefully should be at least consistent)

You quote nvidia card 9600 - I think that this may be in fact an ATI Radeon 9600. Does this card have its own dedicated fan/cooler solution?

Not 100% sure of this at the moment but would suggest that 37c not too high for AMD CPU particularly if under load. Seen reports of this CPU running at over 50c without issue!!

The lock ups could be caused by any of the of the items mentioned or even a faulty or overloaded PSU

You may want to try some of the following.

After cleaning internals

1. Remove and replace graphics card, memory and peripheral cards.

2. Check fan on CPU properly secured and working ok. I would not remove at this stage until you have either the thermal pad or some thermal compound. Any problems consider replacement.

3. Check case fans all operational.

4. Try running the system minus case side panels if possible. If this makes a difference see if it is possible to replace fans with better units

5. Check the required PSU rating for your system - is it the correct rating or higher than recs. for your system

Hope that some of the above will be of help

Cheers :D
Tony
 
Thanks. All above beyond my capabilities, so will get back to my PC supplier ( a local man) but unfortunately he has just come out of hospital and I think I shall have to give him some recuperation time.
 
If it's being accurately reported, 37 degrees is positively chilly for a cpu under load. Under heavy load (and admittedly in a very hot study with the door shut so as not to wake Sprog) after a couple of hours playing Battlefield2 online my cpu (AMD 4400 dual core) is reading around the 57 degrees mark - even that is not anything I'm worried about, I've had cpus run waaay hotter than that!
As long as your cooling system will prevent the temperature running away and cool it swiftly when the load drops, then you should be fine. Graphics cards on the other hand tend to run very hot under heavy load and you need to make sure your airflow in the case is good - what intake/exhaust fans do you have?
 
devonwoody":25q4t6e0 said:
You lot have spoilt my evening! I thought I had found the root of my troubles. I am talking 37c not faren. :(

DW, I think everyone is talking centigrade. My last PC (which had cooling issues) ran an AMD chip at up to 60c before things got flakey. 37c isn't at all hot for a CPU.

Also, you talk about 'lock-ups', but in my experience an overheating computer will simply shutdown, just as if you'd pulled the plug. If it's locking up or freezing in mid-task I'd suspect something else.

Is there anything the lock-ups have in common (is it always the same software, or is it always during a disk access, or always when the graphics card is working hard, etc?) If it happens when you're running memory-intensive software that might indicated dodgy RAM, as others have suggested.
 
Hi DW,

I was talking Centigrade in my post. There are countless little driver conflicts that can cause lock ups without ever giving you any solid clues to what the problem is, it's one of the joys of computer ownership ;)
It *could* be overheating, but with the temps you've mentioned I doubt it, it could well be a memory issue as someone has already mentioned; there is a program called 'memtest' which you can set running overnight and it tests your RAM to see if there are any problems - it can pick up problems (it can also miss them, unfortunately, but every little helps, eh?).

V.
 
Reading the instructions on using this program. Can you please tell me how or where I set the memory usage as suggested .

Quote

To keep the test running smoothly and quickly, you should only test the amount of RAM that is free, rather than the total amount of RAM in your system - otherwise your computer will spend 90% of the test reading and writing to your hard drive, rather than testing RAM. You can use the Windows2000/XP Task Manager, or the Windows 9X System Monitor to determine the proper amount of ram to check. As a rule of thumb, Win9X uses about 32MB of RAM when nothing is open, and Windows2000/XP uses about 64MB. Even though you cannot directly check this RAM, Windows dynamically moves the location of most of its subsystems, so most of your RAM will be checked eventually.


Is this the ctrl. alt. delete key that brings up this page?
 
Hi DW,

I must admit that I don't normally mess around with the settings, I just download the latest version from here http://www.memtest.org/ unzip it onto a disk and set it running. Sorry. I'll have a look at that link of yours a little later if I get time.

Cheers.

V.
 
This might be a red herring, but how 'clean' is your mains supply? You may have been experiencing a lot of spikes recently? My own laptop runs so hot I can't put it on my lap, and when it's been on the table for a while the space under the cpu chip is really hot... No idea hot hot the chip is but I sure wouldn't touch it!!!

Try using one of those special sockets from Maplin or PC World (Maplin is cheaper) to prevent mains spikes. It's good practice to use them anyway.
 
I have had a surge protector fitted to my PCs over the past 8 years (the same one) and my supplier has suggested that the connections might be dirty. So I might put the PC plug in a differently placed socket!!!

What do you think?
 
Did the memtest, and no errors reported.
Changed the position of the PC plug on the surge bar.

When I received the new PC the first program I installed was Paint shop proX1. Now, Watching the Windows Task Manager this software starts up at 50%cpu usage and does not drop much, in fact I have seen a 90% flash.

Other programs seem to run between 3 & 10%.

Could PSP X1 be a conflict problem even when its not being used?
 
Is PSP running in the background even when it's not being used? An application that arbitrarily spikes to 90% cpu usage will cause havoc with a system if you're doing other things on it! I would say completely uninstall that software, make sure there is no residual component running in your system manager window and see if the situation improves.
 
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