cooling Cooling Stuff

[paralolegram]

After upgrading my Psu to 750 Watts and video card from Gts 250 to Gtx 560 Ti, I was checking temps of my video card and cpu. Turn out my video card temp is fine but my CPU temp seemed high to me.

I have a Intel E8400 3.0 Ghz CPU, During idling it sits at around 50-60 degrees C, while gaming it jumps to anywhere from 80-95. Is this normal?

I have one fan on the rear of my comp on exhaust at this moment. I am also using the heatsink/fan my CPU came with.

[greenknight]

With a little search for the specs of that CPU, I found that the maximum temp is supposed to be 72.4 C. So no, that's way too hot. Is the heatsink clamped down properly?

[Tarun]

You may want to verify your temps using OpenHardwareMonitor and you may also want to try CoreTemp.

[Eldmannen]

That Open Hardware Monitor seems cool, I'll try it, thanks! :)

[paralolegram]

Theres some dust caked ontop of the cpu fan, i will clean that and see if it gets better. Open Hardwaremonitor gives me the same temp ranges.

List of stuff i will try x.x

1.Clean CPU Fan

2. Get a side 80mm fan

3. get a new heatsink/fan

4. Get a new case

[greenknight]

So, not an April Fools joke? I had my doubts - 95 C is really. really hot.

Yes, cleaning the CPU fan and heatsink is the first thing you should do - may help a lot. Make sure you have unrestricted airflow around your case vents, and that they're not sucking in hot air from some other heat source.

You seem to have a good handle on what it takes to fix this. Good luck, hopefully you won't have to go all the way to step #4. :rolleyes:

[James_A]

+1

Some CPUs won't actually survive temperatures in excess of 95 C.

An E8400 Core 2 Duo is listed as Max TDP of 65W so cooling should not be a big problem, even with the stock cooler, unless (as you have discovered) the fins are blocked-up with dust.

Here in the UK, Custom PC carried out some comprehensive case reviews and showed that the case (and its airflow) makes a BIG difference to the temperatures inside. Not surprisingly, expensive cases did better than cheap ones, but you can approach the best of both worlds with something like an Antec 100. Good airflow is usually achieved with intake on the front (with a second intake fan if needed) and a fan exhausting at the rear, or on top, with the CPU cooler set to blow out in the same direction.

.

[greenknight]

My old Duron CPU would crash when it reached 95 C - and it had a max temp of 90 C, they were some of the hottest-running units ever made.

Modern CPUs, instead of just crashing, reduce power to cool down. That means something has to be badly out of whack to get one that hot. That's why I wondered if the heat sink was loose - though it could just be really clogged with dust. Wouldn't have thought it could be that dirty if you recently worked on it.

[Eldmannen]

I just tried above mentioned Open Hardware Monitor.

It works great!

[paralolegram]

After clearing the dust Idle temp is around 45 now thanks everyone!

[greenknight]

You're welcome. Guess it was pretty dirty.

Still would be a good idea to add an intake fan, an idle temp below 40 C would be preferable. 80 mm fans are cheap, so why not add one?. For that matter, a better cooler wouldn't be too expensive - a lot more trouble, though, I'd try another case fan first.

And remember to blow the dust out once in a while.