Dealing with a hot CPU?

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 10:19 pm

I've just started putting together my new system (Asus P5GD2 Deluxe with Pentium 4 530J 3Ghz LGA775 CPU), and was looking through the bios when I found that the temperature of the CPU was close to 200 deg. faren.(!). The motherboard was reporting about 90 degrees. What temperatures do I want for each? The fans (both case and the CPU heatsink & fan that came with the processor) appeared to be running fine while the machine was up. How should I deal with this problem? Is the heatsink & fan that come with the CPU crap? Could mine be broken somehow? Should I buy a new heatsink and fan? If so, what kind is good? Do I need to use a different thermal compound?

Thanks in advance.

martindemon · Post by **martindemon** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 12:34 am

There are several possibilities.
First, it is possible the heatsink-fan assembly is not properly toutching the CPU, which would trigger the thermal speed throttle protection of the CPU, thus slowing down your computer to avoid burning the CPU. Is the computer behaving strangely slow? Try to move the heatsink fan and listen if you hear it "click" into place. I had this kind of problem once... Else, try to redo the heatsink fan. You can use the same tube of thermal interface if some remains. Else, you might have to buy some arctic silver 3 or 5 or some other good brand to reassemble the heatsink fan. When assembling, make sure the heatsink is Really centered.

Also, it is possible that the motherboard is not reading the temperatures well. I had this problem with my MSI K8N (Athlon 64) which kept telling me my CPU was at more than 100C, which would have killed it instantly. A bios update fixed it.

The heatsink fan that came with your CPU is certainly enough to cool the CPU if you don't overclock. Check your frequency to make sure it is running at the nominal frequency; it is possible that for an obscure reason, the motherboard would not dettect the CPU correctly...

Now go back to take care of your beast

(edited because I have 10 thumbs)

Jeff V · Post by **Jeff V** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 1:49 am

Err...you shouldn't be moving the heatsink around waiting for it to click in place. Part of the problem might be you don't have a good contact between the heatsink and the CPU. Get some good thermal grease (like Arctic Silver) and follow the instructions precisely. You will have to clean off any old grease, then apply a thin layer. The heatsink should stay in place once you pluck it down, only the brackets that secure it should move.

martindemon · Post by **martindemon** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 12:03 pm

Jeff V wrote:Err...you shouldn't be moving the heatsink around waiting for it to click in place. Part of the problem might be you don't have a good contact between the heatsink and the CPU. Get some good thermal grease (like Arctic Silver) and follow the instructions precisely. You will have to clean off any old grease, then apply a thin layer. The heatsink should stay in place once you pluck it down, only the brackets that secure it should move.

Well, in theory it's true but I had a Shuttle barebone on which I installed a heatsink (the heat pipes) and it was not centered. The CPU temperature was very high, almost 90C before the CPU protection shut it down. That's when I toutched the mounting bracket of the heat pipe (something like a heatsink) and it "clicked" into place and all was working well. I agree that it would have been better to redo the thermal interface but the temperature was really ok, so there was no need to do it. They say in the arctic silver instructions that we should not move the heatsink once it is touching the CPU core. Well, that's better but it's not that much important from my experience (I have installed more than 20 systems and, sometimes, I ajusted the alignment after it touched and it did not cause any problem.) Also, tryto not put too much thermal interface, as you could tear the CPU from the motherboard the next time you want to redo the cooling or change the CPU

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 1:49 pm

Thanks for the help. I've downloaded the latest version of the bios which I will try to install, and I'm gunna go and buy some arctic silver 5.

Defiant · Post by **Defiant** » Sat Feb 19, 2005 5:33 pm

I bought and put on some Artic Silver 5, and now it's registering 50 C/122 F. Thanks guys!