High Temp? 1

[Stretchy]

Just wondering if anyone can confirm that my computer is running at too high a temperature....

My Kit:
AMD Athlon XP-2100
ASUS A7V333 RAID Motherboard
512MB PC2700 DDR
CoolerMaster ATC201 Case - two 80mm front intakes 1 rear intake and 1 top exhaust 80mm fan... all working

CoolerMaster HCC-001 Copper Heat Pipe Heat Sink
A Card Cooler exhaust fan mounted above the PCI and AGP slots close to the CPU and Heatsink.

The temp
Averages between - 50C and 57C (which i feel is too high)

There is silicon paste between the heatsink and cpu, however, upon opening the case I found that the heatsink was looking a tad wonky on the cpu and i moved it back.... should i be able to do this? or should it be stuck fast to the processor?

Thx for any help _______________
Stretchy

 

[Pyramus]

That temperature's ok. You sure have enough case fans, does it sound like a 747 taking off?

 

[Stretchy]

Yes it does P-) which is also kind of annoying _______________
Stretchy

 

[GoLdFiNgeR]

i dont think it should, i have the same case and it isnt that loud, maybee a fan is going or isnt screwed down enought and it vibrating?

 

[paparazi]

1 rear intake?????? is this top rear near the CPU? if so it is definately best exhausting, I have tried this mounting point both ways and although it sounds like a good idea blowing cool air in at this top point near the CPU it does work better as an exhaust.
51-57C is this idle? trouble is this could easily be 10 degrees higher during an intensive gaming session or heavey file swopping.
I know you have an XP2.1+ so you are going to have problems keeping the temp down, your 57C ideally should be your ABSOLUTE MAX! XP's can go a bit flakey if allowed creep into the low 60's.
AMD's official figure for sustained max is 70C (95C burn out) but this is generally regarded as far too high for a stable system, most accept 60C as being the MAXIMUM for Athlons and XP's for a stable setup.
What you are going to be able to achieve will be mostly down to how warmer climate you live in, in a temperate climate like here in the UK I would say your setup should keep your processor in the low 50's but in warmer countries high 50's might be all you can get.
I would always re-apply a good quality heatsink paste if I had moved it any, and if it had the original "pad" then it wants taking off anyway! cleaning, and a small amount of quality paste applying. Martin Just trying to help, sometimes falling short, I am only human after all.

 

[Stretchy]

It will generally stick to about 53C idle and during games or file movement (heavy load) will gradually creep up to 57C (very gradual). I'll try reversing the rear fan and see if that helps. Is it easy to remove the layer of paste from the cpu? Would putting an 80mm fan adapter on the heatsink help?
And yes I get a buzzing sound every so often, which i thought maybe one of the fans... I'll check up on that too. _______________
Stretchy

 

[Shohan]

In my opinion you are running a little hot. I have:

XP 1900+
SL-75DRV5
1Gb Corsair PC-2700
Antec SX1040B
4 ThermalTake Smart Fans (2 bottom front intake, 2 top rear exhaust)
P/S fan exhausting, as well.
Thermalright AX-7 w/ 80 CFM Delta

(Yeah I know I gotta a harrier on my desk

With all this I never get above 40C. And thats after some heavy usage!!! I know I got the 1900+ opposed to your 2100+ but still mid to high 50C sounds hight to me. I agree with Paparazi about the thermal paste. Maybe, also, looking into a CPU Shim? This will increase the amount of contact area between the CPU and the heatsink. FYI I had a little problem with heat in my last PC where I fried the CPU within 5 hours of having it so I may be a little over attentive of this problem.

 

[paparazi]

Have you got the standard fan fitted that came with the coolermaster heatpipe? not sure exactly what that will be but is likely to be a fairly average 23-27CFM unit.
The problem is if you want to improve the heatsinks efficiency you will need something more powerful than this! but bigger CFM means loader noise!!!! and that is where the 60-80mm fan adapter comes into play, you can get say a 38CFM 80mm fan that is about as noisey as your standard 60mm 27CFM (bigger fans are generally quieter for a given CFM rating)
What we have all missed in these threads so far is an indication of what your system temperature is?
Although this temperature doesn't on the face of it have much importance, but what this temperature indicates is how warm the AIR IS in your case! so if it is significantly higher than ouside ambient air temperature this is a clear indication of poor air/case circulation.
It is after all this warm case air that your CPU fan is blowing onto the heatsink, the closer you can get your case air temp to outside ambient temperature, the better chance your heatsink/fan will have cooling that hot XP chip down.
It is also very important that internal wiring is kept neat and IDE cables routed to allow for maximum air flow.
And after kidding myself for three months that my rear fan worked better blowing onto my CPU I turned it around to exhaust and had an imediate 5C drop! I was amazed to say the least! Martin

Just trying to help, sometimes falling short, I am only human after all.

 

[Stretchy]

For my sys temperature I'm guessing that CoolerMaster is living up to its name at 30C (7C lower than room temp). I'm using the original high power CoolerMaster Fan that came with the heatsink. I tried fitting the 80mm one yesterday but it wasnt powerful enough. Someone plz explain waht shims are?. Was wrong about it being an intake on the rear it is actually an exhaust . _______________
Stretchy

 

[Stretchy]

Or that mebbe MoBo temperature.... _______________
Stretchy

 

[paparazi]

Sorry to point this out but it is impossible to have an air cooled case cooler than the air surrounding it !
It is more likely that 30C is your system temperature and that if you had a hand held thermometer your outside case (ambient) temp would be something around 25C.
it would then follow that your CPU temp would be higher again (53-57C) I think you said.
Given that your case temp is 30C , which is very good!
your CPU temp of 57max appears a little high.
If you purchaced the high power version (HHC-001) you have a 36.1CFM fan which is pretty powerful and should be up to the job but the HHC-L61 (same heatsink but 27CFM fan) is probably not powerful enough for a XP2.1+.
Having a little more information now I would say that you do need to remove all the remnants of the original thermal transfer pad (if it had one) and refit with a high quality heat transfer paste like Artic Silver II.
And regards your 60-80mm fan adapter, if the 80mm fan idea is going to improve your cooling you need to buy an 80mm fan with a higher CFM rating than the
36.1CFM of your existing 60mm, it's all down to how much air it can move! Martin
Just trying to help, sometimes falling short, I am only human after all.

 

[Stretchy]

Cheers. Its the high powered HCC-001 so its very noisy, Can you recommend powerful 80mm fan which is no higher than 30Db on noise scale?
Will a shim also help me, plz explain wot it is and wot it does?

thx 4 all your help _______________
Stretchy