Core2 Temp

[qwazzy]

I used ASUS' utility to see the tempereture. I have 36 celsius at start and it the CPU temp is now 56 and in medium load. Are these even close to the right temperetures because when I touch the heatsink it's not hot. My 7600GT runs hotter than that. I didn't use Arctic Silver. Should I go buy some? I'm going to Fry's anyways.

 

[DaveUK]

Sounds reasonable... are you using an aftermarket or stock cooler?

If you are using stock, you'd find that by cleaning the thermal compound off (use Arcticlean) and then mounting a better cooler (Zalman 9500 or Scythe NinjaPlus w/120mm fan for instance) with Arctic Silver 5 - you would probably see a temperature drop of roughly 10 degrees plus across the board.

However, your temps seem to be within spec; I wouldn't suggest you need to change the cooler unless you are looking to overclock or want a quieter machine (both the aforementioned coolers would be alot quieter than the stock HSF). I would, though, recommend a careful application of Arctic Silver 5 in place of the stock thermal compound. Even that will drop your temps by a few degrees...

 

[DaveUK]

I'd beg to differ, Arctic Silver 5 is generally 2-3 degrees better than stock compound after bed-in time. When you consider than one tube of AS5 lasts AGES, its a worthy investment for anyone who builds their own PC's.

You'll also find that doing the same with your graphics card HSF will normally give a noticeable improvement.

 

[mikeny]

I get 50C idle, on stock cooling. Gets to like 57C under load, sometimes 60C when running 4 Prime 95 sessions.

Arctic Silver 5 might help like 1C, so it's not worth it.

As for video card, try changing fan speeds to cool the card.

Hi Prozac. Do you think my mobo is reporting wrong temperatures??

CPU hovers around 93-97c
system hovers 43-45c

Yet when I feel inside the case, its not warm and the HS doesnt feel hot at all to the touch. Its the retail intel fan. I also used cool master thermal compound. I was going to replace the HS with a zalman or thermaltake heatsink (leaning towards the thermaltake hs). Is my compound ok, cause I have that on the processor. I was also thinking of buying another fan for the case ( i have 2 big ones...One in the front, the other is a exhaust fan on the side)

 

[Grimmy]

8O . o O ( CPU hovers around 93-97c )

Try that ThrottleWatch program to see if its throttling.

I guess the question is what really causes the actual throttling, the bios reading or the CPU itself?

 

[Grimmy]

He hasn't installed windows just yet, his bios may be buggy and calculating the wrong temperature or he may have written down the deg F rather than noted Deg C. 93-97 is roughly the F equivalent of 43-45 Deg C.

If it is cool to the touch, then I don't think there are any worries here.

Jack

Ahh.. didn't know he didn't have OS installed.

Though if it was misread, and was 97F, should be around 36-37C.

I did find this webpage that has an applet near the bottom.

Might be handy for those who want to convert C to F.

Temperature Calculator

Edit: Errr.. 36.5 C for 97.7F :lol:

 

[mikeny]

LOL celcius is a killer. To much math lol. I could swear it was saying 97c unless the bios misrepresented it.

Sorry I should of said that im still in the bios part. I havent added windows and all drivers for my system yet. I was just making sure my system is stable before I load everything.

 

[turpit]

F to C = 5x('F-32)/9

C=5(97-32)/9=36.1C

 

[qwazzy]

F to C = 5x('F-32)/9

C=5(97-32)/9=36.1C

Right...
lol im too young and i dont understand any of that...well kinda lol

 

[jaguarskx]

8O . o O ( CPU hovers around 93-97c )

Try that ThrottleWatch program to see if its throttling.

I guess the question is what really causes the actual throttling, the bios reading or the CPU itself?

I seem to be getting some strange readings. My E6600 in a MSI 975X Platinum with a Scythe Ninja sitting on top of it is reporting idle temps of 57C and load temps of 80C. I'm currently encoding an MPEG file to DivX and since the program is not multi-threaded, the CPU load is only 50%. The Ninja's fins are definitely cool to the touch, even the lower ones that are close to the CPU.

I guess I'll just reapply AS5 and see what happens, but first I gotta buy some isopropyl (rubbing) alcohol.

Unfortunately SpeedFan and MBM5 doesn't support the MSI 975X Platinum yet, but Core Temp Beta 0.9.0.92 does. After stressing the CPU for a while and rebooting to get into the BIOS, the BIOS reports a temperature of about 70C.

 

[redraider_gamer]

Core 2 should run 39c-44c in idle and no more then 59c on full load. More likely around 51c-53c. If your running 60+ you need to reseat the HSF. Here is the Intel site that defines the thermal properties of the Core 2's:

ftp://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/31327801.pdf

See chapter 5. It clearly shows that you should never get above 60.1c

Bottom line: If your getting above 53c, reseat the HSF or get a better one. I like the Thermaltake Big Typhoon, but any of the high end HSF's should work. Check out the "sticky" in the Overclocking CPU forum here on TG. The writer put together a great list of HSF for use with the Core 2. Make sure you apply thermal paste correctly. There are many posts with this info in the CPU forum.

Interstingly, this has probably been one of the most popular questions in the forumz since the Core 2 came out.

My Rig:
Core 2 Duo X6800 Conroe (Stock Clock for Now)
Intel D975XBXLRK
Thermaltake Big Typhoon HSF
2 GB Corsair Pro PC6400 4-4-4-15
74GB 10k Raptor
ATI X1900XTX
SB Audigy 2 ZS
NEC DVD OEM Burners (x2)
Ultra X-Finity 600w SLi Certified PS
Gigabyte 3D Aurora Case

 

[The_OGS]

LoL - just a little metric input here: human body temperature is 98.6F which is 37C. (Kinda helps you get a feel for the temps.)
If your CPU is hot, but 'the fins feel cool', you obviously have poor contact between CPU and cooler.
Clearly the fins should be hot and CPU cool! I could install any cooler I wish, but the stock Intel one is excellent. These Conroe (and Allendale) CPUs run very cool.
The stock cooler has thermal compound pre-installed, note that this works as well as ArcticSilver or whatever but is just a one-time product. Once installed, heated, and then cooled (overnight) it has melted into place and made its seal. However, if you remove the cooler (or even move it slightly which will break the seal) you must start over!
Clean both mating surfaces well and then reinstall with ArcticSilver.
Testing has shown that the very lowest CPU temps come with the OEM cooler compound - ArcticSilver comes very close or equal, but the white crappy compound leads to slightly higher temps.
My E6400 runs 40C and hits ~54C under full load.
With Speedstep enabled (like right now) it runs 1600MHz @ 1.050v with temps in the 30's...
So if your CPU is HOT but

when I feel inside the case, its not warm and the HS doesnt feel hot at all to the touch

...this is not good.
Regards

 

[Granite3]

My asus p5b dlx wifi showed the 47c idle temps prior to installing the OS, then the same after the OS. New, updated bios, and wham, idle is now 35c, hitting 47c on lad for a few hours.

e6600, coolermaster hsf, and AS5 thermal compound.

The updated bios was the trick in my case.

 

[jaguarskx]

If your CPU is hot, but 'the fins feel cool', you obviously have poor contact between CPU and cooler.
Clearly the fins should be hot and CPU cool! I could install any cooler I wish, but the stock Intel one is excellent. These Conroe (and Allendale) CPUs run very cool.

Well after cleaning off the Ninja, reapplying AS5(using the same procedure as before), and re-seating the Ninja my temps are now good. The CPU idles at about 36C, and under 1 hour full load the temp is hovering at 52/53C. The all the fins still feels cool to the touch.

Not sure why I had bad temps before since all the mounting clips were secure and I applied the same amount of AS5 and spread it correctly. Oh well, I'll just chalk it up as a fluke.

 

[graysky]

Core 2 should run 39c-44c in idle and no more then 59c on full load. More likely around 51c-53c. If your running 60+ you need to reseat the HSF. Here is the Intel site that defines the thermal properties of the Core 2's:

ftp://download.intel.com/design/processor/datashts/31327801.pdf

See chapter 5. It clearly shows that you should never get above 60.1c

Someone should make this info a sticky -- there are many "temps" posts about these core 2 chips.

 

[martyjs]

I just sold 2 C2D systems, checked the temp and both were running between 35c to 39c durning software installation and general testing.