Soaring CPU temperatures!

[Jonesy1499]

Hi all,

As some of you may remember I built a computer last month, and it has been working fine. But today I noticed that the CPU temps are very high. In abit EQ it went past 70 degrees celcius today (around 160 fahrenheit). I'm pretty sure it's normally below 30 celcius!

In the bios it was just at 82 degrees celcius (180 fahrenheit)! I've taken one of the doors off now, so in the Abit EQ it's down to 50.

What do you think is going on? I can't see anything unusual inside the comp. (It's a little dusty, but that shouldn't be it - after only a month?)

Before I built it, someone told me that I should be careful not to touch the CPU heatspreader, as this the oils of my skin could impede the heat flow to the heat sink. Unfortunately I wasn't able to head this advice and smeared my fingerprints all over it. Do you think that could be it?

(Also, I intelligently tried mashing the CPU in place while its plastic cover was stilll on. When I finally thought to remove the cover, the CPU made a horrible creaking noise when I locked it in place.)

(EDIT: These are idle temps, btw. It just went to 59 after playing a game - w. door open.)

 

[Daves255]

Are the temperatures you mentioned above individual core temperatures or tCase temperatures. I recommend you read CompuTronix's excellent guide http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/221745-29-core-quad-temperature-guide . The most important part for you right now is this:

Scale 2: Quad

Q6x00: Tcase Max 71c, G0 Stepping, Tjunction Max 100c, Vcore Default 1.372, TDP 95w, Delta 10c

-Tcase/Tjunction-
--70--/--80--80--80--80-- Hot
--65--/--75--75--75--75-- Warm
--60--/--70--70--70--70-- Safe
--25--/--35--35--35--35-- Cool

What this means is that the maximum temperature your CPU is rated to operate at is around 70C (or 80C for the hottest individual core). Your BIOS temperature is (if I'm not mistaken) the tCase temperature, which is 10C higher than what the maximum temperature it should be operating at is. Until you get the problem solved, it would be wise not to play any games until the temperatures are lower.
As for what's causing your excessive temperatures, you should first try reseating the heatsink. The Intel stock heatsink can be a pain to get on, and even one mis-latched pin can cause problems. You might also consider getting an aftermarket heatsink.
As for oils impeding heat flow, I wouldn't worry about it. At the temperature your CPU is at, especially a g0, it's probably something else. As a temporary solution, I'd recommend going in to your BIOS and manually turning Smart Fan off.

 

[Jonesy1499]

Thanks Daves255, much obliged!

You were quite right in that it was the heatsink that was loose. (Took me an hour to get the damn thing in place!!) Now the CPU temp is down to about 30 degrees c. in idle, and a little higher under load (in abit eq - probably a little lower in bios). That sounds okay, right?

What you quoted from the temp guide sounds like Chinese to me, to be honest, but I've printed the guide and will be reading it soon.

Cheers.

 

[Daves255]

Glad you got that working. 30 degrees C idle is an excellent temperature (though as you can see in the guide some temperature readings can be misleading, be sure to follow CompuTronix's calibrations section to make sure it's accurate). If there's anything about the guide you don't understand, try making a topic in the Overclocking forums...he seems to troll there more often than here.