P4 Overheating & typical temperatures

You should not have used Artic Silver on your cpu.
The Intel stock heat sink already has a thermal interface on it.
By adding more thermal compound you are restricting the transfer of heat from the cpu to the heat sink.
You should take off the heat sink and clean all the Artic Silver and the thermal interface compound off the cpu and heat sink.
Use rubbing alcohol, a soft cotton cloth and cotton swabs to clean the cpu and heat sink. The heat sink most likely has a soft aluminum tape on the bottom where it interfaces with the cpu. Do not damage the soft aluminum tape. Just use rubbing alcohol and a cotton cloth to rub away the black thermal compound.
After cleaning the cpu and heat sink apply a VERY THIN layer of Artic Silver on the cpu heat spreader plate.
Then reinstall the heat sink.
Also the P4 3.06 requires extra case cooling. Make sure you have at least one fresh air intake fan and one exhaust fan in your case. As well your case should be a midtower or larger with a quality power supply that has a power rating of 350W or more.

<font color=red><i>Doctor Hooter</i></font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.page3.com/" target="_new"><b>(·Y·)</b></A>

I don't mean to contradict you but the heatsink didn't have any thermal interface to it. As for the case cooling I didn't know it needed those case fans, altought I have a Enermax 450 W with double fan. Is that sufficient ?

My MB temperature is about 36 ( when case open) and about 40 when closed. Is that too hot ? And finally what temp should I expect for the CPU ( I figure 40 at idle and 46-48 at full load but I just want to make sure)

Did you get an OEM CPU or an Intel Retail Boxed CPU?
When you said you had a stock heat sink I thought you had a retail boxed cpu. Intel retail boxed cpu's come with heat sinks that have the TIM (Thermal Interface Material) pre applied. Intel boxed cpu's come with high quality heat sink fans with a very good TIM.
If you have an OEM cpu and a seperatly purchased heat sink fan it makes sense that you used Artic Silver because many third party HSF's do not have TIM pre applied.
If I were you I would add at least one exhaust fan to the case and see how it affects the case and cpu temps.
I have a 2.40B and my idle temp averages 32C and full load temp averages 45C.
With the 3.06 and your full load temp averages less than 50C you have nothing to worry about.


<font color=red><i>Doctor Hooter</i></font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.page3.com/" target="_new"><b>(·Y·)</b></A>

It is a retail box cpu and I'm sure it didn't have a thermal inteface material unless it is invisible. When you talk about a TIM you mean a little pad? I didn't have that the surface is all copper. the CPU did came with a seringe which I didn't used (took the AS III).

As someone else has already explained, it is likely that you have problems with the mating surfaces of the heat sink and cpu chip.

The first thing to do is double check that the Heat Sink you have is rated for your CPU.

If it is, take off the heat sink and clean it thorougly with rubbing alcohol, make sure there is no thermal compound anywhere on the sink. Also make sure you do not have a pre-aplied thermal interface on that heat sink, if it's there it will look either like a small square of foil with a black material underneath or a patch of rubbery stuff. Remove that also.

Now take the CPU out of the socket and clean it with alcohol and a q tip... get all the heat sink grease off it as well.

Both CPU and HSF should be cleaner than new. Both should be bare metal surfaces, at this point.

Now put a small spot of heat sink grease about the size of a match head on the cpu. Tap it out across the entire top metal surface of the cpu. It really doesn't matter which heat sink grease you use. What matters is that you have a <b>very thin and even layer</b> across the entire heat transfer plate of the cpu. More is not better.

Next put the CPU back into it's socket and make sure that when you close the ZIF lock, the CPU is sitting flat against the socket... this is very important to getting a good contact with the heat sink.

Now, put the heatsink back on... If it has a step on the bottom be sure the high part of the step is over the cam box of the ZIF socket. Backwards spells disaster.

Do up the clips for the heat sink and give it a very gentle rotary twist back and forth with your hand. Don't force it, just make sure it's well seated and locked into place.

If you would like illustrated instructions on how to apply heat sink grease, you can find them here: <A HREF="http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions...." target="_new">http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions....;/A>

Finally, when you restart your computer, immediately jump into the BIOS and be sure the frequencies and voltages are set right for your particular chip. Over voltage == more heat. Overclocking == even more heat.

And as has already been suggested, you probably do need to significantly increase the airflow through your case. At least ad an exhaust fan on the back.

Your final temps should be in the high 30s or low 40s.







<b>(</b>It ain't better if it don't work.<b>)</b>

2.8 P4 and slower use an aluminum heat sink with the TIM pre applied. It's a black material.
I have never installed a 3.06 P4. I know it uses a different style heatsink because of the high heat dissipation of the cpu.
You have done nothing wrong. The higher temps are to be expected with the 3.06 P4.
Although I still recommend using a case exhaust fan. An intake fan will help too.

It's my fault for assuming the heatsink for the 3.06 would be similar as the heatsinks used for slower clocked P4's
I made an ass out of myself.

<font color=red><i>Doctor Hooter</i></font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.page3.com/" target="_new"><b>(·Y·)</b></A>

I would have done the same thing, I'm glad it was you this time!

<font color=blue>Watts mean squat if you don't have quality!</font color=blue>

Your CPU is running too hot, possibly because of your case temps and restricted air flow.

Get a bigger case or add more fans

The 3.06 comes with a new heat sink with a copper base plate and aluminum fins. The fan is slightly bigger too. There is no TIM on the heat sink, you are supplied with compound in the retail box. I think it is shintsu

Your CPU should be 44c or cooler normally

<b>"Granted I dont own a P4. But I read enough stuff and waste enough time on forums newsgroups IRC and computer news sites that I proberly know more then if I DID own a P4." -vk2amv</b>

Could it be that I'm not putting enough thermal compound
I tried putting a very thin layer like most people told me too (and following instructions from the AS website) Results : 57 idle and 67 under load. WORSE ! I tried putting a little more (49 iddle 57-60 under load)

And to reinforce my beliefs look at the intel manual or check this page. http://support.intel.com/support/processors/pentium4/in...

figure 8 is pretty convincing. They ask to put the whole seringe (of shin etsu microsi) in the middle and compress the material. I don't know what to think now. What's your take on this

All the above should work, as long as you have a thin layer on the CPU.

There might be a problem with the diode reading too high too. Did you check other P4G8X threads for similar problem?

<b>"Granted I dont own a P4. But I read enough stuff and waste enough time on forums newsgroups IRC and computer news sites that I proberly know more then if I DID own a P4." -vk2amv</b>

Have you followed the idea of ventilating your case better? I can just imagine you sitting there with a R9700 Pro, P4 3.06G and fast harddrive running in a microATX case in a room being heated to 30oC. If this is you, sort it out! Your heatsink cant cool if it isnt supplied with cool air.

<A HREF="http://service.futuremark.com/compare?2k1=5467618 " target="_new">Almost Breaking 12k!!</A>

I tried everything. Here are the results :

Open Case : 47-48 C iddle - 60 heavy load MB temp is 33
Closed case : 51 idle - 62 heavy load MB temp : 37
Open Case with a huge fan blowing air :
44 idle - 59 heavy load MB temp is 23-25

Yeah it helps a little, but not enough for my taste.
Intel says for the 3.06 a ambient temp of under 36 should be perfect. They just don't say what an average CPU temp should be at idle and under load

With your machine up to temp touch the heatsink, if it is cool to barely warm your mobo is reporting wrong. If it is hot then you have a problem. The fins should not reach 100F normally.

<b>"Granted I dont own a P4. But I read enough stuff and waste enough time on forums newsgroups IRC and computer news sites that I proberly know more then if I DID own a P4." -vk2amv</b>

I own a p4 2.53...not my first either....it was running hot...160f and thats the top for it...I ordered a copper heat sink for it and after it came in I discovered I had a clamp on the fan that wasn't holding right, i fixed it after the fact and with the new copper which i didn't need and the top temp with load is now 116f..man did I all most lose a good chip ...gezzzzz...look to make sure its clamped down and stays that way...

Are you reading these temps using Anus Probe?
A lot of people call the hardware utility Asus Probe, Anus Probe because it is unreliable.
I don't use Asus boards so I can't recomend a different utility to read cpu temp.
I think SiSoft Sandra will give temp readings. But I am not sure. The same with Motherboard Monitor but I don't know if it is compatable with Asus boards.
Hopefully someone will suggest an alternative utility to use to read your cpu temp.
Anyway as someone else suggested if your heat sink is secured firmly and it's not too hot to touch you're ok.
Pesonally I feel if it doesn't reach 70C you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
My notebook runs in the high 50's while averaging a 20% load.
Without looking at the data sheet for the P4 3.06 I suspect the max junction temp is 100C. With it's overheat protection the cpu will shutdown before it reaches max junction temp.

<font color=red><i>Doctor Hooter</i></font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.page3.com/" target="_new"><b>(·Y·)</b></A>

Made an ass out of myself again.
Max junction temp is 69C
link
<A HREF="http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sS..." target="_new">http://processorfinder.intel.com/scripts/details.asp?sS...;/A>

<font color=red><i>Doctor Hooter</i></font color=red> <A HREF="http://www.page3.com/" target="_new"><b>(·Y·)</b></A>

IF max junction temp. is 69 and hes in the 60's....man id worry.......

i think u should go otu and buy urself a new heatsink bud....get one that has an all copper heatsink.....u need to bring those temps down!

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new">-MeTaL RoCkEr</A>