Does heat matter?

[wunderbaum]

I'm running my 2.4C @ 3.1 GHz. The voltage is 1.55 default and its really stable.

It gets quite hot though 52 deg C or 126 Fah full load. 37 or 97 idle.

Does heat kill CPU:s in the long run or can you relax so long the voltage is low? .

[Gautam]

52°C is by no means even a high temperature. Ultimately, heat does kill processors, but takes so long that you probably wouldn't even live to see it happen :D. Stability is all that matters; even if you're running in the 60's but are stable, it shouldn't be a concern.

[I.M.O.G.]

He is running Intel... Do they have the same heat tolerances that AMD does? I thought 52C was pretty darn warm for an Intel chip, even though it's not completely abnormal for an AMD'er. I don't really know much about Intels though.

[Gautam]

I know for a fact that most oc'ed Intels run at at least as high temperatures as AMD's. I doubt that high temperatures are dangerous for either. Each have been designed to sustain temperatures well in excess of 50 or even 60°C. Neither should have problems with high temperatures. They would reach instability far before any temperature could possibly be dangerous.

[Deathknight]

In the end your chip will die a lonely death sitting in a corner somewhere unused before it dies from heat ;)

[Fever]

While AMD chips handle heat better, I don't think 52c is too much for any Intel. I'd start sweating at around 60c.

[Gautam]

I'd like to know where people get the idea of what temperature is dangerous. Do you have any evidence supporting certain temperatures to be dangerous? As far as I remember, Intel listed their max as something around 75°C.

[I.M.O.G.]

Originally posted by Gautam
I'd like to know where people get the idea of what temperature is dangerous. Do you have any evidence supporting certain temperatures to be dangerous? As far as I remember, Intel listed their max as something around 75°C.

I have no idea about Intel, like I said... But as far as AMD is concerned, their information is available through their whitesheets. I can look up their values there if you want something exact. I know, as long as I remember correctly that their recommended max temperatures for athlons are around 65C (or was it 75C?) and their maximum operating temperature is 95C. I'm a little foggy on those numbers though, it would do me good to look them up again. I'll be right back. :)

EDIT: The max die temp of an Athon XP model 10 (barton) is 85C accoding to this pdf:

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/26237.PDF

All these were found through ask.amd.com:

Duron model 3 & 7 max die temp are 90C

K6 families are either 65 or 70 C depending on the chip

XP palomino is 90C

XP thoroughbred is 85C or 90C depending on the chip

Athlon is 95 or 90C depending on the chip

Thunderbird is 70C

Here is a direct quote reflecting the information that I previously based my assumption upon:

Although "normal" operating temperatures are not specified for AMD processors, there are maximum operating temperature ratings that must not be exceeded. The maximum operating temperature of a processor may be determined by the processor's Ordering Part Number (OPN). Refer to the processor's data sheet for additional information (data sheets may be downloaded from the Technical Documents page). Typically, the maximum operating temperatures for Socket A AMD Athlon™ and AMD Duron™ desktop processors are 90 degrees Celsius for processors operating up to 1GHz, and 95 degrees Celsius for processors operating above 1GHz.

If you use some of these keywords on ask.amd.com you will find this information: "normal operating temperature Athlon Duron"

[c627627]

Originally posted by Gautam
Stability is all that matters; even if you're running in the 60's but are stable, it shouldn't be a concern.

I have a friendly question, how would that be different from:
"Even if you're running in the 70's but are stable, it shouldn't be a concern?"
or
"Even if you're running in the 80's but are stable, it shouldn't be a concern?"


Is stabilty what it's all about then?

I know mobos are notorious for misreporting true temps but should we not then stop talking about them and use Prime95 12 hours as measurement.

Or maybe if we said, it's xx degrees higher than when I first turned it on at stock. Even though I agree with what Gautam is saying, I'd like to hear facts from the other side of this debate that would contradict the "temps don't matter" view.

[Cytomax]

let me start off by saying thats a nice OC and further that by saying that ur temps should be fine but if they do bother you then why not dish out like $50 for a bestly Thermalright SLK-947U?

[wunderbaum]

I can overclock a bit more up to say 3.2 GHz but I have a feeling that it will hurt my CPU:s life-time but I could be all wrong.

[shiyan]

well, I think as long as you are still at default voltage, you can overclock to as far as it is still stable, and as far as your temperatures are not alarming to you.

On the temperature side, I don't think it is too hot, as my 2.26 cooled by a Alpha + very slow fan is around 57.

I once tried to kill a 2.26 by leaving it at 1.8v and 100 degrees C for 2 days. It did not die. During that whole time it was still stable, at 100 degrees C!

You have a very nice chip.

[deathman20]

The Intel CPU's will shut down if it gets really hot (spares its life and you shellin out $$$ for another). Before it reaches the limit it actually starts to throtle down. In other words dropping the multiplier in the CPU to reach a cooler tempature overall.

Intel Chips are known for thermal protection in it. You could run without a heat sink on it and it would still run but just much slower then it normally would, or it won't boot up because it has to much heat and will shut down the system.

Throtle temps for P4's are around 67-72C if not mistaken and shut down is shortly after that (you can also set shutdown temp in BIOS). BTW nice OC for those temps, get a better cooler would be recomended and is nice to make sure it runs stable in summer mainly, and well cooler in winter time.

You can look at my sig right now is what it runs in winter for temps and summer its 40C on the CPU about. I try not to get close to 50C, mid 45's is a nice comfort spot for many and well anything lower then 40 is really nice.

With the setup you got I'd say don't try to hit over 60C. I don't know how acurate your temp sensor is on your board but I know on Abits it over reads by about 8-10C. When I was running air on my older chip it was running around 50C (60C according to sensors). Who knows maybe with that board you might be 5C to high on the sensor, so ask around in the intel motherboards forum for further info on it.

[shiyan]

Very nice avatar Deathman20. It's a McLaren F1 right?

I'm not so sure about running without a heatsink.

On my IT7 I could not get that to work, despite having thermal throttling turned on in the bios.

When I used the Alpha and covered it with paper, I was able to keep it at around 100 degrees C. Any higher and it would just shut down the computer. Removing the heatsink also resulted in the computer shutting down immediately.

I did see that video from Toms though, with the Thunderbird, Palomino and P4, where they ran the P4 without a heatsink. So it does work, but I could not get it to work on my motherboard.

[kfunk]

that temp shouldn't kill your cpu tomorrow but eventually it will. By then, you probably upgrade to a new processor anyways.

[deathman20]

Originally posted by shiyan
Very nice avatar Deathman20. It's a McLaren F1 right?

That it is a MClaren F1 :) God love that car to bad can't bring it into the states, would just love to take it out for a quick test drive (you know around the block, half way across the US, bring it back and then drive off again right before you hand the keys over to the owner). Trying to make a 3D Model of one and replace my avatar with that.

[kfunk]

3D model would be tight! :)

[unreal]

ok cpu life,, when made is suppose to last 10 years before dieing, oc'ing will slowly take some of that life away, but really,,, do you plan on upgrading qithin the next 7 years? and when u upgrade, u can underclock it if u want it to become a server machine..

[]-[itman]

You also should know that there have been many cases where running at high temps has severely limited the overclock ability of the chip over time.

[deathman20]

Originally posted by ]-[itman
You also should know that there have been many cases where running at high temps has severely limited the overclock ability of the chip over time.

Doh forgot about that one, good call. Very true on this one had experiance with my 1.6a only doing 2.4ghz until i hit water which increased it to 2.54 abouts. Not much but it was fun to watercool.

Average temps was around 50-55C actual temp (60-65 monitor temp). Good old Abit boards. :D

[Mark Larson]

It only mattered back when AMD had hotter chips. Now that its Intel leading the space heater crowd, it doesn't matter.

[kfunk]

Originally posted by ]-[itman
You also should know that there have been many cases where running at high temps has severely limited the overclock ability of the chip over time.

Good example? My cpu.