Is 58c normal on my MB?

[Eakster]

First of all I'm a newbie to all this and I apologise in advance for maybe asking some dumb questions.

I am running an unclocked P3 500 on a Super Gigabyte BX 2000 with GF2 MX 400 and no extra cooling. The system has always been stable.

I just downloaded and ran Hmonitor and was shocked to see my MB temp is 58c and CPU is 51c :eek:

First of all is this normal?

Hmonitor seems to allow you to adjust the red zones rendering it pretty useless to me to see 'normal' readings.
The MB temp is in the red zone and also I'm getting an 'Aux' voltage reading of +3.28v that is also showing in the red. There is no reading for the CPU cooling fan which is a bit worrying!

I have just opened up a load of ports on the case and moved my old Voodoo2 card over to get more air flowing but it's had a negligable effect on temps.

Unfortunately I didn't get the CD with the MB with monitoring software so am relying on this 3rd party stuff.

Any help or general advice would be much appreciated as I'm keen to have a go at clocking my ageing 500. I did look at the article on General Heat Transfer but I'm just starting at the basics here!

cheers
Eaks
:cool:

[Christoph]

Are you sure you didn't get those temps mixed up? It's a rare situation to see a mobo temp higher than a CPU temp.
As for the range, those are very hot. Many OCers hate to go near 55 and none I know of would be happy with 58, but that's because CPUs are less temperature tolerant when overclocked.
You can run acceptably at that temp, but I wouldn't recommend it, and most people would say get some better cooling regardless. Also, DON'T OVERCLOCK until you get better cooling.
Welcome to the forum, Eakster!

[Eakster]

Thanks feller!

Nope that is exactly what Hmonitor is telling me. 58c on the mb at idle. I got into the Bios last night and it confirmed my CPU temp as 51c but doesn't tell me what the mb is doing. The bios also gave me an rpm for the CPU fan so that seems to be ok. I'm off to buy some fans today :)

I don't suppose you know what the Aux voltage is about?

[Maximus Nickus]

aux temp is your power supply, and first of all maybe your monitor is giving off false readings as your bios tlls you the cpu temp is lower, try downloading motherboard monitor 5 or via hardware monitor to get accurate readings, what temp is your room at?
One reason for the heat could be the heatsink not on propaly, the big power acble in the way, dust clogging up the fan.
Get some arctic silver and apply a small layer on the cpu core, this should help drop the cpu to under 50C.
Let me know how you get on.
Nick

[TheCrow]

Welcome to OC Forums!:)

Yes, those temps are way 2 high!
Try downloading the lastest bios for your MB! The current one may be reading temps baddly!

Good luck!

[The Overclocker]

just make sure all the fans in your case are working, i am gussing you only have the cpu and power supply fan, trun it on without the case on and check the cpu fan and powersupply fan work, if they don't then replace them, if they do you should trun it off and check the heatsink is mounted correctly and that there is thermal paste in between the cpu and heatsink, if there is a solid the scratch it off and put some thermal paste on it

[The Overclocker]

you can buy thermal paste at maplins along with spare fans but you can get better stuff from www.overclockingstore.co.uk

[.. AE 86 ..]

it is rare to see that MB temps are higher than cpu temps. and yes, as said before, your temps are high..
for information on how to apply arctic silver, please visit http://www.arcticsilver.com

[Eakster]

Wow thanks fellers! I didn't think I'd get so many replies.
I got some fans in Maplins today - one sucker for the rear and one pusher for the front, if you get what I mean (sounds like a Marvin Gaye song :p ). I also saw a Blue Orb so now I know what one of those is!
The PSU fan is fine - I know, I'm on my 3rd PSU in as many years as I tend to use the comp for very long periods (grab yourselves a copy of Stronghold and you'll see what I mean!). I'll check CPU fan and the state of the heatsink tonight. Also I've got Motherboard Monitor5 now so I'll see what that tells me too.

thanks again guys :rolleyes:

[killem1x1]

Welcome to the forums, and you shouldn't be that high, especially running an intel chip. Ensure that everything is seated properly.

[Eakster]

Well I'm getting somewhere now. Tonight I installed my 2 new case fans.
I also discovered the CPU fan is on the way out and between the chip and heatsink was just some crumbly white powder. god knows what that was. I scraped it off and will get some of that cooling paste tomorrow and a new fan.

Temps are down to 46c for the mb and 39c for the cpu. I have figured out how to use MBM5 but I've got -48c for the 3rd temp reading so maybe it's reading my fridge or something :)

I think I know what's going on with the mb - I looked at some pics of my model on the Gigabyte site and it seems mine is missing it's heatsink! So I ripped the one off my old P2 350 mb and will stick that on tomorrow too.

Getting there! :D

[KLowD9x]

Originally posted by Eakster
Wow thanks fellers! I didn't think I'd get so many replies.
I got some fans in Maplins today - one sucker for the rear and one pusher for the front, if you get what I mean (sounds like a Marvin Gaye song :p ). I also saw a Blue Orb so now I know what one of those is!
The PSU fan is fine - I know, I'm on my 3rd PSU in as many years as I tend to use the comp for very long periods (grab yourselves a copy of Stronghold and you'll see what I mean!). I'll check CPU fan and the state of the heatsink tonight. Also I've got Motherboard Monitor5 now so I'll see what that tells me too.

thanks again guys :rolleyes: 14

Whut iz Stronghold?

[actorindp]

Running stable at 55??? wow

last year I did a project on heat versus stability.

I used a k62-300 and it was crashing at 60.
That can't be good for the life of the chip and board at all!

[Christoph]

What's so special about running stable at 55 °C?
Before I killed my CPU, I was running right around that range with no problems.
Soon, I'm going to a bong cooler, but that's so I can OC like mad.

BTW, T-Bird 1.4 266 AYHJA, A7M266, mini copper orb (don't tell me how much it sucks; I know very well)

[Maximus Nickus]

sounds cool, mount a 486fan and heatsink on the northbridge (most newer boards have em) its above the agp but below the processor little black thing that gets hot and will probably have intel on it, and you could buy some of the blowers they stock at maplins, but i would get some arctic silver too cool the cpu down.
And try bying them off www.overclockers.co.uk the overclockingstore i found to be more expensive on most things but a bit cheaper on others!

[Eakster]

Stronghold might be best left for the Games forum, KlowD ;)

http://www.fireflyworlds.com/stronghold_frameset.htm

aagh I've exposed my weakness!


Doh the mb in my computer is not the one on the box. Turns out I have a Super P6SBA and it doesn't come with a heatsink. I'll stick one on it anyway.

Just to give me a ballpark figure here, what temps do your mb's run at? Bear in mind I have a lowly unclocked P3 500


eaks

[Qualtran]

The fact that you are running stable at those temps with a gigabyte mobo doesnt really suprise me. I've talked to a bunch of people with Gigabyte, and it seems that their temperatures are really high, but systems are really stable. My system idles around 52C and runs at 63C full load, and its very stable. I've tried changing the cooling around, the heatsinks and everything, but I still get the same temps.

[IAMCanadian]

well with my water cooling I am gettng 25 cpu and 17 for north bridge
the north bridge is not water cooled but has a old 486 class cooler on it. 900 overclocked to 1080 my multipliers are screwed the fsb of my a7v is stable at 120any higher and no boot.

[Eakster]

Update on my cooling saga:

I replaced the CPU fan and bought a 486 heatsink and fan for the mb chip (the northbridge?) . Unfortunately because the Intel cpu is in a big plastic box and the heatsink sticks out over the mb chip there is no room to put the 486 cooler on. So I've stuck the little heatsink on it from my old mb.

Temps are now 41c for the mb and 35c for the cpu, so I guess I am ok to start clocking ?

A question - does overclocking the cpu put more pressure (ie heat) on the mb chip too? At least I know I have quite a big leeway now so room for both to heat up a bit.

Of course I could stop being such a skinflint and just go buy me a new processor :rolleyes: I can't believe how cheap they are now!

[Yodums]

OK You might wanna consider buying a thermal probe and find the accurate reading.. I've never seen cpu temp below a motherboard temperature...

The heat mostly comes from the cpu which expands into the motherboard ... And cool off as it expands...

For some reason doesn't make sense..

[Eakster]

Yes that sounds like good advice, Cricket. When I boot up the mb temp is instantly in the 30s which seems odd to me.

I also want to beef up my GF card and it seems sensible to be able to measure the temp of that too.

What's your story to get 575mhz from your 500? (I'm new round here :) )