Too much heat?

[Henry Rollins II]

How much is idle temp on a Celeron 700(not overclocked) supposed to be? I´m having CPU temps of up to 57 degrees celcius. (case temp: 35 ambient: 23)
It feels high....I´m not really sure the CPU cooler is working as it should.

System specs:

Asus cuv4x-e + Asus iPanel(great stuff!)
NCP 256 Mb PC133 cas2
Alpha FC-PAL35T + Y.S. tech 21cfm(1.44 W)
Aopen HQ 08 + 300 W
2 x Samsung v11+ 30,7 Gb(ATA 100)
Fasttrack100 (RAID 0)
Inno3D GeForce2 MX400 64 Mb
SB 128
***

regards,
Henry.

 

[batboy]

Yes, the load temps are way too hot. I'd try removing the CPU cooler, looking it over, then carefully reinstalling it again with an even layer of thermal paste. Sometimes when putting those big sinks on, too much of the Arctic Silver gets squeezed out when you're pushing down on the retainer clip and screwing on the fan. It's happened to me before. Also, with system temps that high, you obviously need better air circulation in the case. You need fans to intake fresh air in and fans to exhaust the hot air out.

 

[Mr B]

batboy (May 26, 2001 09:21 a.m.):
Yes, the load temps are way too hot. I'd try removing the CPU cooler, looking it over, then carefully reinstalling it again with an even layer of thermal paste. Sometimes when putting those big sinks on, too much of the Arctic Silver gets squeezed out when you're pushing down on the retainer clip and screwing on the fan. It's happened to me before. Also, with system temps that high, you obviously need better air circulation in the case. You need fans to intake fresh air in and fans to exhaust the hot air out.

Exactly what I woulda said....=)

If your ambiant is 23c, and you case temp is 35c...you don't have near enough air circulating thru the case. This in turn will drive up the cpu temp.

There's a lot of good info in the "Tips and Techniques" (front page here), and in the "Cooling" section of the forums. If you can drop that case temp, the cpu temp will come down somewhat, as well....

Mr B

 

[Henry Rollins II]

It´s propably got something to do with the thermal paste as you say....the Alpha heatsink doesn´t touch the surface of the CPU without paste. I couldn´t get any artic silver paste, so I am using a standard silicon paste. But how much is too much?

regards,
Henry.

 

[batboy]

Whoa, hold it, stop. What do you mean it doesn't touch the CPU without thermal paste??? It better or you will have big trouble. I've never played with a PAL35T, but I have a PAL6035 and it sure works ok and touches the CPU. I didn't think there was that much difference in the two models. Does this sink have those 4 plastic stabilizer "feet" or are you using a copper shim? If so, get rid of them and try again. The fit of the heatsink against the CPU core is critical. Also, silcone thermal paste likes a thinner layer applied than Arctic Silver, in my experience.

 

[Henry Rollins II]

When I tried it on first(without the clip), there was still some thermal grease left on the cpu core from a another fan I used earlier - but when I removed it the copper base was still clean. I did what the manual says and put on a "generous amount"(about 1/5-1/6 of a 2g bag).

I left the plastic "legs" on. If they are the cause, and I remove them, will the CPU core really stand the pressure of this quite massive heat sink?

regards,
Henry.

 

[batboy]

If you take the little plastic dots off, just be careful when you install the sink. AMD has a bigger problem with "crushing" the core than Intel does. I have a GlobalWin FOP on a P-III and I also used it on a Celeron 566 with no problems. This sink is heavier than the Alpha (I think). You'll be ok if you're careful. Don't let the sink rock or tip when installing it. Try to hold it flat and steady against the CPU core as you snap the retainer clip into place. Also, sounds like maybe you used too much thermal paste. Hard to tell without looking for myself though. One last thought, double check that the sink was placed onto the CPU correctly. There should be a little slot along one or two edges of the sink contact area. Make sure that slot actually lines up with the one raised edge of the socket.

 

[Henry Rollins II]

Hmm...the Alpha heatsink requires a looot of pressure to install....I´m gonna try to scratch the pads down first.

BTW:Thanx for all ur help!

regards,
Henry.

 

[batboy]

Yes, sanding down those four little pads (plastic feet) is a good idea.

 

[sifu quoc]

yea... sand the feet down... and make sure the hsf touches the cpu.. then apply the thermal paste....

 

[Henry Rollins II]

Sanded the feet down, bought Artic Silver and three Papst 80 mm fans(one front 0.9W and two back 0.6 W). CPU temps dropped to 33/43(idle/full load), case temps to 26/32.

Sad enough, it still won´t boot at anything higher than about 900 Mhz, and is very unstable at all overclocked speeds, no matter the voltage. My RAID controller doesn´t seem to like altered PCI frequenzies either; it sometimes won´t boot.

Thanx for all ur tips!

regards,
Henry.

 

[Endeavor]

i have a suggestion for cooling the case
get a room fan (6-24 inches) and take off the side panels from ur case, im running at 23/23C (CPU and Case) average during the day 18/18 in the morning because its freezing in the San Diego morning. and have the fan constantly blow air into the case, but only when the comp is on, thats what i do