New to custom PC building

[Loboexe]

OK I'm a new to this even if I have been working with computers for 27 years.

I have just put together a new system, its not earth shattering but its not bad. I run a Gigabyte GA-7N400 Pro MB with an 2600+ chip.

My question is at what point should I worry about the core temp of the AMD? The spec says 80d C is its top limit, I know the cooler the better but how cool is cool.

I have the standard cooler fan and heatsync on the AMD and have fitted a case fan. The chip is running at 70d C after I whacked up the multiplier on the motherboard.

Do you experts think this is too high?

If it is what can I do about it?

Will moving the system fan around and therefore altering the airflow inside the case make a difference?

 

[Robbie]

70 is WAY TOO HOT!!! 50C is just about the highest you should go. I assume your not folding or running seti.

If you take the side cover of your case off and your temps drop down quite a bit you'll need to work on your case ventilation. (after you set the multi back to stock)

If they don't then you need to check and make sure that you mounted the HSF correctly.
I hope that helps,
Rob

 

[-=Ambush=-]

Well first off...

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS!

..and yes 70c is WAY too hot, stick to no more than 55c when at full load for an hour or more. Also, if you plan of OCing, stock is never the way to go . Always upgrade to a more efficient cooling appareatus (i.e. better heatsink and fan, water cooling, pelt etc). And for you case cooling you want the intake in the front bottom and side panel and exaust on the top and rear.

Like Robbie said if you take off your side cover and the temps drop, you need better air flow.

And also don't for get the TIM. Get some Arctic silver 5 and apply it to your HS core (just do a search for thermal adhesive).

And finally, just browse the forums, you learn tons just by reading each thread.

Hope I helped.

 

[zabomb4163]

just a few questions

1) what case are you using?
2) what TIM did you use? (thermal interface material)
3) what fsb and multiplier are you currently running?
4) is that 70C under load or idle?
5) what vcore are you running?

 

[clocker2]

Assuming that you are using the newest version of the AMD HS (thin, skived fins) then I would look carefully at your installation.
The stock heatsink is capable of much better performance than 70C.

 

[Deathknight]

Yeah 70c is too hot on an overclocked machine. What temps were you getting at stock speeds and how much did you OC? Was that temp taken under load or at idle?

 

[Loboexe]

Thanks for the help guys,

I have knocked 5 or 6 degrees of the temp, not enough I know but it is now running at 64/65 at load, well with seti running all the time.

I have tried opening the case, it did not make a massive difference, the case temp climed a bit but only 1 0r 2 degrees come off the chip.

I have dropped the multiplyer a little to ease the strain but I am not trying to reach new limits I am happy to have a faster than average reliable system. So I am going to invest in a better heatsync first to see what that does, then maybe an extra fan but the noise is a problem now (the PC sits in the main room) so an extra fan would add to that. I think that the fan on the current cooler is noisy so I might have to think about getting ultra quiet fans all round.

To answer some of the questions

Not sure what make the case is, its brushed ali with 4 5in and 2 3.5in openings with space for 4 more dives in side. The front has two built in neon modules running top to bottom along the front edges of the case, these are switchable to a steady colour or can change colour. There is also the option to fit 2 USB ports and a firwire port to the bottom of the front of the case.

It has the supplied PSU (350W) and a pre-installed window in the lefthand side cover, I have added an extra blue neon fan to the upper fan position at the rear.

The Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA7N400 Pro2, I have 778Mb of DDR RAM and have fitted an AMD 2600+ Barton chip. With all the options on the board I currently have it clocked at 2MHz.

Thats it realy, I have a 4X AGP (Crative) NVidia MX440 graphics card in it for now but will upgrade that at some point. I have a Creative Live sound card, again that will get upgraded in time.

I have 2 CD/RW DVD drives and 2 HD, a 60Gb and a 12Gb.

That's it, probably tame by your standards.

 

[Sharkman]

Its a little late but Welcome to the Forums!!

Not completely tame That case sounds really cool. If you could post some pics that would be excellent. If your looking at better air cooling I would highly suggest either the slk-947U or the SP-97. If your a little tight for cash right now (and who isn't with christmas and all) the slk-900A does and excellent job also. Paired with a good cfm 92mm fan you would probably see about a 10 - 15 degree drop in temps with one of those HSF's. Also I switched from 1 80mm front case fan to 2 92mm fans and I noticed around a 6 degree cpu temp drop in MBM5. Don't know if you would be able to fit 92's in your case though. Need pic's

 

[prankstar008]

Not a bad system...go get a thermalright HS over at newegg.com and some arctic silver 5 put those together and add your smart fan.....your temps should drop enough for a small multiplier increase...and the noise should drop also

 

[Robbie]

Yeah, I would think about an new HSF then.
Rob

 

[newg]

those temps seem a little high even with stock cooling.......i'll second the SLK w/AS and a good re-install................