Temp trouble

[R3POMAN]

Ok so i am having some concerns still about my temperature. I have been running speed fan and HWMonitor every time i jump on my computer, and i am consistently getting an idol temp of about 34, and a temp of about 45 to 50 when i am on the internet or gaming. From what i have read the danger zone is about 50 to 60 Celsius, and i feel like i am getting dangerously close.

My processor is a Phenom II X4, and so far to fix this problem myself i have installed an aftermarket heatsink (arctic cooler 64), installed 2 120mm and a 90mm fans, and told my computer to run them all on full from the bios. I would consider reapplying a better thermal paste, but i think sense it is arctic cooler that i bought the heatsink from they already put that big dog daddy crap on it. Is there anything else i can do or is my Cooler Master Centurion 5 case not up to the task or cooling my parts?

This was my first build, and i just want to make sure i am not going to be frying it. I would consider trying to do some kind of water cooling, but that scares the crap out of me. I know deep down i would end up shorting this sucker out. Thanks for the help as always guys.

 

[crazyrockets]

What case do you have and what is the arraingement of the fans you have in there?

 

[Blasphemy]

i dont think your fans are cooling your system down well enough. thats why. try opening your case on the side, and blowing a fan in there and if that works your fan isnt working properly IMO

 

[dbee]

Bought a friend of mine the X3 720BE with a Gigabyte770 board, he's overclocked to 3.6 with a V8 cooler on it w/ Arctic Silver 5 paste. He claims idle temps of 25 , give or take and loads around 40. this was a month or so back, have not seen the screens but looks reasonable, nor am i familiar with AMD operating temps other than they are much lower than i7's .

Ill double check with him on it, maybe get some screens up.

 

[dbee]

Forgot to ask, you overclocked?

 

[R3POMAN]

This is my fan placement. The top and bottom one were just my last ditch efforts to cool it down... could that be hurting my temp? BTW i forgot to mention both the 120mm are aftermarket cooler master fans. Processor is Phenom II x4 940 Deneb 3.0Hz non-OC.

I tried the thing when you open up your case, and my temp went up by a degree to 35. Then i put a big ass box fan facing into my computer and it dropped to 32 but it fluctuating back and forth to 34. How could i possibly only be such a slight temp difference with a big ol fan there?

Starting to think that the stock fan might be a better choice i am going to switch it back and i will post results.

 

[Toasteddude]

Which exact Phenom do you have? From what I read on the AMD website, the max temp will be either 62C or ~70C.

 

[R3POMAN]

HOLY JESUS i almost made a huge mistake when taking out my heatsink my processor stuck to it and when i pulled it off i DROPPED my processor and bent 3 pins... luckly i bent them back and it fit back in with no problem lol. It looks like the thermal paste that was on it was thin and blotchy so i am going to buy some more of the silver yada yada and do a clean apply. The left over paste from the other heatsink is hard and i dont think it will work. I am on my laptop so i guess i will update when i get it all straight the question is which heatsink do i put back on. Do i use the stock AMD made for this processor or the arctic cooler 64?

 

[R3POMAN]

Which exact Phenom do you have? From what I read on the AMD website, the max temp will be either 62C or ~70C.

Phenom II x4 940 Deneb 3.0Hz non-OC.

 

[crazyrockets]

Some ideas:

If the room temperature is raised too much, there is nothing that you will be able to do to help, so you might consider lowering the thermostat a bit if the room feels warm. I would say that the room should be a max of 28 degrees C when you are trying stuff, once you find the best system, you can let the room return to normal temps (if they are any different) to see if it is doing better.

When you reapply the thermal paste, apply in a very thin layer (I usually use a razor blade to spread the paste thinly over the surface of the processor). Having extra actually can reduce the amount of head transferred. Also, make sure the processor surface and heatsink are completely clean (Use isopropyl alcohol and a soft linen-free cloth to clean it off).

The stock coolers are almost always not very effecient, so I would stick with the arctic cooler. I didn't see if you mentioned its orientation before, so please forgive me if you did, but make sure it is facing so it exausts directly into the rear exaust fan on the case.

I would also recommend switching the bottom fan to exaust instead of intake, the intake air flow might disrupt the general air flow inside the case and having it exaust might help air flow over the motherboard and then out, reducing temps. Make sure to check whether your fans are performing as you expect by taking a piece of paper and holding it in front of the fan, it is pretty easy to get a fan put in backwards, especially if it operates opposite to what you would expect.

Unfortunantly, the Phenom II processors produce a lot of heat, and it is impossible to reduce that heat to a decent level without sacrificing most of its performance. If you can't get your temps to within your comfort level with your current setup in any configuration, you might want to check into either getting liquid cooling or a new case (I use the Antec 900 and it has next to no cooling problems).

 

[JunK]

some ideas, that top fan, make it so it gets the heat out...heat rises and it would be your best bet to have your top fan as an exhaust instead of an intake.
also those temps are not even that bad. tell us what the max you've recorded is and i bet you'll still be fine. i'd say if you top over 55 cel then you should start being worried but otherwise not.
make sure your case is cleaned up, not just from dust but from wires...they can easily block air flow.
be positive you have thermal paste on your heatsink, and that its installed properly (not too much). and now since you're not using the stock heatsink you've voided your warranty...so ya.
now this might seem like common sense, but its an easy thing to screw up...make sure your fans are blowing in the right direction. IE onto the heatsink, out/in the case how you want it.
also i'd say a lot of heat is going to be trapped in your case if you have a poor GPU heatsink and its just blowing hot air around in there...so maybe look to get one that blows it out of the case

edit: you could also add a side fan to your case, about the same height as your CPU so it blows essentially right on it

 

[bakerthree]

the picture of your case shows the top fan blowing inwards towards the inside of the case. It should blow outwards.

 

[Shuppa]

After searching the Interwebs I came accross this article about the max safe operating temps for your CPU:

http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/page-259050_10_0.html

Seems the threshold for your CPU is around 62 C, so if you're reaching 50 C under load, you're way bellow the "red line of danger" and don't need to worry to much about the temps.

When/ If your CPU temp starts rising and it's between 55 - 60 C then there could be problems on the horizon. But as this is not the case ( at least from my understanding of your post ), you're safe, take a deep breath and relax, your CPU is more than fine

 

[R3POMAN]

Alright i slapped on the Arctic silver 5 and fixed my fan setups a bit and i am already seeing close to a 5 degree temp drop. Thanks for your help guys!

 

[Two Listen]

It's good that you're seeing a temp drop.

But in all reality, the previous temps weren't approaching danger zone and were actually relatively reasonable.

 

[R3POMAN]

It's good that you're seeing a temp drop.

But in all reality, the previous temps weren't approaching danger zone and were actually relatively reasonable.

I see that now it was just my first build and i am overly paranoid

 

[Shuppa]

I see that now it was just my first build and i am overly paranoid

I hear ya, I was as paranoid as you when I built my first desktop...

Although you weren't really approaching the danger zone, lower is almost always better when CPU/GPU and all PC hardware temperatures are concerned...so cheers on that -5 C drop