Temperature Guide

[PZEROFGH]

This is a temp guide so you know how hot things should get and how hot things shouldnt get. If your OC'ing or not

The Video card is supposed to withstand much hotter temps then your CPU. The older 6*** series from nVidia are known to run much hotter then the new 78** series. As the 8** series from ATI i dont really konw much about them because they are crap and are a waste of money

Video card Temps
Stock

idle - 30-40C
full - 50-60C

if you have a 6*** series you could be running upwards to 80C which is OK.

If you are running hotter then 80C or want to do a little more OC but you are getting held back by the heat, you can invest in a third party heatsink and some AS5. You can run up to 100C-120C but no one really wants to run their video card THAT HOT at 24/7 usage.

Zalman VF-700cu and the NV silencers are one of the best.

With these on, with AS5 of course, your temps should be running 5-10C lower then with stock cooling, and you should be able to OC your video card some more.

CPU

CPU's shouldnt be running higher then 60C. The AMD 64's are known to run pretty cool.

AMD Single core

Idle - 20-35C
Full 35-50C

Dual core
X2's

Idle 30-40C
Full 40-55C

The opterons are known to run a little hotter then the X2's or the single core

Idle 35-40C
Full 40-55C

As for Intel, if you OC them you will get really high temps, upwards to 60-70C which then you would want to invest in some decent cooling

As for heatsinks, the zalman CNPS9500 or Big typhoon are the beste out there.

If you dont feel like spending money for those 30-50 dollar heatsinks, here are a couple of steps to cool down your temps

1) Get a can of compressed air and clean out your exsisitng heatsink of dust, and your case.

2) Rewire some cables so it is cleaner and can get some decent airflow through the case

3) Buy some cheap fans 2-10 dollars and mount them in free fan slots.

Case Airflow

One of the most important factors when trying to cool down your temps.

The ideal setup for case airflow, is mounting some case fans in the front of your case, for intake, or blowing air INTO the case. If your case has a side fan, you want that to be blowing air INTO the case. If your case has a mountable fan in the rear of the case, you would want to place that as EXAHUST, or blowing air OUT of the case. Usually people recommend putting a blowhole at the top, so it would blow air OUT of the case, like a blowhole :bald: lol.

Cleaning your wires

To start off if you have an IDE hdd you can buy some rounded ones so they arent so big and bulky as the regular IDE cables. What you want to do, is to not have so many wires blowing the fans, and inside your CPU heatsink :amazed: Most people do is put wires behind their mobo rack, or inside the optical drive rack. Having a clean case will make your CPU and GPU very happy people

As if you fry something because you read what to do in this guide, it isnt my fault. Though if you do break something you should not get back into the computer building business at all. So enjoy your new hardware, and see what kind of temps they get

Overclocking

When your overclocking, that doesnt really raise your temps, what raises your temps is raising the voltage. Usually most people raise the voltage between 1.4-1.6V . Some people are just to scared and rarely even go above stock ranging from 1.2-1.35V . Stop being babies and make that puppy purrr, for 24/7 use of a computer, you really dont want more then 1.6V on the new AMD 64's and dual cores. For the older XP's and Semprons i heard they can go up to like 1.8V but i still wouldnt even want it that high lol. Raising the Mem voltage also makes your mem hotter and increase the overall temp in your case. Most mem, regular 2.6-2.9V while BH-5 can go upwards to 3V . Hitting DDR500 at very low timings, 2-2-2-5. As TCCD chips dont want more then 2.8V hitting very high speeds DDR600 at not to shabby timings 3-3-3-5 ish .

Water Cooling vs Air cooling

IF your in a budget and dont have a lot of money, i would suggest a nice third party heatsink, but if you got some spare money lying around, and want to get some decent OC's out of your video card or CPU i would suggest water cooling. For a dual waterblock, CPU and GPU water block defintely go with 2*120mm radiator or a heatercore which i really dont know anything about. Get a decent pump and some tubing, and you got yourself some low temps, but i warn you, if you get those panaflo fans or somethign else at 110cfm 24/7 you wont get any sleep

Temperature Programs

Everest Home Edition

IT is discontinued from the main site, but you will find a lot of 3rd party websites with available downloads

Motherboard Monitor 5

IF it supports your mobo, its a great program

Speedfan

It sucks, so inaccurate, it makes your chipset fan -148C and your voltages will be way off

To be most accurate you can check in your bios by pressing DEL at startup

 

[ilovesocks]

Yess - finally, a temperature guide. Sticky! Maybe this will cut down on the number of "OMG IS MY TEMPERATURE TO HIGH" or "6600GT Temperature?" threads.

 

[Flying-Squirrel]

You could put a few more notes on what kind of temps with OCing you might get and at what lvl stuff would start to get fried. Still good post, I am sure others will have suggested add-ons and then lets get this puppy stickied!

P.S. PZERO like my new sig?

 

[Mr_Threepwood]

Whats dangerous for an intel 3.2 prescott series CPU, mine has stock cooling only and runs to about 50 degrees celcius which is fine I know. I was wondering what would be considered dangerous and if i should attempt a small OC on stock, say to 3.4 or 3.6. Any suggestions? My case has OK cooling, wires in the way though.

 

[filocardhustler]

Uhuh, so I shouldn't have freaked out so much when my 6800gt hit 74 degrees.

 

[Flying-Squirrel]

P4s run hotter and can handle more heat Threepwood so I would say ya go ahead and try to OC that baby. You mainly increase temp when you raise voltage so you may get a decent OC without raising your temp much if you aren't required to increase your voltage by a lot.

Unless you are like me and you can't stand having something that isn't pushed to the limit lol I am going to try to hit 3ghz with my 3700 sandy this week when my heatsink and ram arrive tomorrow

If I were you I would get a top of the line heatsink and try to push that biznitch up to 4ghz

 

[SHAWN]

P.S. PZERO like my new sig?

Your sig is too big. You need to resize the image to 468x120 or you will loose your priviledge.

Read the rules

 

[Flying-Squirrel]

oh wups my bad i didn't know there were rules for it =( thanx for the info i'll take care of it.

Edit: Ok taken care of, now do you guys like it?

 

[crossphyr]

This is a temp guide so you know how hot things should get and how hot things shouldnt get. If your OC'ing or not

The Video card is supposed to withstand much hotter temps then your CPU. The older 6*** series from nVidia are known to run much hotter then the new 78** series. As the 8** series from ATI i dont really konw much about them because they are crap and are a waste of money

Video card Temps
Stock

idle - 30-40C
full - 50-60C

if you have a 6*** series you could be running upwards to 80C which is OK.

If you are running hotter then 80C or want to do a little more OC but you are getting held back by the heat, you can invest in a third party heatsink and some AS5

Zalman VF-700cu and the NV silencers are one of the best.

With these on, with AS5 of course, your temps should be running 5-10C lower then with stock cooling, and you should be able to OC your video card some more.

CPU

CPU's shouldnt be running higher then 60C. The AMD 64's are known to run pretty cool.

AMD Single core

Idle - 20-35C
Full 35-50C

Dual core
X2's

Idle 30-40C
Full 40-55C

The opterons are known to run a little hotter then the X2's or the single core

Idle 35-40C
Full 40-55C

As for Intel, if you OC them you will get really high temps, upwards to 60-70C which then you would want to invest in some decent cooling

As for heatsinks, the zalman CNPS9500 or Big typhoon are the beste out there.

If you dont feel like spending money for those 30-50 dollar heatsinks, here are a couple of steps to cool down your temps

1) Get a can of compressed air and clean out your exsisitng heatsink of dust, and your case.

2) Rewire some cables so it is cleaner and can get some decent airflow through the case

3) Buy some cheap fans 2-10 dollars and mount them in free fan slots.

Case Airflow

One of the most important factors when trying to cool down your temps.

The ideal setup for case airflow, is mounting some case fans in the front of your case, for intake, or blowing air INTO the case. If your case has a side fan, you want that to be blowing air INTO the case. If your case has a mountable fan in the rear of the case, you would want to place that as EXAHUST, or blowing air OUT of the case. Usually people recommend putting a blowhole at the top, so it would blow air OUT of the case, like a blowhole :bald: lol.

Cleaning your wires

To start off if you have an IDE hdd you can buy some rounded ones so they arent so big and bulky as the regular IDE cables. What you want to do, is to not have so many wires blowing the fans, and inside your CPU heatsink :amazed: Most people do is put wires behind their mobo rack, or inside the optical drive rack. Having a clean case will make your CPU and GPU very happy people

As if you fry something because you read what to do in this guide, it isnt my fault. Though if you do break something you should not get back into the computer building business at all. So enjoy your new hardware, and see what kind of temps they get

its not a bad guide but I think its a little misleading.. first off the threshold for most 6800 series cards is 120.. which means you are probably safe close to that.. even though I don't want my card running that high..


Also you can run your cpu @ close to 60 and it wont hurt it @ all... I myself hardly break 50 anymore with a 3200 @ 2.6 but thats because my cooling is fine


but I think its a great guide for all the fools who just can't understand you can look on intel or amds website!!!!!

 

[Flying-Squirrel]

Ya I agree with crossphyr, I would definately add into the guide the max temps listed on the AMD and Intel websites as well as:
- an upper limit recommendation for low use machines
-a general purpose 24/7 use recommendation.

For example 120 C max, 80 C recommended for low use machine, 60 C max recommended for a 24/7 use machine preferably 55 or lower.

Also crossphyr you should edit your post and remove 99% of that quote, we already read the actual post we don't need to see the whole thing duplicated again by you.

*** Edit: Here is an excerpt from: The Heatsink Guide http://www.heatsink-guide.com/content.php?content=maxtemp.shtml

"Introduction
This page is there to answer the common question: "My CPU is running at xx degrees, is it too hot?". Here are the maximum temperatures for the most popular CPUs.

Keep in mind that the onboard measurement facilities are often inaccurate and may report temperatures that are too low. This is especially the case with motherboards that use a thermal sensor below the CPU to "guess" the CPU temperature. The temperature values displayed by the BIOS have usually a correction value added, to compensate for this problem - but in some cases this correction value may be too low, or the sensor might not be in good contact with the CPU.

This means: If the maximum allowed temperature for your CPU is 95°C, and your motherboard reports a CPU temperature of 90°C, then you are not on the safe side.

However, this doesn't mean that you should start to panic when your Athlon XP CPU reaches 60 degrees celsius, for example. Most people tend to underestimate normal CPU operating temperatures - maybe due to overclockers bragging with their super-low CPU temperatures in forums.

Also, note that these values are for CPUs that are not overclocked. Overclocked CPUs may run unstable even if their temperature is way below the maximal specified temperature.

What happens if the maximum operating temperatures are exceeded?
If your cooler is insufficient and the temperature exceeds the maximum operating temperature, then this does not mean that the CPU is automatically damaged. With AMD CPUs, you will usually encounter crashes if the CPU is overheated; but these go away as soon as the CPU is cooler again. In the long term, running the CPU at a temperature that is too high may reduce the CPU life, since an overheated CPU is more prone to electromigration - even if it runs stable. With P4 CPUs, the CPU will turn its speed down automatically when it overheats. No damage to the CPU is possible, but the system will get slower while it's hot (which, in some cases, users might not even notice).

If you attempt to operate a CPU without heatsink at all, recent AMD CPUs will usually be permanently damaged within seconds, unless special protection circuitry is available on the motherboard. P4 CPUs will run excessively slow without cooler.

The purpose of this page is to give you a quick overview of typical maximum operating temperatures for common CPUs. In the case of Intel CPUs, values vary a bit; if you need precise information for one specific CPU model, please use the datasheets on the CPU manufacturer's website, or visit Chris Hare's Processor Electrical Specifications page - there, you will find more details, and also data for more exotic CPU types than the ones covered here.

Higher is better here
On cooling-related websites, lower temperatures typically correspond to better products. On this particular page, the opposite is true: The higher temperatures a CPU can withstand, the less cooling is required. CPUs with low electrical power, but high temperature rating can be used with more quiet and more compact coolers. An example for such a CPU is the Pentium-M, which dissipates less than 25 watts, but may reach temperatures of up to 100°C. The worst-case example is the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.46GHz, which dissipates over 110 watts, but may only reach a maximum temperature of 66°C. Obviously, you need a large and possibly loud cooler here.

The actual data:

AMD Athlon, Athlon 64, Opteron, Duron and Sempron
All Slot A CPUs (Athlon classic, Athlon Thunderbird) 70°C
Athlon Socket A up to 1 GHz, Duron up to 1.3GHz 90°C
Athlon "Thunderbird" Socket A 1.1GHz or more 95°C
Athlon MP 1.33GHz or more 95°C
Athlon XP up to 2100+ 90°C
Athlon XP 2200+ and faster 85°C
Duron "Applebred" 1.4G and faster 85°C
AMD Opteron 69 or 70°C
depending
on model
Athlon 64, 64FX, Sempron
Most models 70°C; 65°C
for some Socket 939 Athlon 64 models
Athlon 64 X2 (dual core) 65°C


AMD K6 series
All K6 CPUs (166-300MHz) and most K6-2/K6-III CPUs 70°C
K6-2/K6-III CPUs, model name ending with X (e.g. K6-2-450AFX)65°C
K6-2-400AFQ (uncommon) 60°C (!)
K6-2+, K6-III+, most mobile K6/K6-2 CPUs 85°C
mobile K6/K6-2 model name ending with K (e.g. mobile K6-2-P-400AFK) 80°C

The temperatures specified for AMD CPUs max case surface temperatures. These CPUs do not have an internal diode to measure CPU temperature. The accuracy of the CPU temperature measurement depends on the motherboard; therefore, it is possible that the CPU overheats even though the CPU temperature reported by the motherboard is below the specified maximal temperature.

Intel Pentium III
Pentium III Socket 370 500-866MHz,
Pentium III Slot 1 (first generation, OLGA) 550-600MHz,
Pentium III Slot 1 ('Coppermine') 500-866MHz 80-85°C depending on model
Pentium III Socket 370 and Slot 1, 933MHz 75°C
Pentium III Slot 1 933MHz 60°C (!)
Pentium III Slot 1 1GHz 70°C for newer versions 60°C (!) for older version
Pentium III Slot 1 1.13GHz (first version) 62°C (!)

Pentium III max temperatures are the maximum temperatures reported by the thermal junction inside the CPU.

Intel Celeron / Celeron
Celeron 266-433MHz 85°C (max. CPU case temperature)
Celeron 466-533MHz (0.25µ) 70°C (max. CPU case temperature)
Celeron 533-600MHz ('Coppermine) 90°C
Celeron 633 and 667MHz 82°C
Celeron 700-850 MHz 80°C
Celeron 900MHz-1.4GHz 69-70°C depending on model
Celeron 1.7GHz and faster 67-77°C depending on model

Celeron max temperatures are the maximum temperatures reported by the thermal junction inside the CPU, unless otherwise specified.

Intel Pentium II
Pentium II (1st generation, 'Klamath') 72-75°C depending on MHz
Pentium II (2nd generation, 2.0V core), 266-333MHz 65°C
Pentium II (350-400MHz) 75°C
Pentium II (450MHz) 70°C

Pentium II temperatures are the maximum temperatures of the thermal transfer plate (on which the heatsink is installed).

Intel Pentium 4, Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, Pentium M
Pentium 4
Max. temperature depends much on model and clockspeed, but no clear pattern is visible. Consult Intel's tech specs for information on your particular model.
(Lowest: P4 Extreme Edition 3.2GHz with 64°C, highest: P4 Willamette 1.8GHz with 78°C). 64°C - 78°C
Pentium M 100°C (!)


Intel Pentium D (dual core)
Pentium D 820 (2.8GHz) 63°C
Pentium D 830 and 840 (3.0-3.2GHz) 69.8°C


Note: Pentium 4 and Pentium D temperature specifications indicate the maximum cover temperature, which is typically lower than the temperature reported by the internal thermal diode. Therefore, your system may be running fine even if the reported "CPU temperature" in the BIOS is higher than the temperature specified here. This does not mean that you're on the safe side, though.

Intel Pentium Pro
Pentium Pro, 256 or 512K L2 cache 85°C
Pentium Pro, 1MB L2 cache 80°C

Pentium Pro temperatures are maximum surface temperatures.

Typical maximum power usage of common CPUs and overclocked CPUs
Apart from the maximum CPU operating temperature, the maximum power usage under typical worst-case conditions (thermal design power) is also essential for selecting a suitable cooling system. To find out about CPU power usage, please check out Chris Hare's Processor Electrical Specifications page. There, you will find values for unoverclocked CPUs running at their specified voltage.

How can you estimate power usage of an overclocked CPU based on this value?

The theory behind calculating the power usage for an overclocked CPU is very simple: Power usage is proportional to clock speed, and proportional to the square of the core voltage.

Before we express this as a formula, let's intruduce the following variables:

* Ps is the power usage of the non-overclocked CPU
* Po is the power usage of the overclocked CPU
* Fs is the clock speed of the non-overclocked CPU
* Fo is the clock speed of the overclocked CPU
* Us is the default voltage of the non-overclocked CPU
* Uo is the voltage at which the overclocked CPU runs

Here is the formula:

Po = Ps * (Fo/Fs) * (Uo2/Us2)

A simple example:

We want to calculate the maximum power usage of a Athlon "Thunderbird" 1.33 GHz CPU overclocked to 1.6GHz using 1,9V voltage. From this page, we find out that:

* Ps is 70W (max)
* Us is 1.75V

Also, we know that

* Fs is 1.33GHz
* Fo is 1.6GHz
* and Uo is 1.9V

Therefore:

Po = 70 W * (1.6/1.33) * (1.92/1.752) = 99.26 W

Values calculated using this method are not very accurate, since I/O voltage and FSB speed is not taken into account. However, they should be precise enough to help you decide what kind of power supply and cooling you need.

Disclaimer

The information here is provided WITHOUT WARRANTY of any kind. If you are designing a system and need to have accurate information on the maximum temperature of a specific CPU, please rely on the information provided by the CPU manufacturer, and not the information here.

Last update: December, 2004. Future CPU models (even if they are marketed under the same name/with the same MHz) as the CPUs mentioned here may have different thermal specifications."

Hope this is helpful, if not let me know and i'll remove it