CPU Temp way too high

[marbles2202]

Hi. I am new to these forums and relatively new to self-diagnosis of problems. I am wondering if anyone can help me understand a problem I have with 3 PCs all bought at the same time (around 9mths ago) and showing the same symptoms. I believe the problem has existed since first bought.

The PCs are all showing CPU temperatures of around 84'C / 183'F even when idle.

I discovered this when they refused to boot up much of the time, or suddenly shut down for no apparent reason. This is even with the side panel off and a fan blowing into the processor box. The shutdown temp is set to 85'C ... hence the reason they keep powering down.

The system temp is showing as around 36'C / 96' F.

The CPUs are P4 3.0GHz. The motherboards are Microstar 661FM-L (MS-7060). RAM is 512Mb PC2700 DDR. The PSUs are ATX 300W. BIOS is Phoenix 6.0 PG 03/07/2005. Display Adaptors are SiS 661FX.

Can anyone tell me what I can do about this as I don't have the slightest clue.

Many thanks. Shani

 

[jcortes]

try getting better cooling and adding some thermal paste to the processor.

 

[MrCoffee]

yeah, they probably cheaped out with the thermal paste, get some AS5

 

[COD2_fanatic]

i have that exact same board (piece of crap) but i stopped using it

The BIOS has very few options and i think the temp sensors are screwed up on thos boards cause my P4 (3GHZ) that i had in it reported an average of 60C

 

[marbles2202]

Thank you for your replies. I have not got 'into' PCs so much yet as to know about thermal paste etc - so thank you for this info. I will get some and see what happens.

 

[MrCoffee]

get some Arctic silver 5, its the best thermal paste..

Quote from their site

"ONLY Arctic Silver thermal compound should be between the processor core and the heatsink. Remove any thermal pads or other interface material from the heatsink before applying the Arctic Silver. Thermal pads can be scraped off with a plastic tool that will not scratch the bottom then the remnants can be removed with a xylene based cleaner, (Goof Off and some carburetor cleaners) acetone, mineral spirits, or high-purity isopropyl alcohol. "

I use Isopropyl alohol, works a charm. Read the instructions before you apply, you'll find you only need to use a very small amount of the paste supplied in the syringe.

Also blow any dust out of the heatsink fins.

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

 

[marbles2202]

Again, thanks for all the info. I bought some paste and applied it and the temp has come down to average 71'C. One of the PCs has a broken piece that should hold the heatsink and fan in place so I'll need to superglue it back together, but the other two are fine now.

 

[tomc102968]

is it me or 71c still high

 

[MrCoffee]

I think for a P4 its respectable with stock cooling.