I let me computer set on the bios screen that monitors cpu temp. It came on
at 33c94f, but within four minutes it was up to 39c.102f where it stays.
That's normal, it was even lower before you get into the
bios screen, and the heatsink merely absorbs a certain
amount while the fan cools based on a final difference
betwween 'sink temp and ambient air temp.
I
imagine when I actually go ahead and boot into windows and start playing
games, it gets even more hot.
Actually if you boot to windows and leave it sit idle, it'll
be cooler because the operating system has HALT-Idle
cooling. Gaming depends on what % of CPU is in use, it
could theoretically be lower, same, or higher than bios
reading all depending on the game. Naturally it's expected
that a demanding newer game would put it above the bios temp
but there's no point guessing on it, which leads up to my
comment below...
I did just put in a new Geforce agp video
card, but the card has a fan. That doesn't help the temp of the cpu though.
Should I be concerned about this idle temp?
You should never be concerned about any particular idle
temp.
Idle temp is not revealing, the temp at issue is full load
temp, a temp which the system should be able to sustain
continually in the highest ambient (room) temp the system
will encounter. One can get the CPU near that with a stress
test such as Prime95's Torture Test, Large In-Place FFTs
setting. Run it for a half-hour or so and watch it for
errrors and the temp readout. Of course you will need temp
monitor software, rather than relying on the bios as you
cannot shutdown windows and reboot to bios to get the
reading, it has to be while the program is running
"actively", processing.
