Thank you. That was very interesting. Today, the temperature outside was 34
C and it wasn't any cooler in here. So the room was probably quite high as
well. I have one 80mm case fan, on the back. It's a generic one which came
with the case. I have two fans on the power supply, also built in. Antec
350watt. And then there's the stock CPU heatsink and fan. However, I'm using
Artic Silver 5 compound.
I can feel that cloud of heat around this computer. It's right by my legs
and it's in a bit of an enclosed area because of the way this room is
arranged, leaving no room for it elsewhere.
I can see I'm probably going to have heat problems this summer. The CPU is
now at 52. It doesn't go too much higher under load, for some reason. Today,
it's ranging from what it is now to 57 C. It hovered at 55 C for the most
part.
So if I understand right, the highest temperature this can reach safely is
75 C?
"Jody said:
Today has been really hot here and my CPU temperature is at 56 C and it's
not even under load. It's a P4 2.8C HT. P4PE-X motherboard.
What would you guys say the safe range for temperatures are for my CPU? What
is the danger zone?
Thanks in advance!
Jody
The max case temperature listed here is 75C.
http://processorfinder.intel.com/sc...cFam=483&PkgType=ALL&SysBusSpd=ALL&CorSpd=ALL
Power dissipation listed is 70W.
If the thermal resistance of the HSF is 0.25C/W, and the air
inside the case is resting at 25C, the processor temp will be
25+(70*0.25)=42.5C at full processor load. If you cannot keep
the case air temp down, by using enough case fans, then the
first number in the equation will contribute to a warmer processor.
A room temp of 32C plus a delta_T from room air to case air of
10C, would make the first number in the equation 42, and give
a processor temp of 42+(70*0.25)=59.5C at full processor load.
Since you are running idle and seeing 56, I would expect your
load temp to be much worse. I've measured my 2.8C (but with
HT disabled), and at idle in Win2K, it draws 13W. Using the
last, pessimistic equation again 42+(13*0.25)=45.5C and you
are seeing 56.
Notice in the discussion above, that three numbers are needed
to conduct a thermal analysis. The room temperature, the case
air temperature, and the processor temperature. Without all
three, it is hard to make a recommendation. My room to case
delta is maybe 3 or 4C right now, and if yours is 10-15C from
room temp to case temp, an extra fan might help. (I recommend
a minimum of the PSU fan plus one 80mm case fan on the back
of the computer, for any processor. The PSU fan thermal control
is not set up to cool the computer case properly by itself, and
you can effectively ignore the PSU fan as being of any use.)
In the analysis above, I used a thermal resistance of 0.25C/W,
a number you might see with a product like the Zalman 7000A.
The Intel boxed processor HSF is somewhere in the area of
0.42C/W (according to Tomshardware).
http://www.zalman.co.kr/product/cooler/7000a-478_motherboard_list_eng.html
You could fit one of these, if there is at least a centimeter
of space between the top edge of the S478 bracket and your
power supply. In a mid ATX case, there frequently isn't any room
between the edge of the board and the PSU, but check your case to
see if there would be enough room to fit it. The 7000a is the
best compromise solution I can see right now for a S478. It isn't
excessively loud, and not a lot of air blows through the fins.
You can feel a warm cloud of air around it while it is running.
You still need good case fans to move this cloud out of the
computer case.
HTH,
Paul
