[SOLVED] cpu temperature very high

Mighty_Max · Last edited by Mighty_Max on Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:57 pm; edited 1 time in total

Hello, i noticed some temperature problems on my pc, and i'm thinking about what to do.

First of all i have a Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E6750 @ 2.66GHz and a Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L m/b.

Recently during emerg my pc was shutting down. I thought about the temperature and when i installed ls_sensors i saw that my cpu temp was going too high. I'm not sure if ls_sensors are wrong because it seemed that my cpu temp was going more than 100C. Kind of scary when i saw that it's normal temp operation was about 38C or below on an idle pc. I checked my fan speed which would start from about 700RPM to 1700 max when the temerature was rising.
I read that bios temps and RPMs was more accurate and i checked that too. My cpu was rising up to 60C and stay there while my fan was operating just to keep the term in that value. I don't know if that's a check operating mode beacuse normaly it should drop it below 38C. Altough still that didn't seem normal. I entered windows and checked cpu and fan values with the software provided with my mobo. Indeed on an idle pc i had 34C. In my gentoo i have 46-50 on an idle pc.
I removed my fan cleaned it up and my pc wouldn't turn off during havy emerges. I noticed that no thermal grease was applied. But that didn't had an impact on windows, because i run a benchmarking program to torture my pc and the term was about 60-70 and then immediatly dropping to 34.
After reinstalling my fan, my pc is operating better, i mean it doesn't shut off, when i torture it with havy emerges but still the term goes about 100C.

my fan is the intel one provided with the cpu (i guess, coz i didn't assembly it myself).

I'm most concerned about my cpu performance and not so much about the fact that it may burn, because it will shut off the computer.

So i'm wondering what to do now to further check this problem.

thanx, max

zyko · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 2:13 pm Post subject:

"More than 100°C" might turn out to be a litte problematic in the long run...

First make sure your method of detecting the temperature is realistic. For your hardware, you need the coretemp and it87 modules. Modprobe them, then run sensors-detect. After everything is set up correctly, lm_sensors should show you something like this:

Mighty_Max · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:31 pm Post subject:

i have already configured lm_sensors, so my output when the pc is idle is :

Mighty_Max · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 4:36 pm Post subject:

Hm, just now i noticed that probably the temp2 is the temperature that i should watch for ...

Well, in any way, that core temperatures are ok ?

paulbiz · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 5:34 pm Post subject:

coretemp is not real temperature. it's just a relative temperature converted to a "guess" of real-life degrees. But 100 is still bad (if it's considered as 100% of maximum temperature, not 100 degrees). I hope it is a software error and not a real case...

Do you have temperature monitor in your BIOS? What does it show?

Do you have proper cooling on your processor?

In my E6600 (overclocked from 2.4 to 3.0GHz) my coretemp for both cores at idle is 38 and under load never exceeds 42. In a previous kernel (2.6.24?) it was in the 20's -- before the coretemp "magic formula" was changed.

eccerr0r · Posted: Wed Dec 17, 2008 6:32 pm Post subject:

I've installed two of the 'stock' CPU fans that come with Intel socket 775 CPUs and have found them to be extremely difficult to install with the four thumb "screws". So much so, that I suspect some people just do a "half-assed" job installing it, leading to overheating issues.

One thing about these stock coolers is that some heat sink compound/tape is put onto the cooler itself, so you'll need to carefully install it the first time. If you don't get it quite right and have to remove it after it touching the CPU, chances are air bubbles will get introduced and you'll need to remove the compound and apply fresh paste. The two Core2 chips I have seem to be within temperature tolerances.

Core2 Duo E6700 - I don't have coretemp on this machine...

wuzzerd · Guru Joined: 05 Jan 2005 Posts: 467 Location: New Mexico

Could it be acpi?

Yesterday I was fooling around with an ATI card. On attempting to install the drivers acpid was installed. To get that to work I had to configure deprecatied /dev/acpi/foo stuff in my kernel. At which point emerge wanted a whole bunch of ~arch xorg stuff.

So I abandoned the project and started playing a java based game. After a few minutes a new never before heard beep came out of the mobo. Quickly checking I found temperatures at 60 C [a level I set in my bios 3 yrs ago], and much lower fan speeds than usual.

I rebooted the prior kernel version and things returned to normal.

Mighty_Max · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:30 am Post subject:

Hello again ...

there is certainly a issue with the temperature. When i enter in the bios' pc health status, my cpu temperature is increasing. And it goes to 62C. My fan, it's the typical intel fan provided with the processor. it was in fan smart mode at was operating at 1650, nearly maximum. That was strange because the pc seems to be completely idle when it is in bios. Or am i missing smt here ?
I disabled the smart mode to see my fan's max speed and it is about 1720. i left it there as far as it seems to be the best option for now.
Now being idle my cpu term is 31, but when emerging smt big it goes up to 87C, and that seems to be the correct temperature because bios' and lm_sensors values match.

I'm thinking of buying a new cooling system although i think that first i should check those 4 screws which really don't seem efficient-they seem kind of toy-ish. And maybe apply some thermal paste/grease. I told you in the first post that i didn't find signs of it, when i removed the sink with the fan. I know the importance of it, but i never had problems with temperature and i didn't change anything in my hardware recently.

Btw my kernel is 2.6.26-gentoo-r4. Just in case.

thanx
max

paulbiz · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 2:50 am Post subject:

I had a Dell laptop at work that would give crazy temperature readings, fan would go into highest speed all the time, and this was cured by a BIOS update (some bug in the temperature monitor code).

DaggyStyle · Watchman Joined: 22 Mar 2006 Posts: 5941

zyko · Posted: Thu Dec 18, 2008 12:05 pm Post subject:

If temperatures rise quickly, the contact between heat sink and CPU is the most likely candidate. The sink might not be mounted tightly, or it might have loosened somehow due to old age. The thermal paste might also have degraded over time, so it can't conduct the heat effectively -- this is likely especially if there was too much paste to begin with. If you say you didn't see any thermal paste last time you opened the box, maybe there is none... that's no good either.

I'd propose you
- remove the sink
- clean any thermal paste from the sink and the CPU
- remove any dust that is probably stuck in the sink's fins and in the fan
- apply some new paste
- and restore the sink to its previous position.

paulbiz · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:16 am Post subject:

Yeah, my brother put together a AMD Athlon machine with no heat sink at all, and the temp shot up about 100 degrees in 5 seconds after going into BIOS

for removing the old thermal compound/tape i have some Arctic Silver removal/cleaning solution, it really works great, it is amazing... it could be made from some totally ordinary household solution for all i know, but it's really incredible...

and of course the arctic silver compound itself is great...

Mighty_Max · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 12:44 pm Post subject:

It's kind of relieving that bios is kind of possessed

I'm going to buy some thermal tape and apply it carefully. The good(?) thing is that it won't be necessary to remove the old one ... coz there isn't one.

I'll try also to install my heat sink the best that i can. And i hope that my temp won't rise to 86-87C during emerge. Once again the good thing is that when my pc goes back to idle state the temp falls pretty quickly to 34C.

I'll come back to tell the results when i'm done with the procedures described above.

C you soon

Monkeh · Veteran Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 1656 Location: England

Thermal tape is crap. Your complete lack of TIM will be the issue.

My advice: Go and buy a real heatsink (Thermalright, Scythe, Xigmatek, are good names. Xigmatek being the affordable, and actually most effective, option), and some suitable TIM (Arctic Silver 5 or Ceramique will do nicely).

E: And clean the CPU first. Arctic Silver make cleaning materials which will do nicely. Do not touch the top of the CPU or the base of the heatsink after cleaning.

Mighty_Max · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 1:57 pm Post subject:

Is that intel heat-sink-fan completely crap ?

i'll try the cheapest solutions of all for now, with the thermal grease. If i see no results I'll propably buy me Zalman CNPS9700 for xmas

I Should check of course if that thing has enough space in my box. Read great reviews for it.
And then i'll oveclock my cpu to death

Monkeh · Veteran Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 1656 Location: England

Mighty_Max · Posted: Fri Dec 19, 2008 3:18 pm Post subject:

i did some further search and indeed Xigmatek HDT-S1283 seems better and cheaper. I'll go for it.

Monkeh · Veteran Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 1656 Location: England

Mighty_Max · Posted: Mon Jan 05, 2009 11:34 am Post subject:

Ok ... after installing xigmatek hdt-s1283 everything is now fine. Now when my pc is idle my cpu temp is <20 and on full load it's about 30.

I was kind of lucky because a friend of mine with an amd cpu bough the same heatsink but the dark-knight edition and he gave me the metal-bolts, because indeed that plastic that my heatsink had didn't seem so nice

Ok i had to remove my mobo but it deserved the time. Ι clean my cpu with some ethanol ( ok, i know maybe that's not the best practice, but it's pretty efective - i was really bored ordering specific items for that ), applied the thermal grease that was in the heatsink's package and installed it.
Doing that on my friend's amd it was even easier because we didn't have to remove the mobo.
But he is very pleased as well.

So, thank you all ... i guess that post deserves a SOLVED...

ps. and indeed the original intel fansink is ridiculous, amd's is a bit better but still not even close to the one of xigmatek ... i could really recommend it ...

jmz2 · Guru Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Posts: 421 Location: Finland

Monkeh · Veteran Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 1656 Location: England

jmz2 · Guru Joined: 13 Jan 2004 Posts: 421 Location: Finland

Monkeh · Veteran Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 1656 Location: England

Mighty_Max · Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2009 12:47 pm Post subject:

btw ... what's the correct airflow setup ? And any recommended quiet case fans ?

Monkeh · Veteran Joined: 06 Aug 2005 Posts: 1656 Location: England

A correct airflow setup would be a simple front to back, no side fans (or vents if avoidable), overpressure (more intake) is best for dust control.

As for quiet fans, Noctua NF-S12, Nexus D12SL (also Yate Loon D12 series, the Nexus series is, afaik, basically hand picked Yate Loon fans), Scythe S-Flex series. You don't need much airflow, unless you have a very hot running system you'll do just fine with a couple of 800RPM (or less) case fans and a CPU fan of similar speed.