how hot does your computer get?

[JeanneAnne]

does anyone know how hot their computer gets?

my brother recently built a new computer for me .. i paid him $1K for it ~components cost $924 & the rest was for his trubble~ .. it had an AMD Sapphire GPU .. it was really nice 'cept it started freezing when i was streaming music w/ SAM & running Firestorm @ the same time .. it wasnt a virus & the memory was ok .. so my brother had me download FurMark & do a stress test on the GPU .. he said that if it ran for an hour the GPU was ok but it froze in 10 minutes .. did it twice & same thing happened .. so he said the graphics card was bad .. he got a return merchandise # from AMD & i returned the card & was w/out a computer for 2 weeks .. they sent a replacement & it was DOA .. wouldnt even boot the computer .. so in disgust i went to Best Buy & bought a Nvidia card i really couldn't afford .. but @ least i had a computer that worked after that

the problem was that even w/ the new Nvidia card the computer still froze a couple times .. so my brother suggested that i download CPUID HWMonitor .. so i did & was shocked to see that 1uv the cores got 93^0C !! almost hot enuf to boil water !! he said it was the 'northgate core' & it made sense it was the hottest cuz its in the middle but still .. thats WAY hot .. what was interesting was to watch what happened when i logged into SL & started doing stuff .. temps would go up by ~20^oC !! apparently SL is really processor intensive & generates lotsuv heat .. the computer is supposed to shut itself down when it gets too hot but apparently it just freezes .. so even if heat fried the original AMD card the replacement was bad to begin with .. im never doing business w/ AMD again

anyway .. that CPUID HWMonitor was eye opening .. what iv done is taken my computer outuv the desk .. it now sets on top of the desk & is in the way but im not putting it back inside the desk til winter & before i do im goin2 drill some holes in the wood next to where the fans are .. i also installed 3 fans in the case .. in addition to the fans that came with it .. & have a big fan blowing on the computer .. it now runs ~20 -30^oC cooler & hasnt frozen .. even when im dancing in a SL club, streaming w/ SAM & doing other stuff @ the same time

so what im wondering is .. has anyone else had heat trubbles w/ their computer? does any1 else monitor core temps w/ CPUID HWMonitor or any other way? are air temps of 50 -70^oC inside the case normal? any hardware geeks care to comment on this ??

Jeanne

[Alicia Sautereau]

I would suggest you tell your brother to find a new hobby

First off all, your case cooling fails, badly depending the room temperature
Normal case should be 10-20 degrees abouve room temp depending the case design and fitted hardware

"northgate core' & it made sense it was the hottest cuz its in the middle"
Now this is false, all cores should be running at the same temp give or take 0 to 4 degrees, most likely applied to much or not enough paste so it`s not evenly spread as you do not just paste some on the cpu and plop the cooler ontop of it

93c is dangerously high, if it runs now at 73 at stock speeds, i would highly recommend to take off the (most likely) stock cooler and reapply paste, maybe even better to buy an aftermarket cooler
and double check all mobo valtages, specially the cpu

50-70 degrees case temp??? get rid of the sidings and by a new case asap, these sort of temps costs hardware life time
As you added fans (reread), make sure it`s all flowing in the correct way

Top -> case -out
Front -> case-in
Back -> case out
Side (bottom) -> in
Side (top) -> out

Make sure there is some airflow over the cpu cooler, preffered over the RAM aswell

When things started to lockup, the first things you do is check the wiring and temps of all items, could have saved yourself from buying a new card

[Deja Letov]

Did you have it in one of those desk slots with the door in it so it looks like a cabinet and hides the computer? if so, part of your problem is that. Those things are HORRIBLE for computers and don't let the hot air out so they can over heat. I doubt thats the entire issue, but it's probably not helping.

[Czari Zenovka]

It does sound like there's definitely a major component issue.  I am so sorry this is happening to you.  $1,000 is a huge chunk of change and then to have the PC not work as it should.

I have an ancient (by today's standards) PC that was custom built for me at a small computer shop.  I would estimate the motherboard/graphics card/RAM to be approximately 8 years old; however, I keep in on pretty much 24/7 with weekly reboots and it never gets super hot.  Sometimes it's warmer than other times, taking off the case and blowing some compressed air on the fan does the trick. (My cat likes to walk around the PC...lol.)

I do have my PC sitting on top of my desk and it's a hunking piece of metal, but as others have said, air flow is very important.

Hopefully things will work out and you can enjoy your new PC.

[Qwalyphi Korpov]

The resident who provided the previous content, if any, has replaced it with this generic statement.

[JeanneAnne]

thanks Alicia .. the front fan blows in but i think all the rest blow out .. so i should turn the lower side fans around?

LoL my brother use2 run his puter w/ the sides open & his iguana would get up inside it where its warm !!

i dont have an iguana but i still hate to take the sides off .. it gets awfully dusty up inside as is .. i fried a computer w/ static electricity once from vacuuming up inside it .. & also 3 of the fans are on the sides .. seems like the fans are better than having it open

if its 30^oC in the room i guess that 50^oC inside the case isnt too bad then ..

Jeanne

[JeanneAnne]

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Deja Letov wrote:

Did you have it in one of those desk slots with the door in it so it looks like a cabinet and hides the computer? if so, part of your problem is that. Those things are HORRIBLE for computers and don't let the hot air out so they can over heat. I doubt thats the entire issue, but it's probably not helping.

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yeah Deja .. i have a desk exactly as you describe .. cept i long since took the front door off its hinges .. i took my computer out of there & now its majorly in my way .. i may put it back this winter but im keeping it out while its still hot

Jeanne

 

[JeanneAnne]

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Czari Zenovka wrote:

It does sound like there's definitely a major component issue.  I am so sorry this is happening to you.  $1,000 is a huge chunk of change and then to have the PC not work as it should.

I have an ancient (by today's standards) PC that was custom built for me at a small computer shop.  I would estimate the motherboard/graphics card/RAM to be approximately 8 years old; however, I keep in on pretty much 24/7 with weekly reboots and it never gets super hot.  Sometimes it's warmer than other times, taking off the case and blowing some compressed air on the fan does the trick. (My cat likes to walk around the PC...lol.)

I do have my PC sitting on top of my desk and it's a hunking piece of metal, but as others have said, air flow is very important.

Hopefully things will work out and you can enjoy your new PC.

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thanks for replying Czari .. my old computer was an old one of my brothers that he gave me .. it was @ least 8 yrs old & it ran SL ok so long as all the settings were low .. it was filthy inside it so i was vacuuming it out & apparently fried it with static electricity from the vacuum .. i have a cat too & dust & hair were all up inside it .. this is one reason i dont want to take the sides off the new ones case

Jeanne

 

[JeanneAnne]

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Qwalyphi Korpov wrote:

Running two viewers concurrent:  System temp (maybe this is about case temp) 33, Core temp 57

Idle:  System temp (maybe this is about case temp) 31, Core temp 40

 

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those temps seem more reasonable Qwalyphi .. & are more in line w/ what im reading now .. perhaps a bit higher .. i use2 run 2 viewers w/ an alt but havent in awhile .. i wasnt having trouble running SL OR streaming w/ SAM .. but both together was when it was getting hot & freezing

Jeanne

 

[Botanical Rootcreeper]

This might be a silly question but have you checked all your drivers are good and upto date.?   AMDs have always run very hot compaired to cpus such as pentiums also .

 

I regularly overclock my equipment which generates alot of heat,. i have excellent fan system which can be controlled manually or by the pc it self.. bit noicey but works well. 

 

 

 

[Czari Zenovka]

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JeanneAnne wrote:

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Czari Zenovka wrote:

It does sound like there's definitely a major component issue.  I am so sorry this is happening to you.  $1,000 is a huge chunk of change and then to have the PC not work as it should.

I have an ancient (by today's standards) PC that was custom built for me at a small computer shop.  I would estimate the motherboard/graphics card/RAM to be approximately 8 years old; however, I keep in on pretty much 24/7 with weekly reboots and it never gets super hot.  Sometimes it's warmer than other times, taking off the case and blowing some compressed air on the fan does the trick. (My cat likes to walk around the PC...lol.)

I do have my PC sitting on top of my desk and it's a hunking piece of metal, but as others have said, air flow is very important.

Hopefully things will work out and you can enjoy your new PC.

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thanks for replying Czari .. my old computer was an old one of my brothers that he gave me .. it was @ least 8 yrs old & it ran SL ok so long as all the settings were low .. it was filthy inside it so i was vacuuming it out & apparently fried it with static electricity from the vacuum .. i have a cat too & dust & hair were all up inside it .. this is one reason i dont want to take the sides off the new ones case

Jeanne

 

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Ack!!!  I can see how that experience would cause you to be cautious.  I've never vacuumed the PC (out of curiosity, were you using a regular vacuum or one of those little ones made for PCs that run on batteries?) - I just use canned air and let it "dry out" a bit before putting the case back on.

Taking the PC out of the desk is a good move.  Computers don't make the most elegant of decor accessories, but beats them burning out.

 

[Sassy Romano]

Motherboard 28 deg

CPU 39 deg

GPU 48 deg

Two viewers running

[JeanneAnne]

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Botanical Rootcreeper wrote:

This might be a silly question but have you checked all your drivers are good and upto date.?   AMDs have always run very hot compaired to cpus such as pentiums also .

 

I regularly overclock my equipment which generates alot of heat,. i have excellent fan system which can be controlled manually or by the pc it self.. bit noicey but works well. 

 

 

 

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yeah BR .. i know to keep drivers up to date .. i did in my old computer & the new one had brand new hardware & drivers

i told my brother that i would prefer a Nvidia over an AMD GPU but he insisted on AMD cuz he said that he didnt like Nvidia drivers .. i started a post in this forum ~ be4 i got banned LoL ~ asking about which chip set is best .. seems like the overall preference was for Nvidia but the ppl who sounded like they knew the most about it told me that it depended on the card not the company & what model it was & what i was going to do w/ it .. etc .. which was what my brother said too .. so i left it up to him .. maybe it was just coincidence or bad luck but now im down on AMD cuz i apparently got 2 bad cards from them .. the 2nd replacement was definitely bad from the very start

the fans that came w/ the case are controlled by the cpu .. & they were running @ 99% .. the 3 i installed i think run @ a fixed rpm  .. im now maxxed out on fan capacity and i have a big fan in the room blowing on the computer .. my temps are back down more reasonable now but are still a bit higher than ppl are reporting in this thread .. when running SAM & SL together at least

Jeanne

 

[Perrie Juran]

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JeanneAnne wrote:

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Deja Letov wrote:

Did you have it in one of those desk slots with the door in it so it looks like a cabinet and hides the computer? if so, part of your problem is that. Those things are HORRIBLE for computers and don't let the hot air out so they can over heat. I doubt thats the entire issue, but it's probably not helping.

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yeah Deja .. i have a desk exactly as you describe .. cept i long since took the front door off its hinges .. i took my computer out of there & now its majorly in my way .. i may put it back this winter but im keeping it out while its still hot

Jeanne

 

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I need to install an app to check my CPU, but with SL running my GPU hits about  57C.

I had to move my desktop from out under my desk also for the Summer. 

Now in the Winter time it makes for an excellent toe warmer!

 

 

[JeanneAnne]

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Czari Zenovka wrote:

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Ack!!!  I can see how that experience would cause you to be cautious.  I've never vacuumed the PC (out of curiosity, were you using a regular vacuum or one of those little ones made for PCs that run on batteries?) - I just use canned air and let it "dry out" a bit before putting the case back on.

Taking the PC out of the desk is a good move.  Computers don't make the most elegant of decor accessories, but beats them burning out.

 

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I was using the regular vacuum w/ the hose & pointy attachment .. & i was attempting to not touch any components w/ it .. i may have accidently touched something or a static spark may have jumped .. i didnt see any spark but after vacuuming the computer was simply dead .. i took it to Best Buy & told them id been vacuuming & they said it was prolly a static spark & my brother agreed .. it was fried :womansad:

Jeanne

 

[WolfBaginski Bearsfoot]

I can only give my experience.

My computer, running SL, reports CPU temperature as around 15 degrees Celcius above ambient. Mid summer, so higher than it was.

You're checking the right stuff. Check all the fans are working, of course. I can't be sure, because my hardware if different, but your temperatures are looking high.

 

[Sassy Romano]

One obvious question, does the fan on the cpu heatsink work? 

[Alicia Sautereau]

Can say from here that it works, otherwise it would have reached critical temps befor emergency shutdown, just the case cooling not giving fresh air

[Amethyst Jetaime]

NEVER NEVER NEVER use a vacuum cleaner to clean out the dust in a computer.  No matter how careful you are not to touch it, you can still fry a comptuer in a hear beat that way , as you found out.   A static charge can release if your close enough, it doesn't always have to be touching.  Always blow it out using canned air. 

[Alazarin Mondrian]

Hello JeanneAnne:

It sounds like the heatsink/fan combo for your CPU was not properly seated or that its base [or the CPU cap] is slightly warped. Try reseating it using a good quality thermal paste. That said, some motherboards just run hot. I recently threw out an old Intel i945 chipset board that ran insanely hot even with a low-power Celeron CPU and an Asus Silent Knight cooler. Some boards are just junk from the get-go.

If you can, test your CPU [and all your other components] by swapping them out one-by-one into a known good machine. That way you can eliminate the components that are good and isolate whatever's faulty. Seeing how your computer is fairly new all the components should still be under warranty. For example: if all your components run normally in your test-bench computer then the fault would have to lie with the motherboard, If the CPU still runs hot on the test-bench machine then you have a dud CPU [possibly a counterfeit overclocked CPU... yes, it does happen!]. As soon as you locate the faulty part [if that is the case] get an RMA if it's still under warranty and get a replacement.

Another possibility: your power supply might be faulty and send too much current to the motherboard. Swap out your PSU with a known good one and see if the problem goes away.

Another possibility: the voltage regulators on your motherboard are faulty. If you're handy with a soldering iron it could be a quick job to fix otherwise send it back for a warranty replacement.

 Did your brother overclock your computer? If so, get him to put it back to its stock settings. Overclocking, if done badly, can make computers unstable and run very hot.

Good airflow is important. Did your brother make sure that all the fans in your computer create a contiguous airflow? If you have 2 fans blowing air at each other [for example a case fan and the CPU heatsink fan] things can get hot very quickly!

 

As for keeping the inside of your computer clean: use a tin of compressed air [or good old lung-power] and a paintbrush. Keep it earthed while cleaning. In the UK that would mean leaving it plugged in to the wall socket *AND* switched off. In the US you would need a wire attached to the case at one end and tied around bare metal on a radiator or other piece of domestic plumbing. For obvious reasons, don't use gas pipes for earthing.  Use something like Servisol Switchcleaner [or Isopropyl alcohol] and cotton earbuds to remove heavily-caked grime. Servisol Switchcleaner is also an ideal lubricant for fan motors. Never use WD-40 as it's a notorious dust magnet.

[Jenni Darkwatch]

On this PC:

AMD Phenom II X4 830: 40C "idle", 52C under load

nVidia GT 440: 59C idle, 66 under load (with light&shadows enabled)

Stock cooling, nothing fancy. The CPU tends to work a litttle harder on this one, since it's a multiseat for a few workstations (i.e. has 3 keyboards, mice and 6 monitors attached to it)

[Alazarin Mondrian]

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Jenni Darkwatch wrote:

On this PC:

AMD Phenom II X4 830: 40C "idle", 52C under load

nVidia GT 440: 59C idle, 66 under load (with light&shadows enabled)

Stock cooling, nothing fancy. The CPU tends to work a litttle harder on this one, since it's a multiseat for a few workstations (i.e. has 3 keyboards, mice and 6 monitors attached to it)

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Hmmm... My machine has an Intel Q6600 and an NVidia GT440.

Intel Q6600: 45 C Idle, and 55 C - 60 C under load

Nvidia GT440: 40 C Idle, 50 C - 55 C under load

 

Your graphics card seems to be running a bit hot but the CPU seems to be OK. Could be all the extra monitors attached. Try it with just one monitor attached and see how you get on. I use a utility called Speccy to track system temperatures. You might want to try a custom cooler for your CPU.

[Paul Hexem]

I'm going to echo what others have said. Bad build, bad setup. I run two overclocked GTX 570s that power three monitors, often running two or three veiwers at a time, and still keep everything within 10 degrees of idle temp- and that's without liquid cooling.

 

Have the thermal paste checked and get it up where it can get some airflow.

[Jenni Darkwatch]

I can't disconnect any monitors... coworkers would get a little upset if I told them they had no workstation anymore. This card runs my 3 of the six monitors. Two other cards run the remaining monitors.

That program won't do me any good either... I don't use MS Windows.

I'm guessing you mean an aftermarket GPU cooler, not CPU. I've thought about it, but max operating temperature for this specific GPU is 98C - though I realize that would be pushing it. Besides, if I'd want to get better cooling I'd pretty much have to watercool - I'd hazard a guess that with three cards in the case, better air cooling isn't going to improve things much if at all.

BTW, at home my current temps are:
AMD FX6100: 23C idle, 45C under SL-load
nVidia GTX460 (1GB version): 33C idle, 54C under load in a busy venue with light&shadows @128m draw distance

Oh and both setups are custom built, though neither have any special cooling. Stock CPU/GPU fans, as many case fans as the cases can handle, proper airflow to/from the vents etc.pp.

I just realized I forgot ambient temp. It's the same for both work and home: 23C

[Alicia Sautereau]

General reply regarding gpu temps:

They are built to operate at ~80c load (stock) so anything lower is a plus for the case temp and performance

General reply regarding cpu temps:

Don`t look blindly at the cpu temp, individual cor temps are actually more important as they "operate" the cpu
If you go "oh no its wayyy higher!" don`t be alarmed, it`s normal that the core temps are higher as they are indirectly cooled, look at it as a car radiator, the engine is hotter then the fluid (pc case air to make a blunt comparison)

That is why the emergency shutoff is 10c lower then max operating temp(default 90c in bios) under modern cpu max temp of 100c, if your cpu goes abouve 100c, the cores will most likely get damaged as it exceeds their design
You can push it as some nub overclockers managed to survive 3dmark benchmarks, bust some of them complain their pc died or that they had to keep increasing vcore as their cpu`s started to get damaged lol

 

If you want a more complete sensor program, i`d recommend: (Computer -> Sensor)
http://www.aida64.com/downloads/aida64extreme260zip?utm_source=aida64&utm_medium=update&utm_campaign=stableproduct
It is a trial so not free, but will give you abit of playing time

Default clock speeds on the same cpu vary from batch to batch, paste type used, cooler, cooler fan rpm etc, aslong as it operates under full load between 40c to 50c your gpu get outdated and ready for replacement befor the cpu dies

Only thing you need to have a quick look at is the the cpu vcore with cpu-z, default clock speed (under full load) it should be running around 1.1volt - 1.12volt, if it`s higher to 1.2v or even 1.3v then the cpu simply gets to much voltage for it`s operating speed then it needs and needs to be set manually
As a comparison. an intel 3960X, okish batch, runs at 4.5ghz with 1.37vcore