Crap. I think my processor is overheating

[Raziaar]

So I was rendering out a scene in Maya that shouldn't have been that intensive all things considered.

My CPU temperature starts jumping... and jumping... and jumping.

at around 68 my computer started getting incredibly unresponsive and I was worried I was going to overheat it.

I haven't been able to find anything about AMD Phenom II X4 955 temperatures. But surely it can't be getting this hot.

I need to either dust it out or reapply my thermal paste... which I'm always nervous about. It currently has Arctic Silver 5 on there right now.

And it idles anywhere from 50-56 celsius. Typically under load it only gets to like 62. But when it was pushing near 70 I was getting worried.


Anybody have a socket AM3 heatsink that they could recommend? I'm worried about my CPU overheating.

 

[Hazar]

looks like this one is good:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/cooling/2009/12/11/titan-fenrir-cpu-cooler-xmas-edition-review/3

not sure how easy it is to get here though

 

[VirusType2]

Sure it wasn't just getting unresponsive because it was rendering/busy?

70 doesn't sound high, but I don't know anything about that processor. You could probably find out the thermal limits of it online somewhere.

 

[Quixoticism]

70 is pretty dang high. My AMD proc has a threshold of 60 degrees cel. I would definitely look into getting a new heatsink for your baby so she doesn't melt.

 

[Ren.182]

Not sure if the temps are high or whatever. But whenever I'm rendering I always find my computer is pretty much unusable as it'll just rape the CPU till its done, no matter how intensive it is.

 

[Raziaar]

I've rendered more intense stuff before and my computer was still responsive before. This seemed very out of the normal from what I have experienced with it thus far.

It could be that I'm paranoid, but I've never seen my processor get that hot before.

70 is pretty dang high. My AMD proc has a threshold of 60 degrees cel. I would definitely look into getting a new heatsink for your baby so she doesn't melt.

I plan on looking into it.

looks like this one is good:
http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/coo...ition-review/3

not sure how easy it is to get here though

Thanks man, I'll check it out.

I also had my eye on this one.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186134

Sure it wasn't just getting unresponsive because it was rendering/busy?

70 doesn't sound high, but I don't know anything about that processor. You could probably find out the thermal limits of it online somewhere.

I've been looking, but thus far all I've found was the idle temps for other peoples computers that had the same processor... and they're better than mine.

Not sure if the temps are high or whatever. But whenever I'm rendering I always find my computer is pretty much unusable as it'll just rape the CPU till its done, no matter how intensive it is.

Normally I'd think that's the case too... but I wasn't even able to cancel the render. And also something I haven't experienced before while rendering, windows wasn't able to redraw itself properly.

 

[Asus]

tips/info for thermal compound

50c for idle is a little high. Only going up 12-18c for load is actually good (except for the fact that it happens to be close to 70c). Also, it is not uncommon for temps to be high for rendering compared to say gaming (not really a full load). TBH the PC would shut down before you would have any damage to the hardware if heat were a problem (75-85c for CPUs). I wouldn't be that worried but feel free to replace the heatsink or put the PC in a cooler place with more airflow (don't push it up against the wall).

The unresponsiveness is probably due to the load. Could try to limit the render to 2 cores maybe through task manager. (right click on process and set affinity)

As for the temps the fan or heatsink fins could be dusty. Could have too much thermal compound between CPU and heatsink.
Doubt it has too little paste. And that is a new CPU so I don't think the paste is old.

 

[Raziaar]

tips/info for thermal compound

50c for idle is a little high. Only going up 12-18c for load is actually good (except for the fact that it happens to be close to 70c). Also, it is not uncommon for temps to be high for rendering compared to say gaming (not really a full load). TBH the PC would shut down before you would have any damage to the hardware if heat were a problem (75-85c for CPUs). I wouldn't be that worried but feel free to replace the heatsink or put the PC in a cooler place with more airflow (don't push it up against the wall).

The unresponsiveness is probably due to the load. Could try to limit the render to 2 cores maybe through task manager. (right click on process and set affinity)

As for the temps the fan or heatsink fins could be dusty. Could have too much thermal compound between CPU and heatsink.
Doubt it has too little paste. And that is a new CPU so I don't think the paste is old.

Do AMDs have safety now? I remember back when I still had my first 1GHZ computer that AMD processors didn't have the heat shut down safeties that Intel ones did.

My computer is actually sitting in the corner between two walls on the floor. Don't know of a better position to put it in my room. My desk isn't big enough to have the computer, speakers and monitor on it.

I applied the thermal paste myself... but I have never quite grasped how to get the right amount on there. I could very well have too much. I don't really know

 

[Barney Fife]

Over 60 is high.
I Use a pretty huge Workstation desk I bought at CompUSA while back. It is large and strong enough to withstand my Computer, stereo system and my monitor, all sitting on top. I believe leaving everything on top of the desk than bottom minimizes dust and heat. My amplifier/Receiver is extremely susceptible for heat.

Good Luck.

 

[Asus]

Back in the day it was Intel's boards that shut the PC down. AMD didn't make the boards their CPUs ran on and only some brands include that kind of monitoring for AMD. But those days are long gone. All boards do this now.

 

[VirusType2]

I take back what I said before.

I was running 3 HD movies and CPU temp only got to about 34-40 degrees C. (CPU at about 44% usage) GPU didn't really move much either. I have a completely different CPU that runs a little cooler, however.

In my BIOS, it says 52-58 degrees @ idle, but software software like HWMonitor in Windows tells me about 27 degrees - a huge discrepancy. In order to be sure, I will definitely want to get a few more 'opinions' by trying several temp. monitoring solutions.

So, maybe get a second opinion -

Have a look here for AMD/Windows 7:
http://www.google.com/#hl=en&safe=o...dows+7&aq=f&aql=&aqi=&oq=&fp=ba0a4630ce98f7da

 

[Barney Fife]

Back in the day it was Intel's boards that shut the PC down. AMD didn't make the boards their CPUs ran on and only some brands include that kind of monitoring for AMD. But those days are long gone. All boards do this now.

My old LP UT nf3 with an oced Sledgehammer used cut system off at 60 degrees. This relatively new Crosshair with all the bells and whistle somehow doesn't. I now use and launch games with Core Temp, so I can watch temps on my keyboard LCD.

 

[Raziaar]

Holy Bajeesus!

I finally got around to dusting out my computer case... which wasn't all that visually dusty. Dusted stuff out of the processor and the video card and PSU mainly... even though it was hard to get a proper angle(and I didn't want to take everything out).

Seemed like barely any dust was coming out... but my CPU is now idling at 40-42 degrees...

I KNEW IT!

And for quick example of CPU and graphical load... just using google earth before the dusting it was working up to 60-62 degrees...

Now it's only getting to 45-48 or so.

 

[Barney Fife]

Holy Bajeesus!

I finally got around to dusting out my computer case... which wasn't all that visually dusty. Dusted stuff out of the processor and the video card and PSU mainly... even though it was hard to get a proper angle(and I didn't want to take everything out).

Seemed like barely any dust was coming out... but my CPU is now idling at 40-42 degrees...

I KNEW IT!

And for quick example of CPU and graphical load... just using google earth before the dusting it was working up to 60-62 degrees...

Now it's only getting to 45-48 or so.

idle should be around 30-45 degrees in normal room temperature, 45-55 degrees under load. Make sure all system fans including HSF are connected to their proper places.
Unless the thing is full of dust, little dust won't raise your overall CPU temp that high.
You probably knocked something back into place, or CPU-fan motor weak and moving fan-blades made the motor kick-in.
Keep your eye on the CPU temp. Get an aftermarket HSF. Stock HSF may be faulty, therefore malfunctioning.

Good Luck.

 

[Raziaar]

idle should be around 30-45 degrees in normal room temperature, 45-55 degrees under load. Make sure all system fans including HSF are connected to their proper places.
Unless the thing is full of dust, little dust won't raise your overall CPU temp that high.
You probably knocked something back into place, or CPU-fan motor weak and moving fan-blades made the motor kick-in.
Keep your eye on the CPU temp. Get an aftermarket HSF. Stock HSF may be faulty, therefore malfunctioning.

Good Luck.

Visually it didn't look like a lot of dust that was being knocked out of there. Poor light conditions.

I'm pretty sure it was the dusting that caused it to run cooler.

 

[No Limit]

I missed this thread before. Your AMD heatsink probably has a fan that is removable. This way you can completely dust out the heatsink without having to take it off. It might not seem like there is any dust left in there but the dust in those conditions gets compressed and completely blocks air flow. A simple can of air will not get this dust out, you need to physically pull it out. Look for latches. If access is a problem take out the entire mother board (but that shouldnt be neccessary). I would highly recommend you do this, 40C is way too high still. I have 2 quad core computers (phenom processors) and one is currently at 25C the other one runs about the same.

Also, you bios will probably have an option to shut down the computer once the CPU gets past a certain temp; look around for it.

 

[Raziaar]

I missed this thread before. Your AMD heatsink probably has a fan that is removable. This way you can completely dust out the heatsink without having to take it off. It might not seem like there is any dust left in there but the dust in those conditions gets compressed and completely blocks air flow. A simple can of air will not get this dust out, you need to physically pull it out. Look for latches. If access is a problem take out the entire mother board (but that shouldnt be neccessary). I would highly recommend you do this, 40C is way too high still. I have 2 quad core computers (phenom processors) and one is currently at 25C the other one runs about the same.

Also, you bios will probably have an option to shut down the computer once the CPU gets past a certain temp; look around for it.

I was looking at the fan, to look for screws where I could remove it, but didn't see any at least in the low light conditions I was working in.

 

[No Limit]

It probably wont have screws, just latches. And get some better light if needed.