p4 1.6a temp question

[Darkcobra]

Hmm, I've got a question regarding the temperature of my new P4 1.6a cpu. I have an asus p4b266-c mobo and i installed the asus probe software so i can monitor the temperatures of my system. the software is version 2.15.07. Now for some reason, my cpu temps never raise higher than 40c. i've been using prime95 for about 4 hrs and it won't raise one degree. the mobo temps raise up and down depending on the ambient temperature of my room. my mobo temps range from 20-28c. However the cpu temps never raise even when i benchmark my system with 3dmark2k1. or use prime95. what gives? is something wrong with my cpu monitor on the motherboard? should i rma it?

[Random Nonsense]

does it drop when the CPU is idle? if it does, i'd say that its just as hot as it will get.

[Southern Man]

It sounds to me like there is something not right about the CPU temp reading. You should notice a variation in the CPU temp when stressing it way before there will be a difference in the other readings. Are you sure you have the sensors assigned properly. I have never used the asus temp probe software so I'm not sure of the setup. Have you tried the latest version of Mother Board Monitor? You can find it on the files download from the front page link. If you have a reading from your bios I would suggest that it would be more accurate than any other monitor you have installed.

Keep us posted on your findings.

[cloasters]

Why not see if the temps reported in BIOS are close to those given by Asus Probe?

Dunno if things have changed. It used to be that Asus Probe was famous for its inaccuracy. While AMD's K7 CPU's temperature delta between "idle" and heavy load is small, this wasn't true for P3's. P4's? I don't know.

[Darkcobra]

Unfortunately, the bios says the same thing. The cpu temp never differs from it's 40c reading whereas the mobo temp raises and falls depending on the temperature of my room. I have my case next to my open window with 5 fans on, all are 80mm sunon fans, not including the fans for the enermax ps. The cpu doesn't show any change. Always steady as she goes at 40c. That's when idling as well. I have it oc'ed to 2ghz right now (125x16). I'm a little afraid that i might ruin the chip since i'm not detecting any difference in temps when it's oc'ed. And now the same p4 system is telling me that it can't find the boot up config file to start windows? What's going on? What a world, what a world! Thanks for the help guys, please keep it coming! I appreciate it all. Plus I'm learning a lot too!

[Random Nonsense]

dont worry about it, its nigh on impossible to overheat a P4... the chip itself throttles if it gets too warm! it could be worth getting a digital thermometer if you are really worried, and ataching the thermocouple next to the heat spreader, but from the little i know, P4's dont need worrying about!

[S_Wilson]

Originally posted by Random Nonsense
dont worry about it, its nigh on impossible to overheat a P4... the chip itself throttles if it gets too warm! it could be worth getting a digital thermometer if you are really worried, and ataching the thermocouple next to the heat spreader, but from the little i know, P4's dont need worrying about!

Good point, but if it throttles due to heat then you have defeated the purpose of overclocking. I believe temps are as critical on the P4 as they are on the XP. You may not burn it up but you can create a false overclock and then what do you have? A big Ghz at idle 50% of the performance at full load.

[S_Wilson]

Darkcobra, I know what your dealing with. First of all, ditch that asus probe thingy and get MBM 5.1 . You will like it a lot better anyhow. When you set up the temp monitor, make the first one your Cpu monitor and set the probe to "Asus 2 (cusl2)". I know, it's not a cusl2 but it does work. Your next monitor will be for your system and set the probe for "Asus 1". It is really quite easy to set up and use and has a lot of nice features like having a temp display in your sys tray.

Using this, you will find that your temps seem more reasonable and do fluctuate as you would expect them to. My idle is at about 38C and load at about 50C when ambient is 25C and 52C when ambient is 27C, just like you would expect. 1.6A @ 2.4Ghz on P4B266-C, 1.675V set in bios and watercooling.

[Darkcobra]

Well, S_Wilson, MBM sure did the trick. Thanks for the help all of you. My cpu is a nice 43C and depending on my ambient temp, it can rise up to 45C. That is at stock speeds. I wish it were lower though. I also hope to bump up the speed after a little bit to see how high this bad boy can oc! I'll keep you guys posted! Hey S_Wilson, what kind of case do you have? I have a modified antec but my cpu temp is still a little higher than I would like it to be.

[S_Wilson]

Originally posted by Darkcobra
Well, S_Wilson, MBM sure did the trick. Thanks for the help all of you. My cpu is a nice 43C and depending on my ambient temp, it can rise up to 45C. That is at stock speeds. I wish it were lower though. I also hope to bump up the speed after a little bit to see how high this bad boy can oc! I'll keep you guys posted! Hey S_Wilson, what kind of case do you have? I have a modified antec but my cpu temp is still a little higher than I would like it to be.

Glad to hear it. 2.4Ghz with the Northwoods is almost a gimme . What are you cooling your cpu with? If its the Intel heatsink then you need to find something better like an Alpha. You can never have to much cooling because when you go to oc and add a little voltage the wattage will increase dramatically. For instance, a 1.6A @ 2.4Ghz and 1.7V is putting out about 90W which is almost double the stock wattage.

The case I use is a Chenbro Junior. You can see it here. I really like this case as it is built to house 120mm fans in front and back plus an 80mm in front of the HD rack. Modding is easy, just cut out the grates. I added a 120mm on the left door also. So, I have 2 X 120mm and 1 X 80mm in and 1 X 120mm out. All fans are Panaflo L1A's and setup on a rheostat system that I built. My cpu is watercooled so with the rheostat system, I am able to keep my system reasonably cool at a very reasonble noise level