[SOLVED] CPU scary temperatures!!

[guymarshall]

I have got a new cooler for my FX-8350 and was going to look at temperatures, and they are different across 3 different temperature monitoring pieces of software!!!

In HWMONITOR, I noticed some temperatures called TMPIN0, 1 and 2. The middle one was always at ~70C, and when I opened HWINFO it showed that same temperature as being called "CPU" on my motherboard. This confuses me because there is also a package temperature in both that reads between 40C and 50C. To make matters even more confusing I opened AMD OverDrive and using the temperature offset my CPU should be 38.5C!!!

My computer has not turned off from overheating, and after finding out the maximum temperature for the FX-8350 is 62C I am getting worried as to why it is either overheating and not turning off or not overheating and falsely reporting it. My new cooler is the NH D15 and hot air is definitely coming off the heatsink when I stress the CPU. I keep my CPU between 1.4Ghz @ 0.912V - 4.0GHz @ 1.288V.

I am really confused as to what is happening and am hoping somebody can help me understand the situation!


CPU temperature screenshots:

HWMONITOR -

https://imgur.com/a08oWVc

View: https://imgur.com/a08oWVc

HWINFO -

https://imgur.com/pDrdm0O

View: https://imgur.com/pDrdm0O

AMD OverDrive -

https://imgur.com/CX9Wpod

View: https://imgur.com/CX9Wpod

 

[Dark Lord of Tech]

Full Specs?

 

[Karadjgne]

Forget about Hwmonitor, the tmpin numbers can read anything from cpu cores to VRM's to the pcie Northbridge or even mosfets and there's no telling exactly which is which. Hwmonitor reads my tmpin4 as 255°C and tmpin6 as -125 °C, both physically impossible.

You have an FX cpu. There's only 1 recommended software for reading those FX. That's AMD Overdrive. It uses a thermal margin system, basically it works backwards from the way Intel reads temps, because AMD FX cpus do not have thermal strips in the cores. So any other software is going to read things wrong.

A thermal margin is the cpu at maximum, minus what it's actually running. So if you get a TM of 40, that's great, you have about 40° left before overheating. The closer to 0 you get, the hotter the cpu is running. You should be wary at @ 20, very concerned if you hit 10 and freaking out if you hit 0.

The exact number doesn't matter. It's where that number is that matters, so unlike benchmark chasers with exact °C changes, for FX cpus any thing @ 20 or higher is great.

And that's under load conditions. Idle doesn't count, it's only an indicator of airflow. High idles mean you have lousy case airflow and the cooler can't do its job. If you are sure you have decent airflow, then something is making the cpu hot. Load temps really aren't affected by ambient temps, they are way hotter than that, so load temps are where you want to be checking for ability.

 

[guymarshall]

Full Specs?

Yes absolutely, apologies for not including it.

FX-8350 @4.0 GHz @ 1.288 V
NH D15 with dual 150mm Noctua fans
Asus Strix GTX 970 @ 1550 MHz @ stock voltage
MSI 970 Gaming Motherboard
BeQuiet Silent Base 800 w/w exhaust fan
Corsair RM650 PSU
Weird RAM - 2GB 1366 MHz Crucial + 4GB 1600MHz Crucial + 4GB 1600MHz Kingston + 2GB 1600MHz Samsung
Fans - every case fan apart from exhaust (it broke), dual 150mm CPU cooling fans, PSU fan, 2 Strix 970 fans, no additional fans
HDD - 1TB Seagate Barracuda

Anything else you need just let me know

 

[guymarshall]

Forget about Hwmonitor, the tmpin numbers can read anything from cpu cores to VRM's to the pcie Northbridge or even mosfets and there's no telling exactly which is which. Hwmonitor reads my tmpin4 as 255°C and tmpin6 as -125 °C, both physically impossible.

You have an FX cpu. There's only 1 recommended software for reading those FX. That's AMD Overdrive. It uses a thermal margin system, basically it works backwards from the way Intel reads temps, because AMD FX cpus do not have thermal strips in the cores. So any other software is going to read things wrong.

A thermal margin is the cpu at maximum, minus what it's actually running. So if you get a TM of 40, that's great, you have about 40° left before overheating. The closer to 0 you get, the hotter the cpu is running. You should be wary at @ 20, very concerned if you hit 10 and freaking out if you hit 0.

The exact number doesn't matter. It's where that number is that matters, so unlike benchmark chasers with exact °C changes, for FX cpus any thing @ 20 or higher is great.

And that's under load conditions. Idle doesn't count, it's only an indicator of airflow. High idles mean you have lousy case airflow and the cooler can't do its job. If you are sure you have decent airflow, then something is making the cpu hot. Load temps really aren't affected by ambient temps, they are way hotter than that, so load temps are where you want to be checking for ability.

Okay well that's interesting to find out! It would explain the mismatching temperatures! AMD OverDrive and the Package temperatures in HWMonitor line up exactly (apart from HWMonitor randomly shows 255C for half a second and then back to 30C-40C! So I will use AMD OverDrive for now on!

What exactly is the maximum for the temperature offset? I have read 60C, 62C, 70C but nobody can agree on a definitive value.

 

[Karadjgne]

Actual core temps for all the FX cpus is 62°C. However, that's misleading as there are no thermal strips inside the cores. That heat energy travels to the ihs, which gets hotter than the core, so you'll read package temps at 72°C.

Overdrive is written specifically for the FX, it's the only software that is, coretemp is also usually accurate. Both use complex algorithms to get those temps, not just a simple address read like most other software, which is why temps in HWInfo, Hwmonitor etc are often wrong, they use the address of a sensor, and if that sensor happens to be physically under the cpu on the mobo, it's going to read something funky. Depending on the vendor, and mobo itself, they can use different addressing on the Isa buss, so that sensor Hwmonitor is looking for could physically be across the mobo at the Sata controller.

So under stress, like a game, how does your thermal margin look? That's the only number that counts and really does not translate to a physical temp well. So knowing core 62 or package 72 doesn't help much. A thermal margin of 20 is way more efficient, you are plenty under the limit.

You'll want some sort of exhaust, it's part of keeping the equilibrium of the airflow, cool air in - hot air out. Without it, all you have is cool air in which heats up the case, lowers the effectiveness of the cpu cooler, raises your cpu temps/gpu temps and then slowly escapes through whatever venting/cracks it can. Without exhaust, your pc just became an oven, and everything inside is cooking.

 

[guymarshall]

Actual core temps for all the FX cpus is 62°C. However, that's misleading as there are no thermal strips inside the cores. That heat energy travels to the ihs, which gets hotter than the core, so you'll read package temps at 72°C.

Overdrive is written specifically for the FX, it's the only software that is, coretemp is also usually accurate. Both use complex algorithms to get those temps, not just a simple address read like most other software, which is why temps in HWInfo, Hwmonitor etc are often wrong, they use the address of a sensor, and if that sensor happens to be physically under the cpu on the mobo, it's going to read something funky. Depending on the vendor, and mobo itself, they can use different addressing on the Isa buss, so that sensor Hwmonitor is looking for could physically be across the mobo at the Sata controller.

So under stress, like a game, how does your thermal margin look? That's the only number that counts and really does not translate to a physical temp well. So knowing core 62 or package 72 doesn't help much. A thermal margin of 20 is way more efficient, you are plenty under the limit.

You'll want some sort of exhaust, it's part of keeping the equilibrium of the airflow, cool air in - hot air out. Without it, all you have is cool air in which heats up the case, lowers the effectiveness of the cpu cooler, raises your cpu temps/gpu temps and then slowly escapes through whatever venting/cracks it can. Without exhaust, your pc just became an oven, and everything inside is cooking.

Okay thanks for everybody's replies! I will look into a Noctua 120mm exhaust fan right now