Optiplex 745 Small Form Factor CPU Overheating

[polis_putrus]

I have a Core 2 Duo E6400, I always take my computer case off and put a fan to its side, the fan is aimed at the graphics card and the CPU heatsink always and then temps are 113 - 118 degrees farenheight. The lowest Ive ever seen it go is 104 degrees farenheight, all the fans are working, the thermal paste is properly put on, and no dust, when I play small games like Counter Strike Source its usually 120 - 130, when I play Grand Theft Auto 4 its usually 155 - 160, Ive even seen it go up to 170, when playing gta 4, I rebooted the computer immediatly in fear of CPU damage or even motherboard damage, when I touched the heatsink it felt like it would burn my hand, I did not upgrade to this processor that I have right now it came with the computer and I have never overclocked it, no changes made in the bios, GTA 4 graphics were all the way down except the resolutions, even the resolutions were low too I think 1024x768, GPU takes care of resolutions though, and the framerate was 20 - 30 never reached 40 or 50, my GPU is Radeon R5 240 1GB $25, + my GPU gets only 120 degrees when playing so its fine, the problem isnt the framerate I just want to know why the CPU is so hot, is it because its old, even in winter its hot, Im worried because Im planning on upgrading my CPU to a Core 2 Quad Q6700, and if the E6400 gets up to 160 - 170, I cant imagine how hot the Quad would get, or am I wrong, will the newer Core 2 Quad Q6700 handle stuff better and not overheat? I keep the fan on and my computer opened always when Im using it. Thanks for any help, (Im used to Farenheight for temprature not Celcuius but if you answer with Celcius its fine I will use googles celcius to farenheight calculator)

 

[Rogue Leader]

170F is only 76 degrees C. Thats more than fine. There is nothing wrong here.

Don't touch the heatsink, your hand is not a proper way to measure CPU temperature.

 

[polis_putrus]

170F is only 76 degrees C. Thats more than fine. There is nothing wrong here.

Don't touch the heatsink, your hand is not a proper way to measure CPU temperature.

But the max cpu temp for the Core 2 Duo E6400 is 61.4 Celcius thats 141 degrees farenheight.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Where are you getting your temperatures from.

You're right I forgot the Tcase temp is that low, but in that case if you hit 170F it would have shut down on its own. That tells me whatever software you are using isn't reading it properly.

 

[polis_putrus]

Where are you getting your temperatures from.

You're right I forgot the Tcase temp is that low, but in that case if you hit 170F it would have shut down on its own. That tells me whatever software you are using isn't reading it properly.

From Dell look here Im using Speccy to read temps but as I was playing gta, I quickly pressed ALT + TAB it switched to speccy and I saw a glimpse of the temp 170 degrees the instantly went down to 160 after alt tab, it slowly decreased down to 155 degrees then stopped, when I close gta it goes down slowly to 130 then 125, I dont think speccy was lying, the CPU heatsink was very hot.

 

[Rogue Leader]

Where are you getting your temperatures from.

You're right I forgot the Tcase temp is that low, but in that case if you hit 170F it would have shut down on its own. That tells me whatever software you are using isn't reading it properly.

From Dell look here Im using Speccy to read temps but as I was playing gta, I quickly pressed ALT + TAB it switched to speccy and I saw a glimpse of the temp 170 degrees the instantly went down to 160 after alt tab, it slowly decreased down to 155 degrees then stopped, when I close gta it goes down slowly to 130 then 125

No I meant what software you were using, which you told me.

Try HWMonitor, As I said it should never be that temp, it would crash.

 

[polis_putrus]

Where are you getting your temperatures from.

You're right I forgot the Tcase temp is that low, but in that case if you hit 170F it would have shut down on its own. That tells me whatever software you are using isn't reading it properly.

From Dell look here Im using Speccy to read temps but as I was playing gta, I quickly pressed ALT + TAB it switched to speccy and I saw a glimpse of the temp 170 degrees the instantly went down to 160 after alt tab, it slowly decreased down to 155 degrees then stopped, when I close gta it goes down slowly to 130 then 125

No I meant what software you were using, which you told me.

Try HWMonitor, As I said it should never be that temp, it would crash.

Ok when I get home I will try and report back, might take over 3 hours til I get home, sorry but I will try it while gta running, I will try to find a windowed mode mod for gta so I dont have to press alt tab, so I can see exact temp info, OH and I forgot to mention I closed EVERYTHING possible in the task manager dllhost.exe, explorer.exe, the highest memory using svchost.exe (there is like 20 svchosts) I dont close all of them, and many more and still high temp, that is why Im surprised at the high temps. I always do this before I start any game.

 

[Rogue Leader]

You should not need to close those things. In fact you should leave processes alone. Windows needs them to work properly.

HWMoniotor records your max temp. So turn it on, play a little, exit the game, and see what your max temp (in C) is.

 

[polis_putrus]

You should not need to close those things. In fact you should leave processes alone. Windows needs them to work properly.

HWMoniotor records your max temp. So turn it on, play a little, exit the game, and see what your max temp (in C) is.

oh, it records the temps, ok good. but the processes that I close are fine Ive done it for soo long I know which to close which to not, for example that specific svchost.exe that I close is just the wifi status at bottom right of screen, I currently dont have wifi on my pc anyways. I only close them to put less load on the CPU. running windows 7

 

[polis_putrus]

You should not need to close those things. In fact you should leave processes alone. Windows needs them to work properly.

HWMoniotor records your max temp. So turn it on, play a little, exit the game, and see what your max temp (in C) is.

Ok so the max temp, with HWMONITOR was exactly 150 degrees Farenheight (65.5 C) most of the time 146 Farengeight BUT I played the game at sunset to night time, I live in California, 8:00 pm (142 Farenheight average) to 10:00 pm (147 Farenheight) so since I was playing at night the room was cooler. ALSO I ran speccy with hw monitor and the temps were the same so Im starting to think that when I saw 170 degrees farenheight it was true. also when I played that day that it was 170 it was VERY HOT weather when I played yesterday it wasnt very hot, I will be using hw monitor from now on, since it shows max temp unlike speccy. (This is what Im planning) BUT my real question is: Is the Core 2 Duo E6400 getting soo hot because its old, and if yes does that mean that the newer Core 2 Quad Q6700 can run more cooler?

 

[Rogue Leader]

The CPU doesn't get hotter due to its age. That said it sounds like your cooler isn't working well. You should consider a new one. Likely the fan is worn, or the thermal paste isn't installed properly. If you're changing the CPU thats your chance to do it.

 

[polis_putrus]

The CPU doesn't get hotter due to its age. That said it sounds like your cooler isn't working well. You should consider a new one. Likely the fan is worn, or the thermal paste isn't installed properly. If you're changing the CPU thats your chance to do it.

I cant wait to upgrade the CPU because I will find out if I put the thermal paster on correctly because I dont want to remove the heatsink and risk having to change it, something might go wrong so I will wait to get the Q6700, I put a very thin layer, I tried to make it as perfect as possible, and the heatsink is on tight fans work but very slow I was just now searching for a 50mm high speed fan is that the right size. Oh and also Im not saying that its hot due to age Im saying because its old not old as in like age I mean when it was made, newer processors can stay cooler, newer as in 2018 processors not new as in 1 days use, my moms, I think amd or ati, processor runs at 80 degrees farenheight, very cool compared to intel, different types, different heat control Im guessing.

 

[Rogue Leader]

The CPU doesn't get hotter due to its age. That said it sounds like your cooler isn't working well. You should consider a new one. Likely the fan is worn, or the thermal paste isn't installed properly. If you're changing the CPU thats your chance to do it.

I cant wait to upgrade the CPU because I will find out if I put the thermal paster on correctly because I dont want to remove the heatsink and risk having to change it, something might go wrong so I will wait to get the Q6700, I put a very thin layer, I tried to make it as perfect as possible, and the heatsink is on tight fans work but very slow I was just now searching for a 50mm high speed fan is that the right size. Oh and also Im not saying that its hot due to age Im saying because its old not old as in like age I mean when it was made, newer processors can stay cooler, newer as in 2018 processors not new as in 1 days use, my moms, I think amd or ati, processor runs at 80 degrees farenheight, very cool compared to intel, different types, different heat control Im guessing.

AMD processors do not run at 80 deg F at max. they run 80 deg C under load in some cases, with better cooling more like 60C. Please note when you see temperatures in articles and discussions related to PCs they are always referred to in Celsius not Fahrenheit. In fact your CPU should be running cooler than most new CPUs.

Cooler fans are very specific, you really likely just need a whole new cooler, and should replace it when you replace your CPU. You also installed the thermal paste wrong, you probably used too much. You should put a small grain of rice size in the middle of the CPU and then put the cooler in place and hold it and lock it down. That is the proper method. What you did likely created thin hot spots.

 

[polis_putrus]

I saw it saying 80 degrees, but Im not sure it was C or F, I will check again next time my mom opens her computer, Im very sure it was 80 F, I thought it was better to just wipe the thermal paste all over the CPU leaving no area uncovered, I was also worried about putting the dot in the middle because I thought it might not be enough or it might be too much, I also have limited paste, I currently only have enough for about 2 CPU's. Thank You

 

[Rogue Leader]

The way you did it is definitely wrong. The center grain of rice method is the best and well proven.

 

[polis_putrus]

Thank you, when I upgrade to the Q6700 I will put the dot in the center, I do know how much to put but, is it ok for the thermal paste to go off the edge? This is what I was worried about when I was considering which way to put the thermal paste on. Also I got GTA V on my Optiplex 745, it runs at 15-20 fps, 100% CPU usage, 60-80% GPU usage, CPU: 150-163 Farenheight, GPU: 130-140% Farenheight, the current Core 2 Duo E6400 is bottlenecking the R5 240 ( I think thats how you say it). Do you know if the Core 2 Quad Q6700 (my upgrade choice) will bottlenecking the R5 240?

 

[Rogue Leader]

Yes it will bottleneck but it will just be less. And thermal paste going over the edge is bad.

Grain of rice in the middle is the amount you need, not a dot. If you do that it will not go over the edge, it will be the correct amount.

 

[polis_putrus]

Thank you, I know about putting paste the size of a grain of rice I just call it dot, and I will make sure it won't go over the edge. Also, I will be upgrading the graphics card to R7 250 2GB (65w). Thanks for the answer

 

[polis_putrus]

Are you sure about the rice method, Im not saying your wrong, Im saying there might be methods better, if you have time watch this, if not, then skip to 5:10, and look at the results, I understand why the spread method I used may be bad, but I realized how bad the rice method can get if you dont make it perfect, look at the results of the rice method here, the rice method might leave each edge uncovered since it spreads like a circle. I understand the temprature difference is soo little, but the spread method is guarateed to cover the entire surface.

 

[Rogue Leader]

The IHS doesn't need the entire surface covered, all it is is protecting a bunch of much smaller CPU cores inside which don't come anywhere near the edges. I am 100% sure of this method.

 

[polis_putrus]

I didnt think about where the cores would be located, I searched, and most images show the cores in the middle so thanks for the answer, I will use the "Center grain of rice method" for my new CPU.