Prescott 3.4, Hot temperatures or not?

[robert123456]

Hi,

I have read the Prescott is supposed to withstand hot temperatures but I am still worried. I have attached to screenshots:

1) Without doing anything this thing runs at 63-65C?!!

2) I have played about 20 minutes of Oblivion and the temperature shoots up, including that of the motherboard.

Is this normal and what could I do to considerably cool temperatures? I have looked at the coolers by Akasa but don't know if they are any good. My socket is 478, everything running at normal clock-speeds.

 

[king smp]

1) thoroughly blow all dust out of case,fans and heatsink (finned aluminum/copper over CPU)
2)make sure there is good airflow around tower (inside the built in cpu compartment of the desk is actually the worst spot)
3)verify all fans are working;especially check the power supply fan (PSU is generates the most heat)
4) if temps are still high than I would re-apply thermal compound (I prefer Antec Formula 5)
link for thermal compound application : http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#
link for replacing Socket 478 cpu here:
http://www.pctechguide.com/tutorials/Pentium4_CPU.htm
That is what I would do.
You have to determine if you can handle the procedure

 

[robert123456]

Thanks mate, fans run as normal; the specs for SL7E6 show a Tcase temperature of 73C http://ark.intel.com/Product.aspx?id=27469&processor=550&spec-codes=SL7AJ,SL7B9,SL7E6,SL7J8,SL7KD,SL7KM,SL7L8,SL7PP,SL7PY,SL88L,SL8K4 so it is far from normal.

The cooler i used for this CPU is a used one and belonged to a northwood. Also there was little thermal paste leftover. I will sort out an AK-687A with new thermal compound and install a chassis fan maybe.

 

[robert123456]

I dont have extra fans mounted, only the psu fan and the fan for the CPU cooler

 

[robert123456]

could fry an egg on it

 

[king smp]

+1 reapplying thermal compound
also an extra fan would be beneficial
usually an exhaust out the back higher up in tower if stand up design
remember you want negative air pressure in case (essentially air being "sucked" out of the case)
also tidy up the cables as best you can.
If you have ribbon cables try to swap witht the ata-133 round cables

 

[lysinger]

I recommend upgrading your CPU cooler and adding an extra case fan to help suck air into the front of the case if you don't have a case with a fan mounted on the side panel to allow air straight to the CPU fan. If you have all of this already, you may want to consider upgrading the fans to increase airflow.

Those chips run toasty, but you should be able to cool it down to something under 50degrees C with some work.

If you want to suck more heat out of the case, you can upgrade your power supply to something with a bigger fan. PC Power and Cooling Turbo Cools are great for this, but a little loud. My sister uses one in her studio in NYC in an apartment with no AC and it works great. She was mad at me for the extra noise, but this is the first power supply she hasn't fried in under 2-3 years.

And I need to second King SMP, make sure that there is good airflow in and out of the case.

 

[robert123456]

I'll attach some pictures.

I have tried to reorder the cables as best as I could, stringing them together with insulating tape and clips. I have tied the surplus cables in the extra dvd slot since i dont need one and took the floppy out as well. there is still a shitload of cables but oddly, temperature has dropped as it seems the airflow is better.

I have just upgraded my PSU (you might find in another thread that my cheap-o PSU actually blew up, literally, due to upgraded hardware components). the cable for the two HDD's is ata-133, i dont think i have any ribbon cables apart from the audio-bay connector.

I dont know where to mount a chassis fan since my case is 15 years old! I dont think there is space. Only the case is left of an OEM system from the 90's. Perhaps you guys have an idea, thanks for all your help.

 

[curtis_87]

Humor me on this one, take the case off your PC and see what the idle temps are compared to the results you showed earlier...

looking at your rig I am wondering (as you said the PSU has a fan) if the PSU and CPU fan are fighting for the same air....

also look at your pic though I cant see how much room you have, have you considered moving the Mboard towards the bottom of the case a bit heat rises right, and if there isnt a fan to extract the air out the back (though you havent taken a pic of the back) the earliest point its going to come out looks like about the level of your graphics card, you should still be able to get your cards in.

As for fitting an additional fan... if I had the tools id mark the holes on the side of you case an drill a hole, file it down/clean it up an stick a 120mm fan( and a chrome fan guard )or larger fan on there...

Though as you said you had the wrong cooler on there, the AK-987A is the best place to start, had PC that had the wrong cooler and the fan was always at a really high rpm an so were the temps..changed over coolers and rpms and temps dropped dramtically after tht...
though this could be interesting..gwaa ha ha ha... its that point of the afternoon where one goes loopy
http://www.performance-pcs.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=46_55_562&products_id=2017

scroll down to choose diff adapters and fans to suit your need.

 

[vvhocare5]

I will go with curtis - take the cover off and see what happens to temps.

But I would not spend any more time and effort on this. Prescott runs HOT - its normal - you wont get the temps down significantly by repasting and drilling holes for fans and so on. You cant move enough air too make a difference and CPU throttling doesnt kick in until 100C. That 74C was nothing for Prescott.

 

[lysinger]

Looking at those pics, there isn't a lot of clearance between the PSU and the CPU cooling fan. You could try liquid cooling the CPU which would take a bunch of cpu heat sink out of that area and open up more room for the case fan. Additionally, it should do a great job cooling that chip. A cheaper route would be to get a different case where the CPU isn't under the PSU.

 

[robert123456]

Ok, some good stuff particularly the comment about the PSU and CPU mounted close to each other. The board is Micro ATX, you will have noticed, but I want to keep it though only realized about lack of space when I installed it.

Humor me on this one, take the case off your PC and see what the idle temps are

The case is open but there isn't much change. Also, the way cases are designed (even old ones) keeping them open doesnt improve conditions because the flow path of air is different. I was hoping for a difference but, alas, nothing.

also look at your pic though I cant see how much room you have, have you considered moving the Mboard towards the bottom of the case a bit heat rises right,

I could do that possibly, but I wanted to stick to the index for the stand-offs. I don't think it matters as long as they line up but you never know. As you say by moving there is still space for my two cards though it means re-arranging everything... aghhhh!!

As for fitting an additional fan... if I had the tools id mark the holes on the side of you case an drill a hole, file it down/clean it up an stick a 120mm fan( and a chrome fan guard )or larger fan on there...

Yes. Most definitely a thing which I am thinking of doing. I will have to measure the top of the case, if not, use the holes you see near the PCI slots at the back of the case. This is something I am seriously considering. Also thanks a lot for the link.

That 74C was nothing for Prescott.

Well, though I have read documentation it is way too hot still. I mean you can actually tell the CPU is under strain even when watching a video. Say I watch a 720p video on youtube, temps shoot up and at times frames lag like its in pain. I don't think its right and will have to cool it down.

You could try liquid cooling the CPU

Can I do that for such an old socket? I have seen the thermaltake coolers for instance, which look like the starship enterprise, but I dont think cooling solutions apart from just a sink and a fan exist for this socket. I hope they do.

I'll post a picture of the back of the case later on. Thank guys for the massive input.

 

[neil9294]

Ok, some good stuff particularly the comment about the PSU and CPU mounted close to each other. The board is Micro ATX, you will have noticed, but I want to keep it though only realized about lack of space when I installed it.

Humor me on this one, take the case off your PC and see what the idle temps are

The case is open but there isn't much change. Also, the way cases are designed (even old ones) keeping them open doesnt improve conditions because the flow path of air is different. I was hoping for a difference but, alas, nothing.

also look at your pic though I cant see how much room you have, have you considered moving the Mboard towards the bottom of the case a bit heat rises right,

I could do that possibly, but I wanted to stick to the index for the stand-offs. I don't think it matters as long as they line up but you never know. As you say by moving there is still space for my two cards though it means re-arranging everything... aghhhh!!

As for fitting an additional fan... if I had the tools id mark the holes on the side of you case an drill a hole, file it down/clean it up an stick a 120mm fan( and a chrome fan guard )or larger fan on there...

Yes. Most definitely a thing which I am thinking of doing. I will have to measure the top of the case, if not, use the holes you see near the PCI slots at the back of the case. This is something I am seriously considering. Also thanks a lot for the link.

That 74C was nothing for Prescott.

Well, though I have read documentation it is way too hot still. I mean you can actually tell the CPU is under strain even when watching a video. Say I watch a 720p video on youtube, temps shoot up and at times frames lag like its in pain. I don't think its right and will have to cool it down.

You could try liquid cooling the CPU

Can I do that for such an old socket? I have seen the thermaltake coolers for instance, which look like the starship enterprise, but I dont think cooling solutions apart from just a sink and a fan exist for this socket. I hope they do.

I'll post a picture of the back of the case later on. Thank guys for the massive input.

Hi, I know this thread is a bit old, but I have a case similar in design to the one in your pic with the PSU mounted sideways immediately above the CPU cooler. Like you, I have problems with the CPU (Socket 478 Prescott 3.4GHz) running hot. I have a Zalman CPU cooler installed but the CPU still idles at 50c+. I believe that most of the heat is coming from the PSU; the top of the case gets very hot to touch. I am thinking of transplanting the entire PC into an old tower case that I have lying around to see if that makes a significant difference. It won't be as compact or neat as the current case, but it might give me greater longevity from the components.

 

[robert123456]

Hi Neil,

Yes this thread is from quite sometime ago. My father and I built the system you see, and he passed away this year.

Anyway, this problem was partly solved by mounting a 120mm fan to increase negative pressure coefficient. I also bought a TR2-M10 and some standard paste for it. This resulted in a temperature drop, but I realised that this chip runs at 65-70 under stress anyway. It is normal and I have had no problems since. You can do all this if you want to overclock the system, otherwise you may as well leave it running as it does.

Despite having tinkered with a few other things (i.e. current microarchitecture CPU's) I still love this system and it's still going strong (15+ and still chugging along). I recommend either mounting a few fans to push air and pull it out of the case, or simply taking the side panel off and buying a cheap fan for ventilation (not much as far as energy consumption).

 

[neil9294]

Hi Neil,

Yes this thread is from quite sometime ago. My father and I built the system you see, and he passed away this year.

Anyway, this problem was partly solved by mounting a 120mm fan to increase negative pressure coefficient. I also bought a TR2-M10 and some standard paste for it. This resulted in a temperature drop, but I realised that this chip runs at 65-70 under stress anyway. It is normal and I have had no problems since. You can do all this if you want to overclock the system, otherwise you may as well leave it running as it does.

Despite having tinkered with a few other things (i.e. current microarchitecture CPU's) I still love this system and it's still going strong (15+ and still chugging along). I recommend either mounting a few fans to push air and pull it out of the case, or simply taking the side panel off and buying a cheap fan for ventilation (not much as far as energy consumption).

Hi Robert,

Sorry to hear about your father. I have built several PCs for my family members of which the one I was discussing is just one. I use it as a family back up machine for when one of the other is off-line. It runs very well and has a few other features in common with yours, including the Creative soundcard with live drive bay (this one is an Audigy). In light of your experience, it sounds like I might not get too much of an advantage by changing cases, although th idea about mouting a 120mm fan is a god one. Just hve to figure out where on the case I could make the hole. I am thinking the top ofthe cae would work well. Happy tinkering!