Should I be worried about my CPU temperatures?

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Lucas Singh

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Mar 11, 2014
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Earlier today I took off my stock heat sink for AMD FX-6300, and installed my new heat sink (Arctic Air Freezer Pro 7 Rev.2) and I found the idle temperatures were good and it wasn't that loud (34-46 degrees celcius) but then I when I started playing Far Cry 3 for about half an hour I closed the game to see the CPU temperature and I had a warning message saying CPU temperature was at 65 degrees celcius! I then checked my motherboard program and it said my CPU was at 68 degrees, that is not good for this CPU right?
 
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the FX series CPU's start to throttle the performance back after you hit around 60c degrees. So yes it is to hot. There are a couple of things to watch for.
1. did you put the correct amount of thermal paste on?
2. Did you install the cooler correctly?
3. Is your voltage set to High?
4. It takes a short time for the Thermal paste to settle after being applied.

I would Run Intel Burn Test to help heat up the CPU and set the thermal paste and see what the high temps Hit. If the temps are still to high after 3-5 days, I would make sure you are not over volting the CPU causing extra unneeded heat. If voltage is low then I would look into reseating the Cooler with fresh thermal paste.

some of the FX-6300's can run around 1.32v easily so make sure your not overvolting the CPU. this is a common issue when people build there own PC's and don't know how to stress test and find the lowest stable voltage.
 
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I had a layer of thermal paste on the heatsink when I bought it. I think it's installed correctly, it is cooling pretty good in idle or at least better than my stock cooler. My voltage may be set to high, do I check and configure that in the BIOS?
 
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It's around 20 degrees celcius, I have my window open as well letting in some cool Canadian air!

 
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Ambient temps same as here. We dread that cool Canadian air! (Chicago - yesterday the river was dyed green for St. Patrick's Day).
 
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Your lucky. It is hard for me to keep a 28 C ambient where I live (Phoenix Arizona) when it gets up to 115 F outside. Its nice right now at 72 F or 22 C. The winter is the best time of the year. 😀
 
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yes the core voltage will be found in the BIOS for the motherboard. It is very rare the the motherboard will set the proper voltage on its own. (auto) Idle temps do not mean much as the voltage and or the frequency get cut when there is very little load on the CPU. it is your max temps that matter. you should not come close to your max temp when gaming as there is not enough constant load to make it hit the max. If you are hitting max temp when at stock frequency's then your voltage is way to high.

Use CPU-Z to know the actual voltage with the system running as there usually is a difference between what you set it for and what the voltage really is. www.CPUID.com If you do need to turn it down use Prime95 for a minimum of 5 hours strait and Intel Burn Test set to maximum memory and for 40 runs to be sure you are stable. If either one fails your CPU is unstable.
 
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I got CPUID HWMonitor and I see under Voltages my CPU VCORE max value is 1.320V,that not too high is it? Also it seems that the temperature of the CPU socket and actual CPU are much different! The higher numbers I been getting must have been from the socket, but the actual CPU is much cooler than I expected. Right now the socket says 37C degrees and the actual CPU is 18C degrees. So I think my temperatures have been fine all along right?
 
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Sorry that was just in idle lol, i'll check some games first. So would 60C degrees be the highest safe temperature on the CPU? If that so i'll open up Far Cry 3 and play for a bit and right after I close the game i'll check the temperature of the CPU
 
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the FX series CPU's will start to throttle the frequency (drop the frequency) anywhere between 60 - 65C so the Max you should hit would be around 60C to get the max performance form the CPU. The CPU will not be "hurt" till you hit around 72C. They built in the throttling to help keep the CPU's from over heating. When the CPU throttles the performance drops and you are left with a weaker CPU than expected. This can cause issues in games and stuttering.

some other things that help keep the CPU cooler are wire management. Keep the wires tucked neatly to the motherboard mounting plate. Clean the fan blades, and filters if any, in the case. Set the CPU fan to hit full speed at or around 45C. these things are free and help control the CPU temp.
 
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I got my wires tucked in so that should be good, but I will make sure to check for grime on the fan blades! I also forgot to mention that I can install two 120mm case fans in my case. And one of them being right next to the CPU! I forgot about that completely! Getting those case fans will also improve my temperatures right?
 
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depends on where they are. As an example of it being a temp hindrance, My gaming case is a Antec 900 II with a 120mm side fan to help cool the GPU and the CPU. with it blowing in like it was designed for, it pushes to much air onto my GPU making it heat up more than with out it being there. So I turned it around and have it sucking the heat from the GPU out. This is just an example of how it can hinder you in cooling. For you you may not experience this and it may help cool your system better. You also need to try to balance the intake and exhaust fans so that you end up with just a slight positive pressure to prevent dust build up on components. To much positive pressure can hinder cooling but you will have a lot less dust build up in the system. If you have some fans kicking around (or a friend that does) put them in for a test and see if it helps in both GPU and CPU temps. You can always buy fans if you find out they help in your case.
 
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Yeah i'll try and get a fan from a friend, but I would like to see some temperature drops so I always thought more the merrier but you had a good point about keeping it balanced, i'll test two fans and see how they go.
 
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Look for high CFM fans (80 CFM or higher) when you are replacing fans. Sleeve bearings, or rifle bearings (sleeve with an internal groove for lube) are quieter than ball bearing fans.

Generally try and keep the Intakes (Front, Side, & Bottom if any) and the Exhausts (Rear and Top) within 15% of each other. It does not matter whether you end up with a positive pressure (Intakes greater than Exhausts) or a negative pressure because the case has screens and not fine particles filters. All air contains dust. A positive pressure is attained by forcing more air containing dust than is exhausted. The only way to minimize (not eliminate) dust is to have a micro-particles filter along with electrostatic filters and this is not practical in a computer case. (Clean room technology).

With the computer OFF on a monthly basis remove the side panel and blow out the dist by using a can of compressed air. When you do this remember to block the fans from spinning by restraining it manually. This will prevent them from spinning over the designed RPM from the compressed air blast and ruining the bearings.
 
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This part of your statement is flawed because a negative pressure will draw air from any crack and crevasses that it can. Because of this not all air gets pushed through the screens so a lot more dust enters the system than a positive pressure system. The rest of your statement I agree with. The reason I disagree with this part as I have proven it to many people and done the tests myself in controlled environments.

For cooling, the negative pressure systems cool better but in the end it costs more in time and materials to clean the system out.
 
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