How can it be so hot? P4 3.0, 6800U

andyL · Post by **andyL** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:29 pm

Long story short, my sons computer is stable for hours when gaming, etc but the air coming from the power supply and rear fan is hot. The rear of the case above the p/s gets warm to the touch, but nothing smells hot. It blasts an impressive amount of heat into his room, warms the whole corner where the PC is. Do I need to worry? As a comparison, my A64 3000 blows barely warm air after a few hours of gaming. One last thing, intake fan speed does not seem to make a difference.
System Specs are
Case, Lian Li PC65
2 80mm fans intake front on low or medium
1 80mm tricool exhaust rear on low
3.0 P4 northwood with Zalman alcu 7700 flower cooler
Asus 6800 Ultra (AGP) with Arctic Cooling Silencer 5 (helped with temps)
Asus P4S800D-X Motherboard
2x512 pc400
Ultra 500W p/s
80GB 7200 WD HDD PATA
DVD
CDRW
SB Live PCI

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 5:38 pm

hard to judge temps by hand.....just what are the exact temp readings?

andyL · Post by **andyL** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:03 pm

EDITED

Good point. My son was playing Splinter Cell for an hour or two when I went in to check the temps. I exited the game and started Everest to check. All temps are in celcius.
Motherboard: 35
CPU: 54 edit.. during 2 instances of CPU Burn stabilzed at 66C
Graphics core: 50... running ATItool check for errors stabilzed at 68C
Graphics ambient: 47
WD Hdd: 34
7700 fan speed @1500rpm

Thanks,
Andy
P.S. I know the P4 disspates a lot more heat than a A64.

PiggysPizza · Post by **PiggysPizza** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 6:08 pm

I have the same problem, and I have almost the exact same system specs as you, I can never get a really straight answer out of anyone, but most say the easiest way is to under volt your computer, but I dare not touch that with a 10 ft poll unless someone gave me a guide on how to.

Post by **Rusty075** » Sat Nov 11, 2006 7:04 pm

Things look about like you would expect them to, given a system like that. As you're already aware, his CPU is producing a bunch more heat than your's...nearly double, actually. No amount of fans or heatsinks are going to make the room any cooler...it will still be pumping the same amount of heat into there.

None of the temps are worrisome. The HDD and GPU are nice and cool in fact. So long as you haven't modified the PSU (and it doesn't sound like you have) I wouldn't worry about how hot its exhaust feels. Its thermal control is setting its fan speed at whatever temperature the manufacturer has decided is safe. If the noise doesn't bother you, I would just let it do its own thing.

It's the old-standby rule, "If it's stable, its temps are fine".

With regards to the front intake fans I think you've discovered the same thing that many others have: that using intake fans in conjunction with exhaust fans is often redundant, and frequently has no benefits when it comes to temps. Try turning them off completely and see what the temps do. If they don't go up significantly, just leave them unplugged and enjoy the reduced noise.

You can use little software programs like CPUBurn (run two instances at once) and Atitool to heat up the CPU and GPU while watching the temps with Everest. That will let you see them in real-time, as opposed to switching out of a game and trying to catch them before they drop.

lm · Post by lm » Sun Nov 12, 2006 5:03 am

Now that it's winter, you can just turn the central heating down for his room. During the summer that won't help though.

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 6:19 am

Your temps should not be that high with that CPU. I have much less airflow through my case, fewer fans, and yet my P4-3.4 maxes at 47C.

I'd suspect that particular HSF is recirculating hot air in the case. I'd try increasing the rear case fan speed, maybe get a different heatsink like a Ninja that blows heat at the rear fan. Those Zalman-flower type heatsinks, have always been suspect to me.

andyL · Post by **andyL** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 7:32 am

What kind of cooler are you using to keep your 3.4 so cool? I do know I would not buy another 7700, when I first put it on, I was convinced it was not mounted right, but then I discovered it was just poor.
Andy

Bluefront · Post by **Bluefront** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 9:04 am

I have two different computers with P4-3.4s.....both use Ninjas, both run about the same temps.

See this thread for more photos. That setup could also be made to run similarly with negative pressure. I get cold sweats when a CPU hits 50C......

Tobias · Post by **Tobias** » Sun Nov 12, 2006 1:49 pm

It's important to note though, that regardless what Heatsink you use, your sons room will still be as hot. I wouldn't be surprised if his computer (with PSU losses) puts out 240-300watts of heat into his room. put 4-5 60W lightbulbs together and you will be able to feel how that number translates into heat.

stromgald · Post by **stromgald** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:30 am

andyL wrote:What kind of cooler are you using to keep your 3.4 so cool? I do know I would not buy another 7700, when I first put it on, I was convinced it was not mounted right, but then I discovered it was just poor.
Andy

A Ninja would help, but I'm not sure if its worth it. Is it making too much noise or are you just worried about temps? I think the temps are fine, and you're not at risk of burning/destroying anything. The CPU is a little on the hot side, but as long as it doesn't pass 70Â°C, you're pretty safe.