I don't usually check because my CPU always reads fine but today I checked the Bios and it shows the System as 45C while my CPU shows 33C. SpeedFan shows the same, how is this even possible? A computer 3' away reads 33C, inside room temp is 22C, removing side makes about 4C difference, lots of fans and airflow, aftermarket heatsink, AMD desktop-Gigabyte MB. Something else must be being read but what? Thanks
33c is not a terribly high temperature for a modern CPU, certainly not a temperature to be concerned about. With a small amount of digging, you will find the maximum temperatures of virtually all modern CPUs, is at least double the value you are seeing. Some factors affecting the temperature: Type of CPU Type of Heatsink Type of thermal paste, age and how it was applied Case air flow Temperatures and air flow of other components, especially graphics cards Activity of the CPU etc.
In my opinion it might look a bit high ONLY BECAUSE you have an aftermarket cooler. If it was stock cooling solution it's all fine, mine runs hotter than that (Yeah stock cooling) It runs around 45-50C idling + everyday activities and can ramp up to 60C when on max workloads! BTW, if i remember correctly, AMD processors used to run a bit hotter than Intel ones a few years back. Not sure about now
It's not the CPU, I'm quite happy with it at 33C. It's the System Temperature at 45C that is fairly high and how is even possible to read higher than the CPU? It can't be correct yet the Bios and SpeedFan both agree. Edit: in fact, the CPU is at 31C right now and the System temperature is 46C but air being expelled is fairly cool, nowhere near 46C.
That's a fairly normal temperature, also. My ambient system temperature hovers between 41 and 45c, depending upon the system load. I too have an ambient room temperature around 21/22c. Typically, one of the hottest components in the system will be the graphics card, which will put a lot of warm/hot air into the case, particularly if using a stock cooler.
Do you have any Graphics cards? Specially the open heatsink ones, dual slot ones doesn't affects much the temps because the air blows to the back of the case. IMO those are the main things that heats inside. Some of them can run up to 100C+!
When you look at the specs for a chip of any kind, they usually give you a max temp. It used to be they just told you what it was, now they use acronyms like tcase, tmax, tmin, etc. Normally you look for your tmax. Some video cards are, as noted already, over 100 cel. That is pretty warm. My 8800gtx doesn't even start the fan beyond its idle speed until 90 cel. My cpu runs quite a bit cooler than my system temps. I have 2 system temp sensors. One is located between the memory modules, one near the cpu. I used to use Speedfan to control my fans into 2 different zones. My system temps were one zone, my cpu the other. This allowed fans to speed up to keep those system temps down. In my case I want to stay under 50 cel, the theoretical max, and for the cpu under 60 cel max. I run my fans a bit differently than most cases. I bring air in from the back/bottom and pipe it out the top/front. Each case is different, but my point is you might play around with how your fans are configured and see what is optimal. I am in the habit of always using something to modify my cooling because heat is what kills transistors, and transistors are found in great quantities in your hardware. The default cooling scheme is fine I suppose, but I prefer to stretch my investment as far as possible, and the cooler the components are, the longer thier life. Sul.
It is easy for system temp to be higher than the CPU. The CPU has a dedicated fan blasting on it to move heat away. The system temp (which may be the Northbridge but does not have to be) may have a small fan but many just have a heat sink.
The Video card is a 9800 GTX, what caught my attention was that the air exiting isn't much warmer than room temp and removing the case side and exposing to very cold air (10C) only brings the temp down about 4C. Thanks
The air blowing back might not be that hot, but the chip itself is very very hot when on intensive work. Anyways, remember most heat is trapped in the heatsinks, heatsinks don't transfer heat to air so easily
I'm afraid I have to disagree with that. If you have a 5 ounce block of aluminum, then I agree, it will not transfer heat easily because there will be a minimum amount of surface area exposed to the air. But a 5 ounce heatsink will have large numbers of long fins purposely designed to have the most surface area possible exposed to the air. And since heatsinks are made of metals that have been chosen specifically because they have highly conductive properties, the heat will radiate away naturally from the sink to the cooler surrounding air. Now if the air is stagnant around the heatsink (or trapped by a layer of dust), and the heat has no where to go, then it will not radiate. So there must be air flow too, even if that flow is created by "convection" - the natural movement of air caused by the physical property of heat that causes hot air to rise. Now a 5oz rock does not transfer heat to air so easily. But heatsinks are not made out of rock.
In my opinion 33c it is not high temperature for modern CPU .With a small amount of digging, you will find the maximum temperatures of virtually all modern CPUs
