what is a bad cpu temp?

[craig7]

i recently got some cpu temp monitoring program and i noticed that when i play need for speed world, my temp gets to about 55 degrees, but when i play games on facebook, my temp get to 59

the software is set so that it says anything over 50 is bad but i can change it.
my idle temp is 32-37. so is 59 degrees a bad temp?

 

[BoredSysAdmin]

i recently got some cpu temp monitoring program and i noticed that when i play need for speed world, my temp gets to about 55 degrees, but when i play games on facebook, my temp get to 59

the software is set so that it says anything over 50 is bad but i can change it.
my idle temp is 32-37. so is 59 degrees a bad temp?

Install CPU-Z. get it from here: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
to find out your cpu model number
Somehow I assume your is intel made - if so checkout ark.intel.com.
Find your cpu specs and look for Tcase spec.
That's the maximum temp your cpu should ever reach. Try to maintain your cpu temp at 80% or less even under load. If you are well under - no reasons to worry. Otherwise you need to do some steps to fix it

 

[emorphien]

Desktop or laptop?

Either way those temps aren't that bad but it would be good to know what program you're using to monitor temperatures.

CPUs will generally be ok in to the 60s (or higher) but obviously the lower the better and it does vary from processor to processor. Each generation, design and manufacturing process has its own limits.

 

[digicidal]

Monitoring program may not be accurate at all...

Although the difference between your idle and loaded temps is fine, the first thing you should consider is that your program may not be reading the sensors correctly. Pretty much it's a crapshoot as far as temps are concerned, unless your utility was written by the motherboard manufacturer. If you are using a fairly recent CPU... then I would recommend either using something from you MB vendor or perhaps HWMonitor from Cpuid. Ignore the 'cpu temperature' as reported by the motherboard sensors for the most part and only worry about your CPU core temperatures.

You could also get CoreTemp to read this which I highly recommend as it will also display what the TjMax value for your CPU is (assuming it's a supported model) which is the point at which the thermal protection for your CPU will kill cycles to save itself.

If you have the case for it, and are trying to reduce noise while still running full speed (which I assume noise is an issue since you're on here) I would recommend upgrading to a 120mm based CPU cooler from any of the better manufacturers - lots of sites review every cooler out there and have regular shootouts. By getting the most efficient and largest cooler your case will allow you can often reduce the speeds of (or replace with slower, quieter) fans in the case itself... resulting in lower temperatures and a silent or near-silent system.

As a side note... another benefit of using coretemp on a multicore system is that often (although not always) you can see the effectiveness of your thermal paste application. If all of your cores are operating within a couple of degrees of each other under similar loads then you've got good coverage... if one or more are operating 6-10C hotter - then you likely have a gap or bubble which will contribute more heat to the CPU itself. This isn't always the case, but it can be. On the grease, if you are using a stock HSF that came with your CPU... most likely it came with the 'graypad' which definitely works, but I've always found that even if you aren't upgrading the cooler, just cleaning that crap off thoroughly and replacing it with something like Arctic Silver will net you a 2-3C reduction in temps without changing any other aspects of your system.

NOTE: If you have a retail packaged system - just removing the HSF on the CPU *might* void your warranty, so check that first before you go yanking it off.

 

[craig7]

Install CPU-Z. get it from here: http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/cpu-z.html
to find out your cpu model number
Somehow I assume your is intel made - if so checkout ark.intel.com.
Find your cpu specs and look for Tcase spec.
That's the maximum temp your cpu should ever reach. Try to maintain your cpu temp at 80% or less even under load. If you are well under - no reasons to worry. Otherwise you need to do some steps to fix it

tcase is 66.6 kinda creepy and pretty scary how close i get to that

 

[its phillip]

Simple things like properly reapplying thermal paste and cleaning out fans and heatsinks can do wonders...but if you are using a stock hsf in a poorly ventilated case, you might want to start looking at other options.

 

[craig7]

Simple things like properly reapplying thermal paste and cleaning out fans and heatsinks can do wonders...but if you are using a stock hsf in a poorly ventilated case, you might want to start looking at other options.

well... my fans and heatsinks are pretty clean, a bit of dust but it doesn't really obstruct airflow. my cooling is all stock, but i dont really have many other options because its a small case,but ive been looking into liquid cooling and found a solution that would probably fit perfect but i dont got the $$$. im not 100% sure but i think my case has decent ventilation, the air comes from the front, goes through the cpu heatsink, then the fan on the cpu blows onto the graphics chip heatsink, then the the air goes out the back.

 

[digicidal]

Holy ribbon cables batman...

HAHA... sad that after having to deal with them for over 20 years... seeing a ribbon cable running to a drive now is a total shock to my eyes!

I would not worry too much about the temps really or doing all that much to try to fix it... instead just save up a little bit of money over the next few months and get a whole new system. Even if you went with something that was totally bargain basement it would have way better airflow than your case will ever have regardless of what you do with it.

Cases have changed a great deal over the past 5 years even (at at a guess that's about the age of that system, if not a little older). Airflow isn't bad to the CPU from the looks of things, however the rest of the case seems like it would be nearly completely inert in that aspect... so there will be a decent amount of heat just building up in the case.

One thing that would be pretty cheap and might help some is cable organization - plus if you order a few rounded IDE cables you could cut down on some of the obstruction. However, consider the airflow in your case to something like this (a system I built about two years ago - with mostly spare parts).

System 1:


System 2:


The cost of either system was far less than $800 (if it had all been purchased new) and would have been good for everything from 1080p playback to even playing the latest FPS shooters like Crysis, or COD4 at decent framerates. In my case both systems were less than $500 because I repurposed some hardware I had lying around. Neither got over 55C at full load with Core2Quad 6600's which were overclocked at the time... if I'd gone with a simple C2Duo at stock speed with same hardware... I probably would have been in the 40's under full load.

Note the complete lack of obstructions in the air ways and large 120mm fans used exclusively... neither system could be heard at all from more than 2 ft away.

 

[emorphien]

I do not like that fan arrangement in system 2 at all. Seen worse but that certainly wouldn't be my ideal.

 

[digicidal]

I do not like that fan arrangement in system 2 at all. Seen worse but that certainly wouldn't be my ideal.

Actually I tested both orientations and that proved to be the best for both cooling and noise. It's hard to see perhaps from the pic, but it's the Antec 300 case and the fan that's in the CPU HSF airflow path is the 140mm top fan. So in addition to having the bulk of the airflow complementing natural convection - the CPU fan is drawing air from the front 2 120mm fans (cold) through the fins of the P45 Northbridge. This resulted in a drop in NB temps of 2C and no increase in the CPU temps at all.

The added benefit of this orientation (over my initial configuration which had the CPU HSF pointed at the rear exhaust fan was that it eliminated an acoustic property caused by turbulence in the airspace immediately behind the HSF. By swapping all of the fans with some really nice Scythes I had lying around (I kept the antec 140mm of course however) I had a case with a noise level at roughly ambient from 1' away and placement with the back of the case up against the wall - or as close as cables would allow - resulted in absolutely no loss of cooling performance and no wind-noise as well.