Operating temperature for AMD 64 3000+

underbiteman · Post by **underbiteman** » Thu May 26, 2005 12:31 pm

I've got an AMD 64 3000+ usually runs idle at 40 degrees with C'n'Q enabled and around 44 disabled. On full load it can get up to low 60 degrees. Is this too hot? I've got arctic cooling silencer 64 TC as my HSF. I like its low fan speed at idle temp, but should I invest in a better HSF?

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Thu May 26, 2005 12:36 pm

I am not an AMD user, but I'll tell you that my P4 routinely peaks around 60-70 C. However, that's in an extremely hot case that I have, at 40 C.

I would say you are fine... but, I'm a fan of the Thermalright products. Not sure, but look into getting the XP-120. It uses a 120mm fan that YOU pick.

Also, try using some Arctic Silver 5 compound on your chip... from my experience it drops CPU temps up to 10-15 degrees C using the same heatsink.

Just my 2 cents...

underbiteman · Post by **underbiteman** » Thu May 26, 2005 12:49 pm

The thing is I recently used arctic silver 5, figuring that it might give me some temp drop over the stock compound that came with HSF, and so far I haven't seen any difference in cpu temp (or TC'd fan speed). It seems like a lot of people swear by it so I was surprised. I was hoping for sub-40degress idle temp.

thetoad30 · Post by **thetoad30** » Thu May 26, 2005 12:56 pm

Be careful: Too much of this stuff will actually INCREASE temps on your CPU.

Also, sometimes the CPU needs a burn-in, like a few weeks to a month to seat the thermal material.

Sometimes you hit the limit of the ability for the CPU or the HS to transfer heat energy... this may be the case. Assuming your HS has reached its thermal peak, a different HS may prove to be better for you. Just because you have the Arctic Silver on doesn't negate the need for a good cooler.

Case in point: My stock HSF from Intel. Routinely the HSF would hit 70-75 at load, with a very good (28-30) case temp. I removed the thermal tape crap that intel puts on their HSF, and to my amazement the CPU had actually melted it ALL off the area of contact and had let it run down to the outside of the contact area. Not a good deal.

So I replaced the crap with AS5, and definately saw a great improvement in idle temps, but load temps still soared. They were down 5 degrees, but the fact was that the crappy heatsink could not transfer the heat as fast as the processor and the AS5 could.

I was upgrading the HSF anyway, but was waiting for it to ship from Newegg. When I finally got it, on it went, and down went the temps with the case open.

Zorander · Post by **Zorander** » Thu May 26, 2005 6:44 pm

My A64 3000+ (Winchester, s939) was 30C at idle
and 40C at load. This was with using stock cooler and no damping/insulation on the case.

I later replaced the stock cooler with TT SilentTower (stock fan replaced with a Zalman fan running at 5V), added self-made damping/insulation materials to case and replaced stock VGA cooler with a Zalman fanless. The operating temperature soared up to 40C at idle and 50C at load.

Hope it helps. Cheers!

underbiteman · Post by **underbiteman** » Thu May 26, 2005 6:51 pm

30 idle and 40 at load was what I was expecting to have. I bought an OEM version of A64 3000+ so it didn't come with the stock HSF. I guess my cpu is running a little hotter than normal.

Zhentar · Post by **Zhentar** » Thu May 26, 2005 6:58 pm

I'm running a 3000+ undervolted to ~1.12volts. I have some 80mm cooler master aluminum heatsink; the fan is controlled by my mobo and at the speeds it's going at is very quiet (though the room I'm in is too noisy for effective noise comparisons); I get 28C idle and 35C under full load.

Zorander · Post by **Zorander** » Thu May 26, 2005 7:03 pm

The CPU temp really depends on a number of factors in your case, namely:

1. Fan speed (lower speed is quieter but leads to higher temp)
2. Airflow/insulation (adding damping to case and sealing off excess air holes cause bad airflow and hence higher temp)
3. Other heat source (my fanless VGA cooler directly below the CPU sends hot air up, causing higher temp)
4. Excessive thermal material on HSF (very thin layer will do)
5. Etc, etc.

Perhaps your case is suffering from one or more of these symptoms. When my CPU was still running on stock cooler and with good airflow in the case, it ran at 30-40C. My quest for silent computing has obviously resulted in a much quieter, albeit hotter, system.

Regards.

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Sun May 29, 2005 2:25 pm

Zorander wrote:The CPU temp really depends on a number of factors in your case, namely:

1. Fan speed (lower speed is quieter but leads to higher temp)
2. Airflow/insulation (adding damping to case and sealing off excess air holes cause bad airflow and hence higher temp)
3. Other heat source (my fanless VGA cooler directly below the CPU sends hot air up, causing higher temp)
4. Excessive thermal material on HSF (very thin layer will do)
5. Etc, etc.

Perhaps your case is suffering from one or more of these symptoms. When my CPU was still running on stock cooler and with good airflow in the case, it ran at 30-40C. My quest for silent computing has obviously resulted in a much quieter, albeit hotter, system.

Regards.

well, cpu temp depends mostly on ONE thing. thats the insanely inaccurate and un calibrated motherboards that we purchase.

If it's hot to the touch, thats not good, if its touchable, its as good as cold.

my abit guru has a terrible temperature meter, and Guru was supposed to be made for such monitoring and tweeking.

pony-tail · Post by **pony-tail** » Sun May 29, 2005 5:38 pm

I do not know if this will help but one of my machines (the only Athlon I have at present) an xp3200 gets idle temps of 40c and load around 55c by speed fan but using a probe beside the core the reading is only 32c and 43c the heatsink is SI-97 and mobo is A7N8x vm/400.
The heatsink is barely warm under load .
so do not take reported temps. to heart .
they are useful as a reference (any changes from "normal") but are far from accurate . like someone earlier in the post said if the cooler is not overly warm to touch everything should be OK , provided it is seated properly etc.

Twigathy · Post by **Twigathy** » Mon May 30, 2005 3:34 pm

Well, if it helps...

My S939 Athlon 64 3000+ idles at around 35C, this is with cool and quiet disabled. I have an XP-90 with a nexus 92mm mounted on top, an 80mm nexus as the case-exhaust and the nexus 4090 PSU with its beeft 120mm fan pretty much right above the XP-90. Loaded, temps are usually about 45. Right now it is 41, but its cold in my room

. Couple of days back when ambient hit 30C (Hottest day in May for 50 years here) the CPU hit 50C at load.

Overall, I dont think temps matter. Its more that your PC is stable.

Slaugh · Post by **Slaugh** » Mon May 30, 2005 7:27 pm

Take a look at this page to know the recommended maximum operating temperatures for all current CPUs (including P4, Athlon XP and 64, Semptron, etc.). Basically, Athlon64 that are based on socket 754 can reach a maximum of 70°C and those based on socket 939, 65°C.

My Athlon64 never reached 60°C at full load and is usually below 50°C after several hours of gaming. Right now, it's currently idling at 33°C and the room temperature is 28°C (Yeah, it's time to turn on the air conditioner!

)...

Try activating Cool'n'Quiet... With C'n'Q enabled, I get lower temperatures without any performance loss... So nice!

EDIT: Sorry, I misread your post... You're actually using C'n'Q...