THis one goes out to all of you guys that are not as computer illeriate as me. I reciently had a friend replace my motherboard and processor and they work great the only problem I have is now my new processor is gettign really hot. I have several fans inside the case including a heat sink. Do you have any suggestions as to what I can do to keep this thing cool. I don't want to melt anything. Maby there are some heavy duty fans or somthing that would work. What do the new systems with the 3.4 gig processors use?

What makes you think its getting to hot?

If the cpu is running too hot you will have stability problems- does your computer lock up or shut itself off suddenly? What makes you think the cpu is too hot- fan noise? Some high performance fans spin very fast and can be quite noisy. Perhaps the change in mb and cpu was coupled with a higher rpm fan?

Ok is this new CPU a P4 3.4E ( Prescott ) or a 3.4C (Northwood )? If it is an E, it will run hotter in most computer cases. Is the heatsink mounted correctly? They must be flush with the chip, I have seen where people have had themcocked so theat the heatsink is resting partially on the black retainer clip hich does not allow the thermal compound to make contact with the core. Any air pocket between the heatsink and the core will cause heat related problems.

What is the airflow like in the case, what are the fan placements and which direction are they blowing? Ambient tempurature plays a major role when air cooling.

Your motherboard should have came with some tempurature software that should be pretty close to what the diode on the CPU is running.

And yes a CPU can still run hot and not cause shut downs but the cooler the better.

That processor shouldn't be so hot that you can't keep your finger on the heat sink. If its scolding hot then you should correct the issue. Was it a RETAIL processor with Intel fan/heat sink or was it an OEM version with aftermarket heatsink? The Retail processors come with an excellent fan/heat sink that should provide plenty of cooling and might just be installed wrong (not resting on processor properly)
If its an OEM processor, I recommend changing the heatsink out to a Vantec VP4-C7040, they are $19.99 at newegg.com and are awesome aftermarket cpu coolers for the P4 processor, allows the processor to run super cool.
http://images10.newegg.com/productimage/35-110-008-02.JPG

Hey guys thanks for the responces i will try to answer some of your questions. THe processor is a 2.8 gig p4 and I know that it is getting hot because I have some software that monitors the temp and it shows that when I try to play games or do anything that puts a load on the processor the processor temp will spike up to 180 wich I know is very hot. Also I 3 fans inside the case one in the back to pull air in the second ontop of the processor and a third to pull air out on the side of the case. If I am just typeing or not playing games the temp will stay at around 138-150 but if I do anything else it spikes up there. An example would be the other day when I tryed to install windows service pack 2 it got half way through the install it it started beeping like crazy warning me that it was way to hot. The alarm goes off at 185*

If your CPU is getting to 180 it should catch fire.....are you reading celcius or farenheit? The fans do not sound like they are blowing the right direction.

The back fan should blow air out of the case, the side fan should blow in and if there is a spot for a fan in the front put one there to blow air in as well.


Try changing the fans around and see what happens as it doesn't cost anything. Make sure they are blowing the right way.

P.S. what games do you play?

Hey the temp is messaured in F not C. I do not play too many games but I have gotten into WarCraft III lately and I also like America's Army. I will try that fan setup.

The p4 you are running is likely a Prescott core and they are notorious for running hot. Proper case ventilation is the key to keeping it as cool as possible. Normal operating temp should be about 120 degrees, possibly higer under full load. You might want to remove and reseat the heatsink to make sure it is making good contact with the core.

I'll agree with that Choptop but my brother has a 3.2 Prescott and runs as cool as my 3.2 Northwood on stock cooling and same computer case so I'd say it is not always the CPU.

Curious to see what motherboard he has and if his buddy overclocked the CPU on him.

The first thing I thought of was over-clocking. Or the heat-sink is missing altogether. It shouldn't run that hot under normal ops. Even playing games.

Take the cover off for a while as you're playing WarCraft and see what the temps do then. That is, after making sure the heat-sink is on and properly seated.

The motherboard manual will tell and show you how it should be configured for that type\speed of processor.... either with DIPs or software. Whoever put it together may have overlooked a step or intentionally over-clocked the processor.

Yes, I almost forgot about the possibility of overclocking. That could definitely explain the excessive heat. You should ask your buddy to review exactly what was done when he installed the board and cpu. If you have the board manual handy you should review the bios setting guide carefully (especially the memory and cpu settings section). As a fail safe you could go into the bios (restart the pc then hit delete or other key as instructed at post) to load optimal performance settings (or default settings) if you are unsure what your friend has done.

69CamaroRacer,

One other thing that comes to mind.... I've seen this in a few new installations is that the person assembling the MB/CPU combo does not use heatsink compound between the CPU and the heatsink/fan unit. I've seen machines become unstable or shutdown due to heat and this has resolved the problem. Might check into this as well. Also I've had to add a display adapter cooling fan to several machines to draw heat away from the video card as some of the newer card run pretty hot as well and can push the internal case temp up significantly. Something else to consider as well


Best of luck,
Tom

hey guys thanks for all the responces you ideas have been very helpfull. I have decided to order that heatsink fan combo from new egg as I think that will solve my problems. Just FYI The Cpu does have that compound on there and I do believe that the other heat sink is on their properly and the cpu has not been over clocked. I checked in the bios everything is set to default optimimum performance settings and it is still getting very hot. So I will have to wait till the fan comes from new egg and then we will see.