About three years ago, I built a computer. Up until this week, it worked perfectly fine. Now, however, it doesn't. I figured out the problem is my CPU overheating. I have a Pentium e2160 running at 2.4Ghz with on default voltage, I think. When I checked the temperature in the BIOS, I see it's running at ~105 degrees Celsius. According to this, that's 30 degrees higher than it should be. I'm guessing the fan has died or something? It's just the stock cooler. Am I right? If so, can someone recommend me a replacement cooler?

Do you see the CPU fan spinning when you turn it on? If not, it is definitely that.

What is your budget for this? I use a Corsair CPU Liquid Cooler and it has been great, but it may be too expensive.

EDIT:
Also, this may help: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100008000%20600035327&IsNodeId=1&bop=And&ShowDeactivatedMark=False&Order=RATING&PageSize=20

I've had overheat problems with my committee's computer at school. At first, seeing all fans were working, we decided to remove all the dust and shit like that that was into the computer. We even washed the fans themselves.
After doing so, the computer started to work even less properly (shutting itself down after 4-5 seconds of booting). We came to realize it must've been a component of the fan we had screwed. Well, we found out what it was: there's a kind of glue between the fan and some component of the computer that is essential and we had removed it by washing it. The thing costs about 10 bucks and I can't remember how it's called. You should check out if a part of your fan (you have to remove it) isn't fully covered with a gold glue.

If you do remove your fan to check the thermal paste it must be completely and wholly replaced before you put it back on.

I'm not sure of the exact sockets these fans go for but I'm using a heatsink that's bigger than my fist with a 140mm fan on it. i7 rarely goes above room temperature. I can turn off the comp after a two week uptime of encoding, and the heat sink will be cold.

Don't skimp on keeping your hardware safe. Go for the biggest copper battleship from a good brand you can find. This looks reasonable - http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=47090&vpn=NH-D14&manufacture=Noctua

/edit

oooh I found something for my next build unless I find something better in a few years when I have enough money http://www.ncix.com/products/?sku=36075&vpn=RR-B2P-UV10-GP&manufacture=COOLERMASTER

/edit 2

Have you guys ever thought of getting a new server for SEN? Or using phpbb or something? Over half the time I try to do anything it times out or gives me random php errors. :\

That corsair cooler looks pretty crazy.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Feb 28 2011, 9:03 am by IskatuMesk.

The hyper 212+ is pretty much the best you can buy for the money. It won't outperform things like the noctua, silver arrow, or mugen, but it's $30, and it's very impressive. The h50 is mostly a gimmick and doesn't perform better than a good air cooler.
http://www.jr.com/cooler-master/pe/CM_RRB10212PGP
http://www.superbiiz.com/detail.php?name=FAN-B10212
superbiiz ususally has a global coupon code which takes off ~$5. They don't have one right now, but might next week. You'll also need thermal paste which is anywhere from $5 to $15 from various shops, or you can just go down to best buy/computer store and pick some up.

The other option is to just get a new fan. However before you spend money, ensure that cpu fan is indeed broken, and the heatsink itself isn't clogged with dust. If the cpu fan works, just clean your computer out and you'll be fine.

It has been said, but I wanna emphasize: Before you do anything clean the heatsink and check if the problem persists.

Then check if the fan is running, if it isn't first check if it's still connected to power!

You might be able to unfasten the fan from the heatsink without removing the heatsink.

While you're at it, dust out the rest of the computer.

It turns out the fan had somehow become unseated. I put it back on and fasten it and now my computer isn't overheating.

How necessary is this? The heatsink, along with the fan, came unseated and I just put it back on. Right now, under light use, temperatures are about 52. I'm about to go run some benchmarks to put it under load and test it, but is it really necessary to get thermal paste? Also, would I be able to buy it from a brick and mortar store or would I have to order some online?

52°C? This is incredibly high for idle. The thermal paste will probably lower it by around 5°C.

Generally when it comes to thermal paste, basically you're fine if you don't disturb/unsocket the heatsink. If you do, and the thermal paste is dry and crumbling (quite often the case), you will need to re-apply it before you re-attach the heatsink.

If the heatsink was just slightly dislodged and the thermal paste was still goopy, then you may be ok to simply re-attach the heatsink.

As you don't have historic temperature readings to compare your current performance to (Nude says 52 is high, but that actually might be 'normal' for your CPU in your computer case in your climate), at this point the best thing to do would be to get the computer running at 100% for 2 hours or so and then check the temperature, and post here to tell us what it is. I'd say anything 80+ is a concern and should be remedied. I would do this before taking the heatsink apart, you may have gotten lucky and don't need to do anything, but if you take the heatsink apart to inspect it then you are 90% likely going to need to put new paste on.

Probably all that you will need to do is detach the heatsink, scrape off all of the old thermal paste, clean the surface with iso-propol alcohol (or vodka or something would work in a pinch) and a paper towel and then apply some new paste, and re-attach the heatsink. Make sure you clean off the top of the CPU too if there is residue there - you want both surfaces to be clean before you apply your new paste.

You don't need to replace the heatsink with a big flash aftermarket one made from copper (especially if you're not overclocking). You also don't need to buy fancy silver-based thermal paste, the simple white 'ceramique' stuff will work fine and is much cheaper.

Note that stock (standard) heatsinks that come with processors generally have thermal pads rather than actual thermal paste. This is because it's much easier to ship something already attached to the heatsink, rather than shipping a separate tube of goop and then having clueless people ruin their CPUs because they didn't apply the paste. Thermal pads basically work the same as thermal paste - once you've put your computer together and turn it on, the heat from the CPU will melt the thermal pad into a thermal paste and have the same effect. Generally thermal pads are quite likely to eventually dry up and flake off, so it is quite likely that you will need to replace it with some real thermal paste.

When applying thermal paste, don't put on too much - it is supposed to work kind of like a lubricant with just a thin layer between the CPU and the heatsink. If you put too much paste in, it starts working like an insulator and actually makes the CPU hotter. There was a problem with macbooks a few years ago where the slave labourers in China were applying huge gobs of paste which caused the CPUs to burn out (laptops are quite susceptible to heat issues, obviously). Google around for instructions and directions on applying thermal paste, there will be a lot of them around as it is a common rookie mistake when assembling computers.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 1 2011, 11:54 pm by Lanthanide.

After putting both cores under 100% load for two hours, temperatures never rose higher than 52 degrees. I'd say thermal paste may cool it down, but what's the point?

idle = load temp? Impossible. Your temperature read-out doesn't work.
Or your idle temp of 52°C you named earlier was in fact under load (without you realizing).

The point of applying thermal paste is better cooling the CPU. A cooler CPU lives longer. +13 °C will shorten the CPU life by around 50%. Exponentially getting worse as you go higher.
If you plan on replacing your CPU before it's older than 5 years then <= 40°C idle and <= 65°C load is sufficient (usually).

Disclaimer: I'm stating hard numbers here without even knowing what your CPU is, just so you get a general idea. In reality this can deviate quite a bit depending on many factors. Use the numbers as guidelines, not hard facts.

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 2 2011, 3:09 am by NudeRaider.

Thermal paste isn't so much "better cool the CPU", but to cool it at all.

If you don't have some sort of thermal compound between your CPU and the heatsink, the efficiency of the heatsink goes through the floor, so it would almost be like you didn't have a heatsink at all.

Often with ill-fitted heatsinks the computer will simply shut itself down within a few seconds of powering on as the CPU overheats and it turns itself off to prevent damage. The fact that you were able to run yours for so long at 105ºC is uncommon.

I said under light use, not idle. I just had Opera + music playing. Processor time is usually under 20%, and rarely goes over 50%. To test under load I had Prime 95 running, which pegged both cores at 100%. Right now, according to Speedfan, cpu temp is 51 to 51.5. There was some variation over time, it just wasn't much when Prime 95 was running, just not much.

EDIT: Lanthanide Stealth post!
I didn't run it for very long. After I turned it on, it shut off in about a few minutes. Turning it back on and going through the BIOS showed it was at 103. In less than a minute it turned off again and I figured I probably shouldn't touch it. I'll pick some thermal paste up tomorrow, but I don't really feel like I need it.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Dynex%26%23153%3B+-+Thermal+Compound/9609458.p?skuId=9609458&id=1218152478854
How many uses could I get out of this? One or two?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Mar 2 2011, 3:40 am by dumbducky.

Run an idle test just to be sure.

Well actually it IS possible that you have constant temperatures when you have fan regulation. Usually you see more than 1-2° difference, but I will take back it being impossible.

What's important is that the CPU doesn't get too hot under load. 52°C under (heavy) load is fine. However it'd be nice if your cooling would bring it down by maybe 10°C when idling, because that would prolong CPU life considerably.

Apparently that's heavily dependent on the system. I've removed heatsinks from the CPU and put it back on without even removing the now hard paste (I didn't have fresh one at that time) and the CPU barely ran hotter afterwards.
What's important is that the heatsink and the CPU heat plate have smooth surfaces and the heatsink is seated properly (not skewed) so it's sitting on it with its entire surface. No crumbs or anything must be in the way.

Post has been edited 2 time(s), last time on Mar 2 2011, 3:51 am by NudeRaider.

Idle temp is 49.5

Fair enough Nude.

As for the link, dd, 5 grams should be enough to do 10 CPUs if you use it very sparingly. If you're sloppy, then maybe 5 CPUs. In other words don't squirt out half the tube or anything, because you really don't need that much. Just a thin film is sufficient.

just put a small dot in the middle. The heat sink will spread it around and make it thin. All you're trying to do is fill in the microscopic gaps in the surface of the heatsink and cpu.

Make sure you clean both using some isopropyl alcohol before you re-apply.

Hold up amigo,


Are you saying you have 20% "idle" usage with just Opera and music going? That's insane. Maybe 1% should be normal under those circumstances, but usually 0%.

If you want to benchmark do some x264 encoding with megui. 50c is not really that high for idle temps though, depending on the cpu. My video card idles at 100c, which is considered a little high for video cards, but overheating threshold is around 130c for this particular card. When I start something the fan turns up and it tends to actually lower in temp. I think it has other issues though.

Thermal paste helps conduct heat between the CPU and heatsink, basically. When I am dealing with $2500 of hardware I take no chances when handling it.

If your OS is varying the CPU speed based on the level of usage (uses a built-in CPU feature for this), 20% with light usage isn't necessarily a lot, because the percent will be significantly higher if the CPU is running at a much slower speed (800 or 1000 MHz is typically the lowest it goes). When such features are enabled, people often mistake this for causing an increased CPU load. Not sure if that is the case here, but it's possible.