Is 50C hot for standard low noise idle running Athlon XP 1600+?

[mkuiter]

Is 50C hot or reasonably normal for my XP 1600+? My CPU cooler is a Zalman alu cooler (CNPS 5005 AL), and I use a copper spacer and AS II paste. I have 2 8cm fans blowing in and 1 9cm fan blowing out. I've lowered the rpm of the Sunon fan on the CPU cooler to around 4000 rpm for low noise. The Enermax case fans are also running low noise. I've cleared all the cables to the sides of the case. My CPU nor my GeForce2 Pro are overclocked. My temps range from 42C to 51C idle depending on the room temp. My MSI K7T266 Pro2 mobo temp is a constant 4 degrees lower than my CPU temp. I haven't seen real full load temps yet, but after playing Ghost Recon for an hour, my CPU temp is about 3 degrees higher than idle temp.

[Todd a]

Is the copper spacer made for the AthlonXPs. They are a little bit lower than the Thunderbird cored Athlons, but those temps are not too bad. I run about 42'C on my AthlonXP1600+ full load with an old GlobalWin FOP32-1 with the fins spread out to fit a low noise 80mm fan (30db).

You can add a cooling program like CPU cool to drop your idle temps. You will likely lower them about 8-10'C. These programs will not help your load temps though, but you will run much cooling when listening to MP3s and surfing the net. I run about 29-32 for full idle to surfing/MP3, but 42 at full load.

Also you can try lowering the voltage on the CPU a bit. My Epox board only lets me adjust +/- .1v, but my AthlonXP 1600+ runs 100% stable at 1.65v (-.1v) and I have heard of some running at 1.5v too. This does not drop the temp a lot, but it should drop it about 2-3'C.

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AthlonXP 1600+ @1.5Ghz
FOP32-1 Mod w/80mm (30db)
Epox 8KHA+ KT266A
256MB Crucial DDR266
GeForce2 GTS (210/410)
Sound Blaster Audigy
Antec SX-630 Case (mod'd)
TTGI TT-350-SS 370w PS

[This message has been edited by Todd a (edited 02-02-2002).]

[DuronClocker]

Yeah, those "spacers," known as shims, aren't really needed for most coolers. I bought one for my Durons (ThermalTake AthXP copper shim) for when I was building my watercooled pelt rig. Its only there for making sure your die doesn't get crushed. I bought mine to make sure I was seating right with my clips and so I wouldn't put too much pressure on it. Too bad I can't use it anymore on my AthXP they moved all of the bridges and it no longer fits over the bridges, but fits ON them In any case, those temps are fine if you are using a thermal pad. If you are using thermal grease (Arctic Silver or something), then those temps suck. *sorry* I would run 49*C when I got my chip with stock HSF. Now, after ripping the thermal pad off and applying arctic silver, my temps are a lot lower. Also, drop your vcore to 1.55v or lower. 1.55v seems to be a nice stable low-volt setting. Also download VCOOL or CPUCOOL or something. When running these now, I idle at case temp (about 23*C).

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MSI K7T Turbo-R w/ 2.35v mod
AthlonXP 1600+ @1900+ @ 1.75v
256MB Corsair PC150 CL3
12x DVD, 12x CDRW
Water-cooled 118w Peltier
Diamond TNT2 Viper V770 @ 160/190

[mkuiter]

The copper spacer I use is specially for the Athlon XP series. I use CPUidle for lowering the temps in idle, but it only lowers the temp by 2 or 3 degrees. I'm gonna try CPUcool, maybe cooler temps with that... The idea of lowering the vcore sounds good, but I can't seem to lower it in the bios. The lowest value is 1.7v. I still have the first (Ami) bios for my MSI K7T266 Pro2 mobo, maybe a newer bios version let's me lower the vcore. The bios descriptions for the newer bios versions don't say anything about that, so I just have to try it out.

[mkuiter]

I chipped off a few degrees from my idle temp. I used CPUidle and that lowered my CPU temp from 50C to 47C idle. Now I tried CPUcool and that lowered my idle CPU temp to 44-45C. Thanks for that suggestion. Still have to try the bios thing...