I suspected my CPU was operating at very high temperatures a few days back. I entered the BIOS to check the CPU’s temperature the next time my computer hanged. I was shocked to say the least.
My CPU was running at 70 degrees Celsius! No wonder the heatsink was untouchable. I guess some CPUs are able to withstand slightly higher temperatures but I wasn’t even doing any “heavy” before the computer hanged due to what I suspect is overheating.
I searched the Internet to find out the maximum temperature my Pentium 4 3.0GHz can run at before frying itself. According to the report by Heatsink Guide, Intel Pentium 4 and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition CPUs have a maximum operating temperature of between 64 to 78 degrees Celsius (P4 EE 3.2GHz being at 64 degrees). I wonder if that means that my P4 3.0GHz has a maximum operating temperature of about 60 to 70 degrees too.
CPU temperature monitoring software
I searched for a CPU temperature monitoring software and found SpeedFan 4.33. I installed it and configure it to display my CPU temperature in the taskbar. That way, I can keep an eye on the temperature at all times. I also configured the software to alert me when the CPU temperature rises above 70 degrees Celsius.
The above is a screenshot indicating my CPU temperature. Temp2 is the temperature of my CPU. Do you notice the icon with a fire beside it? That indicates what 72 degrees Celsius does to my CPU. LOL.
Solution (to be) taken to solve this problem
I notice the CPU fan is running at about 2657 RPM. I have no idea if that is normal. I wonder the CPU is overheating due to some dust collected around the heatsink and fan. I plan to give them a good clean up when I have the time. I hope that helps to reduce the temperature a little.
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Clean the dust away, hopefully the temperature goes lower. Or else, you might need a new heat sink and fan.
probably need a new heatsink……
or is that your processor is in critical condition…..
Previously my Celeron CPU,the temperature was always touching 70 centigrade.But when I asked some other professionals,they said it may be normal.
But after all,it retired and I’m now using AMD*2 BE2300,only 35 centigrade when it is fully running.
I think the most probably problem is on your heatsink and your fan.
after dusting, need apply the glue/thermal thing to it? not sure but heard before something like that. enlighten me.
@Jason
Yeah, I’ll do that when I can find the time. I am feeling very lazy lately.
@kljs
I don’t know if my local shop has a heatsink and fan for my processor. Not all shop got them. Hopefully I don’t need to replace it.
@liciece
AMD running at 35 only? WOW. I thought AMDs are the one suffering from high temperatures.
@lazyfellow
Yeah. If there is an old layer, it’s best to clean it off first. I think can use alcohol, not too sure though.
There’s something definitely wrong with your CPU fan speed. Anything below 3000RPM is considered dangerous. Ideally for a P4 it should be around 3200++ RPM.
Mind you, having a tornado inside your casing would be useless anyway if the airflow is poor.
@Azmeen
Oppss..I didn’t know about that. Thanks for the info. I guess my fan is causing the problem then. Loading up multiple tabs in Firefox will cause the CPU temperature to increase over 70 degrees celcius. All that with a table fan blowing into the open CPU casing. When the aircon is switched on, the temperature drops to around 55 to 65.
There is may be a problem with SpeedFan. We have benchmarked it against other software and it can run 10-15 degrees higher on HP equipment.