CPU Overheat problems

[vatiAH]

Good morning all,

   I have a Pentium 4  3.0 ghz CPU mounted on a Intel D865GBF motherboard that is having troubles with heat.  

Over the last few weeks my system has been shutting down while playing some games.   When I turn the system back on I get warning beebs and the message  saying my CPU has overheated and has shutdown.  
I built this system about a year ago and have had little to no trouble with it till the last few weeks.   So far I have removed, cleaned, reapplied artic silver, and remounted the Heat sink several times just to make sure it was seated correctly.

The artic Silver is applied in a thin even coat and the Heatsink ( Thermaltak SPARK 7+) is mounted correctly.  The Heatsink is free from dust and the Fan is running up to it's correct speed.  
While I am typing this,  Intel's active monitor shows my CPU at
37 C.  When I play AH it's normaly around 54 C.  When I play Joint ops it's around 58 C   I alt tab in and out of the games to check the temps and I have never seen it shoot up any higher but yet the system will shut down with the over heat problem.

My gut feeling is the temp sensor for the CPU Zone on my motherboard is going bad, but I also know that these Prescot core cpu's run very hot.    oh, one other thing I have done to try to solve this is I flashed the board bios to the newest version.  It's still doing the same thing.    

At this point i'm thinking of buying a new motherboard, but I don't want to do that and then find out I have CPU thats going funky on me.  

Anyone have any suggestions as to what I should try next?  

Thanks  

Vati

[StarOfAfrica2]

Ummm......58C is pretty hot.  You hit 60C (not far off) and you could be courting serious damage.  Your processor is darn near hot enough to boil water.  If you are holding 37C at idle, your cooling system is just not handling the load.  You need a better heatsink/fan, or your airflow through the case is impeded.  Have you checked to make sure the fan stays running all the time?  I've had them as they are going out run fine for awhile, then slow down and speed back up.  Soemtimes they can shut off altogether.  Have you added stuff to the inside of the case recently?  How does your airflow look?  Do you have an unobstructed air entry and exit?  Can the air circulate inside the case?

[Skuzzy]

Is this a Prescott or Northwood CPU?

That temperature is something I would expect from a Prescott (yes, they do run that hot).  Eventually it causes motherboard failures, unless you put on a very good HSF.  The stock unit will not cut it.

If it is a Northwood, then something else is very wrong.

[Roscoroo]

Originally posted by vatiAH
My gut feeling is the temp sensor for the CPU Zone on my motherboard is going bad, but I also know that these Prescot core cpu's run very hot.

i kinda zink its a prescottie and its trying for a warp core breach ..

[Skuzzy]

And a 'DOH!' moment is recorded.

I figure most Prescott based systems, with stock HSF's, will last about 6 to 9 months before failures/problems start to occur.  It's not the CPU that is dieing, but the components around the CPU, such as capacitors and diodes.  
No one uses MIL spec caps or diodes on motherboards, and they are about the only ones that could survive the heat from that CPU.

[vatiAH]

Skuzzy,

  It's a prescott and I'm thinking along the same lines as you as far as the motherboard going south.    Star,  Airflow threw the case is pretty good.   Wire managment is top notch and the Case is well laid out fan wise.  ( Lian Li Aluminum case )   2 intake fans in the front,  1 x 120 mm exhaust out the back,  1 X blow hole fan out the top.      Fan is running perfect believe me, darn thing makes enough noise to wake the dead.  If it was slowing down you would be able to tell:-)  

     I guess this is reason enough to upgrade again. Anyone know how the Athlon 64's are doing heat wise?     Maybe it's time to jump on the liquid cooling band wagon.  

Vati

[vatiAH]

Thank you all for the help so far

[Hajo]

Vati

My Athlon64 runs at 51 max during AH play.

Nothing drives the CPU to work harder then a flight sim.  Well, I shouldn't say that....but floating point calcs do work the CPU hard while playing AH.  64 runs cooler then the XP did.

[Blue Mako]

Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
You hit 60C (not far off) and you could be courting serious damage.  Your processor is darn near hot enough to boil water.

60 deg C is only 60% of the temperature needed to boil water, unless you are at high altitude...

[vatiAH]

Thanks guys,

  I have not made up my mind yet,  but i'm leening more towards new motherboard and liquid cooling.  Look like Liquid cooling is the way things are going to go anyway.  Heck, Sony has a few models with liquid cooling already.  

Vati

[vatiAH]

OK Guys,  

  Just ordered up a new motherboard ( Asus P4P800-E deluxe)  and a Thermaltake Bigwater 12cm liquid cooling kit.  

I figure the 3 ghz p-4 will do everything I need it to do for a long while yet, so I don't see the need to spend the bucks to move to the Athlon 64 right now.   As far as the Liquid cooling goes, part of the reason i'm going to it is to reduce the noise levels.  The Thermaltake Spark 7+ Heatsink/fan I use  now runs at near 7000 rpm !!   Believe me when I say it makes a ton of noise.  

Vati

[Skuzzy]

If you just wanted quiet, you could havbe opted for the Thermaltake XP-90.  Nice heat heat sink and toss on a Vantec 92mm variable speed fan.
I have found that combo to be very efficient and very quiet.  Just FYI.

[vatiAH]

I had seen that cooler and read reviews on it and was tempted to try it, but in the end decided to try out water cooling instead.   It seems to be in my nature to either over complicate things or to shoot for over kill.    I guess thats why it was so hard for me to decide just to buy the MB and not go for the total upgrade package.   Lord knows i'm  not afraid to spend money !!  just ask my wife !   Now I have a bug in my arse to buy 2 x SATA drives and do a raid setup.    Funny thing is I don't need raid, I just have never set one up before and I want to know how to do it and see how well it works.   ( read: tends to over complicate things)

Vati