Temps for a P4 2.66GHz?

[Krusty]

New upgrades are in and running... But I messed up a bit of the factory-installed thermal paste on my Intel P4 stock heatsink (big round thing). It's my first time putting one of these huge honking heatsinks in, and I didn't htink I had it right after securing one pin, so I pull it off to re-do it but part of the thermal past stayed on the top of the CPU... Not a whole corner, but say 15/20%, a noticable amount. I put the fan on but the ASUS themal readouts show it as 40C just idle running winXP (as I type this). The fan is running rather loud (higher than I'd expected) at 4000+ RPM most of the time.

So what is the average heat range on a P4 2.66GHz?

I read some post somewhere that said you shouldn't have a P4 go over 60C. Is this correct? I'm not thinking of overclocking it or anything, I just want it to be in its optimal range without overheating due to damage.

[llama]

Well, I can't speak to "average" ranges, since airflow and heatsinks make for a wide variance, but I can speak of Maximums, thanks to:

http://www.intel.com/support/processors/pentium4/sb/CS-007999.htm

...where that CPU has a max temp of 74 degrees C. That's actually the air temp just to the side of the CPU with the fan blowing, says the document, but from experience, I can tell you that this is also good for an on-die measurement.

Keep it under that during gameplay, and you're good to go.

-Llama

[Krusty]

Thanks llama! Turns out I just got my second 80mm fan in the mail today, hooked it up to the side vent (just a little under the PCI slots) sucking in, and my normal fan in the rear blows out, turned on my monitor today and it says 37C idle (shaved at least 4C off, not bad)