# Is 80 degrees C too hot for a PC?



## darkleg (Jun 18, 2007)

So, my computer, AMD, about 4 yrs old has been acting up lately. In like 5 hours, it become 80 degrees Celcius hot(in the CPU, I have a monitor), and it seems too ridiculous. Also, at about 5 hours into using it(after comming back from stand by), it just shuts off by itself, probably because it's over heating. Then when I turn it on, it turns off in 2 minutes. 

So, do I need to replace the motherboard or what? I have like a pentium 4 motherboard and processor. Can I just take out the AMD and put the pentium thing in? or do I need to do more stuff? Thanks a bunch!


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

Dust you all heatsinks and fans (it should be 60c max at heavy load ever....)


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

1 g0t 0wn3d has given you a good direction to follow. After you do that, check your temps again and report back.

When you do that, please tell us about *ALL* the fans in that case including where they are located in the case and which direction they are blowing. Tell us also about the direction of the CPU fan, is it blowing down on the heatsink, or pulling warm air up off the CPU.


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## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

If it's an old Athlon XP / Duron / Athlon it will heat to 60C very easily with stock cooling. Unlike the modern processors rated for 60-75C, they are rated for 80-100C depending on the model, so upto around 65C under load is OK.

80C will most likely make the processor shut off the signal. Those are dangerous temperatures. I wouldn't let an old one reach 70C for any length of time. You will be risking hardware damage.

Take off the side of your case while your system runs and after putting some load on it (like playing a game) check the temperatures again.

Unfortunately you won't be able to swap any one socket processor into another socket. The P4s are mostly socket 478 and socket LGA 775. The AMD you have is probably a socket 462. They will not cross fit at all, and it will damage a processor to try that. They will need separate motherboards that support the processor.

Give us some more details of your processor and system using this: http://www.techsupportforum.com/558208-post1.html

:smile:


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## darkleg (Jun 18, 2007)

Thanks a LOT guys for your replies! I feel really happy that so many people replied so soon, and want to help out.  

Sorry for my late reply. I opened up my computer, and I looked inside it for dust and what not. I vaccumed the whole thing. It's a 4 year old AMD, and the temperature bothers me only because sometimes, only after running for 4 hours, it shuts off automatically(I'm guessing because of overheating). 

The cooling on the thing is like this: cpu, and on it, there's a 1 inch or so heat sink, and on top of that one fan(blowing the air out), and that's all tunneled to the back of the tower through a plastic tunnel thing, and there's a fan exausting the air, on the back of the tower. 

I vacuumed it, and turned it on, and the temperature started at about 40 degrees C and climed up to 52 in about 3 minutes. 

This is my system:
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/genericDocument?lc=en&cc=ca&docname=bph07974


* Power Supply – (?) what it came with...sorry

* Motherboard – FIC AM37

* CPU – Athlon (T) XP2400+ 2.0 GHz featuring QuantiSpeed Architecture; Advanced 266 MHz Front-Side Bus (FSB); Socket A

* RAM – 512MB DDR SDRam

* Video Card(s) – ATI Radeon 9550

* Operating System - eg: Windows XP Home


What do you think I should do?


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

Thats not that bad my cpu is around that, some are just hotter then others.


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## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

See if it gets to 65C under CPU load, and above. If it does, you need better case/CPU cooling. If not, then you'll be OK although it is on the hotter side.


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## nERVEcenter (Jun 18, 2007)

Wow, 80 degrees Celcius? That's mind-blowingly hot. A computer shouldn't really be there...

An easy thing I'm doing to keep my comp cool is just opening the case and putting a fan next to it to blow fresh air in. It actually works quite well.


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## 1 g0t 0wn3d (Jan 31, 2007)

Another is taking a dryer tube (thing that goes from your dryer to wall and outside) and connecting it to your ac.


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## Kalim (Nov 24, 2006)

I own one of the hottest running AMD S462 CPUs they made, rated for 100C, so I know the temps to expect with 1.9V VCore.

Your temps should not be that high, even with stock cooling it shouldn't be higher than what I get. I can idle at 40C with 17C ambient on stock cooling. So you should be going for at least an idle of 45C at 20C ambient. Even if you get it to 50C idle, you'll be fine.

But where you live, what's the temperature like outside and in your home where the PC is? Is it shoved in a corner cupboard?

Move it into the open room if possible. It'll help.

If you redo the thermal paste with something like Arctic Silver 5/Shin Etsu, after cleaning the HSF and CPU surface properly, you should see a temperature drop of at least 10C even with stock cooling if your load temps are 80C.

But then again you could have a faulty software reading. If you take your hand near the top of the HSF (please don't be reckless though) while it's at 80C readings, the air felt should be very hot and quite clearly. A very quick touch of the heatsink will tell you pretty clearly if it's at least 50C or not.


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