Bit or a problem. Started folding today, hitting 60C easy.

dak125

Not sure if this should be in this forum or in cooling, but either way my CPU's hitting 60C after having the program open for about 5-7 minutes. I use the stock heatsink and it'll usually max out at around 55ish, idles at 42 or so. So, I suppose my question would be whether or not this is safe? I realize that if it gets too hot it'll automatically shut down. But, I'd rather not get to that point.

Geeky1

Make sure the heatsink is clean, back it down to stock speeds, and buy a new heatsink.

Or, you can just blow out the heatsink and not worry about it unless your system starts crashing, which is probably what I'd do.

muddocktor

dak125, that is a P4 you are talking about, right? The Thermalrtight SLK947-U heatsinks that SVC has on sale for $19.95 right now are a drop-on fit into the stock Intel heatsink bracket and are much superior to the stock Intel junk. I'm running one on my IS7 with a Thermaltake SmartFan 2 and my temps rarely get past 50 C while folding, with it overclocked from 2.6 to 3.2 with 1.55v vcore. I saw around a 12 C drop in temps when going from the stock Intel hsf to the SLK947-U. I just ordered one of those specials Thursday to have a spare high quality heatsink, couldn't pass up the good deal on them.

To me, 60 C on an overclocked P4 is still safe, but is on the high side of temps I'd like to see on my P4 rigs.

For sure, Folding stresses the heck out of the processor though. Nothing the proc shouldn't be able to handle but it makes the proc work all the time.

dak125

I had the SLK, a 92 mm fan, and a fan controller in my shopping cart last week but just thought, "What for?". It was running fine for what I used it for last week, prior to the whole folding deal. There are several other things that need to be purchased prior to this due to the lack of cash flow since I just got back from school. Once things are settled down a bit I'll look into it. Thanks for the responses.

Thrax

The problem is, there are many applications that use 100% CPU usage. Not only folding, but other applications can put your CPU into the 60C range. Video rendering, games, any of those sorts of things.

If you're worried about temperature, getting rid of folding shouldn't diminish that worry.

muddocktor

Thrax is right, dak. A lot of other stuff including games load the cpu to 100% while running too, so your processor will hit the same temps while rendering video or playing games. You just don't see that it is hitting those temps with games because your taskbar is hidden then.

BTW, that's a hell of a good price on that SLK947-U, they usually go for a little over $40 shipped. Scrape up the bucks for it now, before it goes off sale. BTW, the 80mm fans work better than the 92mm fans due to the smaller hub on the 80mm fans making less of a dead zone in the middle.

Geeky1

I still maintain that you don't need to worry about temperature; my laptop's P4 can hit 65*C+ under full load, and it runs fine. If you look in the cooling forum, you'll find a thread I started about high temperature stability. In it, I had an Athlon XP 1700+ up to 90*C+.

The P4 has clock throttling protection, and your board will shut it down before it overheats anyhow. So if its not crashing, why worry about it?

//Edit
Actually, Mudd, the hubs on 80 and 92mm fans are about the same size. 80mm fans work better because their airflow is more focused than air from a 92mm fan, so more air makes it into the fins.

dak125

Games and what not max out at 56c. I never said I wasn't going to stop it (I havne't even really started it) just discussing.

mmonnin

Folding will probably make your CPU hotter than gaming.

ryko

Instability crops up on the p4c's at about 65 degreess Celsius. I believe 70 is the shut off temp. I would only start worrying if you see stablility problems. You could always try lapping the bottom of your stock hsf and using some as5. You should see a few degrees drop in temp if you do this.

But yeah, $20 for a slk-947u is a great deal. I am going to go get one right now....

dak125

Which fan would you guys recommend to compliment the 947? I'd like it to be as quiet as possible and pump as much air. I had a 92 mm picked out, gotta remeber which one it was.

Geeky1

IMO, go with the SmartFan2. It's not the quietest fan in the world, but honestly, set it up with the thermal probe touching the side of the CPU's IHS, and it'll be fine. I've got 6 of them (5 80mm and 1 92mm) in one of my systems, all thermally controlled, and I can sleep with the system running without a problem. It's really not much noisier than your average single-fan dell, even with 6 of them.

muddocktor

Yeah, the SmartFan 2 is a great choice, like Geeky said. You can either run it with the thermistor like Geeky was talking about or you can also use the included potentiometer to manually control the fan speed, which is how I use them. If you are folding, your proc will pretty well stay at a constant temp due to the load, so it's pretty easy to manually set the fan speed to what you need and balance noise vs heat. I rather use mine with the manual speed potentiometer myself, but I just use them on my heatsinks and not as a case fan.

One thing I really like with the SLK947-U is that it not only comes with the traditional type posts that use the 4 holes around the socket on both Intel and Socket A AMD, it also has 2 clips included that let you mount it with the stock heatsink retention system already mounted on your mobo. They have instructions on Thermalright's website on how to mount with either retention mechanism.

mmonnin

I third that fan. Again its not the quietest fan but it pushes some air for that noise. If you want something quieter then get a Enermax 92mm adjustable fan. The 80mm fans work better on the thermalright HSs because the 92mm fans are too wide. Temps went up when I moved to a higher CFM 92mm fan from a 80mm fan. The RPMs were also lower too but I would still suggest the SmartFan2.