Dangerous CPU Temperature and power fan not running?

[deeloughran]

Well have setup new motherboard (p4p800se) and using their monitoring program they say my cpu temperature status is 'CPU Temperature Overheated!!!' at 76C and it says the power fan is not running AT ALL but at the back i can feel air coming out from the power supply.
1. Is that temperature infact dangerous and should i be thinking of upgrading to a better heatsink.
2. Could the program be wrong / why would the power fan stop / anything i can do to try to get it back on?

Thanks!

[scrandman]

It will only read if the PSU fan is running if:

1/ Your PSU has a speed monitoring cable coming out of it AND
2/ The cable plugged in to your mobo.

To be honest, the PSU fan isn't really there to cool your CPU. It's just there to cool the PSU.

Do you have any other case fans, such as an exhaust fan at the back of the case near the CPU. This will keep things cooler.

One final thing - you did put thermal grease or a new thermal pad on the heatsink, didn't you?

[deeloughran]

No the PSU is nothing fancy so doesn't have that, well that makes me feel better about that! Yeh i have a 120mm noiseblocker attached at the back and two 80mm fans (one on window and one at front) so should be cool enough.
No i didn't i have none at all, when i took the CPU out from the old mobo it had grease on it, but there is nothing on it now, does this make a considerable difference, if i am to buy one, what should i buy, grease or pad?

[scrandman]

No i didn't i have none at all, when i took the CPU out from the old mobo it had grease on it, but there is nothing on it now, does this make a considerable difference, if i am to buy one, what should i buy, grease or pad?

Does it make a considerable difference? Absolutely. This is the reason your CPU is overheating. The grease / pad allows the heat to go from the CPU to the heatsink. Without it, there are small pockets of air which doesn't conduct heat very well.

If you don't have anything around, you should buy thermal grease, as it generally outperforms the pads. Any kind at all is better than nothing.

Many recommend Arctic Silver 5 and such like, but the difference between cheap stuff & expensive stuff is only a few degrees.

[deeloughran]

Thanks mate, gonna go for this...
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Arctic-Silver-...QQcmdZViewItem
The arctic silver 5, might aswell go top of the range lol! for 6.79 delivered don't really see it worth saving a pound or two for unbranded stuff.

[TunnelRat]

Out of curiosity as I'm not familiar with this board's pcb layout, you have got the cpu fan plugged into the correct cpu fan pins on the motherboard haven't you?

[wazi]

http://www.thecoolingshop.com/index.php/cPath/98_35 very good peeps very quick and postage doesnt take the proverbial !!!
myself i use ceramquie , very good tingz

[deeloughran]

Already ordered but that site doesn't give delivery rates to N Ireland which will probably be big like other companys! Yeh the CPU fan is up and running, it's a beast! lol! Thinking of buying a Zalman 9500 or something as the paste should only cool it down by arounmd 5C isn't it? And jus one quick question, i've bought 3.5g, do i put it ALL on the chip when putting it in?

[scrandman]

No. Only a small amount on the centre of the CPU die, the size of about a grain of rice. You can spread this out too, but it isn't absolutely necessary.

I've haven't used P4 chips, but the process is identical to the A64 CPUs. There's some info over on the AMD website which I'll try to find for you.

Also, you should see a much greater drop than 5C when you apply thermal grease.

Couldn't find it over at AMD, so look under the 9500 page at Zalman, there is an installation video which shows you how to do it...

http://www.zalman.co.kr/

Edit: You might want to have a read through this as well:

http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_s...structions.htm

[deeloughran]

Thanks mate! Should get it tomorrow...but don't know whether it's worth the bother putting it on before i invest in the zalman as i hate the sound of this intel fan, i love the most important precaution! lol!...

Important Precautions
Don't put it in your mouth.

[herulach]

yes, it definately is worth putting on, running at such high temps will significantly shorten your chips lifespan