High CPU temp - 60 degrees at idle

[Taz]

I just checked my CPU temperature using Abit uGuru and it's running at around 60 degrees Celsius at idle! I've got a Q6600 with a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and a 120mm fan. It used to be around 27 degrees at idle, so obviously something is wrong.

I need ideas for troubleshooting this. Is it likely to be that the heatsink is not making good contact with the CPU heatspreader? The Ultra 120 Extreme is an extremely heavy heatsink and i've always been concerned that the wieght of it would prize it away from the CPU do to the motherboard being vertical and the HSF being horizontal in the case.

[Hunain]

It used to be around 27 idle? Since when has it increased to 60? Yes 60 is too much on idle. Most probably the heat sink is not in contact with the CPU, you could do well to re-seat it and clean it with compressed air as well..let us know.

[Uriel]

Checked you air flow? I had some CPU temp problems recently and it turned out to be my fan controller.

[kmac]

Manufacturers of these heavy CPU coolers would do well to inlcude a bracket to support the heatsink from the top of the case as most people use them in tower cases where the mobo is vertical.

As Uriel has said, you CPU coolers fan could be defective (spinning too slowly) - do you monitor this?

Also if you are going to remove and re-position the heatsink, clean both sides (Chip and Heatsink) of any residual thermal compound and put some new thermal compound on.

[acrobat]

You could get CoreTemp just to double check before you start taking the sides off:
Core Temp

If it does still show it as hot, then probably just one of the corners have popped off the heatsink bracket so the heatsink isn't sitting flat against the chip. It's possible the fan stopped spinning too, and that's easy to check.

[Robert]

I just checked my CPU temperature using Abit uGuru and it's running at around 60 degrees Celsius at idle! I've got a Q6600 with a Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme and a 120mm fan. It used to be around 27 degrees at idle, so obviously something is wrong.

I need ideas for troubleshooting this. Is it likely to be that the heatsink is not making good contact with the CPU heatspreader? The Ultra 120 Extreme is an extremely heavy heatsink and i've always been concerned that the wieght of it would prize it away from the CPU do to the motherboard being vertical and the HSF being horizontal in the case.

1) Firstly I would use Coretemp or Everest to check the temperature.

2) If the temp is still reported as 60C check your CPU usage when idle (something maybe sapping away).

3) If usage is low - check the fan mount.

4) Check HS fitting/refit it.

[Taz]

Thanks for the all the advice. The HSF is supposed to be a good quality one and I was recording idle temperatures of 27-29 degrees Celsius shortly after I built the PC late last year.

Unfortunately I don't know how long it's been in this state as I haven't checked the temps for a while. I do have BIOS alarms set at 65 degrees Celsius and auto-shutdown at 75 degrees Celsius and neither of these events have taken place. The temperature just seems to stabilise at around 60 degrees Celsius.

The only other thing I have done is upgrade to the latest BIOS last night. It was when I went to the BIOS setup screens that I first noticed the high temperatures being reported. There is a possibility that the BIOS is reporting the wrong temperatures.

I've just opened the side panel and the CPU HSF fan is whirring away at full pelt (1600rpm). I can feel the airflow so the BIOS is obviously detecting a high temperature and making the CPU HSF fan blow at full blast. This is verified through the Abit uGuru utility too. I've checked the task manager process list and the CPU is fairly idle.

I've ordered some Akasa TIM cleaner and some AS5 from Scan and will reseat the heatsink and remount the tomorrow when the products arrive.

My suspicion is that the contact between the huge HSF and the CPU heatspreader has been compromised by the weight of the HSF itself! The Ultra 120 extreme uses a backing plate but you can visibly see it sag a few degrees due to the orientation of the mobo in a tower case. I will look at a method of supporting its weight by anchoring it to the case but the first priority is to reseat the HSF.

[Dr Cool]

push in pings damaged?

edit nevermind.... ermm.... i realy dont what to say.

Try your stock cooler if you still have it?

see if its the current heatsinks.

[Taz]

^ The Ultra 120 eXtreme uses screws that bolt through the HSF to the backing plate. Perhaps these are loose now? I shall check these too.

[Blitzen]

Something has happened with the fitting thats all.

Take the HS/Fan off.
Clean the base and the CPU.
Put more AS5 on.
Reseat it.

Bet all problems will then disappear.

[Bugbait]

The only other thing I have done is upgrade to the latest BIOS last night. It was when I went to the BIOS setup screens that I first noticed the high temperatures being reported. There is a possibility that the BIOS is reporting the wrong temperatures.

I'd flash the BIOS to the previous version and check the reported CPU temprerature again. Although uncommon there have been cases of the BIOS misinterpreting and misreporting the temperature. If it's showing the same 60C temperature then you'll have to re-seat the HSF.

[Taz]

Well, would you believe it? I tried Bugbait's suggestion and reflashed my IP-35 Pro motherboard back to a BIOS 14 from late last year and then went into the BIOS uGuru screens and then into the Temperature Monitoring screen.

The readings were (in degrees Celsius):

BIOS 14
=====
CPU: 36
System: 33
PWM: 46

I then repeated what I did last night and flashed to the latest BIOS 16 and the BIOS reports:

BIOS 16
=====
CPU: 63
System: 34
PWM: 46

Thus, this is indicative of the latest BIOS for the IP-35 Pro motherboard failing to report the correct CPU temperature. I'll report this on the Abit forums on here and hopefully an Abit representative will pick it up and this will be fixed in the next BIOS.

Meanwhile, i'll still go ahead and reseat the HSF again and ensure everything is connected properly as even 36 degrees Celsius is higher than I was getting a few months ago for an idle system.

Thanks to all that offered help, it was all very useful. Much appreciated.

[Blitzen]

Flashing the bios back doesnt mean those temperatures are right though.

Many bios updates recalibrate the sensor so if the previous version did, the new version would aswell.

The older version you have installed may not do that therefore given you a false sense of security.

[Taz]

I've just run CoreTemp and that's reporting the 'correct' lower temperatures, whereas the BIOS (latest version 16) is reporting 56 degrees Celsius at the moment.

CoreTemp reports:

Core #0: 40
Core #1: 42
Core #2: 35
Core #3: 37

[this_is_gav]

CoreTemp is correct. It doesn't rely on software (only to give you a visual reading - what you see is the temp) while the BIOS pretty much estimates things and are notorious for getting things very wrong.

Just keep using the latest BIOS and up your thermal warming and shutdown temps.

[Ommid]

Dont think a Q6600 would hit 60c idle passive on a u120!

Core temp still seems pretty high what fan you using and at what rpm?