Just seen 68 degrees C on the CPU!

Right, i know this is just within the thermal limits of the chip but i'm not comfortable with it.

Its hot today, about 32C in my room at the moment but i've never seen the pc this hot.

Here are the specs

AMD 64 3500+ Venice with C'n'Q enabled and working
ASRock DualSATA2
ATi Radeon 9800Pro 128MB
Samsung Spinpoint 160GB
SilentX PSU

Think those are the obvious heat sources.

Cooling (This pc has been setup for silent running):
Thermalright XP-120 running fanless
2*120mm Nexus fans on a 5V/12V manual switch
Thermaltake schooner fanless graphics cooler with external heatpipe
80mm 'silentX' fan in the PSU
Housed in Silverstone TJ-04 case


Just been playing farcry for about 45 mins to reach those temps. On a day like today its idling at about 45C with fans on 12V and c'n'q enabled (Asume lowest setting)

So what are the suggestions? Looking for something powerful and quiet

put a fan on the xp-120 maybe, see if theres any change. Im using the xp-120 with fan and goes 48 max in game with my 3700

My AMD is idling at about 36 in this weather - got up to about 70 at one point today. Normal max operating temp is about 55 to 60.

what merlin said.

120mm non sleeved type fan of decent quality will be excellent for the job. ive used a few different silent fans on my SI-120 and all work well, but the yate loons didnt do as well as others because of the rather large dead spot and the fact they need modding to fit.

my case temp hit 45 degrees and my fan controllers alarm went berserk lol had to crank all the fans up on high and vent all the heat out.

Can't believe you don't at least use a low speed fan anyways.

yeh, like how does it cool the cpu properly without a fan on it? its needs some cold air from somewhere

Well, the intake air flows over the heatsink on its way to the rear exhaust and out through the PSU

I've been thinking about putting the intake fan on the xp-120 to help.

It all worked fine with my cool running northwood, never went above 35C so i haven't changed it yet

i seem to be on about 56 at the minute on the CPU and 45 or so on the NB.

Keeps my room nice and warm!

Get a 120mm Nexus or a Yate Loon from the bay (they're cheaper, but essentially the same as the Nexus). You'll struggle to hear them.

//edit: just seen Clunk's post about the Yates needing modding...

All they need is the tunnels between the edges of the screw holes cutting away (Flange?)

I'll try my intake nexus on it to see what difference it makes. Apparently the XP-120 with a nexus is pretty much as good as a Zalman 9500

have thermal limits dropped significantly of late? i'm sure you could run p4s at up to 96C and athlons at 90C without problems (official figures from the manufacturers). theres no evidence that running a chip 1C below its 'maximum' does any damage to the longevity of it at all

Well, seeing as my athlon 3500+ was happily running at almost 70C i asume the cut-out limit is above that.