Heya. With the recent death of my old 2.4ghz P4 processor, i decided to finally upgrade my old beast. However, upon hand installing a new CPU and Mobo, i noticed that upon a fresh bootup it runs pretty hot. The system is a Pentium 4 3.4 Ghz processor with hyperthreading technology. ASUS PS4800d-X series motherboard and 2 gigs of 3200 ULTRA brand RAM (400mhz, normal DDR) Freshly booted after being turned off for an hour and with not a single program running (in safe mode) in runs at on average at 122 Fahrenheit. The CPU fan is at on average 3000RPM, the SYS and AUX fans at 2500 RPM. I tried everything from reversing a fan to create a wind tunnel effect within the case, to stripping EVERYTHING off the case, leaving the steel frame and a giant clip fan pointing onto the backside of the CPU. Temps are still at the lowest 119F. I have an ASUS Mobo, and within the BIOs i have not found an option to set the fans to "Critical" mode as with other Bioses. The temps, with the simplest of games skyrocket to about 170F, in which the computer turns itself off due to overheating. SYS temp on average is 86 F, AUX is 68F and HD is 97F

That's because you went from a cool northwood core to a prescott core. Prescott cores run very warm on avg and your temps believe it are not are a little below avg of what a prescott normally runs at. Your temps are fine, it's just the nature of the core. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ OC 2.7ghz 2GB Dual Channel DDR 3200 Nvidia 7800GT SATA II 2x 200gig 7200rpm 16mb cache RAID-0 Gigabyte Nforce 4 SLI

Um, his temps are in Fahrenheit. 122 degrees F is like 50 degrees C, which is, if anything, cool for a "hot potato".

when comparing the prescott cores he is right in it's range of normal temps. AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ OC 2.7ghz 2GB Dual Channel DDR 3200 Nvidia 7800GT SATA II 2x 200gig 7200rpm 16mb cache RAID-0 Gigabyte Nforce 4 SLI

We generally speak in Celsius around here... SYS = 86F = 30C HDD = 97F = 36C CPU (idle) = 119-122F = 48-50C CPU (load) = 170F = 77C Stripping the case down isn't helpful because it basically renders the case cooling fans useless. You should have an intake fan in the front & an exhaust fan in the back...the power supply also helps to vent warm air from the case. I assume you have a P4 Prescott "hot potato" which are known for running at high temps. There's really little danger of damage because of Intel's built-in thermal protection circuitry. However, you do have to work on bringing the CPU temp down. A system temp of 30C & HDD of 36C would indicate that the case is probably adequately cooled, so the HSF is probably the culprit. Either it's dust clogged, improperly installed, or simply a crappy unit. I suggest you remove it, thoroughly clean it to remove all traces of the old thermal compound, then apply a fresh layer of your favorite paste. Follow these instructions regardless of the brand you use: http://www.arcticsilver.com/arctic_silver_instructions.htm

Ahh thanks! I actually tried switching the fans as you discussed in the first paragraph, but when that was done, the average temp was around 54 C.. Upon stripping the case i got it down to 48-52ish range. I however was unaware that the Prescott CPU was a hot potato though. Still used to my older one, which the HOTTEST it ever got was around 55C completely loaded with a jerryrigged AMD HSU. I'm thinking either it is an faulty HSU or that my 400watt PSU isn't cutting it due to its age. Either way, both the HSU and CPU are brandnew, and there certainly isn't any dust which leads me to the above conclusions.

Guys/Gals, FYI: I found the following from issues of Maximum PC. December 2005 Issue-A $400 Water Cooling System Was Tested Temperature figures After Install Were: Idle Temp 29 C 100% Temp 40 C February 2006 Issue-Raidmax Glacier RC-002 & Arctic Cooler Freezer 64 Pro Gist Raidmax: Mobo MUST Be Removed To Install--Cooling Was 28 Idle & 39 100% Gist Arctic: 10 Seconds To Install--Cooling Was 33 Idle & 44 100%