P4 temps: idle at 53C load at 63C is this normal? PC crashed once while running the game demo of 3Dmark2001 SE. Temp was at 65! I am using a stock HSF, 1 rear exahust, enermax PS dual fan. I am now trying to run the demo in looping mode to see if it will crash again.

What motherboard do you have?

MSI 648F NEO. I've just finished running the burn in wizard of sisoftsandra and the system didn't show any signs of instability. although the temps shot up as high 69C.i'm using the MSI core center to monitor my temps although sandra showed only 63C at max load. i'm planning to run it again overnight. i'm just wondering whiy on some instances it kept on restarting while running the game demo of 3dmark2001 SE.

Don't feel bad and check the link below http://www.atruereview.com/zalman7000/zalman.php Zalman is amougst the best and you see the load temp is hanging high there without overclocking. MSI P4 boards report higher temps. Don't ask me why, I own 5 of them (now down to 1), they all report higher than actual CPU temp. And, so is the Abit IC7. I have been trying to tell people here that P4 is hotter than Athlon. But, hot in a way that it would harm the CPU. It is almost a MUST to have both intake and exhaust fans to run any fast CPU today. Many people would tell you to ditch the Intel Heatsink in favor of "better, heavier, and louder" 3rd party cooler. I stay with Intel Stock and find they are as good if not better than 3rd party. This is what I do to stock HSF. 1) Lap the heatsink. 2) Use thermal paste rather than the pad. If you want a bit more reduction 3-7 C, I'd check the fan duct like this one www.ohls-place.com No matter what, motherboard temps are by far inaccurate. However, the high and low temps difference remains unchange. IC7 (two identical systems with same result) P4 2.4C clocked to 3.24ghz Vcore 1.675 Stock HSF with fan duct Load 56 C Idle 39 C IS7 P4 2.4C clocked to 3.06ghz Vcore 1.650 Stock HSF with fan duct Load 49.5 Idle 34 What a difference in temp from the same board maker!! There isn't much difference in speed and vcore. You tell me.

i also have a msi mobo i865PE NEO 2. it also recorded a high temp using core center. when running burn in wizard sisoftsandra for the third time, the temp. goes 58. so do you guys know the max temp that a p4 can handle. im using a dr.thermal cooler, it is similar like the stock in shape and design, but cost me some money, it is a piece of crap. the fan only goes 3800rpm but when i check it never ever reaches 2100rpm. i have overclock my 2.6c to 3.1+ with 1.56+v and 2.8v in ram and 1.7 in agp. so the questions are is my comp stable, isnt the voltage to high and do i have to change the cooler. by the way thanks real_cool for the advice before this.... :)

Thanks guys for the advice. i removed the stock HSF cleaned it and applied a fresh thermal compond and the temps went down by as much as 4C. i guess i'll have to ditch this stock HSF although this PC is only one week old. i ran the sandra burn in overnight and the temps at core center showed 66C and from sandra 60C although nothing went wrong.

I dont really know anything about overclocking but you could try playing some games or run a benchmariking software to see if it is stable. If nothing goes wrong then i gusee its alright...I really don't know if i should bu another HSF or stay with the stock form Intel but ill just try to add another exhaust and intake fan.