Question about Athlon 64 X2 temperature and nTune NVIDIA monitor

[Guest Link21]

I have this motherboard and as everyone knows, the Infinity series has some problems displaying the the right temperature in the BIOS. I have used MBM5, SpeedFan, and Smart Guardian, and the temperatures fluctuate ridiculously that they are no where near accurate.

 

However, it seems I may have find some hope for an application which works much better. I just installed nTune and am using NV Monitor to display the temperature of my CPU. This time, the temperature doesn't fluctuate. Does nTune NV Monitor use a different means of reading the CPU temperature that doesn't go through the BIOS? Is that why it is more accurate and not outrageously fluctuating? If that is the case, I think I may have found the solution I am looking for.

 

But, the temperature readings do appear to be lower than I think they probably really are. But that is ok because at least the readings are pretty stable when under load and at idle as I could just add the appropriate estimated number to the displayed temperature to know what is closer to the real temperature.

 

Now here is my question. I have an Athlon 64 X2 3800 CPU being cooled with a Thermalright XP-120 heatsink with a 56CFM 120mm fan running at full speed all the time. The case is an Antec P180 with three 120mm 48CFM case fans. Everything in my system is cooled on air.

 

NV Monitor reports my CPU temperature at 23C when at idle.

 

When I run one instance of Prime95, it lists the temperature as 31C.

 

When I run two insatnces of Prime95 (one for each CPU core), the CPU temperature is displayed as 36C.

 

Now, are those temperatures accurate, or are they too low? It seems the 23C is way too low, but the 36C when under load seems more like it? 36C under full load would be great if it were really that low. But 23C on the otherhand seems unrealisticly way too low even at idle. How much should I add to the displayed temperaures to get the real temp of my CPU when under load and at idle? Also, what is the maximum safe temperature for the Athlon 64 X2 CPU?

[hitman012]

CPU's max safe temperature is 55°C. Try to keep it under 50...

[David James]

use MBM5 High/low feature - it averages the temps. Press the trash button to reset the start point - and within a minute or so you have a great average that is a much more accurate temp reading.

 

Now it is only as accurate as the data being fed to it, but put it this way - if I subtract the ambient temp of my room (as read from a thermometer) from the average, it will always be within .5 of a degree when dual priming.

 

So all you need in something to smooth the readings out.

 

Ntune has been the casue of a few problems - Angry says to stay away from it

 

EDIT: and once you get your actual temps I totally agree - stay under 55 always and 50 or less is the goal. Although as they say, if you have a 100% stable system, you do not have a heat problem.

[chrism778]

I downloaded MBM5 and it looks like it's over a year old program and doesn't have my motherboard listed. Is there a way to update it?

[ExtraPickles]

Look here http://www.dfi-street.com/forum/showthread...98&page=1&pp=15

 

-pickles

[Grazzhopper]

x2 4400 stock heatsink

My temps.

30 ~ 31 idle (37 Watts CnQ)

35 ~ 36 load (57 Watts)

40 ~ 42 both cores full load. (113 Watts)

 

Both cores at full load temp only rizing 6 C seams a bit low to me.

As the cpu fan does not even turn on when browsing I have not upgraded the stock cooler.

 

I have an Arctic NV5 rev 3 GPu cooler, Evercool chipset cooler, and a couple of SilentX 120mm 14db 57CFM fans arriving next week which should improve these results, as cpu temp increase is of cause also dependent on ambient temp. My case temp monitoring records the PWMIC area as being 30 C, smart guardian records 36 C. What do you trust is a good question. So like hitman said, as long as case temp is below spec (65 C) a few degrees here and there is not an issue. And yes super cool temps may double the life of the cpu, but are you really going to want the 3800 in 8 years time?

[lowboy]

use MBM5 High/low feature - it averages the temps. Press the trash button to reset the start point - and within a minute or so you have a great average that is a much more accurate temp reading.

 

Now it is only as accurate as the data being fed to it, but put it this way - if I subtract the ambient temp of my room (as read from a thermometer) from the average, it will always be within .5 of a degree when dual priming.

 

So all you need in something to smooth the readings out.

 

Ntune has been the casue of a few problems - Angry says to stay away from it

 

EDIT: and once you get your actual temps I totally agree - stay under 55 always and 50 or less is the goal. Although as they say, if you have a 100% stable system, you do not have a heat problem.

Are you trying to say that you can run dual prime and cpu temp is only.5deg difference than ambiant temp, your dreaming or fell out of a tree, there is no way!

[David James]

Sorry, I made a hash of that statement. What I meant was my averaged load temperatures scale with ambient temp as measured by a external thermometer.

 

For example, at 20C room temp my load temp will be 40C, and at 25C it will be 45C etc etc.

 

So if I subtract the ambient from the load the delta will always be 20C - and it always agrees to within half a degree - meaning the motherboard sensors are doing a very consistent job. If you use MBM to average a few samples.