My CPU temps

[Beerslayer]

I have a 4400+, Rev. BH-G2, at stock speed (2.3) with the stock HSF, on a Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H. Running Orthos, my CPU temp is getting into the high 60's according to CoreTemp 0.99, after about 4 minutes... that's when I get nervous and stop the program; I haven't tried to see how high it will go. I'm a bit disappointed in the stock HSF. I wasn't expecting anything spectacular, but it seems to me that it should keep a 65nm 65W CPU cooler than that at stock settings.

I want to try to push this thing up to around 2.8 GHz if possible, so I need some info regarding the temps. I spent some time searching for the max safe temp for this CPU and wasn't able to find any info. So my first question is, how high is safe? Secondly, are CoreTemp's numbers accurate? And lastly, can anybody recommend a relatively inexpensive HSF?

 

[ShadowFlareX]

High 60's full load is getting pretty hot, especially running at stock... with stock heatsink to boot. Core Temp is pretty accurate and I use it on my S939 X2 4400+ system, idling at 52oC. It's pretty ok in my case since it's my mom's PC and she never does any full load activity on it. I tried crunching SETI there and it was peaking at 85oC and had to just stop it right away. So yeah, best to not overclock it further yet until you get a good aftermarket cooler. Also good airflow around your PC case.

For my recommendation, for me, the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme is relatively cheap for the performance of cooling it shows. I use this on my Saber system on my sig. I notice a number of people use Scythe Ninja, Tuniq Tower, and Noctua. Is your 4400+ an AM2 socket?

 

[ther00kie16]

have the x2 4000 brisbane and it doesn't get higher than about 40C loaded. but then again, temperatures here in the midwest haven't gotten that high yet.
i did overclock it to 2.75ghz though on stock heatsink without too much of a problem (got up to high 40s loaded).
if you are running at stock speed, you could probably undervolt the CPU. mine's running at 1V undervolted from 1.25V.

 

[error8]

My old 4000+ brisbane gave me bellow ambient temperature on CoreTemp, so I never used it for temperature testing. I used Asus Probe ( since I had an Asus mobo ) and Everest. Both programs showed the same temperature. Also, if I remember correctly, Speedfan had good temperature readings too. So use these to check your temps. But if they still show 60 C, it means:
1) very bad airflow inside the case;
2) or bad install of the heatsink;
3) or very high room temperature;
4) or a combination of those above.

 

[error8]

Originally posted by: ShadowFlareX
Is your 4400+ an AM2 socket?

Brisbane X2 AMD cpus are only for AM2.

 

[THUGSROOK]

Originally posted by: error8
My old 4000+ brisbane gave me bellow ambient temperature on CoreTemp... I used Asus Probe ( since I had an Asus mobo )

asus is famous for lying about temps, always too low.

 

[Beerslayer]

Last night, I disabled the Smartfan thing in the BIOS so that the CPU fan runs wide open all the time. I also lowered the CPU temp to 1.2 V, and the temps were staying under 50 with 100 % load.

So I went to work on the CPU clock. My initial attempt to run it at 2.8 was unsuccessful. I don't remember the details now of all the settings I tried, but I did get it to run at 2.7 and 1.25 volts. The max multiplier is 11, so the NB is running at 245, which put my memory at about 898.

During the process of tweaking the frequency, it stopped going into failsafe, and I've been having to reset the BIOS with the motherboard jumper when it won't POST. So the memory (Mushkin 996603) got set back to 5-5-5-18 2T. It had been running at 800 MHz at 4-4-4-12 1T. I tried to tighten the settings again at 898 (yeah, I'm an optimist) and it wouldn't POST. I bumped up the voltage to 2.0 (from 1.9), still no POST.

So that's where I am now. I ran out of time this morning to get the memory settings working. I think I'm going to try 5-5-5-15 1T; if it will do that I'll be happy.

Oh, and the CPU temps are slightly over 60 at 1.25 volts and 2.7 GHz, so I'm going to try 1.225 (the motherboard only has 0.025V increments). I'll post another update this evening.

 

[error8]

What is your HT speed? I hope that you do keep it bellow 1000mhz.

 

[geokilla]

CoreTemp does not work well with AMD CPUs. This has been said many, many times.

 

[Beerslayer]

Well, it's running again. 2.695 GHz (245 x 11), with core temps of 55 and 58. I might be able to squeeze out a few more GHz, but the temps are nearing the top of my comfort range and I'm not sure it's worth the trouble. I'm obviously not going to set any records here, so I think I'll just leave it where it is. Now that I've realized that I'd had the fan set to not run at top speed and fixed that, I take back half the bad things I said about the stock cooler. ETA: Voltage is set at 1.20. CPU-Z claims that it's actually 1.232.

The memory is running at 898 MHz at 5-5-5-15 2T. It doesn't like 1T at this frequency even a little bit. Overall, I'm very pleased with this RAM though; I think these are decent timings at this frequency for RAM that's rated as PC6400.

Originally posted by: error8
What is your HT speed? I hope that you do keep it bellow 1000mhz.

There is a setting on this motherboard to lock the HT frequency at 1 GHz. I did that, but CPU-Z said it was running at 1225. It occurred to me that this was 5 x 245, so I changed the HT frequency to 800, and CPU-Z now says it's 980, which is 245 x 4. So, despite what the setting says, it's actually a multiplier of the NB frequency.

Originally posted by: geokilla
CoreTemp does not work well with AMD CPUs. This has been said many, many times.

I though I had heard that somewhere. What do you recommend?

 

[ther00kie16]

If you want to overclock anymore, think about lowering the HT multiplier to 3X.

 

[error8]

Yeah, put your HT multiplier on 3X. You'll loose your stability over 1000 mhz. You can, if you like, tweak this later, but first find your maximum cpu speed.

 

[geokilla]

Originally posted by: Beerslayer

Originally posted by: geokilla
CoreTemp does not work well with AMD CPUs. This has been said many, many times.

I though I had heard that somewhere. What do you recommend?

AMD CPUs go by the motherboard sensor, which is the TCase temp. I can try and find the document from AMD's site which said that if you want.

CoreTemp doesn't work well with AMD CPUs is because on AMD CPU's the Tjunction temp reader thingy is faulty.

 

[Beerslayer]

I dropped the CPU voltage to 1.175 volts in the BIOS (CPU-Z reports 1.200 volts), mainly because I was concerned about temps, and bumped the NB frequency to 255. That puts the CPU frequency at 2.805, and the memory at 935. Memory timings are still 5-5-5-15 2T.

I had tried 2.9 GHz with the HT multiplier at 3, and it wouldn't POST. I might try these settings again with the CPU voltage at 1.2 in the BIOS, but I think I've had enough tonight of having to reset the BIOS with the motherboard jumper and redoing all the BIOS settings every time it won't POST. I don't know why it doesn't go into failsafe anymore.

I'll post another update if I can get it to 2.9

 

[ther00kie16]

Good work, I may have to try to get to 2.8 sometime but summer is here and the last couple of days have just been hot and muggy.

 

[SlowSpyder]

Originally posted by: Beerslayer
I dropped the CPU voltage to 1.175 volts in the BIOS (CPU-Z reports 1.200 volts), mainly because I was concerned about temps, and bumped the NB frequency to 255. That puts the CPU frequency at 2.805, and the memory at 935. Memory timings are still 5-5-5-15 2T.

I had tried 2.9 GHz with the HT multiplier at 3, and it wouldn't POST. I might try these settings again with the CPU voltage at 1.2 in the BIOS, but I think I've had enough tonight of having to reset the BIOS with the motherboard jumper and redoing all the BIOS settings every time it won't POST. I don't know why it doesn't go into failsafe anymore.

I'll post another update if I can get it to 2.9

Unless you're trying to squeeze every last drop of performance out of your processor, I'd personally probably leave it at 2.805GHz... obviously what you do with your rig is up to you, but if I were in your shoes I'd probably leave it. That chip runs at what voltage stock, 1.35? You have a pretty nice overclock going while being undervolted... the best of both worlds! The difference between 2.805 and 2.9GHz is somewhere around 3%, which probably will be less then 1% in real world use. Or you could always grab a nice aftermarket cooler, bump your voltage to 1.4+ and go nuts.