P4 Temp Q's

[jmeyer2718]

Do all northwoods run around the same temps at any given voltage?

I ask this, because I've seen quite a few people who opt to not use the stock hs/fan.
I know that p4s run very cool compared to athlon xps, and ive never seen one get anywhere
close to their danger point. so why exactly do people feel they need to blast it with a better
hs/fan? it just doesnt make sense to me, which leads me to believe that theres something
i dont know. a p4 running at 34c isnt going to perform better than one running at 40, is it?
will it last longer? and by longer, i dont mean 8 years 10 months compared to 8 years 9
months. is there a considerable benefit to cooling a p4 more than is apparently needed?

i was under the assumption that a p4 will be zapped to death by overvolting before it would
even come close to dying from heat. am i right?

thanks for any info you can provide.

 

[Lizardman]

Do all northwoods run around the same temps at any given voltage?

No, the more voltage and the higher you overclock it the hotter it will get.

I ask this, because I've seen quite a few people who opt to not use the stock hs/fan.

P4s have temperature throttling, so if they get to hot they will cut back on speed so they dont overheat. They are supposed to produce around 50W of heat. I am guessing its closer to 60W or 70W though. The bottom line is that p4s are not really temperature limited.

p4 running at 34c isnt going to perform better than one running at 40, is it?

nope, it will be the same as long as the speeds are the same.

will it last longer? and by longer, i dont mean 8 years 10 months compared to 8 years 9

It might make it last like a year long, possibly. Less heat at higher Voltages will slow down electron migration. BUt are you really going to have your p4 system 8 years from now.

i was under the assumption that a p4 will be zapped to death by overvolting before it would
even come close to dying from heat. am i right?

Thats very true. Any voltage over 1.75 is considered to be in the danger zone for the p4.

 

[jmeyer2718]

No, the more voltage and the higher you overclock it the hotter it will get.

sorry, i wasnt clear. what i was trying to ask is, will a 1.6 @ 1.7v run at roughly the same
temps as a 2.53 @ 1.7v?

 

[Lizardman]

The p4 running at 2.53ghz will be hotter. Probably by about 7 or 8 degress C.

 

[Mickey21]

Actually any heat that can be quickly eliminated is always good. And yes, a P4 running at a hotter temperature would technically run the same speed, but how long would it run that speed for and how reliable it would be, is going ot differ.

Let's say that you have a P4 and it is running 40 Degrees C. First you have to remember that the temperature sensor is not entirely accurate. Usually accuracy will differ from one board to the next. So it is always a good idea to try and run as cool as possible. Though relatively, the sensor should be accurate from one CPU HSF to the next. So you might want to try several HSF on the same system to see which one is better for you.

CPU silicon is heat responsive. The more heat you apply the less accurately it behaves, causing more lock-ups and the like. The only reason why from one generation of processors to the next we have trouble keeping them cool, is the amount of transistors that go into them increases, thereby increasing the heat release. This heat has to be dealt with or the CPU temperature will rise, and the CPU will become unstable because the super small transistor gates are actually changing shape due to heat. The heat at which this heat starts affecting the performance or stability varies from one CPU design to the next. CPUs also varry in heat creation due to transistor count, or electrical power consumed, or even the amount of surface area dedicated to the release of such heat (die exposed surface are). Of course the quality of the manufacturing of said chip greatly affects the outcome because the closer to the design the CPU gets, the less likely that silicon heat increases will hurt it. They already started out less deformed. It is this quality of workmanship that dictates the final product and the fact that there are processor ranges. The lesser quality CPUs became 2000Mhz CPUs, while the higher quality CPUs became 2600Mhz CPUs.

Heat will also damage the chip over time as the gates become so changed that they cease to function at all. You dont know this magic date, be it 8 years and 10 months or 20 years. So keep it cool anyways. Heat is the enemy, and any thing you can do to get it out of the computer case is always welcomed. Cooling is a balance of Finances/Practical/Performance. But to answer some of your questions....

The 2.53 would be hotter because : It is running at a higher clock speed, and in running at a higher clock speed, the transistors are doing more work. This causes more heat. Now would a 1.6 @ 1.7v be hotter if it was a 1.6 running at 2.53 @1.7v? No, assuming the CPU cores were the same design, the chips would produce the same amount of heat at the same speed at the same voltage. This is what the problem usually is though, running a 1.6 at very high speeds will usually call for an increase in voltage. And a 2.53 runs at 1.5v in any case. The 1.6 would usually need the increase to 1.7v to work. In this scenario, the 1.6 would produce more heat, therefore calling for a water cooler or the like... So when you hear of people using high end cooling, it either means they want the CPU to last a LONG time, or the more likely reason is they plan on/or are overclocking the CPU.