[SadisticSid]

I have a pretty chronic problem with my CPU temperature - an AMD Athlon XP 3000+ on an ASUS A7V600 mobo. The idle temperature as reported by the mobo is about 70C right now, and I've seen it go as high as 91.5 (switched it off immediately when this happened). I've tried 2 fans, a generic cheapo fan and a Coolermaster Aero7 lite, neither of which has reduced the temperature to normal levels. I've got two case fans in the usual places, cables nicely hidden or tied down, and a dual fan PSU in there to try and reduce the heat but again, no difference.

Any suggestions to get it down?

[IceFire]

Is this a new chip?  Sounds like it may be defective...

I have a Athlon XP 2700+ and even under load the core chip temperature reading is about 45c (maximum on a hot summer day).  Ambient temperatures not on the chips core usually sits at 25-35c.

The other thing to check is to see if the temperature readings are correct.  Stick a thermometer in there and see what the ambient temperature is and compair that to the readings.  Some boards also ship with defective temperature sensors (or its a BIOS issue - some Asus boards had that recently).

[aldo_14]

I get between 45-65 C on  my Athlon 2400 - it's about  50C justnow after 2 or so hours on.  Sounds like you've got a problem with the thermal paste or the fan on your chip, as that sounds WAy too hot.

If your case itslef is noticable hot, try taking off the side panel, and actually moving the PSU to sit outside the box (it's normally an unscrewable, slef contained unit, so it's pretty easy).  You won;t get the case shut - so dust could be a prob - but the case temperature should be drastically reduced.  

IIRC, anything over 70C risks damaging the CPU.  Try downclocking it and see if that helps.... might be of use.

[Venom]

Asus ehh?

somewhere in the Bios there should be something like "Q Fan Control" or so

disable it

hope this helps

[SadisticSid]

Nah, I've already tried all settings of QFan, tried underclocking it and as I said I've already tried two fans with their own and some Coolermaster paste. No difference.

Is there anywhere I can safely stick a thermometer or thermocouple to see what the CPU temperature is? And is there any safe test to see if my CPU's faulty? Note that I've not had a single problem with it running at these 'reported' temps and it's never switched itself off or anything. Also flashed the BIOS to the latest version using ASUS's flasher program so it can't be that.

As for the case, yes, it's definitely reporting cooler with the side panel off.

[Solatar]

Is the case fan covered up from the outside? Make sure the cool air can actually get out. Then see if your fans are backwards?

Sounds strange...

[Grey Wolf]

Let's see....
1. Check to see how many case fans you have. You want at least 2 80mm case fans.
2. Ditch the Coolermaster paste, go get some Arctic Silver 3 or Arctic Silver Ceramique.
3. If neither of the top two work, go get either a Zalman CNPS 7000A or an SLK800.