CPU Temp

So, what is the normal range of the temp for CPU?
Mine has always been in the 70s range but lately it's in the start of 80s and in speccy that number is red. But that's when I'm watching a video (for example)
The Fan speed is normal and working fine.
I'm just wondering if it's normal?!
When I'm doing nothing or not much, like now writting this thread the temp is mid 50s (colour is yellow in speecy).
I'm using the fan that came with my cpu ohhhh, my cpu is a AMD A8-6600K if that helps.
If it's the fan, because it's just the standard one then which can i get? One can't just get any fan I've read. Could it be the thermal paste? The one I'm using is low quality but that is the one that was recommended.
What I use my pc for, is listening to music, watching videos and playing games where the onboard grafics are enough. That is way the lower quality was recommended.

Well thanks for reading and also helping me in this matter

 

Which media player are you using to watch videos? The next time you watch a video, open Task Manager at look at the media player's CPU usage.

 

Hey plodr,
thanks for taking the time searching for that.
So, 70s range is ok. Now I already have speedfan and nothing there indicates anything wrong (one green tick and otherwise blue downward arrows). Only time a get a flame icon is when the temp goes over 80 degrees (CPU).
I've bought some thermal paste arctic cooling mx2 and I'll try that to see if it gets any better.

 

I use VLC Player and the usage is between 3-10 in task manager.

 

That's good.
Take care when applying the thermal paste. Ensure the surfaces are clean (use alcohol) and don't apply to much thermal paste.

 

Under alcohol, are there any household items that I can use? Or do you mean something like vodka!? I'm sorta a novice so don't laugh.

 

90%+ isopropyl alcohol.

 

ok thanks.

NOW just in case the fan (that came with it) is not good enough, I'm looking at the brand Arctic. That brand is sorta known worldwide and is said to be quite good. Or if someone knows a better brand I'll look into that, just know that I live in Europe so a lot of american brand names that aren't over here would be very expensive to get.
Now, how do I know with one to get?
And also what does TDP stand for?

 

To confirm plodr's research go to
http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-A8-Series%20A8-6600K%20-%20AD660KWOA44HL.html and look under the section Electrical / Thermal parameters where it says

I sometimes use coretemp http://alcpu.com/CoreTemp/ to determine the temperature of the individual cores of my CPU. It's an exe so it doesn't need installing, you can start it and stop it when you want, and you can remove it by simply deleting the exe file.and it's free. it supports "All APU series" processors (http://alcpu.com/CoreTemp/supportlist.html )

By alcohol is usually meant IPA (IsoPropyl Alcohol). Many people seem to use 70% (v/v with, I assume, distilled [pure] water). It is necessary that the liquid used for cleaning leaves no residue, it's sufficiently volatile and has the appropriate solvent properties (and won't attack your CPU or other components, is not very toxic etc) .It's quite cheap and available from eg ebay in various sizes and concentrations. Vodka or other solutions of ethanol in water are ok in principle, but as regards vodka itself it is likely to be 'contaminated' with substances that leave a residue (eg sugars), it's not I think, sufficiently concentrated, it's not that volatile, and it's expensive 9owing to duty) or 'contaminated. (eg methylated spirits contains dyes). Household substances usually contain contaminants which will leave a residue.

Dumb_Question
22.July.2015

TDP = Thermal Design Power (for chips eg CPUs) it may have other meanings. Click on the yellow question mark in the CPU world link I gave for an explanation in this context.

I would hesitate to advise you about fans; I would say it doesn't matter. Well known brands are Akasa, Noctua, AVC (I think they're difficult to get tho'), Cooler, Spire, that's all that spring to mind. Often they are difficult to fit to heatsinks and you have buy a heatsink with fan attached for your processor socket. What matters most about fans is that they are the right size and they have appropriate mounting facilities.

 

The first link has detailed instructions how to apply thermal paste, and the second tells you what you need to know about TDP.

http://www.wikihow.com/Apply-Thermal-Paste

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_Design_Power

 

Thanks for all the help on this matter but it's irrelavant now.
My PC kept on crashing probably because of the overheating. I did try new paste but it just wouldn't do anything.
Went to the shop and they had to send it in for testing to see if the warranty applys here. So have to wait 2-3 weeks, until then I'm using my old system - really didn't miss this.

Do have one question at this point though, I am looking at coolers how do I know which one is for me?!
also about the socket, my mainboard is fm2+ the cpu fm2 (without the +) does the fan have to be then fm2 or fm2+?