My CPU temps are gradually rising....

I posted some threads a while back with my system temps, and my CPU temps were excellent, nice and cool! (see threads here and here). Now my CPU is idling at a high of 54c and a low of 46c, and just 2 months ago it never got over 52-53c even under 100% load for an hour. I realize that it's summer now so the ambient temp is higher, but even at 4am with all my windows open and room fans running (ambient about 60f) my CPU temps are still higher now at idle than they were at load.... what's up? Nothing has changed with my system. It's clean, no dust build-up. All the case fans and CPU cooler are clean and working....
:confused

Oh yeah- AMD X2 5400+ at 2.8ghz (stock); 4gb DDR2-800 (stock); GTX260 c216; XP Pro

 

Could be your thermal paste is breaking down or maybe your mobo sensors are going bad.
Does your machine run any different?Or just concerned about the difference?
Sure there are other possible causes for this, but this is the first that come to mind.

 

The PC is running fine. Actually, I spent the past 2 hours or so converting/ripping/burning DVDs and movies, and it all went perfectly smooth and as fast as usual. The CPU cooler was purchased new and installed in mid April, just over 2 months ago. I guess it could be the thermal snot is aging, but 2 months seems a bit quick. It could also be the fact that it's summer now. I don't know. I'm kind of shopping for a new cooler and the Xigmateks look good, but with AMD chips, their orientation is up or down; meaning the fan would either have to blow up into the PSU, or down on to the video card. Obviously, up is better. There are few brands that are oriented to blow towards the rear of the case, out through the rear exhaust fan. I may just apply some fresh snot and see if that makes a difference.... I don't know.... it's just weird and has me a bit worried....

 

Good luck. Hope that it's not a major problem.Just a re-application of paste maybe.

 

Is the cpu usage actually up?

Loadsa background updates these days and perhaps some not so welcome visitors?

 

Not usage,but the temps.

 

Nahhh... CPU usage is "normal"... this is my home PC, and it does the same basic thing day-in/day-out. It's off between 9.30a and 7.30p Mon-Sat whilst I'm at work. After work and on Sundays, it's just some gaming, some video encoding, some surfing, some beer drinking :drink.... it's been the same routine for years now cry eeeegghh That's depressing! I have no life!) and nothing has really changed in the past month or so; I didn't pay attention to the temps last summer (or I just don't remember). The PC is malware clean, up to date, and runs great- it's fast, no lag, everything is 100% copacetic.... Anyway.... I spent the past hour or two swapping out heatsinks and applying new thermal goop and cleaning the CPU and the fans... no change. I put on the cooler I was using up until mid-April and the CPU ran a few degrees warmer (as expected), so I went back to the Freezer64. I think the rise is mainly due to summer temps and the fact that my crappy apartment has no AC -yet. I'll be buying an AC unit in the next week or so. I have some money earmarked for a new quad-core CPU with a new cooler, but I think the air conditioner is a better investment at this point. LOL

 

The new paste you put on can't hurt it,unless you installed too much,which is as bad as none at all.
Have you checked about whether your mobo can accomodate a quad-core CPU? Hate to see you get something you can't use.

 

Of course. I was actually considering getting a new SLI mobo with the new CPU just in case I wanted to add a 2nd video card in the future, but money is too tight. So I'll get a portable air conditioner and we'll see if that helps.

Thanks for all the input!

[dlb]

 

Just checking.Figured you had, but never hurts to be sure.

 

Well, it's been 2 or 3 weeks, and my temps have dropped back down to where they were. Maybe the CPU cooler was a bit loose? Or maybe I just needed new thermal paste and now it's had a chance to 'cure'? I don't know, but about a week ago, I noticed that my temps had dropped back to a low of 34c (core #0) and a high of 43c (core #1) at idle. Under 100% load, temps go up by 10-13c. I think the highest recorded was 57c about 3 days ago when running Everest Ultimate's CPU/FPU stress test for 45min. Core #1 always runs about 6-8c warmer than core #0, and it's been that way since day one, but from what I've seen on similar AMD X2 processors, this is normal.
:-D :cool

(I never did get the portable air conditioner LOL the summer has actually been pretty mild so far)