Temps too good to be true?

Hi everyone,

This is my first time posting here; and just as a warning I am a total n00b when it comes to building custom machines. But I am learning as much as I can, and using the "Search" function all time (especially before starting a new thread ). I recently built my first system just as a simple project to get my feet wet as my eventual goal is to build a water-cooled AMD 64 x2 system. But for now here are the specs on my current system.

Case: Lian Li PC-V1000B
MB: Asus P4S8X-MX
CPU: P4e 3.0 GHz 400 MHz FSB (w/ factory HSF)
Mem: Corsair 512MB DDR400 (1 DIMM)
HD: Regular old Samsung SATA drive
Video: On board (no need to get any fancy video cards just yet, that’s for the next project)

Anyway, the system has not been overclocked yet, however from what I have been reading it might not be the best thing to try with this Mobo and processor. Although I have read mixed reviews about this (any input from you guys would be great).

Nonetheless, the system is just a basic WXP SP2 build, no extra software installed yet, and all unnecessary services have been disabled. I just want to monitor the system health for now to see how it's running before I start modding it. On to my temperatures; the Asus PC Probe utility is providing me with the following:

CPU: 25C idle
MB: 31C idle

Do these numbers seem too good to be true to anyone else? And that's not all, I was running Toast for about an hour and the MB temp pretty much stayed the same, but the CPU temp only hit 45C once for a brief second. Pretty much the entire time the CPU temp was between 32C - 38C (usually at 32, 33). Is this for real? Again, this is using the factory HSF. I have AS5 but never put it on as I wanted to see the performance with the factory HSF. If I needed to upgrade to a better HSF I will use the AS5 then. Soooooo, what do you guys think about those numbers? Can my case really be contributing that much to the cooling? Or do you think I am getting bogus numbers the PC Probe?

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Conor

 

well heres what id do... when your computer starts up go into the bios... usually like F1 or F2 or even delete. Check under like pc health status i belive... and it should display temps. Then you will no if its right or not


edit: also if they are the right temps than you should be good for some basic overclocking... but i would ask ace 256 because he is the ocing master...

 

have you gone and checked bios yet? thats the only way you will know if you are getting right temperature readings.

 

Thanks for the fast reply, I appreciate it. I did check the BIOS and I pretty much got the same readings. I just found my numbers to be very low compared to a lot of the other threads I have been reading. A ton of people out there are having heat issues with the P4e. I just found it very strange that mine is running so cool even under a load with no special cooling products. Honestly, I thought there might be something wrong with the sensors on the Mobo. I wanted some other opinions before I went and OC the thing. I didn't want to OC it thinking I had good numbers just to find out they were way off and burn up the CPU.

 

well it looks like if u clean off ur cpu with alcohol and put some as5 on it... u can get a couple of degrees lower.... then you can be good for overclocking. If you want to ask some ocing questions post a new thread in the ocing forum... ace 256 will help ya out!

 

Thank a lot for your help. I will head over to that section and see if ace 256 can help me out!

Thanks again!

 

oh and also before posting read the ocing guide!

 

Your system is operating properly with nice temp because everything is clean and working well. Oviously you have good air circulation because yor fans are very clean. Just keep it that way.
The thermal pad that came on your heatsink and stock cpu fan will perform very well for you.
Overclocking is another word for overheating. Heat lowers the life span of of components, especially CPUs.

 

YEah... but it doesn't lower it enough for us to worry about it. By the time that becomes a factor, the CPU is 'dead' anyways because it is too old to keep up with new technology.

 

What core is it ?? If its a preschott the temps are wrong ...
Check the temp "manualy" reach in and feel the heatsink...
25C = 77F so it shouldent even feel warm....

What program did you use to read the temps ??

 

I believe he was using asus probe... then i asked him to check in bios

 

You'll have to forgive my ignorance but I don't know how to tell what core it is. Where should I go to check?

I used the Asus PC Probe that came with the mobo.

However, if it is a prescott or even if it isn't your post brings up a good point. I discovered something new this afternoon.........during POST the system detects that it is a P4e 3.0 GHz and states this, but then a line below that it says it is only running at 2 GHz. I confirmed this within Windows, PC Probe and during POST). So I went into the BIOS and looked at the AI Overclocking options; it is set to automatic. Well I changed it to manual and adjusted the CPU frequency from 133 to 200 (the max, 100 being the min). I rebooted and the system and now it runs at 3 GHz (confirmed again using same resources listed above). As a result of this I am obviously getting higher temps. Idle is around 32 - 36. I did not check it under a load yet because at this point I don't trust the PC Probe for accurate readings. Is there any Windows based utility I can trust for accurate readings? I’m not really sure how to check it under a load and trust any readings. I let the program Toast run for about 3 hours last night, but again how do I trust the PC Probe at this point? Anyway, so then I went to use AI Overclocking utility to overclock by 5% first (my only choices in this utility is Manual, Auto, 5%, 10%, etc up to 30%). Well, none of the options made a difference. I think this has to be because I already have the CPU freq at the max. When I set it back to 133, thus giving me 2 GHz again, and try the OC choices again, there is no effect. I also made sure the system was not adjusting the CPU freq due to heat. Also, when the CPU freq is at 133, my FSB is only 533. When I adjusted the freq to 200 the FSB moved to 800 which is should have been by default. Basically the mobo from the very beginning with the default settings should have the CPU running a 3 GHz with the FSB at 800 MHz not 2 GHz and 533 MHz. Any thoughts? Bad mobo perhaps?

 

I just found a typo from my original post..........it is a P4e (hyper-threading) 3 GHz w/ a 800 FSB not 400 FSB like I originally posted....sorry about.

 

CPUz, Everest, or Sandra, will tell you ..

 

Great! Thanks for the info, I will go download one of them and find out. The machine is in my office and I will not be there until tomorrow afternoon. I'll let you know once I find out what core it is.

In the mean time....do you have any thoughts about my mobo issue I just posted about?

 

What do you mean thoughts ?? The bios goofed up the FSB setting. But now your runing 1Ghz faster and 267Mhz faster on your FSB .....

 

well I guess I was under the wrong impression.....when I bought the processor I figured it would run out of the box at 3 GHz w/ 800 FSB, not 2 GHz w/ 533. I mean is this normal behavior? I just didn't understand why it would run at 2 GHz and require me to manually adjust it just to get it to run at the speed it should be running at. And because of these adjustments I cannot overclock the system above 3 GHz since I maxed out the cpu freq. I just wanted to know if you thought something might be wrong with the mobo and I should get it replaced/repaired. I'm a total noob and trying to understand a lot all at once, but I really though it should have been running at 3Ghz out of box and then I could overclock from there.

 

No its just prolly poorly writen bios code.... That or some "power saving" feature....If 200/800 is the max the mobo supports officially it should have a bit more head room fo OCing.... But if its not thare its not thare.....maybe try clockgen???

 

also try updating bios if u havnt done so yet

 

Man that kinda sucks....well I guess you're right, if that's all it can do then that's all it can do. That does seem like some really bad BIOS code if by default it cannot even let my processor run at its out of the box speed without making adjustments. I checked for a power saving mode and made sure it was off but that didn't make a difference. I have never used clockgen before but I will look into it. thanks again for your help.

 

Yeah I checked it out today to make sure I was at the latest revision and I am. I'm kinda disappointed at the performance of this mobo and it not running at 3 ghz without adjustments. but I guess you get what you pay for. perhaps a little better board from asus or another vendor would have not given me this issue