CPU Temperature

[acyphus]

My problem is that when playing Ryzom my CPU temperature goes from around 55C to 70C. Thats when my temperature dials turn red and I start getting beeps. Any idea what I can do to keep it low?

[magick1]

Simpel answer, better cooling on the CPU and in the case.
A quick (but not always good) way, is to take off the cover on the case.

If you can specify your system, it is easier to give an answer.
For instance CPU (type, speed and voltage), heatsink, fan on the heat sink.
What is the temperature in the case and on the motherboard? How many HDs? Are there more fans than the CPU and PSU ones?

[acyphus]

I have an AMD Athlon 64 running at 2.20 GHz, not sure on voltage. Its got the standard fan that came with it on it. I have a Thermaltake Xaser III case which has a large number of fans (10+). I have an Abit motherboard, and on the uGuru diagonostic tool its says the SYS temperature is 32C and the PWM temperature is 39C. Not sure what the last one is. I have one HD. I hope this is enough info.

[usinuk]

I have an AMD Athlon 64 running at 2.20 GHz, not sure on voltage. Its got the standard fan that came with it on it. I have a Thermaltake Xaser III case which has a large number of fans (10+). I have an Abit motherboard, and on the uGuru diagonostic tool its says the SYS temperature is 32C and the PWM temperature is 39C. Not sure what the last one is. I have one HD. I hope this is enough info.

Feel lucky you can use fans, I can't run Ryzom on my laptop without an external cooler - sometimes I just use blue ice.

For desktops, I'd strongly recommend replacing the standard fan; a Peltier or such works wonders on core temperature.

One other question - you overclocked?

[micrix]

I have an AMD Athlon 64 running at 2.20 GHz, not sure on voltage. Its got the standard fan that came with it on it. I have a Thermaltake Xaser III case which has a large number of fans (10+). I have an Abit motherboard, and on the uGuru diagonostic tool its says the SYS temperature is 32C and the PWM temperature is 39C. Not sure what the last one is. I have one HD. I hope this is enough info.

Did you switch off or adjust down the 10+ fans ? I can not belive that your CPU gets over 55 with that much fans.

I have only a usual CPU-fan and a large one (120mm) is build in the power-pack. With this i never reach 60, even not in summer.

This sounds like overclocked or using one of this barbecue-nVidias

[hans1976]

Or the CPU and the heatsink dont have a good connection.

Did you assamble the machine yourself? Take the fan and heatsink off, new cooling paste and heavier fan should do the trick.
Bought pre-assembled? With this specs I think it is still guarentee. Pick it up and ask the nice people at the shops to fix it. Make a backup of your disk and delete all the mature content

[magick1]

Jowzer that is hot for a AMD64 (especially if it is a 90nm one).

Assuming these are done right:
- Case fans, some are exhaust rest are intakes.
- Heat sink is mounted correctly.
- Computer is in a room with 20C ambient.

Check list:
- Remove dust for computer, especially heat sinks.
- Check CPU core voltage.
- Check air flow on fans.

Not sure what SYS or PWN are (don't have an Abit mobo to check with). If they are mobo temperatures, something is very wrong.
Try putting a regular temp. metre inside the case, to check its ambient temperature.

[mrchris]

He's not overclocked, but he did install it himself so I wonder if he put enough thermal paste on.
Even so, a single game shouldnt be maxxing the CPU consistently (as this is implying). Other games such as HL2 etc run fine on his machine without hitting the max temp so I'd suggest somewhere in the ryzom code is a tight loop with no 'Thread.sleep(1)' type statement.

I'll have to check with taskmanager later and see if there is any indication this could be the problem.

[milesb]

As someone said before, Dust is the number 1 enemy of computers. Dust is attracted to electrical components and acts as an insulator. The worst possible type of dust is tobacco smoke. It is sticky, won't blow off, and makes it easier for other dust to collect. If someone smokes around the computer, expect the need to dismantle the computer once every 6 months and use contact cleaner to remove the tar from the components. Don't forget to clean out your power supply too. If your case is on the floor, try raising it up 30 to 50 cm to keep it from sucking up all the dirt on the floor.

If the heatsink on the CPU is seated properly, you may have airflow problems. You can have a thousand fans in a case, but if the airflow is restricted by other bits in the computer, hot air will be trapped. If you use flat ribbon cabling, try to position it so it does not block the air flow inside the case. Better yet, get round cabling. Most case cooling designs should have intake on the front and exhaust in the rear. Make sure the hot exaust air has someplace to go so it won't be sucked back in the case. If you have your case inside a cabinet or desk, make sure there is a way for the hot air to escape, even install a exhaust fan on the cabinet if necessary.

Some people put ducts inside the case to better direct airflow, mainly feeding fresh outside air directly to the top of the CPU heatsink.

Inside a gaming computer there are 4 components that need good cooling plans. The CPU, Graphics card, RAM and North Bridge controler. A good source for computer help and advice is tomshardware.com. They will even tell you what a North Bridge controler is. Secondary cooling considerations would be your harddrives, they get hot too.

I've noticed with many games, online graphical games tend to be more resource intensive than stand alone games. They often have less refined code so work the system harder. Also comparing Ryzom to something like HL2 is not a good comparison, HL2 is a very tight engine and program resource wise, but still you have loading screens every 5 minutes or less and most places have limited sight lines or less intense graphics where you can see distances. The more objects than you see, the harder your computer has to work to draw them.

[acyphus]

Ok, i'm fixed now. I replaced the old and dusty CPU fan with a nice new beefy Thermaltake Venus 12. Its a lot noiser but keeps it nice and cool. Thanks for all your help