AMD 3700+ (Clawhammer) running too hot

[eskiled]

[Warning: This is a double post from www.techimo.com]
Recently purchased an AMD 64bit 3700+ (Clawhammer), Socket 754, processor. It has been almost 2 weeks since I installed it and I am worried about its temperatures. I will try to provide all relevant information:
System:
-3700+
-ZALMAN CNPS7000B-ALCU 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan
-Chieftec mini dragon case
-ultra 400w powersuppy, 1 120mm exhaust fan
-biostar nf325-a7 motherboard
-1 Ultra 92mm side fan
-VANTEC SF9225L 92mm 2 Ball Case Cooling Fan
-1 80mm front fan
user@claw ~ $ uname -a
Linux claw 2.6.14-gentoo-r2 #1 SMP Mon Nov 28 20:10:57 EST 2005 x86_64 AMD Athlon(tm) 64 Processor 3700+ AuthenticAMD GNU/Linux
I applied the equivalent of about 1 grain of rice of Artic Silver 5, and followed the instructions very carefully. However,
when idle:user@claw ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature
temperature 37 C
when I run Foldingathome (core priority 96):user@claw ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature
temperature 50 C
when I run cpuburn (burnMMX): user@claw ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature
temperature 55 C
when I run cpuburn (burnK7): user@claw ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature
temperature 57 C
Any and all suggestions welcome.
Thanks!

[stumbles]

Heatsink not properly seated?

[cybertron]

They're a little high, but depending on your case airflow (looks like you have plenty of fans, but if you have IDE cables or anything in the way it still might be hurting the airflow) and ambient temperature they could be alright. Your idle temps are actually lower than I generally get on my systems, and the Folding temp is only a couple of degrees hotter than my old Athlon XP used to get (which is built on the 130 nm process like your 3700, the 90 nm processors run cooler). I've never run cpuburn, so I can't really comment on that but if it drives the processor even harder than Folding then that temp would be about right.

Also, motherboard sensors aren't perfect. It might be reporting a little higher temps than what you actually have.

Basically I'd say you're probably okay, but if you're really concerned you can always try re-seating the heatsink and redoing the AS. It's a pain, but if the first try got contaminated by something without your knowledge or has an air bubble in it that might raise your temps. Also, as I assume you read in the instructions AS needs to go through some thermal cycles before it reaches its peak efficiency, so if you haven't shut down to let things cool off for a few hours yet you might want to do that.

One other thing, make sure that you have plenty of fans working to exhaust air out of your case, at least as many as are pulling it in (although with that advice I'm opening myself up to another debate on positive vs. negative air pressure in computer cases:)). If you don't have enough fans pulling hot air out of the case it can cause hotspots inside. Just flip a fan around (the window fan might be a candidate, your rear fans should both be blowing out already) if you think it could be a problem.

[eskiled]

One other thing, make sure that you have plenty of fans working to exhaust air out of your case, at least as many as are pulling it in (although with that advice I'm opening myself up to another debate on positive vs. negative air pressure in computer cases:)). If you don't have enough fans pulling hot air out of the case it can cause hotspots inside. Just flip a fan around (the window fan might be a candidate, your rear fans should both be blowing out already) if you think it could be a problem.
A-hah! heh (I'm an idiot), the rear exhaust was actually taking in air. Gonna go fix that and post back with new temperatures. By the way cpuburn (http://pages.sbcglobal.net/redelm/) is an program designed to stress your proccessor for temperature monitoring.

Okay so now I have the rear fan as exhaust, side fan intake, front intake, and cpu fan blowing air on the processor. New Temperatures:
idle: user@claw ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature
temperature 35 C
foldingathome: user@claw ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature
temperature 47 C
cpuburn (burnK7): user@claw ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature
temperature 54 C
cpuburn (burnMMX): user@claw ~ $ cat /proc/acpi/thermal_zone/THRM/temperature
temperature 52 C
Also, just for comparision, cybertron could you please post your idle and load temperatures and your cooling setup?

[cybertron]

Yikes, that's like having no fans at all! Those temps look much better though. If you're running under 50C with Folding going then you're just fine.

My load temp with Folding running is 43/46, one of which is my CPU, the other being the chipset. I'm not sure which is which, although the 43 is what xmbmon tells me is the CPU. I suppose the chipset could very well be hotter than the CPU. That's in an Enermax CS 31881TA case with the stupid cheese grater covering on the rear fan exhausts removed. I have three 80mm fans - one in the side panel blowing in and two in back blowing out and the two 80 mm PSU fans for airflow. I have a 120 mm in the front of the case, but there's almost no air that gets in that way and right at the moment that's unplugged anyway because my fan card died. The components are what's in my sig (see JThundley, my specs sig did come in handy!:D) and the overclock on the processor is 1.8Ghz to 2.4 (33%) on the stock cooler (stupid 60mm fan).

However, this is a 90nm CPU = lower voltage = lower temps, so it's not directly comparable to yours. My Athlon XP that I mentioned frequently ran around 50C under Folding load overclocked from 1.8 to 2.2, although my ambient temperatures (which are fairly cool) this winter are a lot lower than that ever had. I can't get my idle temps right now because I'm not home and won't be all weekend, so if you still want those remind me on Monday.;) For me they've never been important anyway because all that matters is being cool and stable under a full load since I run Folding 24/7 (and if it's not stable under full load then things like games and video encodes will kill it too).

Anyway, you're definitely okay now. I'll have to give cpuburn a try though. It would be nice to have something like that for overclocking. Usually I just use Folding, but that's not really what it's intended for.

[eskiled]

Alright, thanks so much for all over your help, problem solved.