How hot is too hot for an Intel?

[Rob Williams]

Because I have to say, holy shit does my Intel's stock fan make a LOT of noise. It has to be the noisiest fan I have ever heard out of a PC. I even pushed it back to 80% speed and it's still freaking loud.

Ahem.. at 80% my CPU is 66ºC with one core at full load for 12 hours. When should I start worrying about the chip overheating?

 

[Jakal]

I've read reports that the newer Intels with stock heatsinks can get up to 80c+. I don't know what cpu you're talking about but the Northwoods, on average, get between 60c and 70c at full load. The Prescotts seem to be safer, traveling all the way up to 80c. That wouldn't be very good for AMD's though. I'd imagine if you could keep it around 70 at full load you'd be alright. Of course the cooler the better etc... If you wanted to reduce the noise and increase cooling performance a good heatpipe-based heatsink or decent water cooling would do the trick.

I found this to be a little scary <a href ="http://www.theinquirer.net/Default.aspx?article=18348">Intel Dual Core</a>
Emitting 150w of power from a cpu die and requiring a TEC to cool it.

 

[Rob Williams]

Oh yeah, Intel CPU's are power whores. I dunno, this air cooler is driving me insane. I mean I can be upstairs in the kitchen and hear it loud and clear in the basement.

I can't wait to get this thing on Water Cooling.

 

[madmat]

Northies get to 60-70C?? In what? Laptops with dustbunnies in the 'sinks? The Northwoods use less wattage than the Prescotts and had (yes had, Northwoods are a thing of the past) a TDP of 70C whereas the Prescott which is what all the current generation cores are based off have a TDP of 80C.

Would I want my core running 80C? Hell no, that's just insane which is why I watercool. With a good W/C setup you should not see that dually hitting temps very far above 50C at the most. It looks like it's time to break out with the plumbing Rob.

 

[Jakal]

I was talking with the stock heatsinks in an average case at full load. For those with more airflow it'd be better. Also, those temps I ran across with a simple google search. I didn't delve too far into it.
Did find this though. <a href ="http://www.techspot.com/vb/all/windows/t-40143-Processor-and-Ambient-temp-compare-.html">Some users temps.</a>

 

[Blumen]

Well, not to be a jerk, but i'm going to agree with Madmat here....

With the Mobile Bartons, the Intel Northwood cores are one of the coolest running cpus of the "modern" age.

Even with stock hsf, you shouldn't be seeing more than 50c in even an average case under full load.

 

[Rob Williams]

Mine is a SmithField. I don't care how hot it get's, I care about that damn noise!

Grr. The damn fan is so loud, that my mom could hear it in the middle of the night, and I am a floor below :-|

 

[Sledgehammer70]

I have heard spome Intel chips running at 90C now thats on the limits of melting the socket not so good. Get a quite faster AMD X2 with stock cooling runs at 37C under full load

 

[tomato]

Geez, 66C?! Good thing I got myself a Coolermaster Watergate watercooling kit for mine... that is crazy hot, too hot for my taste!

 

[zachig]

Actually, unless the CPU runs constantly in temps of 80C and over, the CPU is NOY being risked. But, I always like my CPU to be less than 60, and if possible, even much much lower. For example, my current CPU runs on 27C idle and 49 on load.

 

[werty316]

I wouldn't worry as that is normal for Intel chips as they run very hot. One big downside for Intel. If you want less noise chances are that stock cooler isn't gonna cut it especially since it uses temperture to adjust the fan speed. WC'ing is your best bet or a aftermarket cooler like Thermaltake or Thermalright.

 

[fussnfeathers]

That's really hot.......with stock air-cooling, that proc shouldn't get any hotter than 50-55c. By contrast, my 2.8 Northy running at 3.2ghz only hits 42-45c under full load, using a relatively crappy Coolermaster Jet 4 HSF.

How's the airflow in the case? And if the fan's that noisy, it might be bad.

 

[werty316]

It would also depend on what the ambient temperture is and airflow in the case. But since he has a Smithfield that wouldn't help too much since those cores run hot with everyother newer Intel chip.

 

[zachig]

Yeah, that's the problem with Intel...running pretty hot. That's why (and not the "only" reason why I prefer to use AMD instead.

AMD --> All The Way!!!

 

[Rob Williams]

Ahh, I really gotta get this WC system up and running, air is not cutting it anymore. 76ºC for the win.

 

[izzie]

Dell makes computers for businesses and they use Intel chips. I can't believe that they all have to use very noisy and high RPM fans to keep their computers cool. Most Dells don't have a lot of noisy fans. What does Dell do to keep the hot Intel chips cool in their computers?

 

[phonywish]

I had a dell, and I know that *I* could hear the fans in it.

 

[Rob Williams]

My laptops a Dell is and can get to 80ºC for a joke. But it *is* a laptop.

 

[xstatic]

Dell makes computers for businesses and they use Intel chips. I can't believe that they all have to use very noisy and high RPM fans to keep their computers cool. Most Dells don't have a lot of noisy fans. What does Dell do to keep the hot Intel chips cool in their computers?

I agree with this. At my work, they got Dells, and I barely hear the fans in them.

 

[Uc-ker]

Because I have to say, holy shit does my Intel's stock fan make a LOT of noise. It has to be the noisiest fan I have ever heard out of a PC. I even pushed it back to 80% speed and it's still freaking loud.

Ahem.. at 80% my CPU is 66ºC with one core at full load for 12 hours. When should I start worrying about the chip overheating?

Silly question, but why are you using the stock fan? Not a good idea to use a stock fan on an expensive processor. Spend the twenty bucks to get a decent fan. It is good sense if you pay a lot of money on a processor to not use a cheap fan on it.