Tilted Forum Project Discussion Community - View Single Post - My temperature readings make no sense, now...

KnifeMissile · 12-12-2004, 10:49 PM

I was concerned that my prcessor was running too hot since several people were surprised to hear that it runs between 30° and 60° centigrade. So, they asked me if I made sure to apply "thermal goo" to the processor. Well, I certainly didn't but I'm pretty sure that my processor came with thermal interface material already on it. However, after doing a little bit of research, I discovered that some of these built-in thermal interface material have tape covering them for protection and that I am supposed to remove this tape before installation. Well, I certainly don't remember doing this so, to make sure everything alright, I take the heat sink off the take a look. Indeed, there's no tape and the "thermal goo" is there, doing its job. Well, it looks like I did all this for nothing. What's worse is that the act of checking for termal interface material has now created the need to apply some before putting the damn heat sink back on! Well, I didn't have any so I figure "what the hell" and try putting it back on, as is, and see what happens. The processor will protect itself so, if it gets too hot, it will simply slow down and I can get some thermal interface material, later. To my pleasant surprise, not only did it work fine but it actually ran cooler now than it did before, operating between 20° and 40° centigrade.

So, it's tempting to think that all is now well. However, I just noticed that my motherboard temperature operates between 35° and 40° centigrade. According to thermodynamics, this is impossible. How can the environment of the processor be warmer than the processor? Something is clearly wrong and I can't trust any of my instruments (the processor and motherboard thermometers and Asus Probe).

What's going on? Has anyone else had this problem?
Thanks...

12-12-2004, 10:49 PM	#1 (permalink)
KnifeMissile Location: Waterloo, Ontario	My temperature readings make no sense, now... I was concerned that my prcessor was running too hot since several people were surprised to hear that it runs between 30° and 60° centigrade. So, they asked me if I made sure to apply "thermal goo" to the processor. Well, I certainly didn't but I'm pretty sure that my processor came with thermal interface material already on it. However, after doing a little bit of research, I discovered that some of these built-in thermal interface material have tape covering them for protection and that I am supposed to remove this tape before installation. Well, I certainly don't remember doing this so, to make sure everything alright, I take the heat sink off the take a look. Indeed, there's no tape and the "thermal goo" is there, doing its job. Well, it looks like I did all this for nothing. What's worse is that the act of checking for termal interface material has now created the need to apply some before putting the damn heat sink back on! Well, I didn't have any so I figure "what the hell" and try putting it back on, as is, and see what happens. The processor will protect itself so, if it gets too hot, it will simply slow down and I can get some thermal interface material, later. To my pleasant surprise, not only did it work fine but it actually ran cooler now than it did before, operating between 20° and 40° centigrade. So, it's tempting to think that all is now well. However, I just noticed that my motherboard temperature operates between 35° and 40° centigrade. According to thermodynamics, this is impossible. How can the environment of the processor be warmer than the processor? Something is clearly wrong and I can't trust any of my instruments (the processor and motherboard thermometers and Asus Probe). What's going on? Has anyone else had this problem? Thanks...