"are My Temps Good"?

[clocker]

"Are my temps good?"... a question frequently seen here in Hardware world.

Lately I've been thinking about the best way to respond to that and there seem to be two obstacles in the way.

First- what is "good"?
If your machine boots into Windows and runs without errors, then isn't that "good"...or at least "good enough"?
How good is good and at what point does the quest for a lower temp become just silly?

Second- Where are these temps you are reporting coming from, and how much faith should we put in them?
How accurate are the software-derived temps derived from the motherboard and BIOS?
Changing BIOS can radically alter the temp that it reports...which is right?

There does not seem to be a good and universal way to tell.

Recently, I saw a post in which the proposition was put forth that absolute temp ( a number impossible to verify anyway) was basically irrelevant to evaluating a cooling solution.
Of more interest is the difference between case ambient and CPU temp.
Of course, one must assume that both numbers would be equally skewed, but it does seem that this eliminates many variables.

So...if your case temp is say, 25c, and your CPU temp is 40C, then the difference ( or delta figure) is 15c.
This would be considered "good".
If lowering the case temp results in a proportionately lower CPU temp ( in other words, the delta value stays the same or ideally, lowers), then you could assume that the cooling configuration is working properly and your temps are good given the conditions you are operating under.

Discussing our temps like this would seem to eliminate some of the inequities and inaccuracies of just using absolute temp numbers.
After all, if Sprocket was in the desert and the ambient temp was 120 a CPU temp of 135 would actually be pretty good given the circumstances.
If she was in Alaska and the ambient was 50 then 135 CPU temp would totally suck.
So the absolute ( as much as we can trust it) temp we call "good" is variable, while the delta value is not.

What do you think?

[kaiweiler]

Seems quite logical to me

[tesco]

Originally posted by clocker@6 July 2004 - 10:23
Discussing our temps like this would seem to eliminate some of the inequities and inaccuracies of just using absolute temp numbers.
After all, if Sprocket was in the desert and the ambient temp was 120 a CPU temp of 135 would actually be pretty good given the circumstances.
If she was in Alaska and the ambient was 50 then 135 CPU temp would totally suck.
So the absolute ( as much as we can trust it) temp we call "good" is variable, while the delta value is not.

I got lost here.

Are we talking Farrenheit or Celsius?

In alaska I doubt teh ambient temp would be 50c lol.

[clocker]

Those were just random examples, silly boy.

Celsius would be the scale of choice I should think.

[3RA1N1AC]

i thought the answer was supposed to be "OMG UR CPU IS 50C??THat SUXXxX. DO LIKE ME AND GETA FAN THATS LOUDER THAN WORLD WAR 3 CUZ UR CUP WILL EXxPLOOD IF IT HITS 51."

well. your "good enough" suggestion is basically what i've said on this forum at least a few times, in bygone days. if it doesn't crash and doesn't corrupt data, then what's the prob? lotsa people just seem intent on continually fixing what ain't broke.

so. yeah. "good enough." i'll pull the lever & vote for that. *pulls*

[Storm]

Originally posted by 3RA1N1AC@7 July 2004 - 00:47
if it doesn't crash and doesn't corrupt data, then what's the prob?

PC will last longer if its cooler........

[kaiweiler]

Originally posted by Storm+7 July 2004 - 06:39--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Storm @ 7 July 2004 - 06:39)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-3RA1N1AC@7 July 2004 - 00:47
if it doesn&#39;t crash and doesn&#39;t corrupt data, then what&#39;s the prob?&nbsp; &nbsp;

PC will last longer if its cooler........ [/b][/quote]
Only if you plan on keeping your cpu for the better part of a decade it doesn&#39;t matter that much

[Storm]

well, if i look @ the current amount of money i set aside each month for my new comp, itll have 2 last longer than that

[angel_of_death57]

In my experience from what i have learned over the net.

A good Mobo temp is between 20&#39;c and 40&#39;c idle of around 26&#39;c i get.

Now a good hard drive temp would be anyhting below 55&#39;c on a maxtor. A goodtemp is around 25&#39;c like i say below 55&#39;c is good tho i would say you should get it below 45&#39;c just in case.

Now CPU temp are the odd ones to figure out. Which is why i htink clocker made this thread. A normal idle temp is usally 39&#39;c which is not bad. Anyhting between 30&#39;c and 50&#39;c i would say depending on your CPU i work with Intel processors andi find going over 55&#39;c makes things to slow down as the new ones have heat control system where if it goes over a certain temprature the cpu slows down to keep temp down. I try to keep mine around 40&#39;c if i can.

Sorry if i have talked shit but i find these temps theb est for my pc now.

Mobo Avg = 25&#39;c
HDD Avg = 23&#39;c
CPU Avg = 42&#39;c

[kaiweiler]

Originally posted by angel_of_death57@7 July 2004 - 11:27
A good Mobo temp is between 20&#39;c and 40&#39;c idle of around 26&#39;c i get

40C for mobo is really too high&#33;
Depending on where your sensor is of coarse. If they put the sensor right beside the cpu socket or NB or mosfets or something 40C could be alright, but it&#39;s definatly to high for me