Vista - When is hot... too hot?

I just got done messing around with overclocking a little, and I'm afraid I might have be heading into trouble.

How hot is too hot for a cpu to be running? Right now I'm at about an average of 53C idle. And the hottest I've gotten is 57C. Any help?

Thanks guys

edit: I just did a quick 10-min stability test from my nvidia software, and the max/min temps are 66/53C, reported on the motherboard. CPUID actually measured core#0 at 43/63C and core#1 at 43/60C.

I wouldnt be happy with those temps. Your cpu's max temp is about 70c. I run my e6600 overclocked and at idle its about 25c.

What voltage are you giving the cpu, multiplier and what fsb are you using?

Also post the temps for the rest of your system you can use CPUID and then post a screenshot of your temps.

FSB mhz set to 1800mhz = 4.05ghz
CPU multiplier = 9x (was already default)
CPU Core Voltage = 1.39
CPU FSB = 1.3 (I believe was default as well)

Forced 1T command rate with memory


I can set my FSB to 1600mhz which yielded 3.6ghz, but I wanted to force more.

I think my cooling might also be inadequate. I have 2x80mm's, 1xchipset fan, and the Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro CPU Cooler. I have room for one more 80 or 120mm fan, just hard to place it above the cpu cooler, not much room after that tall beast is installed (top is literally an 1.25" from the side).

Any suggestions?

Edit: When I get home, I'll post my findings from CPUID. I have it installed, just ran HWMonitor to watch all the components did during my nvidia stress testing.

"I have 2x80mm's" Yeah it sounds like your cooling isnt up to scratch.

Until you get a case that has better cooling capabilities heres what id do. Set your fsb to 400 which gives you a rated fsb of 1600. This will allow you to have your ram and cpu running at a ratio of 1:1. This allows your cpu and memory to be running at the same bandwith which improves stability and performance as there is no "bottleneck"

Now that your running your cpu at 400x9= 3.6ghz you can reduce the voltage your giving it which along with the lower clock speed will help to reduce temps.

Yeah, I just wanted to get a cheap case the same time I ordered the rest of the guts. What is the best way to find the lowest voltage needed to run the cpu? Just simple trial and error, slowly stepping my way down the voltage list in BIOS? And if there isn't a sufficient amount of voltage supplied to the cpu, what will happen? Just a shutdown?

But honestly, thank you already very much for your help Stew2. I've added to your rep.

"I just wanted to get a cheap case" mmmmmmm the case in my opinion is second only to the power supply when building a pc as after all the power supply supplies all your expensive components with power and the case holds them and keeps them cool. Try http://www.lian-li.com next time. But anyway thats my little rant over

Yeah it just trial and error for the cpu voltage. Just keep lowering it and starting the pc, eventually windows wont boot and you know youv gone to far down. Windows will then restart and you go back into the bios and increase it again.

Generally if you got down to lets say 1.2000 volts and it didnt boot a setting of 1.2250 would be stable. Oh and cheers for the rep.

Awesome replies. And no problem for the rant, much appreciated and constructive criticism is always welcome. I'll probably order a new case this weekend now

I'll try and overclock my unit again and if all goes well i'll post my CPUID findings.

Thanks again Stew2

No problem. Hopefully you should end up with a more stable pc with lower temps.