Your CPU temps are meaningless... - Page 5 - Overclock.net

Jakg · 01-31-07

i live in a freezer, i come in at night to an ambient of about 13.5° C

gravity · 01-31-07

You kidding, right ?

RuSo · 01-31-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lando95

Your temperatures mean absolutely nothing without providing the ambient temperature. In order to make any form of comparison between different rigs, then the ambient temp must be exact same. For example: let's say that John Doe has a 3.0 Prescott and is using a Thermalright XP-90 as a heatsink. John claims that his idle temps are 50C and full load temps are 65C. Most people would say that is way too hot. Those same people would also say to reseat the heatsink, try different amounts of thermal interface material, etc., etc. Well, if John's ambient temps were ~35C, then his cpu temps would be in line with the performance of the heatsink. Now if John's ambient temp was 25C, then his cpu temps would be way too high given the cooling that he is using.

Another example: let's say both Chris and Mike both claim that their car has 500 horsepower. However, Chris' car weights 4000lbs, while Mike's car weighs 2500lbs. Who would win in a drag race? Mike would of course(assuming all else is equal). Both cars have the same amount of horsepower, but other factors, such as the weight, are very important when trying to make a comparison. The bottom line is that you just can't make a direct comparison of temperatures without knowing all the variables; ambient temperatures being of the most important of those variables when discussing cpu temps.

agreed with all this...nice comparisation,....yeah ambient temps are very important..... as i noticed with watercooling, in the summer 35c, got 53c max, and around 40 idle and at 19,5c, 35c idle, 49c load,..this was with my old setup,...now 19,5c, 31c idle, 43c load,......have to wait for the summer for the new load temps

Jakg · 01-31-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by gravity

You kidding, right ?

no, it tends to "warm up" to 15.5 degrees after a few hours, i just got used to it.

Actually, thinking about it i REALLY need a radiator

IrishCore2Lover · 03-12-07

HAHAHA Irelands great it never gets above 25c here in the far northwest!

Rick Arter · 04-06-07

true i have a very warm room and my temps are around 32-40c idle and 55-60c load also im at 3.0 with more then enough vcore and a small hsf add it up that spells heat need to lap it i bet theres 3-4c somewhere in the combo

Mr. Mojo · 04-06-07

First of all, yes ambient is the main factor in determining CPU/GPU/etc temps. Something to remember though is that the vast majority of people keep their homes between 60f and 80f. While that is a big gap, it isn't enough to cause a major difference in critical system temps. Even the old Cray's were good up to 75f ambient...and that was without any hs/f at all. If you're some kind of freak that enjoys keeping your home at 90f+ please do remember to specify ambient temps when posting about heat issues. But for 90% of the people out there, it really doesn't matter.

Remember kiddies...if your cooler uses air to cool a chip, it will never be cooler than the air it uses.

Iceman0803 · 04-06-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lando95

Ambient temperatures are more important than most people realize. I just wanted to bring that to the attention of everyone here. By providing ambient temps, it is much easier to diagnose cooling issues.

I hear on the winter/summer oc. It's kind of hard to keep my house at 70F when it is 120F outside! Oh the wonders of living in Phoenix...

Yeah no kiddin'

**Taeric** · 04-10-07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr. Mojo

First of all, yes ambient is the main factor in determining CPU/GPU/etc temps. Something to remember though is that the vast majority of people keep their homes between 60f and 80f. While that is a big gap, it isn't enough to cause a major difference in critical system temps. Even the old Cray's were good up to 75f ambient...and that was without any hs/f at all. If you're some kind of freak that enjoys keeping your home at 90f+ please do remember to specify ambient temps when posting about heat issues. But for 90% of the people out there, it really doesn't matter.

Remember kiddies...if your cooler uses air to cool a chip, it will never be cooler than the air it uses.

If I remember my thermodynamics correctly, there's more to it than just the rise in room temp during the warm month, i.e. a 10°F increase in ambient can equate to a greater than 10°F in computer temps. Yes, absolutely, water and air cooling can never cool below ambient. Both systems direct heat out of the system and dissipate it in the air. The closer the temperature between the hot (components) and cool (air in the room), the slower the temperatures will equalize. The change in heat dissipation rates can be quite dramatic (I'm way too rusty on my partial differential equations to get into the nuts and bolts of it).

Anyway, picture a hot pocket of air around your computer. If that hot pocket is in a room of cold air, not only does it have more opportunity to cool off but it will also do so at a faster rate. A hot pocket of air in a warm room will not dissipate nearly as well.

Try this experiment - put two glasses of water in a freezer - one tap water, one hot water (heat it up good). The hot water will freeze first. The rate of heat exchange more than makes up for the additional heat that needs to be dissipated. (this is why hot water pipes burst in the winter while cold water pipes rarely do)

Back to computers - a recent warm spell lifted ambient about 10°F in my house. That equated to over a 10°C increase in load temps on my systems. Pretty much the pocket of hot air around my systems simply wasn't equilibrating with the air at ambient temps nearly as quickly as it was when it was cooler in the room, or else I could have expected a 10°F instead of a 10°C+ increase in load temps.

Probably someone more up on their thermo will totally school me on this, but that's about all the thermo knowledge I can squeeze out of me after all of these years.

imortal98 · 04-12-07

Hmmm i live in the dam desert...My idle temp is actually at 54 or 55 on a cool day,At peak goes minimum to 65 some times 70...A get a little worried and blast the ac to max. Goes down maybe 4 steps.Actually i think i probably stuck too much hardware in a small case.:P

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Your CPU temps are meaningless...

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