CPU temps

[Alan Jackson]

On Fri, 07 Mar 2008 17:55:20 -0800
Tony Alfrey <tonyalfrey at earthlink.net> wrote:

> Vu Pham wrote:
> > Tony Alfrey wrote:
> > [...]
> > 
> > 
> >>> Kurt
> >>
> >> Yes, but are 26C and 28C really the temperatures of your CPU?  This is 
> >> lower than body temperature.
> >>
> >>
> > 
> > As long as it is higher than room temperature then it is possible, I think.
> 
> Yes, but it will be higher than the ambient air temperature in the box. 
>   The finned heat sink itself will be higher than that and the CPU 
> (sensor is where? - maybe on silicon in the chip?) will be higher still. 
>   I see from specs that a Pentium IV can dissipate some 60-ish watts 
> when operating under substantial load (not idle).  I see that a typical 
> big fan/heat sink combination for CPUs has a thermal impedance of about 
> 0.6 C/W.  So 60 watts x 0.6 C/W yields a CPU case temp of 36 C above 
> ambient.  If ambient in the box is perhaps a little above room temp, 
> let's say 35 C then the CPU is at 71 C.  I see that Intel specs a 
> maximum case temperature of 85 C.
> 
> So Kurt is right:  103 C is too high, but 26 C sounds as though the CPU 
> is totally at idle.
> 
> BTW, how do you make that little °C symbol from the keyboard?
> 
> I don't know stink about computers but I know physics.

Hmmm... my dual core AMD runs a little hotter

]$ sensors -f
k8temp-pci-00c3
Adapter: PCI adapter
Core0 Temp:
            +122°F
Core1 Temp:
            +111°F

(and the little degree sign is a cut-n-paste from an xterm, where it didn't look so good)


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