It seems my laptop is in bad shape...

[NoctisReitop]

It appears that my laptop is worse off than I thought. I thought it'd be a cool idea to download PCWizard to check up on the specs of my computer and whatnot. I was quite alarmed to find that my computer is IDLING AT 64 DEGREES CELSIUS!!! I took the panel off of my computer and hosed the thing down with compressed air to the best of my ability. That didn't really do much, so I grabbed the vacuum cleaner. After holding the reversed vacuum cleaner on the cpu and heat sink, I was able to drop the temp down to 44 degrees C. I turned the vacuum off, and the temp started to rise again. I've got, what appears to be, a quad heatpipe design of a heatsink in my laptop. Something isn't working right...Anyone have any ideas? My laptop's always run quite warmly; though I didn't figure it was THAT warm. I've always kept it off of the ground, keeping all vents/intakes/exhausts open and free to do their job. .

[Lead Head]

64*C with the fan on low/off is pretty normal for a laptop, especially for one with a 3.0 P4. My dad's 2.66 P4 Dell idled around 55-62*C with the fan on low. What really matters is your load temps, when the fan is on high. So how hot is it loading?

[qazwsx]

Have you thought about changing the thermal compound on the cpu?

[One4yu2c]

Originally Posted by qazwsx

Have you thought about changing the thermal compound on the cpu?

That would be my recommendation as well. Clean off the current goop with isopropyl rubbing alcohol (>90%) and cotton swabs, then apply a fresh thin coat of Arctic Silver 5.

[NoctisReitop]

Yeah, I considered it, but it looks to be a pain to get those heat pipes out of there. I'm not even sure how they'd come out. I guess I can dabble with it some. I've got some Arctic 5 on the way, actually. Oughta come in handy.

I didn't know that these temps were normal. I've read a lot that it's dangerous to have them over 50 degrees Celsius.

Which one of the benching programs stresses the CPU? I'm not very familiar with the programs. Also, is PCWizard reliable in reading the pcu temps?

[One4yu2c]

If you're looking to stress the CPU to generate heat, I'd recommend CPU Burn-In. Run two instances if it's a dual-core proc, and for measuring temps, I'd look at CoreTemp.

[Dr. V]

Originally Posted by One4yu2c

That would be my recommendation as well. Clean off the current goop with isopropyl rubbing alcohol (>90%) and cotton swabs, then apply a fresh thin coat of Arctic Silver 5.

+1.

Also, that's not a deadly high temperature - ESPECIALLY not for P4s. I wouldn't be horribly alarmed, just cautious.

[simple_inhibition]

the P4 prescotts were blow torches when it comes to heat. your temps arent too bad, but i would ere on the side of caution. try replacing the thermal paste and see if that helps.

i had a similar problem with my s939 based 3200 laptop. thing was running at about the same temps as you (which is rediculous for K8) took the laptop apart, cleaned and reapplied AS5 and now my temps are 50c at load. no longer shutting down my system due to overheating.

[NoctisReitop]

My laptop has yet to shut down because of the CPU; at least that's good. I suppose if it hasn't shut down yet, the temps are fine, right? Used to shut down constantly because of the GPU, though. Had a lot of problems there. I'll try the paste.

EDIT: It seems as though I cannot reproduce the high temperatures. I ran a cpu stressor, and at 100% load (for over 20 minutes) the temp never exceeded 60* C. Strange.....

[gvblake22]

Ambient temperatures have A LOT to do with chip temperatures and a 5ºC fluctuation is not uncommon.