February 12, 2007
That'll do, CPU. That'll do.
Earlier today, I note that my computer seems to be running suspiciously sluggishly just websurfing. A few basic troubleshooting steps later, I end up firing up the motherboard utility program that includes CPU temperature readings.
105 degrees. That's Celsius. That's place a cup of water on the cpu and watch it boil.
After the lunge to turn it off (I think my exact spontaneous quote was "Holy Buddha Jesus Hell!"), I further determine that the filter on the case's front intake was caked with more dust than I'd expected, and turned a vacuum loose on it. I turn everything back on, and it's now running at around 80; this is for all purposes idle, with just desktop-and-browser load on it, and it's still running hotter than the chip's operational parameters call for. (The P4's upper limit is around 78ish.)
All told, it was an exciting discovery that's greatly accelerated my timetable for going to a new PC. I'm still internally debating between going the cheaper route of "get a pile of boxes from Newegg and see how much damage I do by attempting to build" versus the more expensive, but convenient, route of prebuilt premiums. I'm sure I could just get a better cpu fan/cooler of some type, but, no. It needs to be rewarded, not have its existence stretched out longer than strictly necessary.
I remain amazed the cpu was even able to throttle enough to stay operational, and that I didn't just hear a muffled bang from inside the case. When I do get a new PC up and running, I'm going to take the current CPU out and have it framed, perhaps with some sort of inspirational plaque. By all rights it should be dead now, probably should've been dead for some time, and it quietly, without complaint, simply refused to stop. Never give up! Never surrender!
posted by Gar @ 11:36 AM
105 degrees. That's Celsius. That's place a cup of water on the cpu and watch it boil.
After the lunge to turn it off (I think my exact spontaneous quote was "Holy Buddha Jesus Hell!"), I further determine that the filter on the case's front intake was caked with more dust than I'd expected, and turned a vacuum loose on it. I turn everything back on, and it's now running at around 80; this is for all purposes idle, with just desktop-and-browser load on it, and it's still running hotter than the chip's operational parameters call for. (The P4's upper limit is around 78ish.)
All told, it was an exciting discovery that's greatly accelerated my timetable for going to a new PC. I'm still internally debating between going the cheaper route of "get a pile of boxes from Newegg and see how much damage I do by attempting to build" versus the more expensive, but convenient, route of prebuilt premiums. I'm sure I could just get a better cpu fan/cooler of some type, but, no. It needs to be rewarded, not have its existence stretched out longer than strictly necessary.
I remain amazed the cpu was even able to throttle enough to stay operational, and that I didn't just hear a muffled bang from inside the case. When I do get a new PC up and running, I'm going to take the current CPU out and have it framed, perhaps with some sort of inspirational plaque. By all rights it should be dead now, probably should've been dead for some time, and it quietly, without complaint, simply refused to stop. Never give up! Never surrender!
posted by Gar @ 11:36 AM
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