Intel Proc.

[Crazy_X]

AMD > Intel

You need to be shot.

[synth]

Water and gel coolants are being used widely in newer systems today, and from what ive seen on a few friends computers that use them, they stay right around 100 degrees f. (or 40ish celcius) for todays processors, thats pretty damn good, and these cooling systems aren't that expensive, i run an amd athlon xp 1.4 gighz, with only one fan, and it stays below 50 celcius (thats the warning temp.)

Actually, I do believe that 80ºC is the "maximum" temperature that an AMD Athlon processor can withstand, not 50ºC.  However, running it at that is definitely stupid.  But some pre-built systems run close...

My 2500 Barton runs around 35 idle / 44 load.  This is with the stock heatsink and fan.  This has to be an average because of horribly fluctuating ambient temperatures.  But yes, I don't like to go over 50ºC ever.

[Hitmen]

Actually most AMD processors should be good until you hit 90ºC, which is listed as the upermost temperature. Though, if it ever hits that, you probably aren't even using a heatsink.

[Grok]

Actually most AMD processors should be good until you hit 90ºC, which is listed as the upermost temperature. Though, if it ever hits that, you probably aren't even using a heatsink.

If it hits that, we have an engineering problem.  The CPU should have long since shut itself down for protection.  Thermal diode anyone?

[Hitmen]

Generally the shutdown temperature is set in the BIOS, I have no idea is there is anything on the chip for it. Was just correcting the guy above me who said the limit was 80º(which is generally way above the temperature the BIOS would be set to shut the computer down at anyways).

[Adron]

Generally the shutdown temperature is set in the BIOS, I have no idea is there is anything on the chip for it. Was just correcting the guy above me who said the limit was 80º(which is generally way above the temperature the BIOS would be set to shut the computer down at anyways).

That is, if it shuts down instead of just burning a crater in your motherboard.

[MyndFyre]

Actually most AMD processors should be good until you hit 90ºC, which is listed as the upermost temperature. Though, if it ever hits that, you probably aren't even using a heatsink.

If it hits that, we have an engineering problem.  The CPU should have long since shut itself down for protection.  Thermal diode anyone?

Speaking of thermal diodes, how does one go around getting the temperature?  I know it's possible because my BIOS can display the temperature.

I'm willing to write everything myself -- I just want to know if it's stored in some memory location, or if there's some specific ix86 instruction I need to issue.  I've browsed through the Intel Pentium 4 manuals (all four), including the index, and can't find any information on it.  I think it might be part of the chipset.

Any suggestions?

[MrRaza]

Take a look at a program called, dtemp. I believe it's a HDD Meter, but it might help you somewhat in your quest.

[Adron]

Any suggestions?

I think it'd be part of the chipset. Look for an SM Bus you can use.

[Adron]

Take a look at a program called, dtemp. I believe it's a HDD Meter, but it might help you somewhat in your quest.

Dtemp reads s.m.a.r.t. monitoring info from the hard drive, I doubt it's very useful for monitoring cpus.

[synth]

Actually most AMD processors should be good until you hit 90ºC, which is listed as the upermost temperature. Though, if it ever hits that, you probably aren't even using a heatsink.

It looks like the newest ones can only go up to 85ºC.  Thanks for catching my mistake, though.  I should do research more often.  

http://www.amd.com/gb-uk/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/K7_Electrical_Specification_Rev_ENG.pdf (PDF)

[muert0]

kinda off topic but a note on cooling:

http://www.techtv.com/screensavers/supergeek/story/0,24330,3380128,00.html


Edit[Grok]:  Fixed URL.

[Grok]

Speaking of thermal diodes, how does one go around getting the temperature?  I know it's possible because my BIOS can display the temperature.

I'm willing to write everything myself -- I just want to know if it's stored in some memory location, or if there's some specific ix86 instruction I need to issue.  I've browsed through the Intel Pentium 4 manuals (all four), including the index, and can't find any information on it.  I think it might be part of the chipset.

Any suggestions?

The motherboard has to support it by way of (don't know the electronics part term) [sensors] at the CPU and on a more distant motherboard location.  They used to be very obvious, looking like an inline capacitor but shaped like a tiny sunflower seed.  On my current motherboard, I didn't look for the sensor and didn't see the sunflower seed, so they might have advanced design in the past few years.

[muert0]

My bad, o well thought some peolpe might think its a cool idea.