There are a couple good utilities for monitoring core temperature and for running the processor full out. I'll post up a link when I'm back at my system that has those utilities.
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.
- Josiah Stamp
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
- H.G. Wells
the windows client which attempts to find mersenne primes is another good way to artificially load all cores on single-socket or multiple-socket workstations…
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/
do this while simultaneously running some kind of 3d benchmark (3dmark etc) to load your video card, you'll discover the maximum thermal load and AC wattage draw of your PC.
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out."
- The Daily Telegraph (1877)
Core temperature:
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/
Benchmark to heat your CPU:
http://www.wprime.net/
Run CoreTemp and leave it visible ont he desktop.
Run wPrime 1024MB. It should detect the correct number of threads to execute. If not, change the number of threads to the number of cores you have in your processor plus the number of hyperthreads (on Intel processors), then run the 1024MB benchmark.
You might need to repeat if your machine doesn't hang right away, or get another app that will run the processor full out without interruption.
Keep an eye on the CPU temperatures. When running full out for a couple minutes, temperatures above 70C are moving into the red zone, and you should consider a better cooling system for your processor.
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.
- Josiah Stamp
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
- H.G. Wells
also worth mentioning that if you have any questions about your RAM, you should burn a memtest86 CD from the ISO and boot from that (it is its own operating system). let it run about two hours.
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out."
- The Daily Telegraph (1877)
Thanks for the utils guys but as I said, the dual core optimizer has pretty much solved the issue. I havent added any more thermal goo, no new fans or AC settings for the room.
I'm happy without having to load the cores or run a memtest. This is not a workstation :)
protect tom mcdonald at all costs
Thanks for the utils guys but as I said, the dual core optimizer has pretty much solved the issue. I havent added any more thermal goo, no new fans or AC settings for the room.
I'm happy without having to load the cores or run a memtest. This is not a workstation :)
If your sitting @ 70 in the bios you are still running too hot and software will not help as it is the pre windows environment. when you hit a high temp your CPU will lower its performance to try and lower its temperature which will cause your system to run slow. just doing the thermal goop might give you a speed boost.
either way though glad to hear its working for you now.
If your sitting @ 70 in the bios you are still running too hot and software will not help as it is the pre windows environment. when you hit a high temp your CPU will lower its performance to try and lower its temperature which will cause your system to run slow. just doing the thermal goop might give you a speed boost.
either way though glad to hear its working for you now.
BIOS actually sits in the low 50s now. All thanks to software :)
protect tom mcdonald at all costs
BIOS actually sits in the low 50s now. All thanks to software :)
The software doesn't run when your machine is sitting at the BIOS screen.
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.
- Josiah Stamp
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
- H.G. Wells
I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what this "dual core optimizer" does. I have no idea what actual windows application you're referring to, but 99% chances it's snakeoil, unless all it's doing is putting the CPU in a lower frequency and power state. the windows kernel itself is responsible for managing the CPU workload, any additional crap you put on top of that is not helping.
a properly built system should be stable for a week of prime95 or distributed.net at 100% load on all cores, at stock frequency, if it's not, you have a basic hardware problem.
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out."
- The Daily Telegraph (1877)
That "driver" fixed a bug in the Athlon x2 processors. It was supposed to improve sluggishness, especially with gaming.
I suppose it could make a difference, but your system at idle shouldn't be running up the CPU.
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.
- Josiah Stamp
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
- H.G. Wells
Well whatever my misunderstanding has done for the Computer as a whole, is better than it was. Perhaps it (the cpu) was just hot from being unoptimized and running for days on end and the BIOS at the time @ the start of this thread was displaying that.
Whatever the case, it's not a huge issue as such anymore. And no, I dont care to load my computer for a week when that would render it inoperable, which, in actuality, would be full circle to where I was in the first place. A spiked CPU that I couldnt use. Why would I do that? To see if its a pro built system? It's already 3-4 years old and I'm not a power geek user anymore.
Ergo, I'm happy. Or at least happier than I was.
protect tom mcdonald at all costs
I think you have a fundamental misunderstanding of what this "dual core optimizer" does. I have no idea what actual windows application you're referring to, but 99% chances it's snakeoil, unless all it's doing is putting the CPU in a lower frequency and power state. the windows kernel itself is responsible for managing the CPU workload, any additional crap you put on top of that is not helping.
Its a driver/resource available from AMD for the Athlon X2 chip. If you were to google "random CPU spikes and reboots" and read how many posts on tech forums there are regarding an Athlon based system, you'd realize this isnt an isolated incident persay.
I'd be willing to bet most of those same issues could be fixed by this optimizer. Which could in turn mean, you have the fundamental misunderstanding of my problem. You know what your talking about but maybe just not in this case ;)
protect tom mcdonald at all costs
specifically what driver did you install? I bet it's for your motherboard's PCI-Express I/O controller chipset located adjacent to the CPU (the functional equivalent to a northbridge), not the CPU itself. And yes, you need to have properly updated drivers for all your hardware, motherboard included…
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out."
- The Daily Telegraph (1877)
I don't think there's a Northbridge with his processor as the functionality is integrated onto the processor die.
It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging our responsibilities.
- Josiah Stamp
Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race.
- H.G. Wells
while the CPU may be communicating directly with the RAM, as current AMD and Intel CPUs do, there is most definitely still a chip that serves the function of a northbridge. usually found adjacent to the CPU socket with a large passive heatsink on it. the i/o controller chip (which usually requires windows drivers) serves the function of PCI express controller, USB controller and handles I/O to all other parts of the motherboard.
for example:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131767
see the thing under the blue square heatsink? that's the northbridge, or whatever you want to call it. the rectangular longer heatsink is covering CPU MOSFETS which are power supply circuitry for the cpu.
using that motherboard as an example, the chip in question is an AMD 970/SB950.
here's a functional diagram of a typical socket AM3+ board, in this case with an AMD 990FX northbridge and SB950 southbridge:
for the original poster, their motherboard has an nvidia nforce 520 MCP which serves the functions of northbridge and southbridge, including what appears to be integrated video. installing the latest nvidia driver will be required for the system to function correctly in windows.
"Bicycling is a healthy and manly pursuit with much to recommend it, and, unlike other foolish crazes, it has not died out."
- The Daily Telegraph (1877)
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