My CPU is as Hot as My Sweet Arse

[Shlup]

Is 91°C bad? For a CPU, I mean. Could that be why my computer reboots all the time?

Today I opened it up and put a box fan on it and it hasn't gone above 91 or rebooted yet.

I have an Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, by the way. Which the internets tells me has a critical temperature of 60.1°C.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Isn't the critical temperature the maximum operating temperature? That's quite bad. xD

I used to have the same problem in the summer with my old desktop. Moving it to a better area and cleaning it from dust seemed to help.

[Shlup]

I assume that's what critical temperature means. I didn't actually check into it though.

I cleaned the dust recently. So far the fan may be helping... or maybe not. Thing seems to be pretty smurfing random and it enjoys toying with me.

[NorthernChaosGod]

Yeah, the internet tells me that's what it is. A fan should really help, as long as running that hot so often hasn't caused any physical damage.

[Shlup]

AHHH!!! It rebooted again. I hate this beast.

[Mirage]

Is your CPU's heat sink clogged up by tons of dust? That could explain the high temperatures. It is also possible that the heatsink doesn't have very good contact with the surface of the CPU. This could have happened if the PC got some solid physical shock and/or the heat sink wasn't mounted properly.

In either case, taking it off,cleaning it if necessary, and reapplying new thermal paste before putting it back on could solve the problems.

And yes, a very high CPU temperature could lead to system instability, or the system might shut down as a precaution, to avoid damage. It depends a bit on how it's all set up.

[Shlup]

No, it's not clogged. It's probably out of that gel or whatever.

Wouldn't an overheated CPU just cause shut down though? Not reboot?

[Mirage]

If it's not clogged, does that mean you've blown dust off it with compressed air or something like that? It is very normal for a heat sink to get dusty after a year or two. It might not be super visible from every angle.

The thermal paste shouldn't really disappear, but its properties may change over time. Some kinds could dry out and lose some of its ability to transport heat. There's also the possibility that the heatsink has been knocked a bit out of place, leaving a tiny gap of air between it and the CPU. Air is a really poor thermal conductor.

And if a CPU is overheated, several things could happen. If the computer has a feature that protects against overheating (and this feature is turned on, it isn't always), the PC should shut down and not restart. However, if the overheating leads to instability within the CPUs circuitry, you would lose system stability, which could lead to a number of strange things. blue-screens, system-freezes and restarts are all possible outcomes. Less extreme outcomes are also possible, such as programs/games crashing, or temporary system-freezes for a few seconds at a time.

Keep in mind that if you do get a bluescreen, some computers are set up to almost instantly restart after showing the error message. This leads to the bluescreen just appearing as a short blue flash before the system restarts. Alternatively, if your monitor is slow at changing display modes, the PC could restart faster than the monitor was able to change to the new display mode that the bluescreen would be using.

[Shlup]

Yes, I have blown it out.

I'll take it off and check the thermal paste and stuff.

[o_O]

Just be aware that the object of thermal paste isn't to have a thick layer of it between the CPU and heatsink. You should have it spread thickly enough that it'll hold the CPU in place, but aside from that, the more thinly the better. A section of heatsink physically touching the CPU is better than a section of heatsink with thermal paste in between it and the CPU.

Thermal paste is meant to fill the little gaps.

[rubah]

uhhh, core 2 duo should be able to handle 91C. (SPOILER)i know this because my old MBP had a core duo and got up that high when intsensephotoshopping/defragging

but yes, that's really bad for a desktop computer or a laptop that is not a mac. do whatever ståle or mike say

[Jiro]

Yes, I have blown it out.

I'll take it off and check the thermal paste and stuff.

This was almost a candidate for OOC quotes

[kotora]

uhhh, core 2 duo should be able to handle 91C. (SPOILER)i know this because my old MBP had a core duo and got up that high when intsensephotoshopping/defragging

but yes, that's really bad for a desktop computer or a laptop that is not a mac. do whatever ståle or mike say

macs use the exact same mobile core 2 duos as other laptops. That was their whole point of switching over to using intel processors.

also at 91C you should be able to smell your burning processor on a desktop computer

[Mirage]

naw man, it's not like they catch fire at less than a few hundred degrees

[kotora]

When I overclocked my CPU before I got my new cooling system I could definitely smell it