[mythtv-users] Fans, or cooling video cards

Ian Clark mrrooster at gmail.com
Wed Jan 7 18:14:03 UTC 2009


2009/1/7 Yan Seiner <yan at seiner.com>:
> Ian Clark wrote:
>> 2009/1/7 Yan Seiner <yan at seiner.com>:
>> [snip]
[moresnip]
>
> Right now the CPU is at 49 and the GPU is at 67.  But.... I don't trust
> the sensors.  The CPU is a dual-core Athlon; one of the cores reports 45
> and the other 51 - but both cores are in the same CPU.
>
A quick look at the thermal design specs
(http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/30430.pdf)
suggest that a CPU case temp of upto 65 (or possibly 71) is within
operating parameters. (Core temps are slightly higher than case temps)

According to the coretemp website, all Athlon 64s have on die temp
sensors so it's likely the temps reported are correct, especially if
you're getting a per core reading. It's common for one core to be
hotter than the other, unless you're heavily multitasking one core is
generally slightly busier than the other.

I've just installed lm_sensors on my pvr, which uses an AMD X2 4600+,
the reported values are:-

ian at pvr:~$ sensors
k8temp-pci-00c3
Adapter: PCI adapter
Core0 Temp:  +33.0°C
Core1 Temp:  +45.0°C

(I have the motherboard set to turn off the CPU fan which probably
explains the large difference between the cores.)

> One of the GPUs is at 67 and the other is at 62.  (the third card
> doesn't report a GPU temp but it's a lot hotter to touch.) That's more
> believable except that the temps are like that at boot - 5 deg.
> difference.  So the sensors are basically giving out bogus info.
>
If you can touch it, then the heatsink isn't /that/ hot, Much above 60
would be painful to touch.

> All I know is that when the reported GPU temps nick above 69 I get video
> corruption, so a $15 cooler isn't a bad bet - it beats replacing 3 video
> cards.
>
This is true, although you're unlikely to actually damage them unless
you run them out of spec for a long time.

All I was meaning was that if you'd found a solution that stopped the
video corruption, slightly higher CPU temps are probably nothing to
worry about.

Most modern hardware will crash long before it's permanently damaged
by heat if you're operating it as speccd. (Ie, you don't overclock
it.) :)

Ian


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