Duron operating temperatures?

[Rayista Geoff]

Been wondering this for a while and I haven't been able to find *anything* in the usual places. Anybody know what the normal operating temperature for a Duron CPU should be? I've heard they're designed to run hotter than other CPUs, and I haven't had any problems with mine being in the mid 50s C (at least according to the motherboard temperature sensor under the CPU). You'd think there'd be something on the AMD website or in the overclocking literature, but I can't find anything.

Thanks!

Geoff

[ixl]

All CPUs normally have PDF datasheets; have you tried downloading the one for the Duron from AMD's site?

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Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.

[Rayista Geoff]

I did actually. The only thing I could find referred to the temperature of the processing die, which I assumed was what I was looking for. But it gave maximum temperature as 90 degrees Celsius, which seemed so high that I figured I must be misunderstanding something. And I couldn't find anything that gave a ballpark figure for normal use. That is, even if 90 oC is the theoretical upper limit before the CPU packs in, should I be worried if I'm hitting 70? 80?

As I say, I'm running at about 55, so I'm not worried really. Just curiosity more than anything else (and paranoia that I haven't attached the heatsink/fan properly).

[Son of Zeus]

Rayista Geoff,

"maximum temperature as 90 degrees Celsius"

Holy Gwokamoly Batman!!! At that temp I would open up that tower & fry myself some eggs & bacon for breckie between web page downloads. The ultimate BBQ, supplied care of AMD’s Burnon, I mean Duron processors.

Surely 90 degrees couldn't be right. Not sure of the specs off hand but they are meant to run cooler than their equivalently clocked Thunderbird cousins do, as they have less on die L2 cache. So try the Thunders specs as a comparison. The data should be there. I'm sure I've even read it myself. If not, check out the Intel site for specs on similar speed PIIIs. They run cooler I know, but they should give u a ballpark figure.

Best of Luck & Happy Cooking.......Son of Zeus.

[ixl]

90C is probably the upper limit before the device begins to malfunction, and/or what it will run at if not heat sinked and cooled.

------------------
Charles M. Kozierok
Webslave, The PC Guide (http://www.PCGuide.com)
Comprehensive PC Reference, Troubleshooting, Optimization and Buyer's Guides...
Note: Please reply to my forum postings here on the forums. Thanks.

[cambull]

90 degrees for a maximum die temperature sounds reasonable. Be wary when equating this to the temperature that your PC is reporting as this is the "case" temperature. Case temperature will always be lower than die temperature as it is how heat is made to flow away from the die.

DO NOT RUN YOUR SYSTEM WITH A REPORTED TEMPERATURE OF ANYWHERE NEAR 90 DEG!

The case and die are effectively seperated by a "thermal resistance" of a certain number of degrees/watt. This is normally a fairly well determined number and may appear in the data sheets for the die, or perhaps on a seperate data sheet for the package type.

If the power dissipated in the die is known, the die temperature can be calculated : die temp = reported temp + (ThermalResistance x Power)

Power dissipation is sort of proportional to cpu clock speed, so if you up your clock (careful if you try this), more heat is generated and needs to be dissipated.

A good heatsink and/or fan will keep the case cooler, reducing the die temperature a similar amount.

A small amount of silicon grease on the heat sensor under the chip may make for more accurate temperature measurements, although the reported temperatures are only accurate to within a degree or two typically anyway.

[cambull]

Just to clarify my previous post, the case I am talking about is the package that the CPU die is encased in (the ceramic thing with lots of pins). I am not refering to the PC case (ie desktop, minitower, tower etc). Sorry if I caused any confusion.