CPU idles between 60 and 75

Question

Question

CPU idles between 60 and 75

by finallyfoundln37 Oct 31, 2016 4:10PM PDT

Hello all. I am looking for help diagnosing an overheating issue. According to Piriform's Speccy tool, my CPU is idling between 60 and 75 degrees. When I have multiple tabs open in Chrome, playing a game, or installing / uninstalling programs, this temperature will shoot up to anywhere from 80 to 95 degrees.
My specs are as follows:
CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ Brisbane 65nm Technology
RAM:
5.00GB Single-Channel DDR2 @ 312MHz (5-5-5-15)
Motherboard:
OEM_MB NARRA3 (Socket AM2 )
Graphics:
HP w1907 (1024x768@60Hz)
1024MB ATI Radeon HD 3600 Series (Diamond)
Desktop Build:
Compaq Presario SR5550F
OS:
Windows Vista Enterprise SP 2
I apologize if any of this is redundant or unnecessary. I am very much new to this. Let me know whatever additional information you need and I'll be glad to provide them.

Discussion is locked

14 Posts

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look at all those internet connections

by James Denison Oct 31, 2016 4:32PM PDT

what's going on with THAT?!

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If it was W10

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 31, 2016 4:34PM PDT

I'd shut down update sharing. If other OSes I look at the torrent apps.

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Re: Good News

by finallyfoundln37 Oct 31, 2016 5:51PM PDT

Yeah. This is an old machine but it's what I have. If I recall correctly it came with Vista Home Premium but I ended up switching over to Vista Enterprise later on due to factory-resetting without the disks. I just cleaned the heatsink and fan. I also ordered some thermal paste which should be arriving within a week.

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That factory reset without factory disks

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 31, 2016 5:59PM PDT

Can lead to angst, issues and a burning feeling as a driver may have been skipped or wrong version. I have to defer to its maker on what drivers to use. But the age is such that cleaning and compound work is the usual.

Vista was also known to just run the CPU hard for no good reason. Linux seems to always be a cooler running OS.

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Funny you should bring up Linux

by finallyfoundln37 Oct 31, 2016 6:08PM PDT

I've been thinking for the last few weeks about switching over. I'd prefer an easygoing, minimalist OS. I use my computer for work and have no idea what to expect as far as the learning curve is concerned so I'm a bit reluctant to take that leap however. I didn't know Vista was so unkind to the CPU. Thanks for the tip.

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Mint MATE

by James Denison Oct 31, 2016 7:55PM PDT

that's one of the easiest yet satisfactory, and what I use. You might also be interested in Zorin if you want it to look more like Windows.

My advice is for a newbie to avoid doing their own ISO image and trying to confirm a good download, especially with Mint's new 256 bit sum and the pgp key image, and just order a known good disc.

http://osdisc and there's a reason Mint is the first one listed, because they are in order of sales preference based on past orders.

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whoops

by James Denison Oct 31, 2016 7:57PM PDT

http://osdisc.com

and a look at Mint on mine

http://glenburniemd.net/CNET/Linux17/index.html

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Funny coincidence

by finallyfoundln37 Oct 31, 2016 8:09PM PDT

My gf's name is Rebecca. Thanks for the response. So is there a way to run programs which were designed for Windows through Linux? Or would I need to hunt down their Linux based counterparts?

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WINE

by James Denison Oct 31, 2016 8:21PM PDT

It works fairly well for a lot of windows programs. I use it for some windows scr files, the screen savers. Also for an older Lviewpro 1D2 photo program I like for quick and easy graphics. I have an Asteroids game from windows that runs OK on it. It's available in the repository of most linux distros.

https://www.winehq.org/
https://appdb.winehq.org/

Also Play on Linux allows some windows games to be used. There's a lot of free games on Linux too.

https://www.playonlinux.com/en/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PlayOnLinux

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Nice

by finallyfoundln37 Oct 31, 2016 8:25PM PDT

Duly noted.

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Zorin

by James Denison Oct 31, 2016 8:31PM PDT

It comes with WINE and Play on Linux already on the install, so you might consider that linux distro.

http://zorinos.com/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Qqny5nu0XU

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Thanks again, man

by finallyfoundln37 Nov 1, 2016 11:44AM PDT

This has all been very helpful.

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Thermal Paste

by finallyfoundln37 Nov 7, 2016 4:28PM PST

Yeah, it looks like the thermal paste may have been it. I applied some and it's hovering between 50 and 65 degrees now. Thanks for your time, dude.

Back to Desktops forum

r. proffitt · Answer 1 · Oct 31, 2016 4:25PM PDT

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Answer

Good news.

by r. proffitt Forum moderator Oct 31, 2016 4:25PM PDT

You have that Enterprise version so back to the company or Microsoft for the support you paid for.

Maybe there's a story why it's running Enterprise but the PC I see there with the AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ should run hot. The temps you noted are sadly typical.

https://www.google.com/search?q=AMD+Athlon+64+X2+5400%2B&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8#q=AMD+Athlon+64+X2+5400%2B+runs+hot finds some priors but this old PC should have the usual work done. I'd get out the canned air, test fans and remove all old heatsink compound.

To be clear, it's quite old and does not compare well to modern CPUs.

CPU idles between 60 and 75

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