Overheating?

[kourosh]

I have Leopard installed fine, Leo4Allv3 with 10.5.3 update (manual).

My problem:

My CPU normally runs at a temperature of 45-50 degrees C (rarely reaches 50) in Windows, doing the normal things, iTunes, Firefox, MSN etc.

On Leopard, doing the same (iTunes, Safari, Adium etc.), my CPU runs about 10 degrees hotter (usually 57/58 degrees C)

Bearing in mind the limit for my CPU is 65 degrees I think.

Is this just because OSX lacks Cool'n'Quiet? Or is this a more serious problem of my CPU overheating?

[Ianxxx]

I think you need to monitor how much activity your cpu is doing to get a fair answer.
You said running safari would that include flash movies? flash for osx is known to use a lot of cpu power and needs rewritting by adobe.

[naquaada]

Try running Activity Monitor while you're working, with CPU usage or better CPU history shown in the Dock. If you have Quicktime 7.5 installed, it uses much more cpu in comparison to 7.4.5. A DivX movie played on an Athlon 4000+ needs about 23% with QT 7.4.5 but it needs about 90% with QT 7.5. That heats up the CPU a lot. I always noticed that graphical functions need very much CPU power on the Mac, f.e. the iTunes virtualizer.

Another possible reason are the hardware components and/or the BIOS settings. My Athlon 64 3400+ Socket 754 was also often at 47°C. My Athlon 64 4000+ is with the same cooler, the standard AMD cooler, in normal use at 36°C. My Opteron 185 which has normally 2 x 2.6 GHz runs overclocked to 2,86 GHz on about 38°C with a huge Skythe Mugen cooler. What did you use for heat paste (thermo component)? I always use the Artic Silver 5. Do not apply to much of it. If it's possible, take a look in your BIOS, maybe it has overcloking settings in which you can reduce your CPU voltage. I reduced the core voltage of all my CPUs. Cool'n'Quiet is always activated on my system.

Which hardware components (board, cpu, cooler) and which gfx card do you have? Which image are you using?

[pmcnano]

How are you checking the Temp anyway? :O

[naquaada]

in BIOS I presume, I do it this way.

Hehe, I remember the day as the fan of my Athlon XP fell out and I didn't noticed it. The screen went black on the taskbar and behind closed windows. I switched the computer off and checked the BIOS - 92°C / 197°F ! You were able to cook an egg on this thing! But the cpu is still working!

[pmcnano]

mh, well.....its kinda weird for me because i though the cpu temp goes down and up QUICKLY, i mean, turning off the computer and checking in bios will not be a acurate shot. For example when i was overclocking my cpu, i used prime95 to stress de cpu and the temp will go up 15ºC, when i stop the test it will go down the 15ºC inmediatly..so....i dont know! =( lol

[kourosh]

Wow...

Couldn't say about flash, probably using it im not sure...

Next time I'm on OSX I'll monitor the CPU usage with Activity Monitor, and see whats happening etc.

Specs (taken from InsanelyMac sig):
Board: ASUS A8N-E (nForce 4 Ultra)
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 3700+ Socket 939 2.2GHz
Graphics: ATI Radeon X1600 Pro 256MB PCI-E
Memory: 1GB DDR 400 RAM (2x 512MB - Dual Channel)
HDD: Seagate 300GB SATA

Its a TARGA Ultra AN64II 3700+ PC, so couldn't say on the cooler or thermal paste, since its not built by me. Also I doubt its overclocked. Cool'N'Quiet is activated but is it supported by OSX? (I've got the 9.2.0 ToH kernel and the 9.3.0 modbin kernel)

Leopard Install: Leo4Allv3 (Kernel 9.2.0, Old NForce, AC97, forcedeth-v, Zydas USB, About This Mac, rest unchecked), updated to 10.5.3 using Combo update (netkas method), restored old AppleACPIPlatform.kext, AppleSMBIOS.kext, System.kext, installed kernel 9.3.0 (copied the mach_kernel to /), and patched using 10.5.3 decrypts.

Btw, on Windows, my CPU is currently at 45° C (monitored using PC Wizard 2008)

When checking the temp after OSX I quickly reboot into the BIOS (its fairly fast), at this point its usually 57°C, booting up windows, it doesnt take long for the temp to cool down to the 40's.

[naquaada]

I also have an 3700+, it is about 28-32°C on my Asus A8N-SLI Premium. I'm using 4 Radeon X1600 Pro, and I also have an Asus A8N-E FM/S board. In this one the CPU is a getting hotter, about 40°C (using an 4000+). If you want to kick out the board, buy an A8N-SLI Premium. Perfect for OS X, all components supported, great overclocking and CPU controlling options.

I just checked the temperature in BIOS, my Opteron is actually at 45°C - but in my room it's 30°C already. BTW: which cpu fan are you using? If it's an original AMD, there are only two types of good fans, all others are loud. You'll recognize it on the text witch is printed on the cooler: If it contains FOXCONN or FXN and a complete date (f.e. 2006/04/19) then it's a good one. They run from 3000 to 6400 rpm (I think I had over 6000 on my Socket 754 cpu).

My installation is Leo4All V3 + 10.5.3 Update by zeph's updater. No fixes in AppleSMBIOS or something. Additional drivers are X1600, forcedeth-v and skge.kext. Cool'n'Quiet is activated in BIOS.

[kourosh]

Hmm It can't be that theres something drastically wrong with the hardware, since it runs nice and cool and stable on windows. Its an OSX problem, need to track it down though.

I'll mess around a bit with different configurations (kernels/AppleACPIPlatform.kext etc)

See whats going on on Activity Monitor.

I'll do that later, too late now.

Also I'm not sure if I should open my computer, itll void the warranty...about half of the 3 year warranty left..

Fan currently at 2220RPM according to PC Wizard 2008

Also I lack money for new hardware and such :)