Overheating

the pentium 4s do get very hot... the bigger sagers (5680, 8890 and so on) have pretty good cooling. i believe with AS5 one guy said his p4 was at 57c loaded. thats very good when you consider the size of the heatsink and airflow... without as5 you could expect it to be 5-7c higher than that.

I really believe the heat issue is overheated. Yes, these machines do have energy eating processors, what goes in must come out and heat is the way it comes out. There's about 100 watts going into the machine, that's just like having a 100 watt light bulb in there. Yes, it gets warm, hot even, but you have to consider what's hot and what's really hot. Typically, you don't want your processor to get over 75 C, ever, it will cause serious damage, so how hot is that, as I assume most of you are not metric familiar, that works out to 167 F. Pretty hot but remember, paper doesn't burn until its at 451 F. Water doesn't boil until its at 212 F.

You really want to keep that whole machine down below 50 C (122 F) which some would consider hot. That's the temperature on a typical day in the Sahara and you sure wouldn't want your hot tub that hot, but its okay for a laptop. Of course, lower is better.

The big issue is not how much heat the machine puts out, but how much it retains. You want it putting out a lot of heat because the more the fans blow out, the less that remains inside.

So you can't put it on your lap, guess what, you don't want to anyway, its uncomfortable and a bad ergonomic position. Better you start thinking portable or mobile desktop replacement. It needs plenty of air and that comes in through the bottom. You want to make sure its not sucking in a lot of dust and lint as that will clog the bugger up good and it will overheat.

And yes, the best things you can do for your laptop are to use a laptop desk or somehow get as much clear area under it as possible and to clean it regularly. You need to clean it thoroughly and to do that well, you might as well do the Arctic Silver routine while your'e at it. That seems to be a significant improvement, probably the very next best thing you can do for your machine to keep it running sweet and true. Its not that difficult and there's plenty of help here for you.

Sweet tips bro, Thanks!

Violet, if you're worried about heat, why are you considering the Prescott? Just wondering because I'm not exactly sold on what the 3.4 Prescott can do that the 3.4 Northwood can't (and it's not like the Northwood's not hot enough already).

Believe the original post of this thread was begun back in January, and the user has since purchased a machine with a Northwood based processor.

Violet, I thought you had an 8890... Did you change your mind? Or did you get your 8890 before starting this thread? Cos if so, you must be loaded to be thinking about getting a 8790 less than 6 months after getting the 8890.

EDIT:
Actually, I find when (and it's a rare occasion) I don't want to be tethered to an AC outlet or I don't have a flat surface, all I have to do is let the laptop straddle my legs so the little feet (I have an 8890, which has little feet) rest on my thighs. It allows air to come in the bottom, out the side and I've never had it get too hot for comfort. And the keyboard's in a perfect position for typing.

I have to say that the CPU temps don't worry me too much. Not really a gamer, so when really loading on my music apps, I sometimes (sometimes) get over 50C with the CPU, normally idle around 47C.

That's being said, the thing that really scares (almost terrifies) me is the HD temps. I have a gig coming up, first using the 8790, and even in a relatively cool environment (74F room), the HD can get into the mid 50sC. If the room is warm (and what club isn't?) I can see it getting really up there, in the 60s over a 2-3 hour gig! I really can't afford to: a)have the computer shut down in the middle of a gig, b)kill my HD.

I think it may be time to get a nice external HD (maybe a maxtor), but until then, what HD temps are going to be dangerous?

You guys are lucky with your (relatively low) processor temps. The minimum temperature for my 4780 is 50 C (and it doesnt idle at that, it keeps going until 60 when low fans kick in). When gaming my processor stays at a constant 65 C (or around there). It's even gone to 73 C before. The cooling in this thing sucks.

raid, have you cleaned out your heatsink recently? Or applied arctic silver? Another tip brought up was remove the dummy PCMCIA cards as it gives another vent for heat to escape. And also Henrik's MaxFan utility can help when under heavy load. Your temps seem pretty high to me - high enough where I'd be very careful.

So, at what HDD temps should I start getting scared? I have the Hitachi 60 Gig, 7,200RPM drive.

I know, I am about to go look for the specs on their site, but I was wondering whether anyone had any personal knowledge or opinions on what is acceptable, and what isn't?

Thanks!

I think the highest I've seen mine is mid 50's right after running Speed Disk. Didn't seem to hurt anything.

I applied AS 5 already, it made little to no difference at all. I usually do clean out my heatsink but havent done so for about a month. However when I do that it still operates between 50 and 65 C. And I use a USB 2 PC card in the slot (I use up to 4 USB devices at a time). Maxfan doesnt work on the 4780 to my knowledge (I tried a copy of it on the thread where it was discussed).

HDD Temps... I've had up to 59 C before but generally it should be below 50 C unless you are running it for more than 15 minutes straight (indicated by the green light). I've never had any HDD probs though.