How can I get the temp for a celeron CPU?

[btcomm]

This is an old emachine etower 500ix has a 500 mhz celeron cpu in it. When I install speed fan it gives 3 temps that are all listed with a - does speed fan work for older machines like that? What do the negative temps mean? Anyway I can monitor the temp of the chip to make sure it's not overheating?

[photolady]

Try Everest first.

[btcomm]

Well I tried everest, when I go to sensor it does not list any temperatures there.

[SuperSparks]

Try this one:

PC Wizard

[Train]

emachine etower 500ix

No sensor so no readings.

Sensors were added to the mobo around the time 700 MHZ Intel came out, but not all the manufactors of motherboards did it right away. Seems it took a couple years for that to become fairly standard.

[btcomm]

Thanks for that info train, very informative. That is what I was afraid of, I had tried all those programs and could not get a temp reading.

How am I supposed to tell if it's cool enough? Ugg, the fan on the heatsink broke completely, I replaced the heatsink/fan with another one I had to use the retention clip from the old heatsink and it fits on but the heatsink can swivel a little bit so I'm unsure if it's going to be cool enough, this thing needs to run unattended without shutting down, do they generate a lot of heat? The heatsink seems pretty cool to the touch.

[Train]

Back then I used a probe that plugged into my multimeter to read the temps.

Wedge it in as close to the base, on the fin side, as I could. At least it gave me a ballpark idea where the temp was.

All spring clip ones do slip like that.
Fact is the HSF on this old Barton does that also. Normal.

[SuperSparks]

These are ideal too:

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?...=46033&doy=7m2

[stevejr]

btcomm...if it's cool to the touch then you are probably okay.

But...you can try and carefully bend the retention clip so that it fits tighter. A lot of heatsinks will have just a bit of 'wiggle' if you give them a good twist...they don't have to be clamped as tightly as one would think.

Also...did you have some good Artic Silver 5 or comparable thermal paste to use when you changed out the heatsink? It's very important for proper heat transfer.

Also...decent air circulation inside the case will help the cpu stay within limits and can help offset any less than ideal heatsink/fan situation.

[btcomm]

As far as cool to the touch, I'm just a little worried that heat is not being transfered to the heat sink which is why it's not hot. If this is a low heat chip then I guess that makes sense. When I swivel it, it's very easy to swivel however when I push down on it it does not seem to push down much more if at all.

[SuperSparks]

I don't like the sound of that You shouldn't be able to move the heatsink at all. I'd take it off, give it a good clean, apply some new thermal compound and then reseat it. You may find these useful:

Arctic Silver Instructions

[btcomm]

Well, I ran an unofficial heat test. I had the computer on for about 12 hours. I felt the heat sink, was not very hot at all, almost cool to the touch. Shut the computer down, removed the heat sink and felt the core of the cpu with my finger, was barely warm, did not even have to remove my finger it was so cool, I did this within 30 seconds of shutting the computer down.

I have a feeling this CPU must not create that much heat or the heatsink/fan I replaced the other broken one with could handle much hotter CPUs.

What do you think?

[SuperSparks]

Yes, a 500MHz Celery would be quite cool running, certainly compared to today's CPUs. I don't think you have too much to worry about there then, that heatsink is obviously doing a good job.

[Train]

Good to go. Just be sure to clean things up and apply new compound before firing it up.