Member Avatar for Cup of Squirrel

This is a wee but worrying - I have recently finished building my pc, using a Pentium 4 Prescott 2.4ghz

Now, I know that prescott has been dubbed "preshott" and that it is known for getting VERY hot, but 80 degrees is very dodgy.

My case is a bit dodgy on the cooling front, but it should give some effect:

Rear 12 cm fan
CPU duct on side panel

As soon as I start my pc up, my cpu will immediatly jump up to 80 degrees, which again is suprising...

Apparently the only real thing to do is to get a better heatsink or cooling system for the CPU, but I am no real expert on cooling, and hoped any of you could point me in the right direction. Any short term fixes will be welcomed too :)

Thanks

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Dani AI

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80°C immediately after boot is a red flag rather than normal Prescott behaviour. Given the Diabolic case with a rear 120mm fan and a side-panel CPU duct, the likely culprits fall into three groups: incorrect sensor/readout, poor heatsink contact or thermal interface, and power/airflow issues. The shortest path to a diagnosis is a short, ordered checklist that rules each out fast.

  1. Verify the reading: compare the motherboard/BIOS reading with an in‑OS monitor and the on‑case display. Watch the BIOS number for several minutes after POST — a large mismatch points to a bad external sensor or software misread.
  2. Confirm the CPU fan and mounting: CPU fan must spin at full speed from the CPU_FAN header and the fan should be pushing air through the heatsink fins (not pulling the wrong way).
  3. Inspect contact and compound: remove the cooler and check the contact footprint on the IHS; an even contact ring means good seating, a patchy mark or flaky compound means reseat. Clean both surfaces with isopropyl alcohol and reapply a thin, even amount of quality thermal compound; tighten the heatsink evenly (diagonal pattern) to avoid "tearing" the paste.
  4. Check voltages and BIOS settings: ensure Vcore and any voltage offsets are at stock/default values and that no accidental overclock is active.
  5. Controlled verification: run a brief stress run while watching temps (small FFTs in a stress tester) to see delta between idle and load; rapid rises confirm real thermal transfer problems rather than a sensor glitch.
  6. Ambient/case airflow: note room temperature and verify intake/exhaust balance; sometimes a duct or front intake is starving the heatsink of cool air.

If, after these steps, idle temperatures still sit around 80°C, the problem is almost certainly cooling capacity (or an overvolted CPU). In that case the next step is a proper aftermarket cooler with a solid copper contact/heatpipe design and improved case airflow. Credit to and for the thermal‑compound angle and to and for the sensor/voltage prompts — follow the checklist above in that order to narrow the fault quickly and safely.

Recommended Answers

All 13 Replies

Member Avatar for belama

wow, 80 is really hot. I had a 3ghz s478 running over 60°C. The thermal paste under the heatsink was somewhat dry and had a little bit of dust on so the heat wasnt transferring very well to the heatsink. It might be the case for you. If so, you could try to change this paste, it could shave off a couple of degrees. What case model do you have?

Member Avatar for Thong_Ispector

What kind of CPU usage during these extended periods.

I just have a feeling if you try to run some intensive games and recheck it you could be in for a shock.

Member Avatar for Cup of Squirrel

I run games like css, UT2004 etc, but the temperature remains at 80 D:

Member Avatar for djrivera1

Could be you termal sensors on th motherboard shock it run stable at 80 c
P4 usally slow down around 65 c .

Member Avatar for Cup of Squirrel

So it's my mobo that is making it run at 80 constant, or is it just reading it wrong?

Member Avatar for djrivera1

If you cpu running at full speed it more likely reading it wrong but to be on the safe side if you are using a stock heatsink fan replaced it with a better one a zalman or coolmaster, also use sliver compound paste, it will bring the temperture down a few degrees.

Member Avatar for moderate_rock48

also sometimes the thermal paste might "tear" when you put your heatsink on, and heat can build up in that tear. Might try and reapply with arctic silver 5.

Member Avatar for Devonalper

Is the BIOS saying that it is 80 or is it an on-case display. My BIOS reports about 7 degrees hotter than my case.

Member Avatar for Jetering

Hi
I got a 3.2 prescot and Cooler master Hyper 6 and the temperature is 45-52 (idle to fully loaded) . 80 degres seems too high to me. Chech this things
- cooler and the thermal paste
(using some silicon based paste and arctic silver 5 gives you just a 2-3 degres of C diference)
- Check the voltage in bios, since the Prescot works on 1.3 V and the Northwood work on 1.56
It may look loke a small diference in voltage but it might be a reason
- Check is it overclocked
What you descibes a think it is a voltage.

greetins, sory for bad english

Member Avatar for Alvein

I got a 3.2 prescot and Cooler master Hyper 6 and the temperature is 45-52 (idle to fully loaded).

Hi. Maybe you can post your previous temps with the stock cooler? nice to compare. I'm looking for a new cooler/heatsink.

BTW, how about your room temp?

....

Sorry to hijack, but in some sort, my preshott is burning a bit.

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