AMD users - system temps?

[rotaryracer]

Those that are running AMD's (particularly 2500 XP Bartons), could you let me know what CPU and system temps you're seeing? I'm trying to figure out why Sage 1.4.10 has gone on a mad crashing spree - 5 times in the last 2 days!

My CPU is running at about 53 degrees celcius and system temp is around 45 degrees celcius. I know that's higher than my Intel box (and probably a little warm in general), but is that hot enough to make the machine reboot in the middle of watching a movie and/or show?

Needless to say, I've lost huge WAF points over the last 2 days...

Thx!

Jason

[SHS]

Yes that getting little to HOT check your CPU fan may it getting ready to die or it all ready dead.

[mdmint]

Originally posted by rotaryracer
Those that are running AMD's (particularly 2500 XP Bartons), could you let me know what CPU and system temps you're seeing? I'm trying to figure out why Sage 1.4.10 has gone on a mad crashing spree - 5 times in the last 2 days!

My CPU is running at about 53 degrees celcius and system temp is around 45 degrees celcius. I know that's higher than my Intel box (and probably a little warm in general), but is that hot enough to make the machine reboot in the middle of watching a movie and/or show?

Needless to say, I've lost huge WAF points over the last 2 days...

Thx!

Jason

Your temps are well within AMD specs, which is 80 or 90C depending in the CPU IRRC. Yes they run hotter than Intel. My older XP 1600 ran for over a year up around 70C before I got rid of the AMD heatseak and fan. Now down around 50C and still going strong no problems.

[rotaryracer]

Yeah, I remember AMDs are warmer than Intel, but from a few posts I've seen, I'm 8-10 degrees celsius than most other AMD owners. It's still within spec, though - I'm just wondering if that spec is for complete and utter failure, compared to general flakiness.

I am using the stock AMD heatsink with a Vantec Stealth 80mm fan (and adapter) on top. Should be about the same CFM as the stock fan with FAR less noise.

Last night it crapped out halfway through a movie (about an hour in); today it died while my wife was watching a recorded show at the 10 minute mark.

Since I've been running the exact same config for months and this JUST started happening, I sort of doubt it's cooling related, but figured I'd check.

Jason

[mdmint]

If your AMD XP CPU temp is under 70C it should not cause any problems IMO and experience since rated to 90C before death. Cooler is better for longer life of cousre. My Sage Server is running a XP 2100+ and CPU temp is usually between 49 and 51C. Was up for 47days without a hiccup until a few minutes ago when I upgraded SageTV to the .20 maint release for the heck of it. My Client running XP 2400+ also around 54C, no probs. I highly suspect your problem is not CPU related.

When you say "crapped out or died" what are the specific symptoms. Does SageTV (or SageTV Client as the case may be) quit responding but rest of system work? You mentioned spontaneous reboot I believe, one common caue can often be caused by slight drop in power, hence either flakey power supply or source. Are you running off a good UPS that provides brownout protection? If so might try another power supply. Could also be memory or systemboard or or or... could be software related or or or... troubleshooting a symptom can be a pain, but it's just systematic trial and error.

[gplasky]

Mine runs between 48-51 degrees C. Yours should be fine. Mine is an Athlon XP 3000+.

Gerry

[Gaurav]

my non-overclocked 2800 was running at 50c idle 60c peak with the stock HS/F (at room temp around 25c). The temps rose another 5c when i moved it into a closet. A few times i've tortured tested for 48 hours straight at 65c but it never crashed.

installed an sp-97 with 92mm panaflo and it runs 10c cooler than before.

[insomniac]

I only use my athalon system if i need a room heater. Its much more efficient than my wallboard units

[Crowdx42]

Seems to me that the Northbridge is overheating, 45 degrees case temp is too hot for a lot of Northbridge chips. Try either opening the case for a little or install a fan to move more air.
Patrick

[rotaryracer]

CrowdX, could be a good suggestion. When I built the HTPC originally with an ABIT NF7, I swapped out the stock little heatsink and fan for a huge Zalman ZB47J heatsink. Since the ASUS and other boards have passively cooled NBs, I didn't think that would be a problem. I also don't have a lot of airflow in my Accent HT200 case, so I'm sure that's not helping.

I am wondering, though, if it was just a decoder glitch. I uninstalled and reinstalled the Sonic decoders and (cross my fingers), finished watching the movie that crashed and started to watch another without any problems. I haven't had much time to 'beat' on it yet, but will try to do so tonight.

I'm not real concerned about system longevity due to heat - it will probably be obsolete before it failed - but I do want a rock-solid stable system. Somedays I think I should've sucked it up and spend the few extra bucks to go Intel.....

[mdmint]

Originally posted by rotaryracer
I'm not real concerned about system longevity due to heat - it will probably be obsolete before it failed - but I do want a rock-solid stable system. Somedays I think I should've sucked it up and spend the few extra bucks to go Intel.....

All my systems at home AMD powered including rock solid SageTV Server and Client.

[Crowdx42]

Well the main thing to think about is, has your room gotten hotter during the summer? ALSO, might be worth just vacuuming the inside of the case to clear dust and lastly for $10 get a case fan and have it blowing into the case, if the power supply is taking hot air out of the case. If the power supply is not working as an exhaust then have the added fan taking out the hot air.
What video card are you using? This could also be having problems BUT normally overheating video cards cause screen corruption and not just lockups.
Patrick
BTW, all my systems are also AMD and are all rock solid, Intel is just way too expensive.

[rotaryracer]

The room my Sage box is in is probably within a few degrees of winter temps (I have central A/C), so there shouldn't have been big temp fluctuations. Honestly, I'm starting to think this was software - I had uninstalled/reinstalled Sage and Java, but never RnR'd the Sonic decoder pack. I did that the other day and watched a movie last night start to finish with no problems whatsoever. I also played a few of those Microsoft HD demos, which had been making my machine puke before.

I'm still on the fence about adding more fans if I can avoid it. I'd suffer through slightly warmer temps if it still is stable.

BTW, I'm using a 9200SE passively cooled, a NF7 2.0 (non-Soundstorm), 1GB Centon PC2700, a pair of Maxtor 160GBs, DVD, CDRW, WinXP Pro SP1, and Sage 1.4.10 all wrapped in a Accent HT200B.

No offense to the AMD crowd...I to am always looking for a great deal on hardware and Intel is friggin' expensive. In my experiences, though, an Intel CPU with an Intel chipset mobo has been slightly more stable than an AMD CPU with an alternative chipset. My HTPC system has been WAY more stable than my AMD 1gHz with VIA KT133 was (when used as a primary machine), but it's still a bit glitchy.

Of course, maybe if I 'stress-tested' my Intel box as a HTPC, I would have the exact same problems! I have to remember that this type of project pushes a box pretty hard (regular HD writes, deletes, large file sizes, continuous uptime, lots of CPU cycles, etc) - ultimately, I think my HTPC gets more use than my Intel gaming box!

JBS

[Crowdx42]

Run an app called Prime95 , it will stress the cpu, memory and board. If it fails Prime95 then there are hardware issues. Also 3Dmark will stress your video card.
The last thing to look at is the hard drive, it may be having problems too, new high speed drives need cooling cause they do get quite hot and heat can be a cause of a hard drive failure.
Patrick

[rotaryracer]

Haven't had a chance to try Prime95 yet, but it went on a crashing spree again last night. I'm watching a taped show while recording another and the it crashed HARD - screen blacks out and a full system reboot.

I am recording at 5.6GB/HR - could I be overstressing the IDE channel bandwidth if I have both hard drives off the same controller (master/slave off IDE1)?

My resolution is 1280x720 - any chance I'm stressing out my poor 9200SE and it can't keep up?

Sound drivers and nForce chipset/IDE drivers are current, Catalyst 4.3, and most recent or next to recent SHSPVR drivers...

Any other thoughts? I'm pulling my hair out trying to make this nightmare function....

[Crowdx42]

Should be absolutely no problem to record at that bit rate. Check that the hard drive does have enough cooling though, the 7200rpm models do get hot. I have an 80 mm intake fan on the front of my case blowing across where the hard drives are mounted.
Prime95 will tell you VERY quickly if there are any MAJOR problems with memory or cpu, for a more detailed stress test it should be run for 24 hours, BUT I guarantee that withing 30 mins it will tell you if you have a real problem on your system.
Patrick

[rrussell]

Have you thought about HD failure?

I had a maxtor diamondmax HD, and it was the hottest running drive I've ever seen in my life. I didn't have a stable system until I dumped it and got a seagate...

[mdmint]

Originally posted by rrussell
Have you thought about HD failure?

I had a maxtor diamondmax HD, and it was the hottest running drive I've ever seen in my life. I didn't have a stable system until I dumped it and got a seagate...

On the other hand I have a pair of 7.2k rpm Maxtor HDs in my wife's workstation at home that have been running flawlessly for about 5yrs.

BTW, 7200rpm is not fast in the HD world, just run of the mill. Current fast access drives in Servers is 15k rpm, older ones 10k, real old ones 7.2k. IDE desktop market just slower catching on...

[rotaryracer]

Could I have intermittent heat failures that would cause spontaneous reboots? I suppose anything is possible....just wondering if that could be my cause.

When I spec'd out my brother's HTPC, I recommended dual Seagate 200GBs.....wish one of the big retailers would run another $100 special!

[Crowdx42]

Heat is more likely to give a hard lock if the heat is system related (not hard drive). Hard drive overheating is something that could cause a reboot like what you are talking about BUT also causes BSOD's a lot of the time (cause the system can't write to the disk, the OS is still in memory). Have you your OS set to reboot on system failure or to show BSOD? You need it set to BSOD so that you can see what error it is giving you.
As far as 7200 drives being "not that fast" , some of these drives do get VERY hot, read the reviews on NewEgg or other online retailers, overheating is a common problem due to bad case ventilation, the bigger drives are MUCH more prone to heating than the smaller ones.
I STILL recommend running Prime95 to check the board,memory and cpu first.
Patrick