Antec 450W PSU running too hot?

G

goldmemberer

Geek Trainee
Hey guys... total newb here (compared to you guys). Just looking for ideas on what could cause a PSU to run hot... I've checked the fans and everything is spinning up/down fine. It's an Antec SmartPower 2.0 450W PSU that came with a Antec Sonata II case; everyone said very good things about the PSU in reviews and stuff, but while OCing my Pentium D 805, I was running CPU Burn-In @ 3.6GHz on semi-quiet air cooling, and the CPU topped out at 66 degrees celsius, but the PSU jumped all the way to 84 degrees (!) -- scared the :swear: outta me.

I know that the overclocked 805 is quite the power hog but I have only 1 HDD, 1 DVD drive, and a 7600 GT sucking power from the thing... it seems kinda weird.

Thanks a lot for any and all help/comments. If anyone's interested, I'll be happy to post my rig details.
 
As well as the power draw thats coming from the system its also surrounded by all the heat from the overclocked components. If your system seems stable I wouldn't worry about it.

I also wouldn't recommend overclocking that far.
 
goldmemberer said:
Hey guys... total newb here (compared to you guys). Just looking for ideas on what could cause a PSU to run hot... I've checked the fans and everything is spinning up/down fine. It's an Antec SmartPower 2.0 450W PSU that came with a Antec Sonata II case; everyone said very good things about the PSU in reviews and stuff, but while OCing my Pentium D 805, I was running CPU Burn-In @ 3.6GHz on semi-quiet air cooling, and the CPU topped out at 66 degrees celsius, but the PSU jumped all the way to 84 degrees (!) -- scared the :swear: outta me.

I know that the overclocked 805 is quite the power hog but I have only 1 HDD, 1 DVD drive, and a 7600 GT sucking power from the thing... it seems kinda weird.

Thanks a lot for any and all help/comments. If anyone's interested, I'll be happy to post my rig details.
Click to expand...

its a bloody wonder you havn't fried your CPU cos CPU temp should never go above 60, it would have scared the :swear: outta me too overclocking fine but i think you think you've got a Gallatin

EDIT::swear: hot PSU
 
I'd probably invest in some better CPU cooling. 60*C or higher is considered dangerous for CPU's, especially if that's at idle.
 
donkey42 said:
its a bloody wonder you havn't fried your CPU cos CPU temp should never go above 60, it would have scared the :swear: outta me too overclocking fine but i think you think you've got a Gallatin

EDIT::swear: hot PSU
Click to expand...

Big B said:
I'd probably invest in some better CPU cooling. 60*C or higher is considered dangerous for CPU's, especially if that's at idle.
Click to expand...

Ah, it ran 66 degrees during the stress test and between 49-52 at idle, so I'm not worried too much about it. Keep in mind that the 805 runs kinda hot in stock form... at 2.66GHz, it idles around 44-45 with the stock cooler and voltages Check out the temps the pros got:
A 4.1 GHz Dual Core at $130 - Can it be True? | Tom's Hardware

Anyway, everything is rock solid but I was just wondering why the PSU was running so hot... I'll take everything apart and look at it soon, but I'm not even sure what to look for.

goldmemberer said:
Ah, it ran 66 degrees during the stress test and between 49-52 at idle, so I'm not worried too much about it. Keep in mind that the 805 runs kinda hot in stock form... at 2.66GHz, it idles around 44-45 with the stock cooler and voltages Check out the temps the pros got:
A 4.1 GHz Dual Core at $130 - Can it be True? | Tom's Hardware

Anyway, everything is rock solid but I was just wondering why the PSU was running so hot... I'll take everything apart and look at it soon, but I'm not even sure what to look for.
Click to expand...


BTW -- Gallatin? You mean the 3.4 EE?
 
I'll worry about the CPU cooling after I can get my PSU cooled down -- ANYone have any ideas on what could be causing this?

Really would appreciate your help.. you guys all sound like pros.
 
Do you have good airflow in your case as PSU's can be hot anyway, they have a lot of work on their hands. If you hav bad airflow (or none at all) hot air will just be circulating around in the case and not doing any good. Make sure you have cool, clean air being sucked in at the front / bottom of the case and hot air being expelled at the top / back of the case.

That should help a bit, just out of curiocity, how are you measuring the PSU temp?
 
cant pentiums handle up to 95degrees? my pentium 4 3.0ghz runs at 52idle and up to 62 at load and i am using an AC Freezer 4 on it aswell, with the stock cooler i could get up to nearly 85degrees and i never shut down, i only ever shut down due to a faulty motherboard.
 
I believe some, depending on the core and clock speed, can withstand upto 85*C, however, you're likely to experience problems long before that. Why you'd want to let the CPU get close to that temp is beyond me, and there's a clock throttling system in place if the CPU hits a certain temperature.

The PSU is typically on the top rear of a case. If you can recall your science class, you'll remember that heat rises. Even without the aid of fans, heat is going up, and that's where your PSU sits. I don't think your PSU is the problem so much as the cooling in your case as a whole. If it's not that, you do have some sensors that aren't calibrated correctly. Unfortunately, you'll have to see about a BIOS update.

However, given that the CPU's temps are getting into the danger zone of 60*C +. If you're going to overclock a CPU that runs hot by default, if you're serious about your temps, get a better CPU cooler.

As far as I know, there's not a readable temp sensor on power supplies in general. Some do have a temp sensor that's tied in with a fan, but none that can be read. How have you determined that the PSU's temps are 84*C? If you're using BIOS, do understand that these are not accurate, and the placement of a sensor can affect it's accuracy. If it's close to Mosfets or voltage regulators, seeing abnormally high temps wouldn't be surprising.
 
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