Motherboard Temperature?

[Keebler Elf]

When I run PC Wizard 2012 it tells me my motherboard is running at around 78-80 degrees Celsius. That seems high to me.

Any other ways to diagnose this? Don't want to overreact if it's a glitch with PC Wizard.

My CPU is under 30 and my hard drives are in the 30-40 range.

 

[niveamen]

I assume this is a desktop? Open your case and put a fan against it. If it still is the same, then your MB sensor is broken.

Could be bad ventilation.

 

[Keebler Elf]

I assume this is a desktop? Open your case and put a fan against it. If it still is the same, then your MB sensor is broken.

Could be bad ventilation.

Desktop. I always leave the back panel off so my case is open.

 

[WoodPeckr]

Desktop. I always leave the back panel off so my case is open.

That could possibly cause a problem.
PC cases have designed air flow-paths for ventilation/cooling and leaving it open could disrupt this designed air flow.

I noticed this after installing a SSD in my desktop. SMART data reported some strange SSD temps. When the desktop case was left open to try and observe what was going on the SSD temp increased when the case was open and went back down when the case was properly closed up.

 

[b4u]

That could possibly cause a problem.
PC cases have designed air flow-paths for ventilation/cooling and leaving it open could disrupt this designed air flow.

+1
the case is designed to cool properly with the case closed. leaving a case open can cause overheating.

if i remember correctly most MB should operate between 35c(idle)-45c(under load)
80c if it's a true reading is WAY too hot.

 

[Rockslinger]

That could possibly cause a problem.
PC cases have designed air flow-paths for ventilation/cooling and leaving it open could disrupt this designed air flow.

Case closed.

Also less noise.

 

[The Options Menu]

Case closed.

Also less noise.

Also dust / hair. Bad for fans of all sorts.

Your integrated GPU/north-southbridge and any other number of integrated chips can generate a fair bit of heat. (Besides the CPU, PSU, Disks, and any number of other things.) If you stop at a PC shop a premium case fan can be had for $15. You can either replace your old fan, or install that as a secondary. You may or may not need a cheap power adapter cord that can be had in the sub $10 range depending on the connections available. (Most modern fans are 4-pin and software controlled, but are moulded to accept 3 pin manual control fans, and you can always set up a dumb 3 or 4 pin to molex connector.)

Oh, and blow all of the dust out of your case, and, if you can, neatly (but not too tightly) bind all of the wires up. While you're blowing, check anything that has a fan. If you're paranoid use compressed air. You might want to take a look at the path of airflow around cards and disks and consider moving some things around.

Think 'flow' (and dusk free). Oh, and smoking and humidity can do bad things to fans mostly via it causing gunk to stick.

 

[Keebler Elf]

Huh, didn't realize leaving it open could be a bad thing. I thought it would help keep things cool.

My case has 2 fans at the back and one at the front (plus the PSU fan) so there's no more room for additional fans.

I've already bundled up the cables as best I can (not a whole lot of space back there).

I'll seal it up and monitor the temps to see what happens.

 

[Twister]

Depending on the MB some have their own software on the cd, or some keep track on the bios.

 

[Anynym]

Depends very much on where the temperature sensor is.

There's no way your CPU is actually running at (or under) 30 deg. But it is entirely reasonable to believe that that is the temperature where the sensor is located, away from the CPU and perhaps the heat sinks as well.

 

[The Options Menu]

Huh, didn't realize leaving it open could be a bad thing. I thought it would help keep things cool.

My case has 2 fans at the back and one at the front (plus the PSU fan) so there's no more room for additional fans.

I've already bundled up the cables as best I can (not a whole lot of space back there).

I'll seal it up and monitor the temps to see what happens.

Well, there are worse things than leaving the case open, but dust and high speed electric fans / heat dispensation (radiator) grills really don't go together.