How long does it take for heat to destroy a Pentium 4 extreme edition processor?

I have a Dell XPS computer with the P4 3.4GHz EE.

I have been having fan problems (excessive noise), and in order to diagnose the problem, the dell tech had me disconnect the CPU fans and run the computer (including a high intensity game), to see if the noise was still there, thus ruling out the CPU fans as the source of the problem.

But now I am worried.
I have read in a number of places that you should never disconnect your CPU fans, even for a test, because heat can fry your processor only after a few seconds.

I ran Doom 3 with no CPU fans for about 2 minutes.

Did the Dell tech ask me to do something I should not have? (ie temporarily disconnect the CPU fans).

Could my CPU have been damaged as a result?

Thanks.

 

It doesn't matter what Dell Tech tell you to do during a Diags call, whatever happens because of that will be covered by your warranty, its only when you do things off your own bat without being instructed by Dell #Tech that it voids your warranty, so to answer your question if they told you to do that and your CPU is fried then Dell will replace it
I have a Dell XPS computer with the P4 3.4GHz EE.

I have been having fan problems (excessive noise), and in order to diagnose the problem, the dell tech had me disconnect the CPU fans and run the computer (including a high intensity game), to see if the noise was still there, thus ruling out the CPU fans as the source of the problem.

But now I am worried.
I have read in a number of places that you should never disconnect your CPU fans, even for a test, because heat can fry your processor only after a few seconds.

I ran Doom 3 with no CPU fans for about 2 minutes.

Did the Dell tech ask me to do something I should not have? (ie temporarily disconnect the CPU fans).

Could my CPU have been damaged as a result?

Thanks.

 

I have a Dell XPS computer with the P4 3.4GHz EE.

I have been having fan problems (excessive noise), and in order to diagnose
the problem, the dell tech had me disconnect the CPU fans and run the
computer (including a high intensity game), to see if the noise was still
there, thus ruling out the CPU fans as the source of the problem.

But now I am worried.
I have read in a number of places that you should never disconnect your CPU
fans, even for a test, because heat can fry your processor only after a few
seconds.

I ran Doom 3 with no CPU fans for about 2 minutes.

Did the Dell tech ask me to do something I should not have? (ie temporarily
disconnect the CPU fans).

Could my CPU have been damaged as a result?

Thanks.



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I think that Pentiums are fairly well protected. They reduce clock speed
(which reduces heat produced inside the chip) if they start to overheat. If
they still continue to overheat, they switch off completely. Even without
the fans, the heat sink would dissipate a lot of heat on its own. just
through convection.

I suspect that all you did was run Doom rather slowly, at a reduced clock
speed.

Geoff

 

Intel CPU's will "shut-down" so to speak when just before they over-heat.
It's a bad idea to rely on this, but it does work.

 

Agreed.

I've seen exactly (2) Intel P4 CPUs overheat and die out of the countless
Intel-based systems I've worked with. It's truly remarkable.

These systems will almost always shut down during any "thermal event" and
prevent damage to the chip and mainboard.

The 2 that fried were under no particular duress at the time, but were just
simply faulty and took the board with them when they died.


Stew

 

Thanks everyone for your answers.