Is my CPU going to be okay?

[MonkeyPaw]

Graphics cards routinely hit 70C under load, but CPUs are not designed for it. Are you sure you weren't getting the readings for the CPU mixed up with the GPU?

If the reading is true, then I'm thinking you have an issue with your cooling. Either the heatsink is undersized, not mounted correctly, the fan has failed, or the whole assembly might be clogged with dust. Regardless, the BIOS can be set to alert and/or shut down at a thermal threshold. This should work independently of the OS you run.

As far as if your CPU is okay. I'm sure it's fine. The thermal threshold is likely spec'ed lower than the real point of failure. You might have more trouble if this was a continuous load temp, if for no other reason than because it stresses the surrounding components that must supply power under high heat (more resistance). Open the case and observe the system in action. My Phenom II X4 never seems to get hot, much less 70C.

[pqwoerituytrueiwoq]

are you over clocking it? some boards have a auto over-clock feature make sure the clock and voltage is set correctly
i have a AMD 965 phenom II x4 with the stock heatsync and fan it stays pretty cool at it stock 3.4Ghz
does your case have a said e airduct or fan? if not yuo may want to consider making one there you just need a 8 CM hole saw, duct tape (put it over the area you are going ot use the saw), a 80mm dust filter, and a 80mm fan alternativly yuo can use a grill and a air duct
u used a grill and home made duct on my 965 and it was staying in the 40s to lower 30s iirc

[MutantJohn]

Actually, I got into undervolting and it seems to be working fine when under load but my idle temps are higher. And by working fine, my under load temps are now much, much cooler than before.

I have AMD Phenom II x4 955 BE if I didn't mention it earlier.

[MutantJohn]

And my computer is over a year old and has been checked out before by Geeksquad so I think if anything was glaringly obvious they'd have caught it and my computer wouldn't be over a year old.

This was honestly just a one time thing.

[NadirPoint]

I hope AMD has similar built-in protections to my several years old 2.4Ghz Intel Quad Core CPU that self-invoked thermal shutdown probably a dozen or more times due to an improperly installed fan.

It's been fine for a couple years now since getting that fixed.

[MutantJohn]

Alright, so I finally fixed everything.

Playing Heroes of Newerth with everything maxed and whatnot: 48C Max. Before, it was around 59C Max. This is dropping from 1.33 V to 1.17 V.

Also, playing Trine on max through Desura drops my CPU from a max of 61C to about 53C.

Also, when I was changing voltages, somehow my cpufreq settings were messed up so my ondemand governor was set from a low frequency of 3.2 Ghz to 3.2 Ghz so I fixed to from .8 Ghz to 3.2 Ghz and now everything is running absolutely perfectly and I won't have to worry about killing my processor anymore.

And my CPU fan is a lot happier too, ha ha.