I put together my rig with a Phenom II x4 965, and at stock clocks it idles around 40 and at full load gets around 60. If I put it at 3.6 it gets up to about 70 at full load. I know what temps are okay for GPUs but I'm new to processor temps, are these too hot? I'm using the stock cooler (probably my problem) and I'm probably going to get and EVO 212 or something soon.
i think the thermal "Limit" for the Phenoms is 65c so keep it under that, 60 is already pretty hot for one of those, so just wait until you get the Evo as stock coolers are horrible.
What he said..
the thermal limit is hardwired in them and will throttle down the voltage and clock if you hit it.
Getting ur cpu to temps anywhere near that threshold how ever will not help its longevity.
TBH 70C full load is nothing, thats a temp u really want to aim for with a decent OC.
This is mainly because for gaming you arent really gonna throttle ur cpu that much. 50% - 70-% cpu usage is more what u are looking at there and you arent sustaining it for that long.
If your making an encoding box where u actually max out the cpu for 12 hours or more, you might have issues with those temps. But u generally dont OC rigs like that, u just get more cores.
Older Processors like Phenom II's dont have a throttling feature when they pass the thermal limit, 70C is wayy to high, and even idling at 40+ can be worriesome because at a decent load youll be to close for comfort to its thermal limit.
For the specs heres a link http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1037/2/
or you can google the max safe temp and see all the discussion threads where the list 65c as the max temp.
This has been debated to death over the years. People have asked AMD to get official numbers, there is a thread on Overclock:
http://www.overclock.net/t/1128821/amd-temp-information-and-guide
And the post with the quote from AMD:
http://www.overclock.net/amd-cpus/931241-interesting-information-amd-about-1090t.html
In short, stay under 62 Celsius and you're fine. 70 is pushing your luck.