Overheating AMD Socket A...bleh

[Halide]

This is getting quite annoying. :suspect:

Why does my AMD 1200 MHz Socket A chip always run excessively hot? I can't manage doing anything much but IRC and simple stuff without the computer locking up.

First off, I have a crappy heatsink/fan, and you will probably jump on this at first... I have a Biostar M7VKB motherboard.

Secondly, I can't figure out how to underclock the cpu on my motherboard...

After getting irate about lock-ups every time I undergo any intense CPU usage, I have ordered a new heatsink/fan with some thermal compound.

My point is... I could simply blow a huge fan inside the case... but I'd like to keep the lid on since it has a window and cool little light in it... ;)

p.s. I have 3 case fans, 1 blowing in air from side, 1 blowing out in back, and 1 in front blowing (some direction?) :)

[inkedmn]

just take the side of the case off and put a huge floor fan pointing directly into the open case.

[Dru Lee Parsec]

I also have a 1.2Gig AMD and it runs WAY hot. Here's what I've done:

I took off the standard fan and replaced with a fan similar to this: http://www.chipmerchant.com/2228-0.html

I used the CPU software to turn my heat threshold up to 70 degrees C.

I have a fan duct that ports air directly onto the CPU. There's an 80mm fan in there.

What I need to do: My IBM Deskstar hard drives create a TON of heat. I want to seperate them by an empty hard drive slot. Then I want to put some of these in : http://www.chipmerchant.com/2003-0.html

I also want to add a blow hole to the top of my case that blows the hot air out the top. I think that will seriously help.

Another thing to check is to see how many fans are blowing INTO the case and how many are blowing OUT of the case. They should be the same number of fans. (More importantly, there should be the same amount of CFM blowing in as out)

Of course, this makes my computer sound like a jet engine. So some day I'll replace all of those fans with super quiet ones. The Power supply is the main noise culprit though and that will be expensive.

Hope it helps.

[Grizzly]

This is precisely why I DON'T buy AMD chips. Any chip that over-heats with a retail fan, @ default clock speed, is a piece of garbage in my opinion.

[stuka]

/me has an AMD Athlon XP 1700+, retail box version, and NEVER had heat problems like I used to with a PII 333 w/retail fans...

[Grizzly]

Oh please, don't even *try* to make a case that Golden Orb fans aren't around today because AMD chips run cool, and without problems.

Sure, you might find some single, rare cases where folks have had heat issues with Intel chips @ default clock, and for each one of those cases, I'll show you 10 people who had trouble with AMD chips @ default clock.

[Halide]

*sigh*

hey, now my computer makes these annoying high pitched sounds

I hate power supplies that make those noises argh

I feel like bashing it with a bat

[unruly]

my iMac doesn't have a fan... but, were I to be using a PC with an AMD chip, I'd just lay the case on it's side and route the ice maker from my fridge into the overturned case. Viola, coolness all the time!

sheesh, you geeks think way too much about this stuff.

[Uranium-235]

I run 1.33 @ ~40-45C


of course yeah with athlons you usually do have to buy a more expensive heat sink.

I have the Cooler master HHC-001

cost me $39 but it cools wonderfully (goes up to 45C cause it's very hot in my room)

[Halide]

hmm... I should have gotten something more expensive then

I just got the Thermaltake Volcano 7, which is approved for AMD up to 1.4 GHz and also for Athlon XP 2000+

oh, and... my power supply stopped squeaking... maybe coz i changed the wiring so that only drives were on set "A" and fans/light is on set "B".

or maybe it just starts squeaking when it's been on a while

oh, btw, I thought I fried my comp when i accidentally touched a power prong to the metal case while it was on :) had to reset my bios

[ChefNinja]

It's only a problem with the thunderbird series of chips :p They always tend to run excessively hot. AMD seems to have solved their cooling problem the the XP series of processors, I've never once overheated with them yet. :D

And here's something interesting, my friend just got his P4 2.53, and THAT is overheating. Every 10-15minutes into a cpu intensive app or game, the computer locks up or reboots. And the temperature is around ~65 degrees celcius :(

He even has a really nice Volcano 7+ fan :\

[Halide]

shazbot that's the fan i'm getting :(

that sux

anyways...anyone heard of high pitched noise issue? I just figured out that it happens after suspend mode under winblows

[Uranium-235]

P4's don't generate as much heat as AMD...

they can't handle it as well eather.

Athlons are built to run hot

Fact: The heat generation and power consumption of the t-bird 1.4 is greater then any known XP processor

[Halide]

so you're saying the volcano isn't going to do good with my 1.2 athlon???

i finally got a temperature sensor...

case is 25 celsius
cpu is 55 celsius IDLE, and rising

:(

[edit] do you know what temperature causes a lock up?

[Halide]

I got CPUIdle Pro 5.9 for windows, and now it goes down to 33 C, that is, being 90%+ idle, and with case open and fan blowing into it...

[Dru Lee Parsec]

Has anyone here tried lapping their CPUs? You essentially put some 600 grit emory cloth on a flat surface (glass) and sand the plastic off of the top of your CPU until the copper shows. Then you lap the bottom of your fan heat sink so it too is truely flat. Then you use some thermal paste adn put the two together and you're suppose to get massive cooling benefits. But you also risk destroying your CPU.

Even with my good fan I'm running about 62C to 64C. :(

[Uranium-235]

try opening up your case

[recluse]

Hmm, lapping might be a good idea if you're running 64nodes of 486's. Heheh.

[Grizzly]

I have dual P3-1GHz's, which tend to idle around 22-23 C (approx. room temperature)

If I run 20 Q3 timedemos in a row, they JUMP up to a whopping 25-26 C.

Moral of the story? These bad boys are coooool, and I'm using nothing more than retail fans on 'em. Do you know why? Well kiddies, it's because the P3 is a good, solid chip, engineered with quality, without cutting corners to help slash prices. The same applies to just about every Pentium class chip.

In the end, my primary concern is overall system stability. I could care less about squeezing an extra 3.4 FPS out of <insert violent shooter here>. I grew out of the "overclock & tweak my system until it bleeds" phase a long time ago. Now, all that matters is that I have a strong, stable, and reliable system.

[Halide]

Originally posted by Dru Lee Parsec
Has anyone here tried lapping their CPUs? You essentially put some 600 grit emory cloth on a flat surface (glass) and sand the plastic off of the top of your CPU until the copper shows. Then you lap the bottom of your fan heat sink so it too is truely flat. Then you use some thermal paste adn put the two together and you're suppose to get massive cooling benefits. But you also risk destroying your CPU.

Even with my good fan I'm running about 62C to 64C. :(

on a thunderbird?

my cpu locks up at 62c ... :\

[bwkaz]

Mine is fine at 82C... heh heh.

Athlon XP 1800, that specific example was on a really hot, humid day.

It also has air movement issues around the case (it's the bottom one in a stack of 2 cases and a printer ;) ), but it's all good.

[Halide]

woohoo, I finally got this cpu running "cool"

cool for an AMD that is

[ChefNinja]

It's all about Dual Xeon's :D

[Halide]

:(

now my comp still locks up

even though cpu is only 42C

wtf

[ChefNinja]

Get a new one :D I have an Athlon XP 1800, Abit KX7333-Raid, and 256mb pc2700 for sale if you want it :P

[Strike]

Originally posted by Halide
:(

now my comp still locks up

even though cpu is only 42C

wtf
sounds like a busted CPU to me

*fizzle*

[Halide]

Originally posted by ChefNinja
Get a new one :D I have an Athlon XP 1800, Abit KX7333-Raid, and 256mb pc2700 for sale if you want it :P

holy shit yes give

let me check your motherboard specs though

[Andie]

I had the same problem with my AMD always running hot, i ended up with three fans sucking air out of the case with a flower heat-sink on the chip and a large fan over that. The noise was a pain in the ass.
A friend of mine bought a P4 and i could hardly hear it. So as a long fan of AMD the time came to switch to the dark side and i ordered a P4. And just for a laugh i took the heat-sink off the AMD to see how long it would take to blow, 1 second later the chip went pop three seconds after that the motherboard screeeeched and went bang. one minute later the motherboard started to smoke....Doh! time to pull the plug. After telling a few people about this I found that a few bedrooms had burnt down due to the AMD chips so you have been warned. At lest the P4 will step down if it overheat for protection....

[bwkaz]

Originally posted by Andie
At lest the P4 will step down if it overheat for protection....

Actually, that's a function of the motherboard, not the processor. A lot of the more expensive KT400 motherboards (Via chipset, for AMD processors, just in case you don't know ;) ) have the same thermal overheat protection now.

A lot of the older and less expensive motherboards (including my Biostar POS) don't monitor the thermal diode that's right on the CPU, they have their own thermistor right next to the CPU. Which is OK, except that it won't shut down the processor properly on overheat.

Which is why Athlons can fry in those boards.

[Halide]

hehe, interesting... :)


I can't say I really mind the noise... P4's are a little expensive for me :wtf:

i'm gonna get a kt400 board, athlon xp 2000, and 512 ddr :)