Another overheating question.

[Shard92]

I have an Athlon 900 that we built and sold. We are new to the Athlon market , we haddn't been into them as we had heard many horror stories. Well we have had some problems with them since. This particular one seems to be overheating. First off it works fine here at the store but not at his home..... We added a case fan and that seem to take care of the problems for awhile but.... Oh the computer seems to work fine at his house too, IF it's on TOP of the desk with the side off. One question I have is .. We got these heat sinks that seem to work fine on the Duron that are "amd rated" but maybe isn't enough for the Athlon? I was also told to use the ones with the heatsink strip already on them instead of the paste. I also heard that they seal after abit of use. If that's the case I should 1) Not reuse the fan correct>? 2) do anything to the processor in way of cleaning it up before replacing a new heatsink?

Also I saw in another post that 60 -70 C is too hot for an Athlon. Is that true? I read somewhere that an Athlon can go 80-90 C. Any and all Info / suggestions welcome!

GLSmith

[fathead]

I'm new to the amd market as well...I ahve the 1.33 Athlon that runs at 57 C..I talked to AMD tech support and they could not tell me a temp that mine should run at, all they told me is as long as it is below 98C they support it!!! I ordered a Thermalright sk-6 from www.coolerguys.com today...I'll let you know how it does when I get it.

[http://forums.windrivers.com/cgi-bin/forum1/noncgi]

From the research that we've done here, thermal paste is generally about 10 times more conductive than TIM pads.

Also, some TIM pads (the phase change kind) require pretty substantial heat to change phase, before which they tend to act as an insulator.

And all TIM pads should be replaced whenever a heatsink is removed, otherwise there may be scratches or other damage on it that could cause hotspots.

[Wayward Clam]

I agree with the Captain, the thermal compound is much better than the pad. Plus it's darn cheap. My advice: buy a tube and keep it in your tech kit, lightly slather every CPU you ever work on with it. At less than $1 per chip (you don't need to use much) it's a very nice investment.

I have also heard from AMD that their chips are fine up into the 90s as well, but if mine was up there, I would buy another case fan, myself.

[disuse]

One thing to keep in mind... T-Bird's run hotter then Duron's! Even though AMD says that the stock fans that they ship will run fine... don't believe it. One of the reason's that the HSF (Heatsync and Fan) market is so big is due to the increase of demand. Read up on some different brands and make a choice of what to keep in stock. GlobalWin products are a +, along with some (not all) ThermoSonic's and ThermalTake.

I have a 1.33ghz at home and it runs about... 36C idle and 39C full load (90F - 113F) using a GlobalWin CAK-38.

And I highly suggest using NO, absolutly NO TIM's... The phase change kind is utterly horrible. Its a cheap way to skimp out on a cost so manufacturers go that route. Use a thermal grease (IE: Arctic Silver - http://www.arcticsilver.com) to help keep the contact between the cpu and the HSF. Most say it is a 10 degree difference, maybe more.

That, and you aren't worried about having to "phase change" your pad to be at its optimal performance.

I have about 4 AMD's all running about 85-100 degrees idle with various coolers and can lend a helpful hint or two... just give me a buzz at [email protected]

[diehrd]

Your trouble is evident,From your comment on the heat sink.If you do not use at least a sink equill to an alpha pal 6035 on any amd 1.2 or greater heat will be a serious problem.

A 1.2 Amd generates 68 to 75 watts of heat,A Duron 750 generatse 42 to 48 watts of heat.

GO grab a 75 watt Light bulb let us know if it is hot LOL.Seriously A good heat sink and fan will cool that chip to decient temps,also Artic Silver 2 is the best thermal past around for an amd.

If you change a heat sink use rubbing alcohol and a qtip to clean processor.