AMD APU A8-3870k Overheating

[hairyspheers]

Just got an A8-3870k paired with an ASUS F1A75-M motherboard and some 8gb of DDR3 1600. I have an issue, the APU keeps overheating. Here is the situation.

Temperature at:
idle is a cool 27 C,
Normal use about 32-40 C
Gaming 70 C !!!!!!

This is on the stock cooler and no overclock. Stock clocks on everything. Are any of you APU owners experiencing very high temps when gaming?

I cleaned off the stock grease and applied some arctic silver 5. Temps are slightly lower on idle and normal use, but my gaming temp still goes thru the roof.

Any suggestions beside an aftermarket cooler?
Thanks.

 

[Qbah]

Is it shutting down? Are applications crashing? Any odd behavior? Cause the temperature doesn't seem high for a stock cooler... 70C isn't really overheating...

 

[Chiropteran]

70C isn't really overheating

This

 

[sangyup81]

Is this on core temp? What is the Tj. Max?

 

[hairyspheers]

Is it shutting down? Are applications crashing? Any odd behavior? Cause the temperature doesn't seem high for a stock cooler... 70C isn't really overheating...

I experience shutdown after an hour of gaming at 70 C. The APU is prime95 stable at 4hrs; temps are around 61 C. I could not find the APU specs for temperature range. What temperature is generally acceptable then?

 

[Gikaseixas]

Make sure the heatsink is properly seated. Also, how's your case airflow like? Room temperature? Last, consider buy a cheap aftermarket heatsink.

 

[dma0991]

AMD processors at 60C and above is considered hot unlike Intel. Here's a cheap and quick fix, get a CM Hyper212 Evo.

 

[hairyspheers]

AMD processors at 60C and above is considered hot unlike Intel. Here's a cheap and quick fix, get a CM Hyper212 Evo.

This is the obvious solution and is not really a solution for me. AMD has provide a stock cooler to do the job at stock clocks. I want to achieve that or else something is up.

Is this on core temp? What is the Tj. Max?

This is core temp. I could not find Tj Max in the bios, but I have read it is 70 C on my board. I will need to do some researching.

 

[joshhedge]

Wait, why did you buy a 'K' APU if you don't plan on overclocking?

 

[dma0991]

This is the obvious solution and is not really a solution for me. AMD has provide a stock cooler to do the job at stock clocks. I want to achieve that or else something is up.

It is certainly possible that a stock cooler could not perform as stated due to unknown variables. They probably never took into account if the user has a poorly ventilated case, cramped case, ambient temps akin living in the desert or could be many more possibilities that it failed.

Here's another fix, lower the stock voltage. I believe that Llano's have higher than necessary factory voltage. Lowering it will give better temps.

 

[hairyspheers]

Wait, why did you buy a 'K' APU if you don't plan on overclocking?

I never said that. I always start with my baseline rock steady stable no matter what. Then I will build on that. But at stock clocks and temps what I consider high will need brought under control before any OC'ing.

It is certainly possible that a stock cooler could not perform as stated due to unknown variables. They probably never took into account if the user has a poorly ventilated case, cramped case, ambient temps akin living in the desert or could be many more possibilities that it failed.

Here's another fix, lower the stock voltage. I believe that Llano's have higher than necessary factory voltage. Lowering it will give better temps.

You may be right. The air flow in my case is very airy as there is nothing in there but an APU, motherboard, and a hard drive, and power supply. Case is a thermaltake V3. I will try to under-voltage at stock clocks, test stability and report back.

 

[nyker96]

what you need is a better heatsink, but not sure they got heatsinks for this socket type. maybe they do.

 

[AdmiralAdama]

what you need is a better heatsink, but not sure they got heatsinks for this socket type. maybe they do.

Any AM3/AM3+ heatsink will work. I have a A8 3870k xfired with 6670 with a Gelid Tranquillo cooler. I have the cpu overclocked to 3.5 GHz and the gpu overclocked to 800mhz. Idle temp is 25.1c, gaming with BF3 on high settings temp is 31.4c and under prime95 temps never goes above 37.3c. A cheap aftermarket cooler will keep the temps down the stock cooler is just too small.

 

[hairyspheers]

what you need is a better heatsink, but not sure they got heatsinks for this socket type. maybe they do.

As far as I understand any heat sink for AM3+ will fit FM1 no problems.

Anyhow, I dropped the cpu voltage down to 1.36 and when gaming my temps hit a high of 66 C. It is little improvement. I feel the stock cooler is just way undersized for this chip and there is little to be done to help the situation beside aftermarket cooling. She is still stable after an hour or so on prime95 on the lower voltage. Next step is the store!

 

[hairyspheers]

I have a A8 3870k xfired with 6670 with a Gelid Tranquillo cooler.

Did you ever try the stock cooler? Your temps are pretty low for an overclock, that heatsink must be a monster. What is you cpu voltage at 3.5 GHz?

 

[AdmiralAdama]

Did you ever try the stock cooler? Your temps are pretty low for an overclock, that heatsink must be a monster. What is you cpu voltage at 3.5 GHz?

Never took the stock cooler out of the box. Volts are 1.38 but I heard some people need 1.42 to achieve 3.5GHz. My case has excellent air flow which could be why my temps are so low. It's a Silverstone TJ04E.

 

[richierich1212]

As far as I understand any heat sink for AM3+ will fit FM1 no problems.

Anyhow, I dropped the cpu voltage down to 1.36 and when gaming my temps hit a high of 66 C. It is little improvement. I feel the stock cooler is just way undersized for this chip and there is little to be done to help the situation beside aftermarket cooling. She is still stable after an hour or so on prime95 on the lower voltage. Next step is the store!

Double check that your fan is running at full speed in BIOS. Make sure it's not on quiet or silent mode.

 

[Candymancan21]

if its any coralation my A6 in my laptop gets around 62c stock speeds, and overclocked to 2.6ghz at 1.2v it gets up to 80c when playing games... However if i keep it down to 2ghz at 1.12v it stays around 70c.. I dunno if 70 is too hot or not. I know GPU's can handle high temps easily, but im not sure about CURRENT amd cpu's.. I know i tend to like to keep my desktop cpu cooler then 55c.

Obviously tho a laptop will get warmer then a desktop

 

[nyker96]

As far as I understand any heat sink for AM3+ will fit FM1 no problems.

Anyhow, I dropped the cpu voltage down to 1.36 and when gaming my temps hit a high of 66 C. It is little improvement. I feel the stock cooler is just way undersized for this chip and there is little to be done to help the situation beside aftermarket cooling. She is still stable after an hour or so on prime95 on the lower voltage. Next step is the store!

I wouldn't OC that w/o a decent HSF. you better get a hyper 212+ or something decent. You'd probably drop a significant amount compare to stock cooler. For a piece of mind, definitely worth it.

 

[hairyspheers]

I wouldn't OC that w/o a decent HSF. you better get a hyper 212+ or something decent. You'd probably drop a significant amount compare to stock cooler. For a piece of mind, definitely worth it.

I was almost convinced the stock cooler is junk, but I really can not say for sure without knowing the specs of the processor's temperature operating range. Anyhow, I picked up the hyper 212 and now at a 3.4 GHz oc and GPU at 900 MHz, my gaming temps are 43 C. Prime95 2hr stable.

Goal is to get up to 3.7 GHz or more. We shall see.

 

[FalseLion]

felt the need to make a post here because there's some misinformation in this thread

the majority of the a6 and a8 amd processors have a maximum operating temperature of 72 degrees celsius: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-A8-Series A8-3870 AD3870WNZ43GX.html

same as the intel i3's and i5's

if you look at the intel i7's they're only designed to handle up to 66 degress celsius

yeah intel cpu's are faster but they run hotter, and despite internet beliefs the newer amd cpu's run cooler and handle heat better

OP, were you using the integrated graphics or a pci vid card when you were getting those high temps? majority of the overheating issues that I've read about were caused by the integrated graphics. Think the cpu is really meant to crossfire with a radeon, which i guess is really smart on amd's part.

my a8 idles between 27 and 33 degrees (with stock and as5) depending on the room temperature, haven't been able to get it above 57 with a stress test program, and 54 degress when gaming (normally it's right around 49 - 50 but it's been hot lately and I'm trying to avoid turning the air on).

as for the guy who asked why would you buy a k apu if your not overclocking? this a8 is the fastest fm1 socket processor right now, for bout ten bucks more you get 100mhz more per core, so why not buy it.

 

[aaksheytalwar]

AMD processors at 60C and above is considered hot unlike Intel. Here's a cheap and quick fix, get a CM Hyper212 Evo.

This