Athlon 1.4 temp problem

[benhar]

I similiar questions come up a lot, but the posts I found on the search weren't helping much.

I was monitoring my CPU temps in the BIOS after installing a new MB, and was shocked to see my 1.4 Thunderbird reach 52 C idle. How bad is this? My case is an Antec 1030B with 2 Panaflos bringing air in the front and 2 more pulling air out of the back. My HSF is an Alpha 8045 with another Panaflo and the stock thermal compound. I had similar temps with Artic Silver 2. I cleaned the HS and the processor very well with alchohol. I noticed 2 things that might be relevant to the problem: A) The heatsink has a small rectangular corroded-looking area where the processor touched it and B) When I bolted down the heatsink, the nylon nuts began turning with the bolts, limiting the tightness. I wasn't sure if that was normal, and I was afraid to hold the nuts with pliers and keep turning the bolts for fear of cracking my processor, so I stopped there and put the fan on. Could either of these be the problem? What else might be causing the high temps?

One more thing... When I changed the BIOS settings from 133/66 to 100/66 to take the speed down to 1050 Mhz, the temps dropped to 45 C.

Thanks

 

[SouthernBred]

I can't offer much, other than to say that "proper mating" between the heatsink and the processor is very, very important. Someone else can correct me, but I would say it's important enough that if that was the problem, your temperatures would actually be much, much higher.

However, note that 52C for an Athlon isn't *that* bad, and could be normal if your ambient temps are high too.

I have an AMD 1600+ (1.4 GHz) and it idles at 47C in the summer, and I've made lots of cooling mods.

You could run the system with the cover off and see what happens. Also, make sure you don't have a bunch of cables obstructing intake. Every time a make a small change (use ASII instead of grease, rounded IDE cables, etc...) I would knock 1-2C off my temps.

 

[v3rrv3]

Hey,
I have a 1.4, yet it doesn't get nearly that hot. Maybe 42 recently. I would suggest what he did, try to clear intake. Also, try opening a door if you're in a fairly small room. I had a problem with that the first day I got it, I had it in a closed room and in less than 2 hours the temp raised to 50.

Cheers

 

[Regalk]

A bit hot I would say. I am using a volcano 7+ (med fan speed) and a 1.2Tbird o/c to 1.42 with 1.85 core.
With system at 35C, cpu idle = 41C.
I believe ambient temp may be too hot or poor installation.

 

[TJ69]

The AMD 1.4 TBird is the hottest running cpu. You need a good HSF to keep this thing cool. Also keep in mind your ambient/case temps.

I'm using a GC68 w/ 28-52cfm fan. My case temp is 38C, and my CPU idles at 48C. If I slap on my old Thermosonic Thermoengine and Delta Fan I can get it below 45C (but i got tired of the noise). The limiting factor for my CPU temp is the ambient temperature in my room. Back at college, we keep the room ice cold, and the CPU temp drops under 40C w/ thermoengine.

I personally don't mind the higher temps w/ the GC68, because I dont have to put up with the delta anymore. I played with fan speed/temps alot, and have tested it up to 62C under load. It still runs fine without crashing, but I like to keep in the mid 50 range under load (hopefully keepin it from burning). I've had it within 48-57C for a few months now and play plenty games on it, so I think its a safe temp.

 

[mechBgon]

Several things here:

1) motherboards vary. Take six different motherboards and you'll probably get six different readings of the same CPU/heatsink combo. My Asus board reads about 10C higher than my ECS board. So take those readings with a grain of salt.

2) the Alpha requires that you get the bolts in all the way until they bottom out in the aluminum nuts, so that the springs are applying enough pressure to overcome the corner pads on the CPU and make contact, instead of just having a marshmallow of thermal compound floating between the two surfaces. Don't be shy...

• get board out of case
• remove heatsink
• tighten the aluminum standoffs to the nylon nuts a little beyond finger-tight
• oil the threads on the four springbolts
• put on two flat plastic washers, the spring and a third plastic washer on each of the springbolts
• set heatsink on CPU and get one corner threaded in about two turns
• engage opposite corner springbolt and thread it in two turns
• get the remaining two springbolts threaded in two turns
• begin going in an X pattern and tightening the bolts a half-turn at a time while holding the nylon nuts if necessary
• keep at it until all four bolts are bottomed in the aluminum standoffs and cannot go in any further

I would also take that opportunity to switch back to Arctic Silver II or III. The amount of heat going through that little square is really high, so you would want the thermal compound to be good stuff.