Don't forget to clean that heatsink!

[snow patrol]

I recently noticed that my Intel P3 500e O/C to 700 (fcpga, 1.65V) was getting a little hotter than I liked. Until an hour ago, ASUS probe was reporting around 55-60deg C under load, and around 45 idle.

Any way, I decided it might be a good idea to take out the CPU to see how it was doing, so to speak. Well - the heatsink was COVERED in a thick layer of dust. If you think about it, this dust would be liable to insulate heat - not a good thing at all when you want a nice cool CPU. So, I blew/wiped off all the dust, put the CPU back in and low-and-behold, ASUS probe was reporting 45Deg C under load and around 33 when idle! I've since re-applied some generic thermal paste which has helped even more (minus a few degrees). But the dust thing is something to look out for.

Just thought I'd share that with ya, as it might not be something one normally thinks of

BTW, this was with a stock heatsink. I'm getting sent (for free ) a FOP 32 in a few days which I'll be slapping on. Hopefully that will decrease temps even more.

 

[chiwawa626]

heh ill go do that, ill post results
rght now its at 46 idle

 

[snow patrol]

heheh *no promises*

 

[Dan]

This tip should win the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval.

 

[Ulysses]

Cleanliness is next to...something or other....

 

[chiwawa626]

Ok, here we go you not gonna belive this!
I cleaned out the heatsink (Pal6035) using hot water and dryed it with a hairdryer, (hot hot hot....that heatsink gets soo hot touching the water or getting dryed with hairdryer) then i blew the dust outa my geforce2 heatsink, and then i blew all the dust outa the case and dusted the cpu fan (Ystech 27cfm).

Before:
46c idle
50c loaded

After:
42c idle
44c loaded

Im impressed

 

[snow patrol]

heheh, not bad. My heatsink has literally been inside of my case for almost a year, so the dust was very thickly spread.

 

[paruhd0x]

Get one of those high powered air cans.... those are fun.

 

[fast_eddie]

Exactly why I have foam filters on ALL intake fans (2 - 80mm, w/ 1 - 80mm exhaust in the PS) and taped up all cracks and crevices around the entire case. My old IBM-XT [circa 1984] actually stopped turning on {every 3 months, or so} due to the dust that was picked up at my auto repair shop business; I just got in the habit of 'field-stripping' that box every 2 months for over 7 years, until I retired it for a 'commercial-variety' 386DX33 with very effective filters.

 

[snow patrol]

Just installed the FOP 32.

Temps are now:

Idle: 26 Degrees C
Load: 36 Degrees C

Not a bad little heatsink