First time applying arctic silver, is this normal?

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Blakestr

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My computer has been shutting down a lot for the past few weeks. I did a format, installed latest drivers, dusted out the inside real good, checked wire management. I think either my video card or motherboard is getting too hot.

Since my Amd 3000+ 64 is about 4 years old, I was wondering maybe I should try some arctic silver...heard great things about it and I don't even overclock.

I got it and read the instructions over and over, when I pulled the HSF off it was stuck to the CPU...which came out, scaring the hell out of me. I removed with some 91 % isopryl alcohol and a coffee filter, like everyone has suggested. Applying the silver was a real pain (I used a very small amount with a credit card) but to spread it evenly was difficult and took a long time. I wasn't sure if you could have a line of empty space from smearing it, so I kept putting more on and taking it off until I was satisfied. Had a little trouble putting the HSF back on but I reseated the CPU and got the HSF in there, triplechecked it to make sure it was secure.

It booted up fine but I am checking my Speedfan says my CPU is running at 1.52 V at 58C, which seems awfully hot for running at near idle. I understand there is a 200 hour period of breakin but I was just making sure this wasn't abnormal. My biggest mistake was forgetting to check my Speedfan temp BEFORE so I could actually compare the different temps. The case temperature, however inaccurate, DOES appear lower.

I know i didn't really ask a direct question but I was wondering if you had any concerns/questions about this whole situation. THanks in advance...
 
don't spread it out with a credit card.
i did that at first, and it killed my temps. next time i just put a dot and let it spread out with the pressure of the heatsink, and it helped tremendously.
 
What does CPUz say for your CPU voltage.

You don't need 1.52v for your stock clockspeed... 1.35 is probably much better.

And yeah, new users are best off with putting a rice-grain sized glob in the middle, and attaching the HSF, letting the HSF do all the spreading. Much less easy to screw up :)
 
So I should take it off, clean it, put a dot down and just put the heatsink back on? I was worried about that leaving parts of the cpu uncoated and this vulnerable to doom.
 
yea you should. everything will be coated once your done tightening the heatsink anyway, theres nothing to be worried about
 
What you will also want to do is, after cleaning the surface of the heatsink with isopropyl alcohol, apply a small dot to the heatsink and then, using a plastic bag or something, rub the compound into the heatsink. This fills in the microscopic grooves. Once that's all rubbed in, give the heatsink a good wipedown with a lint-free cloth. My favorite (and least expensive) lint-free cloth is a coffee filter. Then, like bobjone said, a small dollup of AS5 on the center of the CPU.

I believe it takes 100 hours for the compound to reach its optimal state.
 
My a64 3000+ with stockheatsink overclocked 425mhz at 1.4vcore idles at 33c with the doors\windows open and it's 79f in here so something is definately wrong.
 
idling at 33C is fine.

58C is not.

reapply. and this time..

twist the heatsink when it's unclipped so it helps not getting the "heatsink stuck to CPU" effect :]
 
UPDATE - I followed what everyone said and here's what happened:

I boot up XP and notice in Speedfan that my temp is like 37 but quickly (in a few minutes) rises to 54 C. "Well shit," I think, "That didn't help much." Until I played an hours worth of City of Heroes. I kept alt tabbing out and my temp hadn't gone above 55C.

Maybe my definition of idle is wrong, maybe I just have a high idle for some reason, as its one of those XDreamer Aspire cases so I know i don't have very good cooling. But I would rather have a high idle and a low temp on full loading than vice versa....Thanks for the help..

PS -Next rig will have better cooling...I'm not putting anymore money into this one...
 
Well alt tabbing out of a game really doesn't give you a good idea. By that time the cpu temp could drop 5-10c and even then it's probably not under full load.


Your case has four 80mm fan intakes and two 80mm exhaust(or a 120mm exhuast whichever you choose)? If you dont have any fans in it I would definately cut the grills out and install some.
 
use a stress program to peg your cpu at load, games dont do anything except let you know that your CPU is under more load then at idle. you dont know if they are using 10% or 80% and like someone said by the time you tab out the cpu usage will have droped along with the temp.
 
ghost6303 said:
use a stress program to peg your cpu at load, games dont do anything except let you know that your CPU is under more load then at idle. you dont know if they are using 10% or 80% and like someone said by the time you tab out the cpu usage will have droped along with the temp.
Click to expand...

This is a great idea. Loading your CPU to 100% and watching speedfan will let you know just what temps you are seeing under load.

Search for Toast, CPU Burn or similar to load your CPU.
 
Get ORTHOS, its a great stress test program.
Use the MB program for your board to monitor temps during ORTHOS. You'll find out in a couple of minutes what kind of temps you are dealing with under stress.:D
 
I have at least built 20+ computers within the past year and at least 50 ore more in my life, so i'm pretty good at doing this. im not saying theres a better way out there but this way works well for me. after all these years seeing how temperatures can play a role on how you apply the thermal paste i have figured this out to obtain some of the lowest temps.

my idle temps are pretty low for an overclocked system and my other machine is idling at 23 degrees (not with a stock heatsink of course)

the lowest machine that i had running was 19-23C (then again the processor wasnt a power hungry one either)

anyway follow these instructions if you like and let me know how well it works out for you.


1. clean off both heat sink and cpu with the highest grade of alcohol you can find. I use 90% isopropyl alcohol.

2. apply the artic silver on both heat sink and cpu. put half the size of a grain of rice. now flatten out and spread teh paste.

3. grab a paper towel a heavy duty one will work best so that it doesnt rip. DO NOT USE TISSUE PAPER!!! since it will leave particles of fibre hairs stuck to your heat sink/cpu.

4. "massage" the thermal paste off of both cpu and heatsink until you see a faded film of thermal paste. (this will push the thermal paste deep into the valleys of both heatsink and cpu)

5. after you have done step 4, apply a small amount of thermal paste on the cpu about 3/4 of a rice grain. now set your heat sink directly ontop of the cpu and CLAMP DOWN.

6. twist the heat sink left to right slightly (about 5 degrees)

put everything back together and fire it up!

watch the temps drop!


i have successfully got some of the loweest temps ever!!!
 
killingfield1975 said:
I have at least built 20+ computers within the past year and at least 50 ore more in my life, so i'm pretty good at doing this. im not saying theres a better way out there but this way works well for me. after all these years seeing how temperatures can play a role on how you apply the thermal paste i have figured this out to obtain some of the lowest temps.

my idle temps are pretty low for an overclocked system and my other machine is idling at 23 degrees (not with a stock heatsink of course)

the lowest machine that i had running was 19-23C (then again the processor wasnt a power hungry one either)

anyway follow these instructions if you like and let me know how well it works out for you.


1. clean off both heat sink and cpu with the highest grade of alcohol you can find. I use 90% isopropyl alcohol.

2. apply the artic silver on both heat sink and cpu. put half the size of a grain of rice. now flatten out and spread teh paste.

3. grab a paper towel a heavy duty one will work best so that it doesnt rip. DO NOT USE TISSUE PAPER!!! since it will leave particles of fibre hairs stuck to your heat sink/cpu.

4. "massage" the thermal paste off of both cpu and heatsink until you see a faded film of thermal paste. (this will push the thermal paste deep into the valleys of both heatsink and cpu)

5. after you have done step 4, apply a small amount of thermal paste on the cpu about 3/4 of a rice grain. now set your heat sink directly ontop of the cpu and CLAMP DOWN.

6. twist the heat sink left to right slightly (about 5 degrees)

put everything back together and fire it up!

watch the temps drop!


i have successfully got some of the loweest temps ever!!!
Click to expand...

I just may try this with my current rig to see if it makes a difference. I like that idea of spreading some paste on both first. Nice info here. Thanks.
 
Puterguru said:
I just may try this with my current rig to see if it makes a difference. I like that idea of spreading some paste on both first. Nice info here. Thanks.
Click to expand...

once you spread it on both make sure you "massage" it back out. i read somewhere that the plate on the cpu has tiny microscopic valleys so it would make sense to rub the thermal paste deep into the surface of both cpu and proc. then again massage most of it out leaving a thin flat film. apply your thermal paste on the cpu, clip in the heat sink and wallah.

hopefully it works out for you because its been working out for me every single time.
 
just some additional information on the heat of your processor..

personally I think it's too hot. technically most A64 939 processors from what I know of should be 50C or lower, and 55C max temps.

I have a overclocked 4000+ at 1.45 volts, running at 2.8ghz from my old 2.4 ghz, and it's load at 53C. For a stock 3000+, 59C? That's a bit toasty... but then again I am using a AC freezer.
 
More information. Apparently, I had forgotten a few weeks back when I installed Prime 95...it has that way of running in your tray and you forget all about it...so for a few weeks, it's been running Prime95 all the time....I feel stupid because I have been gaming with that thing on...

I turned it off 5 minutes ago...system is cooling down, temp is 41 C and dropping.

What's the percentage of problems that are operator error? I know it's higher than my temps...

Note - It is socket 754, not 939...
 
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