Just patched together my A64-3500 + Asus A8V + Sapphire X800 Pro combo. I have a Thermalright 948(U) heatsink on top of my cpu, with a thermaltake 80mm fan on top (rated @ 75 CFM @ 4800 rpm, however it only runs at 4400 rpm). My cpu idles at 54 C and goes higher than 80 while playing games or under any significant load. My motherboard monitoring software starts beeping at me, and even shuts down the computer unless i disable it. Any suggestions for lowering temps without using water cooling?
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Lowering temps using air cooling
- Thread starter Taiguy
- Start date
Deadlierchair
[H]ard|Gawd
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- Jun 12, 2003
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- 1,400
Wow....that's not right at all. With an awesome heatsink like that your temps should be much much lower. You need to work on the airflow in your case. What is your ambient temperature in your room? As long as it's fairly cool and you have good airflow, you could drop your temps by 10*C I bet. One more thing...did you mount that heatsink correctly? All these things just don't add up...
Sounds like you're a victim of the infamous Newcastle temperature problem. Just about every S939 mobo I've seen has problems reading the temperatures off of the CPU. Get this: your CPU will shut down if the die ever reaches 70°C (that comes from AMD tech support, so it's the truth). There is no way in hell that your temps are correct, because your computer would have crashed long before it hit 80°C. I'd recommend you start looking for a BIOS update. We've been waiting on Abit for weeks for the fix for the AV8.Taiguy said:
I'd be curious what your case and ambient/room temperature is. Also, what thermal compound was used. That temperature doesn't seem right for your HSF combo. I recently installed two 3500+s on A8V Rev 2's show 54C load and around 42C idle with Thermaltake Pipe101 HSFs with Panaflo FBL H1 fans (54 cfm?) with AS5 that still has to settle. Both are in typical Chieftec/Antec/Chenming/et all cases with plenty of air flow. Another A8V system with an FX-53 sees even better temps with the same heat sink you're using and a similar fan in a Stacker case. Something's definitely fishy.
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- Jul 21, 2004
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I agree with everyone who has responded so far. This definately does not add up!
I've got an older A64 3200+ Socket 754 w/1MB L2 Cache, and a Swiftech MCX6400-V heatsink with an Enermax 92MM fan rated at 50CFM at 2700RPM, and am using AS5. Its all sitting in a Chieftec case with 2 intake and 3 exhaust fans, and my processor sits at around 32-34C idle and about 38-40C under load (pending ambient temps in my house)
Check to be sure that your HS is properly seated on the CPU, and make sure that you didn't use TOO much thermal compound regardless of what kind it is. All you need is a thin layer. Make sure that the airflow in your case is smooth flowing and doesn't bounce off eachother. (I usually... use 2 or 3 intakes in the front of the case, and 2 exhaust fans in the rear. That way it's not recirculating the same hot air from one fan to the other.) One other thing to check sounds dumb, but I've done it before,
is having the fan point the wrong direction. Make sure they're blowing the right way, even as dumb as it sounds, it can happen even to those who install a lot of fans. (And yes... I am a tard from time to time )
If fan flow is restricted, pull off the main panel to your case and expose the internal hardware to the outside ambient temps. If your processor temps drop down quite a bit, you'll know that most of your problem resides in your airflow from your fans.
Oh ya, and by the way, as NinjaFish stated earlier, update to the latest revision of BIOS for your board. I have an ASUS A7V333 that used to "theoretically" run cool. The darn thing kept shutting off on me because of C.O.P. and I was getting angry because PC Probe was registering my CPU at about 45C. After I did a BIOS update, I found out that it wasn't 45C... it was really 68C! So doing a BIOS update will more than likely fix any temp reading errors if they exist.
I've got an older A64 3200+ Socket 754 w/1MB L2 Cache, and a Swiftech MCX6400-V heatsink with an Enermax 92MM fan rated at 50CFM at 2700RPM, and am using AS5. Its all sitting in a Chieftec case with 2 intake and 3 exhaust fans, and my processor sits at around 32-34C idle and about 38-40C under load (pending ambient temps in my house)
Check to be sure that your HS is properly seated on the CPU, and make sure that you didn't use TOO much thermal compound regardless of what kind it is. All you need is a thin layer. Make sure that the airflow in your case is smooth flowing and doesn't bounce off eachother. (I usually... use 2 or 3 intakes in the front of the case, and 2 exhaust fans in the rear. That way it's not recirculating the same hot air from one fan to the other.) One other thing to check sounds dumb, but I've done it before,
is having the fan point the wrong direction. Make sure they're blowing the right way, even as dumb as it sounds, it can happen even to those who install a lot of fans. (And yes... I am a tard from time to time )If fan flow is restricted, pull off the main panel to your case and expose the internal hardware to the outside ambient temps. If your processor temps drop down quite a bit, you'll know that most of your problem resides in your airflow from your fans.
Oh ya, and by the way, as NinjaFish stated earlier, update to the latest revision of BIOS for your board. I have an ASUS A7V333 that used to "theoretically" run cool. The darn thing kept shutting off on me because of C.O.P. and I was getting angry because PC Probe was registering my CPU at about 45C. After I did a BIOS update, I found out that it wasn't 45C... it was really 68C! So doing a BIOS update will more than likely fix any temp reading errors if they exist.
what's this "infamous Newcastle temperature problem"? and yes, the fan is mounted correctly and the the heatsink is mounted correctly as well (I can feel a ton of air moving off the sides of the heatsink). I didn't read any guides on applying thermal paste (used the stuff that came with the thermalright 948) but i do think i used too much, I should clean it up sometime. My motherboard reads 35C pretty much constantly, and I'm not too sure on ambient temperature.
I had a problem when I used too much paste on my XP2800+. Although my temps did not go up, they did not go down either. Cleaning it up makes a big difference - All I had to do was make sure the paste was ONLY on the die, and didn't touch any of the other exposed parts on top of the chip - remember that the paste doesn't discriminate about which way it conducts the heat - it moves away from the die to the HS because the HS is at a lower temp than the die, but if the other exposed parts are in contact with the paste and HS, but are at a lower temp than the HS, then the heat may conduct right back to the chip.
- Joined
- Jul 21, 2004
- Messages
- 2,190
Yes.. don't use anything less than isopropyl alcohol. Anything that is of higher alcohol content is better, as long as its not booze . Just make sure that its only alcohol and water if anything. I dip Q-Tips in the isopropyl alcohol and then gently rub it off... you may need several Q-Tips to get it all. Also make sure that when you clean it off, you don't rub any on other spots of the processor.
Then do the same thing with the heatsink. Get it all nice and shiny clean.
Then dab a bit on the bottom of the HS where the core makes contact, and spread it pretty evenly. You don't want to use too much like TheCleric stated, as you can just re-conduct the heat back to the core. It's hard to explain on how much to use, but just make sure that you spread it evenly on the base of the HS where the core touches. I usually spread it across about 1 square inch, and its a little less than 1mm thick. (Probably between .5mm -.75mm) This way it won't glop back down on the core when you re-apply your HS.
And remember, try to place the heatsink EVENLY down on the processor once you've got the thermal grease on it. If you start on one side of the core, then gradually push down to even it out, you have to think that while you're doing that, you'll be pushing some of your thermal grease from the starting side to the other end. (If this makes sense I don't know ) This is why you want to be sure you put it down evenly over the core.
This probably wont make your temps drop down much, but it will probably do more good than anything.
Those temps are pretty good though, 44C is relatively decent, and nothing to worry about. But I do enjoy my 32-34C idle.
. Just make sure that its only alcohol and water if anything. I dip Q-Tips in the isopropyl alcohol and then gently rub it off... you may need several Q-Tips to get it all. Also make sure that when you clean it off, you don't rub any on other spots of the processor.Then do the same thing with the heatsink. Get it all nice and shiny clean.
Then dab a bit on the bottom of the HS where the core makes contact, and spread it pretty evenly. You don't want to use too much like TheCleric stated, as you can just re-conduct the heat back to the core. It's hard to explain on how much to use, but just make sure that you spread it evenly on the base of the HS where the core touches. I usually spread it across about 1 square inch, and its a little less than 1mm thick. (Probably between .5mm -.75mm) This way it won't glop back down on the core when you re-apply your HS.
And remember, try to place the heatsink EVENLY down on the processor once you've got the thermal grease on it. If you start on one side of the core, then gradually push down to even it out, you have to think that while you're doing that, you'll be pushing some of your thermal grease from the starting side to the other end. (If this makes sense I don't know
) This is why you want to be sure you put it down evenly over the core.This probably wont make your temps drop down much, but it will probably do more good than anything.
Those temps are pretty good though, 44C is relatively decent, and nothing to worry about. But I do enjoy my 32-34C idle.