Here's my situation: I've been running an AMD XP 2600 system for about 4 months now. The temps were constantly dangerously high (idling at ~45, 65+ under load) so I logically assumed it had to be my 5 dollar cheapo heatsink. So I got rid of that, bought a 65 dollar massive heatsink with 6 heatpipes and a 120mm fan as well as ArticSilver 5 thermal paste, put it all together, made sure everything was working correctly, and was sure that my temps were going to drop. Nope. I'm still idling in the low 40s and seeing ~70 degree C temps for load with a heatsink with 6 heatpipes, a 120mm fan on it and 2 case fans. Is my motherboard temp reader whacked? What is going on? I can't play any games becuase my comp just shuts down becuase of the heat. As I'm typing this, with Firefox being the only program running, I'm seeing 42C on the temp monitor. My computer is unstable at best, and it doesn't make any sense. Any advice?


*Update: The CPU is now underclocked 500 Mhz and the temps are still in the red.

Overclocked? is it clean inside? maybe the videocard is helping to heat everthing.. Just my simple thoughts

brian kc0kfg

It's not OC'd, everything is clean as a whistle, system temp (temp inside tower) constatly registers at >35 degrees.

AMD chips have the ability to use the on die sensor which will give temps that are about 10 degrees warmer than an MB based sensor. Most monitor programs will sense these before they sense the mb based ones.

The most important thing for these chips is airflow. I cant tell you how many times I have seen people place all fans blowing inward and thought their problems were cured. Dont fight the heat, allow it to rise and make sure that your Power fan is not cancelling out your CPU cooling. If I need to make mods to a case, I usually put a fan blowing cool air directly onto the CPU fan and the then onto the chip. Then vent from the top. You also need to check to make sure your heatsink is properly seated. Silver paste is good, but go sparingly.

You are certain its the CPU faulting the system? Vid cards are famous for doing this too.

SJ

im suspecting the interface between the heatsink and CPU.

What are you using between the heatsink and CPU?

there should be either thermal paste or that pink gummy square that comes with some heatsinks.

he said that he used Arctic Silver 5 - the paste.

I think it may be a problem of your heatsink contacting the chip?

then again, if you are still in the red after your heatsink upgrade, maybe your temp sensor is messed up.

if you have a remote temperature sensor, try it out and see what it says your temps are. not many people have 'em, but they sure are fun to mess around with.

Frostkaiser, any results? Luck? New symptoms?

Im having a high temp reading too.

mine will idle in the system temp will idle in low 30's, however my CPU idles in the 50's. It gets up around 70 with standard DVD playback.

Its a 3ghz Prescott P4 (known to run warm)

I touched the heatsink about 1 minute after I shut the PC down (when it read near 70), the heatsink was only Luke warm. I believe my sensor to be bad, you might want to try this as well.