HEAT!!!

Raggaholic

Ok, I would have never guessed it, but my comp freezing problems are probably due to heat. After checking via Everest Home Edition, my CPU is registering 88 Degrees C (yes, you read that right). It says the fan is spinning at 3971 RPM and it's an non-AMD heatsink (it's a larger copper one).

When I first put this heatsink/fan combo on, I KNOW I put thermal grease on it (if there wasn't a pad). What can I do, short of removing/reapplying can I do to bring the processor heat down?

Gotcha Force

im not sure what you want to hear

you most likely botched up the thermal grease

stigweard

Re-applying the thermal paste is the only thing that is going to bring it down, short of under-volting / under-clocking the cpu. Apart from that, you could try taking the side of the case off or try to improve the overall airflow in the case.

Fibretip

removing the side of the case can sometimes actually be a bad idea... it can totally funk the airflow in your case (most cases are designed to pull air through and push it out, opening the side ruins that flow and the fans lose their effectiveness), and it lets in a lot more dust which is another contributor to overheating pcs... definately don't do it if for example your pc is sitting on a carpet.
that's what we were taught in my A+ classes anyways...

to the op... yeah, brutal truth is that if you're running at those temps... you've messed up somewhere, or the heatsink is a dud...but that's incredibly unlikely. when you take it off, be sure to rub all the old paste off (you ca use rubbing alcohol if you're careful) then pay careful attention to the instructions when re-applying... there's heaps of tutorials if you google. Oh and use something good like arctic silver, not the cheapest paste they have around the corner

Seattle Thread

Metal-to-metal is much more heat condusive than any thermal paste is, but because the processor & heatsink surfaces have tiny tiny little pores and imperfections, thermal paste is needed. Only for said imperfections, though.

So just use a very, very thin layer of the stuff. Don't overdo it, or you're actually making it worse.

Also, make sure the case, fans & heatsinks are completely dust-free. Dust coats computer parts and creates a nice little insulating blanket. A can of compressed air will do the trick.

robaal

Fibretip wrote:

removing the side of the case can sometimes actually be a bad idea... it can totally funk the airflow in your case (most cases are designed to pull air through and push it out, opening the side ruins that flow and the fans lose their effectiveness), and it lets in a lot more dust which is another contributor to overheating pcs... definately don't do it if for example your pc is sitting on a carpet.
that's what we were taught in my A+ classes anyways...

to the op... yeah, brutal truth is that if you're running at those temps... you've messed up somewhere, or the heatsink is a dud...but that's incredibly unlikely. when you take it off, be sure to rub all the old paste off (you ca use rubbing alcohol if you're careful) then pay careful attention to the instructions when re-applying... there's heaps of tutorials if you google. Oh and use something good like arctic silver, not the cheapest paste they have around the corner

Yeah... well it's not like you chop the side off - if the temperature doesn't drop you can always put it back on and when it's off you can point some big house fan at the innards which should work slightly better that any 80mm fans that could be pulling the air through the case normally.

I wasn't aware that alcohol interacted in any way with electrical components... and most of the time you can just put a small blob of thermal paste on the core and the pressure of the heatsink will squeeze the excess out and spread it well enough. The difference between the cheapest silicone paste and the most expensive stuff is very small in practice - around two °C per 100W (it might be larger with a cheaper heatsink with a rougher base, I suppose).
It's not like the better ones cost a lot, but I prefer Arctic Silver Ceramique over AS5 as it isn't conductive.


Raggaholic: ducting is usually fairly efficient at dropping temps; use it to either get outside air directly to the CPU heatsink or to force the hot air from it directly outside. But yeah, unless your CPU is a Prescott, at 88°C there's probably some problem with the CPU heatsink. If you've never cleaned it then it might be just full of dust...

Peter Principle

When cleaning dust, make sure to get the dust off of the fan blades of your fans, too. Dust on the blades really reduces the amount of airflow that a fan generates. I find q-tips and rubbing alcohol do the job quite nicely.

Raggaholic

So, I take it that this heat issue is probably the reason that my computer freezes whenever I put it under a heavy load (video conversion, recording, etc), right?

Edgie

Raggaholic wrote:

So, I take it that this heat issue is probably the reason that my computer freezes whenever I put it under a heavy load (video conversion, recording, etc), right?

Yes.

Regarding Prescotts, I have one. It idles at 45C and freezes up at around 73c. Which means the op doesn't even have a Prescott.

Raggaholic

Edgie wrote:

Raggaholic wrote:

So, I take it that this heat issue is probably the reason that my computer freezes whenever I put it under a heavy load (video conversion, recording, etc), right?

Yes.

Regarding Prescotts, I have one. It idles at 45C and freezes up at around 73c. Which means the op doesn't even have a Prescott.

Right. I have an AMD XP 2000+, Palomino core.

Raggaholic

Ok, I cleaned the fan/heatsink and that alone dropped my temp to 63C. What's the ideal temp range for this processor?