2500+ to 2800+

[Seanms88]

Somethings going wrong with my 2500+, it's running too slow and way too hot, so I decided, instead of just getting a new heatsink, I'd get a new heatsink, and a new processer. I figured I would go one step up, but a friend told me to jump to the 2800+. Is this a good upgrade, worth the 35 bucks? Does it run faster? I don't plan on oc'ing, I am just looking at stock performance. Does it perform better (stability, speed, reliablity). I couldnt seem to find a review/test on the anandtech site.

 

[BlueWeasel]

Well, unless you have a bad chip, both a 2500+ and 2800+ should be rock solid stable with the retail AMD heatsink and fan.

- Are you sure your other components (motherboard, RAM, etc.) are not the cause of the problem?
- What are your temperatures, both CPU and system?
- Do you have the AMD heatsink installed properly?

As far as speed, if you aren't planning on OC'ing, then of course the 2800+ (2.08ghz) will be faster than a stock 2500+ (1.83ghz). Only you can decide if the speed increase is worth $35.

I'd definately check out other parts of your system. I bet the problem lies elsewhere, not in the chip...

 

[Jeff7181]

Is your heatsink clogged with dust? CPU's don't just go bad and start to lose power and blow smoke like a car engine. I doubt you need a new CPU or new heatsink, just need to clean the heatsink out and maybe apply a new thermal compound.

I don't mean to generalize, but I'd assume since you don't plan on oc'ing you probably don't use a lot of CPU power on a regular basis, so you probably don't need to upgrade. If you MUST get a new CPU, I'd get another XP2500, or possibly something like an XP2600 or XP2400 since it'll have a higher clockspeed which will be a little faster in some applications where the extra cache of the Barton doesn't make a difference.

 

[Seanms88]

Well I'll try cleaning out my heatsink, and reinstalling it maybe. I have thremal grease applied to it already, but I'll put some more. See if I can get the temp to drop below 60 cels. Right now it runs between 68-72 degrees cels. The case temp is also pretty hot, but I think I may need a new fan. I think the mother board is running fine, I'm not sure how to tell if it isn't. The fans seem to be blowing alright, I have 3 installed in the system (one more --cpu fan). How would I figure out if anything is wrong with the mobo?

And as for overclocking/system use. I play a lot of games, and/or planning on it at least. And if I wasn't so afraid of messing something up, I'd be interested in overclocking. My motherboard came with an OC'ing program, but I only use it to monitor the CPU temp. I also checked the temp in the bios...it's running about the same there.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Seanms88
Well I'll try cleaning out my heatsink, and reinstalling it maybe. I have thremal grease applied to it already, but I'll put some more. See if I can get the temp to drop below 60 cels. Right now it runs between 68-72 degrees cels. The case temp is also pretty hot, but I think I may need a new fan. I think the mother board is running fine, I'm not sure how to tell if it isn't. The fans seem to be blowing alright, I have 3 installed in the system (one more --cpu fan). How would I figure out if anything is wrong with the mobo?

And as for overclocking/system use. I play a lot of games, and/or planning on it at least. And if I wasn't so afraid of messing something up, I'd be interested in overclocking. My motherboard came with an OC'ing program, but I only use it to monitor the CPU temp. I also checked the temp in the bios...it's running about the same there.

If you buy an XP2800, you're not even going to be able to use your system, since they run quite a bit hotter than a 2500 does. You need to remove every fan from your system, including the heatsink, and clean them really well. Just having a few mm's of dust on all your fans can add 4 or 5°C to your system, even when your cpu heatsink is clean. Try using a strong liquid soap (I use something called Mean Green, available for $2 at Dollar General, for a 40oz. spray bottle), and apply it directly to your Q-tip. Your temps should be nearly 20°C lower than they are, so you may need to modify your case, and install an 80mm fan in the side panel.

 

[Seanms88]

Alright, I'll try cleaning them all. When that's done, how would I go about keeping dust out?

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: Seanms88
Alright, I'll try cleaning them all. When that's done, how would I go about keeping dust out?

You don't, you can get fan filters, but that just means you'll have finer dust build up and won't have to clean it as often. Fans move air, dust is in the air, you can't avoid it completely.

 

[Jeff7181]

If you buy an XP2800, you're not even going to be able to use your system, since they run quite a bit hotter than a 2500 does.

Not true... there's actually hardly any difference. This isn't a case of the CPU just naturally running hot, there's something else wrong with his computer... either dust built up or a dead fan or the thermal compound has "pumped out" or the heatsink wasn't installed correctly, or has shifted over time.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Seanms88
Alright, I'll try cleaning them all. When that's done, how would I go about keeping dust out?

NOTHING beats pantyhose (cut to size, of course), and a rubber band. Just wrap the rubber band around the fan itself.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

If you buy an XP2800, you're not even going to be able to use your system, since they run quite a bit hotter than a 2500 does.

Not true... there's actually hardly any difference. This isn't a case of the CPU just naturally running hot, there's something else wrong with his computer... either dust built up or a dead fan or the thermal compound has "pumped out" or the heatsink wasn't installed correctly, or has shifted over time.

True, but, assuming his proc. is running that hot because of poor case flow, then he may very well not be able to run a 2800 in it. If it's anything else, then the proc. wouldn't make any difference, of course.

 

[Seanms88]

Ok, well friday night I'll unscrew the heat sink, put it back on correctly, clean all the fans, take one of my mothers pantyhose and cut it up and put it on the fans. See if that does anything. I'm also going to get a few HDD coolers to keep the system temp down too. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[Jeff7181]

Originally posted by: myocardia

Originally posted by: Jeff7181

If you buy an XP2800, you're not even going to be able to use your system, since they run quite a bit hotter than a 2500 does.

Not true... there's actually hardly any difference. This isn't a case of the CPU just naturally running hot, there's something else wrong with his computer... either dust built up or a dead fan or the thermal compound has "pumped out" or the heatsink wasn't installed correctly, or has shifted over time.

True, but, assuming his proc. is running that hot because of poor case flow, then he may very well not be able to run a 2800 in it. If it's anything else, then the proc. wouldn't make any difference, of course.

I've run mine with only the fans in the PSU to move air through the case and it doesn't get that hot.

 

[myocardia]

Originally posted by: Seanms88
Ok, well friday night I'll unscrew the heat sink, put it back on correctly, clean all the fans, take one of my mothers pantyhose and cut it up and put it on the fans. See if that does anything. I'm also going to get a few HDD coolers to keep the system temp down too. Thanks for the help guys!

Sean, the most important thing, by far, that you need to clean is your heatsink and heatsink fan. I would personally clean my case fans, too, since they you can get as much as a 4-5° C system temp drop, by cleaning them also.

 

[Seanms88]

Is there any area I should leave open? In the case for airflow?

 

[adams828]

Originally posted by: Seanms88
Ok, well friday night I'll unscrew the heat sink, put it back on correctly, clean all the fans, take one of my mothers pantyhose and cut it up and put it on the fans. See if that does anything. I'm also going to get a few HDD coolers to keep the system temp down too. Thanks for the help guys!

don't forget to clean out the PSU and it's fan too... i've seen some nasty ones of those. cleaning the other fans should help. as for the HD coolers, i'd say wait and see how the cleaning works out first. (my $.02)

 

[Seanms88]

Ok, well I went through and did a quick clean of everything except the interior of the heat sink. I didn't take it out, quite frankly I had no idea. So I did that, cleaned the sys. fan and everything. The case temp dropped about 15 degrees c and the cpu is running at 59-64 degrees c now as apposed to the 69-74

Thanks for all the help guys!

 

[Seanms88]

Well I've cleaned it out and it was running much cooler, but now it's up to about 67 degrees again. This can't be good, I'm thinking of going ahead and get a new heatsink and reapply thermal paste. I'd like to think about overclocking my cpu, but I can't do that if it is running so hot. I'll get the heatsink, see how it goes from there. Any other suggestions guys? I appreciate all the help you've given me so far.

 

[boxed]

maybe you're puttin too much thremal paste? or a chip on ur cpu while installing the heatsink?....check it out....it happened to me...