AMD Athlon 64 X2 running very HOT!!! SOLVED!

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
Hi All,

This has just recently started happening and am wondering what is going on?? My CPU temp gets 80-85 degrees C easily and then shuts down right around 100 degrees C.

I have the bios setup to shutdown around 85 degrees C, but it continues past that. Anyhow, this problem occurs when I am doing a couple of things:

1. Have Lightroom export 50+ pictures in DNG to Jpeg at full 6MP resolution.
2. Trying to convert FLV files to Itunes format (MP4). Only a couple of files gets it HOT! Typical flv file size is between 5 megs to 50 megs.


Here are the specs of my system:

XP Pro SP3,
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5600+
Mobo: Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H (Edited correct board)
2 Gig DDR2 RAM - branded
ATI Radeon HD3200 on board graphics.
Have 4 harddrives - 2 500Gigs (Maxtor + Seagate), 2 160 gigs(Maxtors).
Thermaltake CPU fan that can run upto 2500RPM(it does when the temp is going high)
I have the Antec case that has the big fan on the top and two for the harddrives.

AMD Cool n Quiet installed and running.


Here is what I have done

I have shut everything off, except for Antivirus, Firewall and Superantispyware running in background. Still temps get real hot.

I have cleared all the dust, re-seated the CPU, opened up the case and put a fan there, besides the 5 fans running in system(1 cpu, 2 case fans, 2 Harddrive fans and one powersupply fan)

Itunes is installed but not running during these shutdowns.

No Overclocking whatsoever. Everything is running stock.

All XP SP3 updates. Checked for virus, spyware, trojans on a regular basis.


So what gives?????? Will Arctic Silver make the difference? I have searched and can't find an answer.


Edit: added C for degrees

 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,391
31
91
Sounds like your heat-sink came unseated. You will need new thermal compound. (Make sure to take off the old)

And Jesus Christ that's a lot of fans. My X2 5200+ with on-board graphics has nothing but the power-supply and CPU fan, and temps are fine.
 

Eeqmcsq

Senior member
Jan 6, 2009
407
1
0
Go into the BIOS screen that displays the CPU temp and idle there for a while and see what temps the CPU settles on.

Secondly, what software are you using to display temps, and as Yukmouth mentioned, is it C of F? 100F would be about 38C, which is well within normal operation temps.

Thirdly, boot into Windows and idle there for a while and see what temps your software is reporting and how close it is compared to the BIOS reading.
 

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
ok, will report back. The degrees are C. I needed this case with this many fans cause of four harddrives that were running very hot. Now they are much much cooler! :)

Edit: Cooler you mean paste? The standard one that came with AMD. If you mean fan, it is Thermaltake but not cooper one.

Also, I am using HWInfo and PCWizard to check temps.
 

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
Reporting back:

The tempratures are: XP idle: This is for Core 0 & Core 1 combined range. Core 0 goes from 32C to 55C, Core 1 goes from 18C to 46C

In Bios, the temp is also very similar to above.

Normal browsing, copying files and so on, the temp remains low. It is when I do something intensive (LR2 xporting pictures, converting FLV files) that makes the temp to increment up.

 

Eeqmcsq

Senior member
Jan 6, 2009
407
1
0
Wow, 55C and 46C for idling seems pretty high to me. Unlike the Pentium Ds, the Athlon 64 X2 weren't known to idle THAT hot. I suspect your heatsink may not be seated properly against the CPU or the fan is broken or something like that.
 

Lemon law

Lifer
Nov 6, 2005
20,984
3
0
I agree those temps are high for idle and with over clocking. But with that much hot electronics running in one puny case, it would be worth seeing if taking the side off the case made any difference.

And even if there is much to be said about correcting the cause of the hear problem, our OP has already tried that. But its clear, that if he wants to do his image editing if he can't correct the heat cause, he will probably burn out the CPU at a minimum. And there is that other alternative left and that is in underclocking. And lowering the front side bus a little can allow a drop in Vcore and maybe memory voltage.What ever it takes to keep the CPU from shut down is always faster than a cpu is shut down.
 

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
I have taken the side casing off by the way. It still runs this hot. I am going to get a new cpu fan and apply new paste. The thing is that I got this Thermaltake CPU fan because I had the same issue when I setup the computer (1 1/2 years ago???). It has been fine, but for the past month its been getting hot.

The CPU fan does make some weird noises sometimes but then goes back to normal. Also, not sure if this has anything to do with this, but my harddrive is thrashing quite a bit a lot of times. There is not a direct link with the high tempratures that I have noticed and thus not sure if it matters.

I do not have anything running that is out of the ordinary(oh, maybe the O&O auto defrag).
 

geokilla

Platinum Member
Oct 14, 2006
2,012
3
81
How's the dust in there? Check your heatsink and reseat it if necessary.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 CPUs use the Tcase to determine their temperatures, and not TJunction. I advise you to HWMonitor and see what CPU temps are reported. Keep the max load temps below 65C.
 

DominionSeraph

Diamond Member
Jul 22, 2009
8,391
31
91
Originally posted by: Lemon law
But with that much hot electronics

??

He doesn't have much of anything. His hard drives are only ~10w each.
Anyway bad ventilation won't make your core temps shoot up under load. They'll slowly rise as heat is dumped into the case. With that disassociation, he wouldn't have attributed the shutdown to any particular load. And he has enough ventilation to kill half of Korea with Fan Death.

It's the heat sink.
 

Yukmouth

Senior member
Aug 1, 2008
461
0
0
Get an " All Copper " cooler and some Arctic Silver 5.

Sounds like you've got a bumby heat sink. The retention clips can become weak on cheaper coolers, especially aluminum.

Never trust aluminium or any cooler with pre-applied thermal paste, it's cost cutting garbage you don't need to subject yourself to :cool:.
 

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
Ok, I haven't yet re-seated the cpu fan/heatsink since I do not have the thermal paste. I am going to order that with a new all cooper fan. I was gone for about two hours and left it running and saw the idle temps around

Core 0: 32C to 39C
Core 1: 18C to 27C

These are readings off HWMonitor. (previously I said HWInfo..but I meant HWMonitor)

"And he has enough ventilation to kill half of Korea with Fan Death."

That was funny! thanx for the laugh. By the way, my case is the Antec 900. Here is newegg's link: http://www.newegg.com/Product/...x?Item=N82E16811129021


 

Bill Brasky

Diamond Member
May 18, 2006
4,345
1
0
Just to confirm, you don't have dust build up in the heatsink? It definitely sounds like a problem in heat transfer since after a long idle time the temps stabilized. This is unnecessary, but if you're curious you could briefly load the cpu and see if it takes that long cool down again. That would confirm the other posters suspicions about the heatsink.
 

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
Ok, not sure why the low idle temps I got. Anyhow, I tested the CPU with doing another FLV conversion and it started to rise fast. As it reached high, I stopped the process and the temps dropped like an anchor! I mean the temps went below 50C instantly.

As far the dust goes, I am pretty sure there is nothing there since I have cleaned it multiple times with the gas duster.

Attached is an image of the HWMonitor screen. Check out how high the temps went.

Do you see anything else that is wrong? HWMonitor
 

Yukmouth

Senior member
Aug 1, 2008
461
0
0
Max Core #1: 85c
Max Core #2: 96c

Holy lord man!

I'm sure a voltage drop is in effect when your CPU cools down due to cool & quiet. Don't allow your processor to hit those temps. I've seen those temps when a friend tried to seat his own cpu and forgot thermal compound, but quite frankly, I don't know how you're not getting BSODs at those temps.

I'd be very upset with my motherboard for not having a failsafe below 90c :confused:.

 

Schmide

Diamond Member
Mar 7, 2002
5,581
712
126
Dude - Radio Shack sell AS5 for like $5 a tube. I suggest you go over there pick up some, clean your chip and HS, put down a grain of rice, re-seat the HSF and enjoy.
 

Eeqmcsq

Senior member
Jan 6, 2009
407
1
0
By the way, which Athlon 64 X2 5600 do you have? According to newegg, there were two released:

Windsor - 90 nm - 2.8 GHz
Brisbane - 65nm - 2.9 GHz

I have read that the Brisbane temperature sensors were inaccurate or broken. For example, my Brisbane 65nm 4850e shows my CPU temps at 10C (about 50F) idling, but the BIOS shows the CPU temps idling at 30C, which is more normal.
 

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
Originally posted by: Eeqmcsq
By the way, which Athlon 64 X2 5600 do you have? According to newegg, there were two released:

Windsor - 90 nm - 2.8 GHz
Brisbane - 65nm - 2.9 GHz

I have read that the Brisbane temperature sensors were inaccurate or broken. For example, my Brisbane 65nm 4850e shows my CPU temps at 10C (about 50F) idling, but the BIOS shows the CPU temps idling at 30C, which is more normal.

My frequency is running at 2.9 Ghz...so guess this is the Brisbane.

Now this is even more weird:

CPUID HWMonitor is reporting idle at: Core 0: 31C, Core 1: 17C.
PC Wizard 2008 is reporting idle at: Core 1: 9.8C
Bios reports: CPU Temp at 40C!!!!!! (EDIT)
 

Eeqmcsq

Senior member
Jan 6, 2009
407
1
0
At this point, I'd do what Schmide suggested, and do a complete cleaning and reapply job on the cpu/heatsink. If the temps are still as weird as they are right now, then I'd chalk it up to the bad Brisbane sensors. Finally, you can try putting your fingers on the heatsink when the PC is cold, then boot to the BIOS and idle there and see if the heatsink gets really hot, even on idle.
 

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
I went to my local Radio Shack and they only had Ceramique by Arctic Silver. I bought that and will apply now.

Ceramique is good from what I have read here.
 

WildViper

Senior member
Feb 19, 2002
288
0
76
ok, just cleaned out the Heatsink, applied the Ceramique(followed directions) and re-seated the CPU and heatsink.

Check the fan, it is working.

There is no change in idle temps at all.

Once again tried to convert a FLV file to MP4, the temps reached 100C. Would have gone higher had I not stopped the process.

As soon as I stop the process, the temps drop instantly!

So, now what gives? :(
 

Eeqmcsq

Senior member
Jan 6, 2009
407
1
0
You'll have to try the finger-on-the-heatsink test to see if it really gets that hot. Otherwise, I think your temps are reading off bad Brisbane sensors.
 
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