AMD Thunderbird Safe Temperatures?

xyyz

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
4,331
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Hello...

I purchased an OEM Athlon (Thunderbird) 900... along with a cooling device... the device uses Thermaltake's Golden Orb heatsink (this one is silver) and a fan that measures 50mm instead of the standard Golden Orb 45mm fan (the fan blades don't seem as long as the Golden Orb fan) and this fan runs at 4500rpm instead of 5500rpm. The device was sold under AOE's name, but I wasn't able to find this type of fan on AOE's website. I don't know if this was a wise investment... any ideas if it will do a good job in cooling the processor?

Also, I was wondering if anyone knew of a refernce that gave the safe temperture ranges for a Thunderbird (in my case a Thunderbird 900). I've tried looking through AMD's website, but I've been upable to find anything.

I powered on the processor... I know these get hot, but the temperature kept climbing to about 145F. I have no idea how hot this thing can run and I'm a bit paranoid in letting it run w/o knowing the safe temp range.

Any help would be appreciated.
 

Skiracer

Member
Aug 24, 2000
189
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AMD's technical literature lists the maximum operating temp of the t-bird as 90C! This is insane. The forums consensus maximum temp seems to be around 70C. I personally would try to keep it below 55C if at all possible. Get an Alpha 6035 with the delta fan- noisy, but very effective. Send the orb back for a refund.
 

Engineer

Elite Member
Oct 9, 1999
39,234
701
126
I'm running a 1GHz TBird with the Alpha HS and the slower Sunon Fan (5100 RPM / 23 CFM airflow) and my temp runs 48C/118F under full load 24/7. I also have 4 case fans + power supply fan. MB temp = 33C under full load. The 145 seems a bit high....I would replace the orb...:) P.S. Under IDLE conditions, the CPU runs 35-36C...:)
 

lane42

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
5,721
624
126
Hi, this is my first post so please bear with me. I just got
my 800 tbird slot a going, msi k7pro mb with 104 degree cpu
temps with setiathome running 24\7 and 94 degrees with case
cover off. Tryed overclocking mb and got to 884 mhz for about
2 hours and computer froze.( set fsb from 100 to 110 but left cpu volts at 1.70)
Should i raise or lower cpu volts when overclocking. cpu temp
was 10 degrees more with the overclocking, 114 degrees for the
2 hours.

Thanks Gregg
 

xyyz

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
4,331
0
0

yer kidding... man this processor is running at a constant 67C/152.5F with the MB temp at 33C/91F. I take this is way too high? It was running slightly over 70C w/o these two large fans I have blowing at the MB/CPU.

The MB is an Asus A7V (I really wish I'd have purchased the Abit board instead)... I know it doesn't have the chipset fan that the Abit KT7 does, so does this board run hotter than most other boards?

Also, where can I purchase the Alpha that is being suggested here? Is the Alpha really the best solution? Do they make a fan that has a peltier cooling device designed for the Socket A?
 

imhotepmp

Golden Member
Mar 23, 2000
1,418
0
76
Im gettin the same setup xyyz. FOr the cooling i would choose a globalwin fop32-1. It come within 2-3C of an alpha pal6035 and its only $20 compared to the alphas $32. A better investment IMO. Also pick up some Artic Silver, it drops your temp quite a bit ive heard. Look here:
http://www.millisec.com

Im waitng for my globalwin and artic silver. Good Luck. btw Are you having any probs with the a7z and win2k? Mine should be arriving sometime next week and wanted to prepare myslef for any probs that may come up

imhotepmp


edit: I cnat speel :)

 

xyyz

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
4,331
0
0

Man... this is terrible.. I am having all sorts of problems... forget problems with win2k... I can't get the damn thing to do anything... it will not read the bootup floppy. I can't even get win2k pro to boot off the CD.

The system hangs constantly and the temperature is too high.

Honestly, instead of getting the Asus board, i'd suggest an Abit board... I really regret getting this Asus unit.

Hmmm now you are letting me know that there will be more problems to come when I install win2k?

 

Mem

Lifer
Apr 23, 2000
21,476
13
81
xyyz Try a different heatsink//fan the Golden Orb is not that great on Athlons,try the Taisol CEK733092. Your problem seems like overheating.
Btw it`s recommended right upto 1.1Ghz & is about $11.



 

jimmygates

Platinum Member
Sep 4, 2000
2,134
2
81
I got the 900Mhz T-Bird with some cheapo Coolermaster HSF. Idle, the CPU measures 47c? Full load is about 55c? I thought that was too hot so I ordered the Alpha 6035HSF. Hope it will help cool down my cpu...

-Jimbo
 

ndee

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
12,680
1
0
Guys,
my experience with the Globalwin VOP32-1 was very bad. I've put the cooler exactly on the CPU, but it got hotter than with my Pentalpha cooler. With the globalwin, the temperature was about 59C, under full load, with the Pentalpha, it was only at about 47C, under full load!
 

DaddyG

Banned
Mar 24, 2000
2,335
0
0
XYYZ,

Taisol has a website, check it out. The cooler works fine, comes within about 2c of an Alpha, not made for a couple of bucks.

You probably need a BIOS update for your mobo, if you can get it stable enough.
 

yoonjg

Junior Member
Aug 27, 2000
14
0
0
actually golden orb is not good for oc.
but it's enough to cool tb900 w/o oc, i guess.
ur temperature is very high.
check hsf installation.
do u use thermal grease?
 

MaGR

Member
Aug 8, 2000
40
0
0
My comp at idle runs at 40-41 C with the el cheapo coolermaster, I just left the normal tape crap on the bottom instead of thermal grease and I'm pretty happy with the temp. Thats with no Case fans either, except the PSU of course.
 

xyyz

Diamond Member
Sep 3, 2000
4,331
0
0

I've placed an order the the Alpha PAL6035 and that artic silver thing.

I hope this helps. I was considering the Golbal Win FOP32-1 w/ the delta fans... it's actually ran cheaper but I heard there were big problems with mounting it on a Socket 462 processor eventhough it was redesigned for the Socket A.

Has anyone had problems with the voltage settings on the Asus A7V? No matter what I do I can't get the voltage under 1.82 volts. I've tried both the jumperless settings as well as the jumper settings, but I have had no luck at all.

 

johncar

Senior member
Jul 18, 2000
523
0
0
Skiracer wrote......quote
AMD's technical literature lists the maximum operating temp of the t-bird as 90C! This is insane. The forums consensus maximum temp seems to be around 70C. end quote

Not necessarily insane, maybe just an "apples and oranges" situation.

SS7/K6 chips typically had a spec for Tcase max of 70C, and yes, the spec for Duron and also?? Tbird is Tdie max =90C as Skiracer wrote.

But the physical location of Tcase max = 70C for K6 chips was top center of the K6's metal case. Between that location and the die is the case, a metal heat spreader and some thermal conductive "goop?".
So the max spec for temp of the external surface of the die had to be "higher" than 70C to account for the temp drop of the thermal resistances of the intervening materials.

Since the Duron/Tbird do not have the goop, heat spreader, and case, the external surface for metering Tcase is the external surface of the die. So we should not be surprised at a higher than 70C spec for the differently designed Duron/Tbird. If AMD says 90C, we'll buy that for Tdie max.

BUT, that's 90C read with a tiny thermocouple embedded flush with the heatsink surface at center of chip's surface. And then deduct a few degC for the temp drop across a silver grease interface, or at least 10C or "more" for the white zinc oxide stuff...as it's impossible to make contact with the die surface without having some grease in between the die and the thermocouple bead.

If you're measuring temp "anywhere else", all bets are off as far as knowing what the equivalent Tmax should be at "anywhere else", since
no one knows what the temp drops from Tdie are. That's life...no one said it was easy.

But all is not lost for temps at "anywhere else". If the system runs stable with cpu intensive apps for some period after initial build/boot, then temps "anywhere else" can be used to indicate "change". Worry only if/when they go up dramatically when running your most cpu intensive app/s.

Hope this helps explain the 70C/90C issue and why location/s are very important when making comparisons to spec or whatever.