Athlon 2500+ Why so hot?!?

[bobdobolina]

I just bought an Athlon 2500+ and an Abit AN7. My cpu temp at Idle is 52-55 Celcius and gets to around 65 under load.

It won't O/C a hair... I took the stock HS and replaced it with my Themaltake Volcano 6Cu+, but the fan crapped out, so I took the fan from the stock HSF and put it on the Volcano. Am I prehaps just not moving enough air for the Volcano or could it be some other problem? I've seen so may good O/C's with this chip that I'm very frustrated at my temps.

If it is the HSF.. any recommendations for a better one? I'd prefer not to have a fan that soudns like a vaccuum cleaner though!

Thanks,
Bob

 

[Duvie]

Could be a couple of things here....


1) How are you appying the thermal paste???

2) Abit mobos are known for high reported temps, which I believe is true on this board with certain revision number...


With number 2 this could be a reson but those temps are really high....

I had a 2500+ on a DFI board and at 3200+ levels it only loaded at 49c for 48 hours of prime95....That is with the retail hsf...newer 2500+ chips are coming with a copper core and basically the retail 3200+ bartons HSF....I don't know what HSF you got and maybe it isn't as good.

 

[bobdobolina]

Hi Duvie,

I put a thin layer of T-paste onto the CPU and then put the HSF on top of that. I took the case side off and the temp came down by 6 degress... and I notice the air moving out of the HSF fins is pretty warm. I have one case fan exausting out the back, but it's a relatively small Aopen case with 3HD's, CDRW, Geforce4 4200ti and 2x512MB Corsair Value select. That's it.

I assume that because I can't O/C it, that I need to get those tmeps down to the 30-40 range idle and less than 60 with full load.

If I do try to O/C I get long beeps from my MB. Is that a temp warning?

I have the newer copper core HSF, but my Volcano was much heavier so I figured more copper was better and that's why I made the swap.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: bobdobolina
Hi Duvie,

I put a thin layer of T-paste onto the CPU and then put the HSF on top of that. I took the case side off and the temp came down by 6 degress... and I notice the air moving out of the HSF fins is pretty warm. I have one case fan exausting out the back, but it's a relatively small Aopen case with 3HD's, CDRW, Geforce4 4200ti and 2x512MB Corsair Value select. That's it.

I assume that because I can't O/C it, that I need to get those tmeps down to the 30-40 range idle and less than 60 with full load.

If I do try to O/C I get long beeps from my MB. Is that a temp warning?

I have the newer copper core HSF, but my Volcano was much heavier so I figured more copper was better and that's why I made the swap.

First off it does sound like poor case ventilation needs to be addressed....May need to do some mods like a side intake fan and maybe another exhaust fan out the top of the case.....Also try to reapply paste again...experiment with different layering techniques...With Artic silver the layer is very very thin to a point of almost transparency..


Try to take off the hsf of the NB chipset and put some better thermal paste on that as well...


Finally the long beeps is not related to heat..That has to be something else...Sounds like ram is out of spec..List ram being used, rated specs, and specs you are running...

 

[bobdobolina]

The strangest thing is that when I first got the system going I could O/C to 187 FSB with a touch of instability, but now I can't even get 170... so strange.


I have 2x512MB Corsair DDR 3200 Ram. I'm currently running it at "By Spd", to get it to work at 400mhz, but I've tried it at "auto" as well. The timings are set at Optimal.... 8-2-2-2.5 I think, but I'll have to reboot to verify... I'll edit if I'm wrong.

I think i've put too much paste on the HSF and will remedy that tonight, but it still doesn't explain why I can't get back to the 187 I had before.

Should I load the defaults for my BIOS just in case I changed something and can't remember?

 

[Big Lar]

Well, when you First overclocked it, the cpu was cold, and the "touch of instability" could have been that it was heating up. I'd look into much better case cooling, and a larger higher output fan for the cpu.

 

[bobdobolina]

Thanks Big Lar,

Yeah you're probably right... the heat thing is an issue with the case closed for sure.

I just reset my BIOS and low and behold I can successfully O/C again... not half as far as I'd like to, but some anyway. I must have inadvertantly set something incorrectly.

As a followup to my last post... may RAM is at 7-3-3-2.5

I'll look into a better HSF... any suggestions for something that can keep me low enough to potentially hit the 3200+ ranges?

I do audio recording with the system though, so it can't be toooo loud

Thanks for quick help!
Bob.

 

[Duvie]

I would look into better case cooling and better NB chipset cooling but the ratil hsf should be fine if you have one with the copper core bolted on the bottom...It is ultra quiet and was very sufficient on the 2500+oc'd to 3200+ I tested it on....

I think with better case cooling you can get those temps down to load at 60c and that should be fine since abit is inflating those temps a bit...60c let alone 65c should not be a factor if that was true load....

Again bump the vdimm to 2.7v which is fine for the corsair....

You can get a beter hsf but I have to admit based on the one I had versus some aftermarktes we later tested the ratil hsf for the 2500+ is a keeper an very quiet...The fan connection to the heatsink helps shield a lot of the noise and keep all of the air flowing down onto the heatsink.


I will bet right now unless you spend 20-30 before shipping you will not do better in temps as the retail hsf unless you really did but te paste on incorrectly now...

Definitely repply that and see if that helps bring them down a bit, plus the case cooling and I think you will have plenty of room...

 

[bobdobolina]

Duvie,

Could you clarify something for me? I thought my RAM and MB were supposed to be DDR+FSB 400 compliant. I was just wondering why I'd have to look to NB cooling or Vdimm voltage to gain the higher CPU speeds. Souldn't they both run at least at their published 200Mhz FSB?

Sorry, I've O/C's before, but my last CPU was a PIII 650 and all I had to worry about was the one FSB setting. I'm unfamiliar with the aspects of bumping CPU, RAM and NB voltage... sorry for the newbie questions. If you don't have time to elaborate, I'd really appreciate a link or thread reference, if you have one...

Thanks again!
Bob

EDIT: I managed 190FSB with the case open... 48C. idle.

 

[bootoo]

I don't have your motherboard, have 2 8rda+'s, so I can't say what your n/bridge cooling is like but mine were HORRIBLE stock; nasty little spot of frag tape under a passive cooler which actually is OK. Some nice thermal grease and screwing a fan into the heatsink made me feel a lot better.