Athlon 64 3000+ at 54-60C Idle?! Please help!

[Jorman]

My cousin is having trouble cooling his new Athlon 64 3000+. He writes:

I currently built my new rig a couple weeks ago. I'm running an Athlon 64 3000+ on a Gigabyte K8NS Pro motherboard. I have a Chieftek case w/ two intake fans and 2 outtake fans (one intake and outtake run at 2500RPM's and the other outake and intakes are smart fans that run as high as 4000RPS's when temp is hot). I have an Nvidia 5800 Ultra and I'm using a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu Aluminum + Copper CPU Cooler.

I am writing to you because according to my bios temp sensor, my CPU temp on idle is at 54C and on load it is at 60-62C. I know I should not have this high of temperatures. I've tried everything. At first I had a Thermaltake Venus 12 CUP cooler. I thought it was that so I changed it to the Zalman. But still I had the same temps. I removed the 5800 video card moved all the wires to provide better airflow and we put a gigantic room fan in front of the CPU fan. But still it was running idle at 54C.

I am sure that the paste was put on correctly and that everything was installed perfectly. But I have no idea why my temps are so high. Please help me.

Also, does the thermal paste make a big difference? I used the grease that came with the Zalman heatsink/fan but would I get any drastic changes if I used something like Arctic Silver 5? Thanks a lot

- Jorman

 

[jhbball]

Originally posted by: Jorman
My cousin is having trouble cooling his new Athlon 64 3000+. He writes:

I currently built my new rig a couple weeks ago. I'm running an Athlon 64 3000+ on a Gigabyte K8NS Pro motherboard. I have a Chieftek case w/ two intake fans and 2 outtake fans (one intake and outtake run at 2500RPM's and the other outake and intakes are smart fans that run as high as 4000RPS's when temp is hot). I have an Nvidia 5800 Ultra and I'm using a Zalman CNPS7000A-AlCu Aluminum + Copper CPU Cooler.

I am writing to you because according to my bios temp sensor, my CPU temp on idle is at 54C and on load it is at 60-62C. I know I should not have this high of temperatures. I've tried everything. At first I had a Thermaltake Venus 12 CUP cooler. I thought it was that so I changed it to the Zalman. But still I had the same temps. I removed the 5800 video card moved all the wires to provide better airflow and we put a gigantic room fan in front of the CPU fan. But still it was running idle at 54C.

I am sure that the paste was put on correctly and that everything was installed perfectly. But I have no idea why my temps are so high. Please help me.

Also, does the thermal paste make a big difference? I used the grease that came with the Zalman heatsink/fan but would I get any drastic changes if I used something like Arctic Silver 5? Thanks a lot

- Jorman

well, first of all, what are your ambient temps like? If the room you're running the computer is hot, your case, and thus your cpu temps will be higher than normal.


second, have you tried updating the bios on your motherboard? often, the the temperature diode isn't calibrated correctly, leaving the user with above average temperature readings. For example, when I first had my abit kv8 max3, i was getting readings of 70 deg celcius despite the heatsink being seated correctly. Updating the bios fixed this problem. I'm now sititng comfortably @ 50 c under load.


good luck, and report back what you find.

 

[Mik3y]

yep, exactly wut jhbball said. purrrrfect.

 

[Jorman]

Thanks jhbball. Your advice worked like a charm. My cousin is able to overclock his Athlon to 2.2Ghz and it runs at an idle 46C. Again, thanks for all your help.

- Jorman

 

[Dman877]

Idle at 46c still aint that great. My A64 3000+ in a poorly ventelated sonata was running 35c idle without c/q, 30c with c/q and topped out around 45c load with a crappy TT venus and low speed 80mm on there... sounds like he might have some case airflow problems. I'd try turning some of the fans around. Also, is the 5800 overclocked? those make a lot of heat so I've heard as well...

 

[Tenchi4U]

Did you apply the thermal adhesive correctly? Using too much can cause overheating.

My o/c 3200 A64 (in a WELL ventilated Sonata) idles at 35C and maxes out at 47C under full load (burn in and games). I use AS5, Swiftech MCX6400-V, and an Antec 92mm fan (about 38cfm).

Also, what kind of thermal compound did you use? I don't recommend thermal pads or the cheap silicon stuff. I'd go with AS5 or Shin Etsu G571 (make sure you apply it correctly, directions are on the Artic Silver website).

Make sure you are getting good circulation through the case as well (try it with the side off and see where the temps fall).

 

[sillymofo]

Another way to correctly tell your temps is to purchase a panel that would display temps for different stuffs. Their sensors are not software driven... so you don't have to worry about updating anything.