Athlon 64 3500+ unusual heat issue

[prodigal son]

Hi

I have had my Athlon 64 shuttle system for about 8 months now and it has been running smoothly-ish (processor unrelated issues) since the start.

I have only recently been having temperature issues with my comp. To try and get better control of my temps and fan speeds i installed speedfan. I tried to set it up using the isntructions and guides found on the internet. I ran my comp for a while like this and assumed it was working but it turns out that i didnt set it up correctly and it had infact kept my fan at a low speed without ramping up when the heat rises. This caused overheating to which i quickly sorted out.

Now speedfan is working correctly and i have purchased Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. The thing the bothers me know is that the load temps are really high. The idle temps are ok and i am very happy with those temps.

With CnQ enabled....

Idle temp = 32C
Load temp = >70C

What i dont understand is why do i get good idle temps and really bad load temps. I assumed it was the HSF installation so i have reseated it many time and reapplied the AS5 but no real change.

I wanted to know if i could have damaged my CPU in any way when the fan wasnt functioning correctly? It has got to a stage that the CPU core would shutdown after about 10 mins of gaming. The fan is even at 100% but it still overheats and shuts down.

The fact that the CPU is still stable and runs perfectly after a restart shows my that the CPU isnt damaged but can it be the the temp sensor (diode) is damaged at all?
Is it the m0b0 that is playing up?

Has anyone actually heard of an issue with high load temps but normal idle temps as i havent, and if so what is causing it and how do i fix it? I am out of ideas and i am at a point of RMA but dont know what to RMA, the Mobo or the CPU?

Plz Help!!!

 

[Operandi]

If the CPU works it's fine, I think you can rule that out. The first thing I would do is install Prime95 and monitor the CPU fan closely to make sure it's working properly. You've prolly done this already but make sure the heat sink is free of dust.

If the fan is working properly and at full speed when it should, the only thing left I can think of would be the heat sink itself. Is it possible it was damaged during the re-installation?

 

[prodigal son]

I dont think the heat sink was damaged. It is shuttles ICE cooling system. The heat sink looks fine and fan looks to be operational. It ramps up when it gets hotter so i assume it is working and goes full speed when the temp reaches 70c. The system is free of dust and has been cleaned over and over again.

Are you saying that it isn't likely the CPU that is causing the problem?

 

[theMan]

i assume you cleaned out all the dust right? also, it is very likely to be the diode sensor. if you can run prime for a few hours without any problems, there isnt any issues, just dont worry about it.

 

[prodigal son]

I am thinking it must be the diode in the CPU that is playing up. Is it right in thinking that if the heat protection chip in the CPU kicks in then this has nothin to do with the mobo. The CPU core has shutdown on me on a few occassions but i am still able to put my hand on the heatsink without feeling great discomfort. The heat protection chip will only kick in if temps reach ~90c, at these temps i should be burning my fingers touching the heatsink. Therefore i assume that the diode is giving out incorrect temps.

Is this a safe assumption to make?

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: prodigal son
I am thinking it must be the diode in the CPU that is playing up. Is it right in thinking that if the heat protection chip in the CPU kicks in then this has nothin to do with the mobo. The CPU core has shutdown on me on a few occassions but i am still able to put my hand on the heatsink without feeling great discomfort. The heat protection chip will only kick in if temps reach ~90c, at these temps i should be burning my fingers touching the heatsink. Therefore i assume that the diode is giving out incorrect temps.

Is this a safe assumption to make?

It doesn?t seem very likely the temp diode is part of the CPU core, I don't think there is any way to damage it specifically without the rest of the CPU. Different boards seem to interpret the readings differently however. I don't know why you would only have problems now but maybe a BIOS update would help.

If the CPU is reading 90C and the heat sink isn't hot then the heat isn't getting transferred from the CPU properly.

 

[pelikan]

Because of the drastic difference between idle and load temps, sounds like you got one of the rare cpu's with bad contact between the core and IHS.

 

[prodigal son]

If i am to RMA should tell them that i am using a standard Mobo with the in-box HSF? I dont know if telling them im using the shuttle ICE system would invalidate the warranty.