Best thermal paste? Best low-height HSF?

[mechBgon]

Co-worker at office: "So... what did you do this weekend?"

BD2003: "I stayed up until 2AM Sunday morning tweaking my PC! Did you realize Arctic Silver III thermal compound could reduce your CPU temperatures 3 to 6 degrees Celcius all by itself?! Some crazy guy was telling me to sand my heatsink down so the fins were shorter, on the theory that..."

Co-worker: "Ermm... DOH! I just remembered, gotta get a project done before lunch!! :Q TTYL BD2003!" *hustles away*

 

[SithSolo1]

Originally posted by: mechBgon


Co-worker at office: "So... what did you do this weekend?"

BD2003: "I stayed up until 2AM Sunday morning tweaking my PC! Did you realize Arctic Silver III thermal compound could reduce your CPU temperatures 3 to 6 degrees Celcius all by itself?! Some crazy guy was telling me to sand my heatsink down so the fins were shorter, on the theory that..."

Co-worker: "Ermm... DOH! I just remembered, gotta get a project done before lunch!! :Q TTYL BD2003!" *hustles away*

Normal people just don't understand our needs anymore.

I mean, I was up at midnight last night cleaning out my front intakes. The following conversation ensued:

Dad: "What are you doing?"
Me: "Cleaning out some dust."
Dad: "Don't you need to turn it off?"
Me: "I did turn the fan off."
Dad: "I meant the computer. Don't you need some light?"
Me: "Why would I need to turn it off? As for light, the TV's on isn't it?"
Dad: "Whatever."

He left and then came back about 3mins later with a small flashlight. Needless to say the flashlight did a lot better job than the TV.

 

[BD2003]

K, I got the most hardcore 1U cooler from the anandtech review, Arctic Silver 2, and it STILL overheats. Wtf? What else could I possibly do?

 

[mechBgon]

Dang... could it be something else? That combo should have no trouble keeping the CPU temp down, unless you put the heatsink on 180 degrees backward...

 

[clumsum]

BD2003,

A good hsf that I use in my YY-A101 mini - mATX case is the: Dr. Thermal TI-8625 series CPU Cooler ....... $10. at a local pc show.
This is a nice low profile cooler with a great locking retaining clip ........
There is an improved model Dr. Thermal with a Copper core ............ not sure what the model # is on it though?

 

[BD2003]

I left the case open with the DVD rom removed. It cant possibly be overheating, and now I dont think it ever was, that was just the simplest answer. Sometimes it takes 10 seconds, sometimes 10 minutes, but I ALWAYS get an error.

I'm going to try and reinstall windows, and if that doesnt work, I suppose its time to get a new CPU.

 

[mechBgon]

If you have some other RAM floating around, might try swapping it to see if that helps. Ditto for a power supply, although I'm sure you don't want to entertain the thought of replacing that.

Incidentally, I was working on an analogous Intel system, a Tualatin-Celeron on a PLE133-based motherboard, and it was crashing. Among the steps I took, one of them was to clock the PC133 RAM back to PC100 (the Tualaron runs at a 100MHz bus anyway). So far so good. If your board has Auto/Host Clock/Host + 33MHz as RAM speed options, try Host Clock, or 100MHz.

 

[BD2003]

Are there any diagnostic programs that could help me track down the exact source of the problem? The error is always different, sometimes irq not equal or less, sometimes bad pool caller, page fault etc.... Usually in Win32k.sys or something close to that.

 

[mechBgon]

That's interesting. It sort of resembles the symptoms of an overclock that's too high and is corrupting stuff, although you're not OC'ing. Like you say, could be CPU damage. Also could be bad RAM... I haven't tried this, but people are talking up the memory test at memtest86.com. If you can get the system to run the tests, that might help check out the RAM. Otherwise, might be good to pick up a new Spitfire-core Duron while you still can... looks like Newegg has an 800MHz for $30 shipped right now.

 

[BD2003]

Bah, cant use that, no floppy.

 

[BD2003]

I was going to try the duron in my main sys to see if it would still crash, but unfortunately I couldnt get the damn HSF off. Those things require the force of the incredible hulk to get under and out of the little tab.

Unless I'm totally missing something. I was at it for an hour and it just wasnt happening. I tried screwdrivers, knives, sheet metal, you name it... Why cant they make them easier to take off like Intel fans?

 

[mechBgon]

What kind of cooler did you get?

 

[BD2003]

CoolerJag something. Its in the anandtech review posted earlier in the thread. Supposedly the best cooling performance out of all of them. I can get the fan off the mini pc easy enough, its the main system thats causing me problems.

Considering I'm having the exact same problems now as I did before, I dont think it was ever overheating to begin with, its either the ram or the cpu.

Any tips on how to get the heatsink out of my main PC so I can try the duron in it? Or is that a bad idea altogether?

 

[mechBgon]

Ok, one end of the clip has a sort of screwdriver-tip holder. In this photo it's the end on the left.

For the sake of clarity, I want to refer to the plastic protrusion on the CPU socket as the "lug," and the hole in the clip which grabs onto the lug as the "hole."

• First find a flat-tip screwdriver that fits into the holder on the end of the clip
• Now position the system so the mobo is lying flat with the holder end of the clip towards you
• Get your screwdriver
• Stab the motherboard repeatedly wit-- oops, hang on, this comes later. Put the tip of the screwdriver into the little receptacle on the clip
• Press down until the hole is no longer pulling on the lug
• Now push the screwdriver handle away from you, which levers the hole out so it's clear of the lug, and release your vertical pressure while keeping the clip levered clear of the lug

I think testing the CPU in another mobo with the same cooler is a good plan, FWIW

 

[BD2003]

I tried, but no matter what I did I could not get the lug to get out from under the tab. I had to remove the damn power supply and my fan on the top of the case just to be able to get the damn screwdriver to fit.

 

[mechBgon]

Got any 6" Vise-Grip pliers around?

The leverage of the screwdriver should allow for bending that part of the clip out away from the lug unless you just don't have room to maneuver. Sorry to hear about the aggravations.

 

[elw00dblues]

After reading this whole thread, I tend to side with those of you (mechBgon, for one) who suspect memory is the culprit. I was just reading Maximum PC, and they mentioned that CPU problems are extremely rare. Considering that cooling is not at fault, the CPU is even less likely to be the prob. If you have any other memory lying around, give that a try, and considering this is a secondary comp, it would have made more sense to use generic RAM. Thats my 2 cents.

 

[elw00dblues]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Got any 6" Vise-Grip pliers around?

The leverage of the screwdriver should allow for bending that part of the clip out away from the lug unless you just don't have room to maneuver. Sorry to hear about the aggravations.

This is good advice! I hate when they make it near-impossible to replace those things!

 

[BD2003]

The ram came off a system with a blown mobo, so its also getting my biggest suspicions now as well. Sigh. Anyone got any cheap PC100?

 

[mechBgon]

Wish I could help you there. The Tualatin/PLE133 combo I mentioned earlier was a replacement for a system with a blown motherboard and the RAM from that board proved to be very problematic too. I threw it away. Maybe you can round up some cheap PC100 over in For Sale/Trade.

 

[keyeye]

Sorry to be late to the party. I have the exact same case. Nice case except for the low CPU clearance thing. You can put about a 50mm high HSF in there, though you may want a smaller one depending on how much the DVD drive is covering the HSF.
Anyway, I had a duron 750 in there and it was not difficult to cool that- generic coolermaster with and undervolted 60x10mm fan (3000 rpm) and it was in the mid 30s. However, a 1.1ghz duron and temps went to 50 or so idle. So did the Barraccuda IV (upper 30s to 50 degrees, ouch). So I put the whole thing in another case. Lost the cuteness factor in exchange for airflow. Oh well.

My point: duron 750 easy to cool, but the case is not good for temps. Agree with above. Look for another source for the problem.