CPU heat driving me insane

[AtTheGates]

I hate posting stuff like this. It seems almost impossible for someone to answer without actually seeing the setup. But I might get lucky so here goes. A while back I purchased an A7N8X Dlx 2.0 and a 2100+. With the stock HSF it ran hot so I purchased a Vantec Aeroflow and Artic Silver 3. This cooled it down a little but still hotter than it should be. Then I purchased a Fry's combo with a 2400+. The 2100+ ended up in Grandma's computer with the new motherboard. Surprise, 10c cooler. The 2400+ was installed in the A7N8X with a Silent Boost HSF and also ran hot (around 60c load). Recently I purchased another Fry's combo with a 2700+. The 2400+ went into my Linux box with the new motherboard and a Speeze FalconRock HSF. Again, once it was out of the A7N8X it ran 10-15c cooler. The 2700+ in the A7N8X with AS5 and the Silent Boost can go over 50 idle 73c load.
It is not incorrect sensor reading because I can feel the obvious temperature difference. The HSF is sitting flat on the CPU with a thin even layer of AS5. I doubt it is installed incorrectly because it would mean I install it right every time on other mobos and wrong every time on this board (>10 times). I don't think it is the case fans because the temperatures are the same with the side on, off, or with an electric fan blowing on the inside. Everything at stock settings. 13x166 @ 1.65v. The room can be around 30c. Case is a Antec SLK3700AMB with 120mm front intake and 120mm rear exhaust.

Summary:
2100+ in A7N8X w/ stock hsf = hot

2100+ in A7N8X w/ Aeroflow+AS3 = hot
2100+ in other modo w/ Aeroflow+AS3 = cool

2400+ in A7N8X w/ Silent Boost+AS3 = hot
2400+ in other modo w/ FalconRock+AS3 = cool

2700+ in A7N8X w/ Silent Boost+AS5 = very hot
2700+ in A7N8X w/ FalconRock+AS5 = very hot

Besides this system, I have built about 5 Athlon based system for family and friends. All run in expected temperature range. It it possibly a motherboard problem?

 

[MeSh1]

Well here's my experience and i hope this helps. My P4 w/ stock hs/f was running @42-44c and then i instaleld a ZALMAN CNPS7000A-Cu Pure w/ as5 and now the darn thing shot up to 50-52c. at the moment my only option is to unmount the hs/f, clean it off and clean of my chip and apply teh as5 and reinstall the hs/f. The odd thing is that w/ my stock hs/f it read at low temps and i was all excited about the temp change and cripes! My temps when jup 10 degrees. anyways ill let you know how my reinstall turns out.

 

[thetman]

There could be a problem with the thermal sensor on the a7n8x. I'd say make sure you apply the as5 right, but it appears that you know what you're doing. Is the hs hot to the touch?

 

[AtTheGates]

Well, in desperation I changed the PSU, changed the header the HSF is plugged into, removed the hard drives, and removed all PCI cards. Now shows 42c in BIOS where before it showed 55c. Not bad considering it is currently 32c in the room (no AC). Now to start systematically plugging things back in to find the culprit. This board has something called Q-Fan. It says it is disabled in BIOS but maybe that one header is not getting the message. Sounds strange but I don't know what else it could be.

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: AtTheGates
Well, in desperation I changed the PSU, changed the header the HSF is plugged into, removed the hard drives, and removed all PCI cards. Now shows 42c in BIOS where before it showed 55c. Not bad considering it is currently 32c in the room (no AC). Now to start systematically plugging things back in to find the culprit. This board has something called Q-Fan. It says it is disabled in BIOS but maybe that one header is not getting the message. Sounds strange but I don't know what else it could be.

I was about to ask if you'd disabled Q-Fan. It should be simple to determine if Q-Fan is active, since you can hear the fan surge to full speed again when you do a reboot, then it begins dropping by increments as time goes by. On my A7V333-RAID, Q-Fan's target temperature was 60C. So if you are scared of letting the processor run a little hot, then Q-Fan certainly is something you don't want turned on, nope

Also realize that motherboards are not all calibrated the same. I could show you two nForce boards that would really underline that... one would say 42C while the other says about 68C, even though the real CPU temperature is the same. That's reality. With my infamous A7V333-RAID, the temperature calibration even depended on what BIOS revision I was using... one day I updated the BIOS and the readings mysteriously dropped about 10C. Candy-coat those readings a bit, did we Asus? Hmmm? :frown: