did i just fry my Athlon XP?

nikko

Senior member
Sep 12, 2000
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0
71
I just tried to boot up my computer with an Athlon XP 1800 that did not have a heat sink or fan on it. I just wanted to see it if the computer would start to post (I've been having problems with the mobo I just installed). Anyway, I read somewhere just now that even running an XP for a few seconds without cooling will toast it. Anyone know for sure?
 
Aug 27, 2002
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The only way to know for sure is to get a known good system, and put your proc in it ( WITH A HEATSINK/FAN :Q ) and try running it though it's paces, if it boots at all. If you saw majik smoke your proc is probably(99.9%of the time) toast. Sometimes you get lucky, I had a fan die on my Celeron and thought I fried my proc, got a new fan and I'll be d@mned if it didn't start right back up.
 

gsethi

Diamond Member
Feb 28, 2002
3,457
5
81
Running an Athlon processor without heatsink/fan for more than 3-5 seconds will fry the chip for sure. Tomshardware even had an article on it. Most probably, your chip is fried, but it still never hurts to try it out on a different motherboard.

 

brtspears2

Diamond Member
Nov 16, 2000
8,659
1
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Yikes, you should never run an athlon without a heatsink. Im more than sure that you just roasted your CPU.
 

cdub

Senior member
May 31, 2002
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I did the same thing. Within five seconds I saw a puff of smoke and the Athlon died. The smoke was from the Arctic Silver burning off the chip, so you might not have seen that. Though it is a pain in the ass, always put a heatsink on an Athlon before you start the computer. It can't survive even a few seconds.
 

Vette73

Lifer
Jul 5, 2000
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Well first thing first. what board did you try this with. I know my Dual Athlon Asus board reads the temp off the on die meter, BUT chances are you have a new paper weight
 

0p73r0nG33k

Junior Member
Aug 8, 2002
14
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The Athlons will get hot enough to emit smoke with or without something on them. Case and point, TBird Athlon 1.0 GHz of mine. Guess I wanted to see it first hand. I sure did. I still have the chip to show people what happens. Don't ever ever ever ever run an Athlon without a heatsink and fan. You just wasted how much money?

Not to mention, it's possible to also fry that board. How hot did the Athlon in tom's video get again? I put the video in my CD-R collection somewhere, I think it was 300+ Deg "C perhaps?
 

randomboy

Senior member
Aug 18, 2002
668
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Originally posted by: 0p73r0nG33k
The Athlons will get hot enough to emit smoke with or without something on them. Case and point, TBird Athlon 1.0 GHz of mine. Guess I wanted to see it first hand. I sure did. I still have the chip to show people what happens. Don't ever ever ever ever run an Athlon without a heatsink and fan. You just wasted how much money?

Not to mention, it's possible to also fry that board. How hot did the Athlon in tom's video get again? I put the video in my CD-R collection somewhere, I think it was 300+ Deg "C perhaps?

I think it was WAAAAAAYY hotter than that :)

 

yodayoda

Platinum Member
Jan 8, 2001
2,958
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Originally posted by: Swanny
NEVER run ANY modern proc without a heatsink!

except a Via C3 chip. those ones are neat--you don't need a heatsink at all on it. it felt so dangerous to take it off and run it on my old SV24 system =)
 

Hamburgerpimp

Diamond Member
Aug 15, 2000
7,464
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My buddy stole the fan off my friends CPU/HS and it ran for weeks with just the heatsink. That was just a 500mhz p3, though.
 

AMDPwred

Diamond Member
Mar 22, 2001
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What a stupid move. Why are you putting together a PC if you don't know something as trivial as that?
 

davidkay

Senior member
Nov 6, 2000
265
0
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A friend of mine fried his CPU in two seconds by not removing the plastic off the bottom of the heatsink. He told me he did it, I turned it on to power up for the first time (setting up his bios for him) and....2-3 seconds later....crackle crackle....black screen.

The plastic had the AMD serial number burnt into it...lol
 

nikko

Senior member
Sep 12, 2000
775
0
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Originally posted by: AMDPwred
What a stupid move. Why are you putting together a PC if you don't know something as trivial as that?

Um....well, I've put together 5 PCs before this and not attaching the heatsink to do a test post hasn't hurt any of them. This is the first AMD system I've attempted.

Thanks for your worthless feedback.
 

alkemyst

No Lifer
Feb 13, 2001
83,769
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just about any of the new processors from the past year will need a HS/F for even surviving post. Sure motherboards sometimes have thermal protection, but we are talking 1 second that can make or break a CPU...something I wouldn't want to try.

Why not just mount the heatsink and fan right after the CPU...it's usually the easiest time to do it.