Heat Issues -- Athlon 1600+

[Asrial]

I have an ASUS A7V333 motherboard, an Athlon 1600+ stock at 1.4ghz, 1 256mb PC2100 (Crucial) memory module, 2 CD-ROM drives, 2 hard drives (Maxtor, 7200RPM, 1 is 20gb and the other is 60gb), 1 floppy drive, a Voodoo4 4500, a Sound Blaster !Live, your usual network card, and an Antec TruePower 380W power supply.

Your usual computer.

Except, the temps recorded by ASUS PROBE has the average temp for the CPU at 60c and the MB at 45c.

I "was" using BIOS revision 1007 and it had the average temp at 65 and 40 respectively. At full load, the CPU would get up to 70 (not sure what it can get up to now). It's never broken 70, and it's never reached the redline set by ASUS PROBE as default.

Now, a few things..

I live in Dallas, TX and lately it's been averaging 90f during the day. The room my computer is in doesn't have all that great a ventilation system but my roommates computer (XP 1800+) is running alot cooler than mine. My computer is somewhat in the corner and under a desk (so there isn't proper ventilation "outside of the case"). We have the air conditioner set to come on when it hits 85f but I think it's messed up and stays on longer than it should.

Now, my cooling..

I have a Volcano 6c+ or something (the one suggested for the 1600+) and I just added some AS3 the other day (hasn't been 72 hours yet). I have a case fan (going to install another). The power supply has a fan directly over the CPU. I have the side panel (motherboard side, so it's not giving FULL open air to the computer) off and I jury rigged another case fan in that area. I have an unobstructed hard drive cooler at the front of the case and it seems that the heat sink is doing it's job because when I touch it, it's pretty hot. Not super hot, but not comfortable warm.

Thoughts all? I don't want to cause heat stress to my computer. Nothing is overclocked.

[EDIT] Even when the temp on the CPU is recorded at 70 and the MB is at 50 (highest I've seen it), I get no errors and everything continues to operate without error (it usually takes encoding to get the processor to hit 70).

 

[amdskip]

You definately have some issues here. Computers need to breathe and people never seem to understand this. I don't care what kind of computer you whether it be a Dell or some no name, it needs air to run properly. Your case temp is 50 which is extremely hot and I'm blaming the caseflow of air for the processor running all the way up to 70. I start worrying when I see a computer hit 60, at 70, you better not even run that computer any more. You need a good intake case fan and a good fan to push all the warm stale air out of the case. Just search these posts in the cooling forum for more advice. Give that computer some breathing room or try moving it around the room just to see if it makes any differenes. Run the computer with the side panels on so this way air is sucked in from the front, blown across the heatsink, and then the warm air is pulled out of the case. Is your fan on the heatsink blowing into the processor or is it taking air away from the processor. It should be sucking air towards the processor in most situations. Please follow up your posts and we will do our best to help you

 

[Asrial]

Originally posted by: amdskip
Is your fan on the heatsink blowing into the processor or is it taking air away from the processor. It should be sucking air towards the processor in most situations.

Are you sure that's wise? I thought the point of the fan is to get rid of the heated air coming off the heat sink. I can't see how cooling the heat sink would help the processor.

Also, won't the processor crash before frying?

 

[cheapgoose]

someone from this forum said it best, if you had a hot piece of food, do you blow on it? or try to suck air from it?

right? so blowing on the heatsink is the better way.

I'd liek to give credit to the person who said this, but I can remember who it was.

 

[Asrial]

Well, I'm not trying to eat the heat sink

I'll add it to my list of things to do

 

[cheapgoose]

i hope not, or at least i won't. I probably have the biggest hs out there.

the thing is there is no hot air coming from the cpu, the hs is in contact w/ the cpu, transferring heat from the cpu, then the fan is there to cool the hs, therefore cooling the cpu.

I've spent a lot of money and time into cooling my oc'ed 1600xp, fsb at 155, and I'm pretty happy with my 50-52 idle, and under load it doesn't go over 56.

I'd paid about 60 bucks for my swifty and I modded my sx1030 to hold 6 intake and 5 exhaust fans.

well, good luck with your project! and with some wd40, that volcano of yours will slide right down your throat.

by the way, I had one of those on my old duron rig, it sucked butt, loud as hell too.

 

[Buz2b]

Just to add to and follow up on what has been suggested, I think you should also look into getting a better HS. You can find a variety of prices and quality on this site. The Golden Gate is an excellent budget, all copper HS that will only set you back $10 plus shipping.
Before you do that though, make sure to increase the airflow in the case as has been suggested. Who knows, you may even be able to "get by" with your HS once you do. But I would still recommend you get a better one.

 

[mechBgon]

I'd like to add that the A7V333 has a couple of factors you should be aware of:

• Calibration: the reading you see in Asus Probe, and the reading you see in the BIOS, is coming from a small thermistor mounted to the surface of the motherboard under the CPU. Asus has calibrated it higher than most other brands. For instance, I switched my CPU and heatsink from my old K7S5A to my A7V333 and the temperature readings went up more than 10C. Same CPU, same heatsink/fan, different board, different readings. Don't get too worried just because your roommate's CPU temp reads lower For the record, my 1700+ reads 55-56C on the A7V333 with an Alpha PAL8045 equipped with a 24cfm 80mm fan, and mobo temperature is being reported as 25C (good case ventilation).
• Q-Fan: if you enable Q-Fan in the BIOS, the motherboard will start out with the CPU fan at full speed, but will gradually ramp the fan speed down to the lowest level that it can while maintaining a 60C socket-thermistor reading. Obviously Asus regards 60C as a "normal" temperature, judging by this. If you want the CPU fan to run at full voltage all the time, make sure to disable Q-Fan in the BIOS.
• C.O.P. function: The board should shut down if the CPU is overheating. The C.O.P. function does in fact monitor the CPU's internal diode for an overheat signal, and can cut power to the CPU even after the system has locked/crashed. Very unfortunate that the end user doesn't get to see the CPU diode temperatures, but from my testing, that's how things are.

Hope that helps!

 

[blinkme210]

Hey my comp is almost set up as the same as u. But mine runs at 42C CPU and 37C MB. And I'm telling u that I leave the comp on 24/7. NON STOP. The fan that I got b4 ran at about 50/45. But now that I've installed the Thermaltake Volcano 7+, it runs awesome. maybe u wanna try installing a different heatsink on there. And use the highest quality thermal paste u can get ur hands on. I recommend the artic silver kind.

 

[Asrial]

Well, the night was filled with frustration and stupidity.

First, I examined the heat sink fan. I tried to get it off the heat sink without removing the heat sink or motherboard. No go, the screws were on super tight and it kept making the heat sink wiggle and I was afraid of crushing the processor die and rubbing the AS3.

Sooooo...

I sighed, got some more AS3, rubbing alcohol, the necessary supplies, and took the heat sink off.

I then discovered I could have slid the fan off (though this might have been difficult with it inside the case. I also discovered that the fan is already pointed at the heat sink. DOH!!!

I put some more AS3 on (more confidently this time, 2nd time around and all; made sure to remove the prior AS3) and put the heat sink back on and all's dandy.

Lately my computer's been a mess because I've been doing all this stuff to it so I finally put things back together. I tidy things up (twist ties and paper clips) and put two 60 (or is it 80?) mm case fans on the back of the case (nice thing is, these are right behind the CPU).

I then put in (though it's just sitting there because there's nothing else I can do with it at the moment) another case fan in the front of the case as an intake fan. Nice thing about this is it's also in line with the CPU (and the exhaust fans).

After all's said and done.. the MB temp has remained the same (40c, but I have no idea where the temp reader is and if it's reading case temp or MB temp), but the CPU temp has gone down by 10c!! However, it wasn't a hot day today so we'll just have to see.

See another post about finishing up my cooling setup...

 

[Anubis]

getting soem good case flow will definitly help. also a better fan on your Heat sink would help. a panflo or a delta would keep it nice and cool.

also Download Motherboard Moniter 5 Here and see whe it says your temps are a second opinion is always good

 

[Asrial]

MM5 doesn't work for me for some reason. I got a 2nd opinion from BIOS and a 3rd opinion from another temp program. They all read the same.

..because I haven't experienced any issues with heat, I do think that maybe the built in sensors are reading the temps high as a precaution (better to get some worried before something serious happens then get them worried WHEN something serious happens).

 

[mechBgon]

With two exhaust fans behind the CPU, your actual case temps should be lower than 40C, unless the case is restrictive and has nowhere for the air to come in. I assume the front fan is blowing toward the rear so you have consistent front-to-back airflow? Fans almost always exhaust on the side with the motor-support struts... might double-check to make sure they're all on the same sheet of music.

You might want to do a reality check by simply leaving a plain ol' thermometer inside your case for a while and then opening it up and seeing what the thermometer is reading.

 

[DongTran]

volcanos are good for paperweights and duron 600s.

http://www.svcompucycle.com

get $6 gc68, no fan option, and all will be well. cools my xp2100 very well, and is uber quiet. peep my sig to see what it look like