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Help! Athlon64 3000+ Running REALLY Hot

R

rocketPack

Member
Hello!

I have a problem here, and it's driving me nuts!

I finally got into the 64-bit thing, and bought a new mobo/proc/hard drive. I got an Athlon64 3000+, Venice core (I heard this was much better than Winchester). I had high hopes for overclocking this chip, as it seemed that most people weren't even pushing mid-40s under load on stock cooling.

However, as soon as I fired mine up with an unlapped Gigabyte 3D Rocket II (full speed) and and the processor also unlapped using Arctic Silver 5 (not applied too well), I noticed it was in the 50s right after the first boot (while configuring BIOS). I shrugged it off, and moved on. Well about a week later it was still idling about 50C, so I decided to make some improvements.

I took both out and lapped them to 1500 grit (the CPU heat spreader is down to bare copper now also), both have a decent finish if you look at them head on, and a fairly close to mirror finish at a shallow angle. I thought that, even if this wasn't the best it could be, it was a lot better than it was. So I stuck them back on there with AS5 applied perfectly (if I do say so myself), and what did I behold?

The same freaking temperature!!!
49-51C idling in windows (accoring to the soltek hardware monitoring program) and in concurrnence with SpeedFan (as far as I can tell, you never know which-is-which with SpeedFan). So I ran Prime95 > Torture > In-place large FFTs, and it hit 63C!

So I tried out the stock AMD cooler (the retail box was on sale for $1 less than OEM w/ free shipping vs. $1.99 shipping on OEM, so why not?)... I mean, all the reviews I read were under the retail box listing, so perhaps the AMD cooler knows something I don't. I slapped that on there and it actually ran a whole 1C higher than the Gigabyte 3D Rocket II.

Now, if everyone else and their mother is getting 29-35C idle and 38-45C full load, why in god's name am I getting 50C/63C? Am I overlooking something?

Just a side note, EVERY time I swap/move the HSF, I thoroughly clean both the HS base and cpu heatspreader with denatured alcohol using a camera lens cloth.

Some specifications worth noting:

Case: Cooler Master Centurion 5 (rear fan is upgraded to about 2x the air flow)
Motherboard: Soltek SL-K8TPro 939
Processor: AMD Athlon64 3000+ (Venice Core)
Power Supply: Enermax EG475P-VE (470W)
Heatsink/Fan: Gigabyte 3D Rocket II

Additional Details:
Ambient Temperature: 79-82F (this is the ONLY thing I can think of that might be causing it)
Case Location: Suspended on a shelf on the side of my desk about 2.5 feet off the ground
Processor Specifics (what it said on it before I lapped the face off):
ADA3000DAA4BP
LBBLE 0517APFW
Z641118D50860

CPU-Z Capture:
(Click Here)

uhm... what else could you possibly want to know...

I guess that's about it.

If anyone can tell me why this thing is running so hot or give me an idea of how to get it back to normal (I was really looking forward to OCing it) I would appreciate it very much.

PS - Sorry for making my post so long, I can't help it =S
 
Ugg... are you sure you lapped right? Lapping isn't just about polishing a surface; it's about making it as flat as possible. That's why when you lap you're supposed to do it very carefully on a piece of glass. If you just "lapped" it without the use of a flat surface you might have made the surface concave or something, which is going to really mess up your temps.
 
Yes, I follow directions.

I used a very flat surface while performing the lapping process. And I did it very carefully. Exactly as the instructions I followed said to.

Do keep in mind that the temperature was just as bad before I did any lapping.
 
Is the whole thing getting adequate ventilation? Is the hot air being pulled away from the HSF and out the case? With your ambient temperature so warm this is very important. Was the application of thermal compound the thinnest that you could make it?
 
I followed the directions outlined by the AS5 instructions, by applying 2/3 of a BB sized spot in the centre and letting it spread of its own accord. I initially tried spreading it out manually (before lapping) and same thing...

There is a fan directly above the HSF (from the PSU, 90MM I believe) and a 120mm fan about 2" away from it shooting out the back. I can't imagine air movement being an issue, my friend has the same case and slightly less air flow but has much better results (he has the same case and PSU but different just about everything else)
 
Hmmm.... messed up heat sensor on the motherboard? Still doesn't explain a whole 15C temp increase though.

Are you sure the clamp that clamps the HSF onto the mobo is tight? I mean very tight? A guy earlier had a similar problem and his issue was clamp pressure.
 
I was a but uneasy about the clip strength too, but the stock AMD HSF gives really bad results too which leads me to believe that may not be the issue. I'm not sure of a good way to increase the tension? Put a sharper bend in it?

The messed up sensor thing is an interresting idea... food for thought: there are a billion heat sensors! SpeedFan shows up like this:
Temp1: 32C
Temp2: -88C
Temp3: 26C
Local: 33C
Remote: 49C
Temp: 1C
HD1: 32C
Temp1: 40C

Naturally I'm assuming Temp2 and Temp are not used, but 'Remote' is the one I am assuming to be the CPU heat (it concurs with the temp reported by the Soltek Hardware Monitor and the BIOS readout)

Perhaps there is a better sensor?
 
Here, just try this. Locate the thermal sensor that's close to your mosfets (it should be somewhere close to your HSF, probably on the left side). Blow air on the thermal sensor and see if the temperature in question starts to drop a lot.
 
Or do like I did (Abit AV8 user) and get a thermal probe and slap it as close to the IHS as you can.
 
Reset your BIOS to default config (no overclock). Shut down the PC overnight. Check the room temp in the morning. Turn on the PC and immediately check the CPU temp at idle. It should NOT exceed the room temp by more than 6C. I suspect that the CPU temp probe is in error.

I've read several Soltek posts with elevated temp.

Retest using the AMD stock fan. Cold AM ide is approximately 28C. Warm ide is approximately 35C. My overclocked 3000 Winchester (2.3 GHz at 1.475 Vcore) is running around 53C with Prime95 max heat, plus/minus 2C, depending on room temp.

I'm using the Zalman 7000Cu with the fan set to 1920 rpm MAX.
 
I appreciate your response furballi.

Right now the only real changes to the BIOS are minimal. The system is and has never been overclocked. I made sure to do 'load bios defaults' right after I updated the BIOS (right after I got the board), and then my changes were minimal like disabling the audio (I have a SB A2 Platinum), adjusting the AGP aperature, and just minor preferential stuff.

as for the temperatures, I am beginning to suspect that the temp. I am reading may not be the right one. Let me outline what I've realized:

In SpeedFan I was looking around and started playing with some settings, and I came to figure this out:

The temperatures being reported are coming from 4 chips, they are:
(a) IT8712F at $290 on ISA
(b) LM90 at $4C on VIA SMBus
(c) LM75 at $4E on VIA SMBus
(d) ACPI at $0 on ISA

For ease of reference, I have labeled them (a) through (d).

Sensor (a) is reporting the following temps:
Temp1: 31C
Temp2: -89C
Temp3: sporadically changes from 25C-55C or so

Sensor (b) is reporting the following temps:
Local: 33C
Remote: 49C <-- This is what I am assuming to be the CPU

Sensor (c) is reporting the following temp:
Temp: 1C

Sensor (d) is reporting the following temp:
Temp1: 40C

Natually, sensor (a) has an extremely robust set of options (changing the sensor types, offsets, divisors/multipliers, clocks, etc), while the remaining 3 have ONLY temperature offset. I should also mention that Sensor (a) is also the fan speed sensor, and possibly the one reporting the voltages (not certain of that though).

Now here is my question... would they use the LM90 as a CPU temperature monitor? Could there possibly be two types of monitors? Like, one measured AT the CPU and one reported BY the CPU?

It just seems that something isn't adding up here, and perhaps there is a DIFFERENT sensor that I should be reading the temps from?

I really have no idea what any of these temps are anymore...

Any advice or recomendations are greatly appreciated! Perhaps I need to write Soltek a note or check my documentation for details on this. I am really anxious to start bumpin' the clock up but there is no way I am going to do that until I have a functional temperature readout that I can actually trust!

Thanks again for all your help guys!

PS. I tried blowing on the MOSFETS and no change.
 
I have decided to go ahead and bug the Soltek tech. support; we'll see what they have to say on this issue.

One thing that strikes me as REALLY odd, the other day I took the cpu out to swap heatsinks and right after it came out of the system (I mean RIGHT after, I was waiting for it to shutdown with my hand on the clip to remove the HSF)... now the processor was suposidly just at about 50C (~122F) and when i took it out, it was barely even warm to the touch, just a smidge above room temperature.

Is it possible that in the 30 seconds or less it took me to retrieve it that it cooled over 25C??

I am starting to freak out a bit less and accept the idea that my board is just lying to me about the temp. There is no way it could have felt that cool to the touch after coming out of the system at 50C... right?

P.S. The HSF was pretty much room temperature also.
 
Well you've all been incredibly helpful and I really appreciate all your support!

I contacted Soltek and after they tried to tell me 50C was normal for this processor (which prompted me to research and produce this:
http://www.amdcompare.com/us-en/desktop/details.aspx?opn=ADA3000DAA4BP - the brief specs on my exact processor which state the maximum temp is 65C - I am getting reported temps of 63C full load), I responded with a "no way jose" (not literally) and then the support rep produced a link to a forum thread where several other people had reported issues in temperature reporting from the exact same core CPU as mine, a real shocker that was.

So despite their best efforts to ward us off with "The BIOS engineer said 50C is normal", it's an error in the BIOS that will be fixed once they cave and figure out what went wrong.

I guess it wasn't me after all, but at least I got a lapped CPU/HSF out of the deal (at my cost, but I wouldn't have done it otherwise 😛).

Again, thanks for your support and I guess we can call this a 'case closed'.

Take care 🙂

-Scott
 
I guess it all depends on how good your case/CPU cooling is. My 4000+ idles at ~38C with loads of 46-47C. This is with a Zalman CNPS7000-AlCu cooler and a Cooler Master Centurion 530 case. Your temps still seem pretty high for a 3000+ (or any AMD proc, frankly). I have another system with a 2.8GHz P4 Northwood, and its temps are close to yours. But that's a P4, and they're known to run hot like that.
 
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