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Max safe temp for AMD Athlon T-bird?

Athlons max temp is rated at 90C. Should you ever let it get even close to that? No! A CPU could "fry" at a lower temp than that; there's really no way to tell until it happens unfortunately. But that is what AMD's official max temp is listed as. I can assure you that the Athlon will be unstable long before that point though.
 
why even push it though?
get a good hsf, like an sk6, and at least one intake and one exhaust fan..preferably all fairly high flow (sunons are pretty good and not very expensive)
 
While these are motherboard thermistor readings and not the true core temps, I prefer to stay in the 45-50c range under full load.
 
i have a SK6 plus a T&T 6000 RPM fan.

Problem is, with my standard configuration of fans, its TOO LOUD.

I have a Pentium 4 1.8 GHz system and its quieter than my laptop (Dell Inspiron 8100 with P3-M 1.2 GHz)

My AMD system is way too loud and I can't listen to my music, watch DVDs, play games, etc... because Im distracted by the fans.

 
Not really a lot that you can do about it. Athlons are way too hot and have a really crappy heatsink. The quietest one that you can buy for it is still way louder than the stock intel fan. You might want to try getting some antec smart fans but basically stick with your intel rig buddy. it's quieter and cooler. You don't really even need a case fan if you've god an emermax whisper or quiet antec PS. Ditch the athlon. It's not good for people who are sensitive to noise.
 
95°C is the absolute maximum temperature the CPU can take. At this level, the processor will be destroyed in a matter of seconds. You'll start seeing errors and various problems at around 70-75°C. However, as a general rule, you never want to go very far beyond 60°C.
 
I ran my Athlon system in 85-95F ambient heat and played a nice long game of Ghost Recon (very intensive game - even with a 1.6 GHz Athlon, overclocked GeForce 3, Windows 2000 Pro - I get slow-down in the city levels), the CPU temp peaked at 55F while the system temp peaked at 35-37C.

I ordered a copper CPU shim to see if it'd do anything (seeing how there's still residual heat on the ceramic body of the CPU, it might transfer it to the heatsink and lower CPU temps a little).

I have a 550W Enermax Power Supply (I had a 300W p/s but it kept shorting out due to the high power requirement of the AMD CPU. The same 300W p/s went into a Celeron system and is running fine) that has the dual fan config. This is making most of the noise but I found with the "smart" fans, it was running REALLY hot. I bypassed the intelligence and went to direct powered fans (90mm pulls the air directly over the CPU, 80mm exhausts it).

I'm trying to find ways of making it run cooler but I have a bunch of fans that would only make it louder.

The P4 1.8 system is QUIET. I have to give Intel major props with their P4 - it might not be as fast as the Athlon but damn its quiet.

I'm not sensitive to noise but I read that exposing yourself to a constant level of noise can result in hearing loss. I value my ability to hear =)
 
your heatsink is way too inefficient if you have a temp difference of 18-20 C
i have an sk6 with a delta 38 and good case cooling and my temp difference even running prime 95 is at max 11C
idling its usually 6-8, normal full load is 8-10 over case temp
my case temps tend to run2-4C over ambient
too bad my ambient temps have been so high lately...but that's what summer with no ac will do to you..still plenty stable though
get a more efficient hsf
 
oh..and shims do nothing for you core temps, they are there to help avoid core crushing
electrically non-conductive shims are preferable to copper, just in case a misalignment could cause the copper shim to short bridges
 
could the copper shim really short out the CPU? I thought it would be mounted in a way that it'd sorta clip onto the those little nubs??

The fan I have is a 42+ cfm 6000 RPM T&T fan, with a Thermalright SK-6.
I am using Artic Silver II.

I do not have an exhaust fan running in the back because its too damn noisy.

I pulled all the fans and just kept the HSF, the dual fans in the power supply, and an intake fan.

 
it does mount on the nubs, but nubs can come off if you have your system apart a few times...mine'sdown to 2 nubs, but my shim's nonconductive and still stays aligned pretty good
 
I do not have an exhaust fan running in the back because its too damn noisy.
Click to expand...
You are drastically cutting down on your cooling efficiency by not exhausting the hot air buildup in your case. Get at least a panaflo L1A for this. They are damned quiet and will at least pull some of the hot air out. Your dual fan PS does not do a good enough job of this. That fan will not increase the noise level above what you already have and it could lower your temps a bit.
 
I mounted a Delta 60mm fan as the exhaust, its the one that AMD ships with its retail T-birds.

This is in a very hot room (90F+):

After 15 min of Ghost Recon:

CPU temp: 51C
Syste temp: 33C (91F)

My Skyhawk case came with a 80mm exhaust option that uses an 80mm fan mounted to a plastic frame that sorta ducts out heat... Other than that there's nothing else I can really do in terms of exhaust.

I have a single 80mm fan as the intake though.
 
I have a fairly "inexpensive" case (that came with a Skyhawk PS) that did not have much in the way of options and space for extra fans. I replace the PS with a dual fan Enermax. Then, I was able to mount 2 60mm fans, one one on top of the other, along the back wall about "cpu high", for additional exhaust. There was not enough room for an 80mm fan but the two 60's (low speed) work just fine. I also installed an 80mm panaflo on the bottom of my case for additional intake because the front intake fan had horribly blocked airflow. I guess my point is that, "if there's a will, there's a way." You can always get creative.
BTW, my "office" here at home in N. CAL is not air conditioned and reaches 85-90 at times also. My system maxes out at around 48-50C during those hot times. Not what I want, but the best I can do; it still is stable and keeps on chugging 24/7. Get out the dremel and give it a shot.
 
I don't really think heat is a problem if you have a decent cpu hs/f that is working properly and maybe an exhaust for the rear of the case.

The cpu doesn't seem that heat sensitive to me... or maybe i was just lucky, but... I went home one day and my computer was not responding ...
I found out my cpu fan was stuck ... (one of the blades ... decided to straighten out a bit).

So basically my cpu was above 70C (almost burnt my finger touching the heatsink) and it still works fine today.

I think as long as it doesn't crash doing whatever you are doing... it'll be fine... but to be safe and for a longer lasting cpu just get a decent hs/f

-Losty
 
AMD systems don't have to be loud, just carefully plan your cooling. Thermalright AX7 with an adjustable fan is a very good solution. I then have four 80mm 30cfm ball bearing case fans hooked up on the 7-volt mod. My system is cool and was so quiet I noticed my Antec 400-watt exhaust was too loud and replaced it with a quieter one.
 
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