NEED HELP! :( New A8N-SLI with athlon 64 4000+

[olternat]

Hey all!

Ok here is my new rig's specs. Its brand new just installed last night. No windows yet though cause I am concerned about the cpu temperture.....

Athlon 64 4000+ (using stock heatsink fan and included thermal pad)
A8N-SLI deluxe motherboard
2 Gigs Corsair value ram ddr400(pc3200)
ANTEC Truepower 550 eps12v 24 pin power supply
ANTEC Super Lanboy case (includes two 120mm fans front and back)
Western Digital 74 Gig Raptor 10000 rpm serial ata hard drive
Western Digital 80 Gig standard IDE ata hard drive
generic dvd-rom and generic cd-rewritable

Currently TESTING with a regular PCI 64mb graphics card (the 6800gt pci express card is in the mail)

Ok, after foolin round with all the wiring I got it to post with no problems. However the idle cpu temperature climbed from 32C and now hovers at around 54C at idle. Several minutes later I turned off the machine and reached inside and felt the stock heatsink and it felt hot to the touch but not so much that I couldnt keep my finger on it. Currently the motherboard is using bios version 1002 dated 11/26/04 which is the latest OFFICIAL release.
However, there are several revisions beyond version 1002 that are available for download from the manufacturers website. The only thing is though they are betas.

Another little detail is that my super antec brand new power supply is blowing out warm air from the back. But from research it seems that some of these modern PSUs are made to run warm when they work with their quiet running technology.

Should I get a new heatsink? Should I update the bios to the latest beta? What should I do? I would like the temperature to be at least in the low 40s. With my configuration what should my idle temperature be? Remember windows isn't installed yet on my raptor and my 6800gt pci express card is yet to be installed.
I'm worried here. Also, the voltage is set at 1.5

What the hecks goin on? Idle temp should be lower! Argh!

 

[JBDan]

I would NOT use a beta BIOS. 54C is way high for idle. You have some AS5 or ceramique? If so then remove pad with alcohol and a razor. Reseat HSF according to Arctic Silvers web instructions and see what ya get. If no AS5 or other silver paste then reseat HSF anyways and check out contact made. Voltage is good @ 1.5. Warm air out of the PSU is normal.

 

[olternat]

ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :shocked:

I just came from compusa!! I was looking for a new hsf but they got none for socket 939. Reseat the old hsf with new thermal paste?? *smacks head* I coulda bought some while I was there.

Why didn't I think of that? Well I will buy some paste tommorow and see if that helps.
Any other advice?

 

[miketheidiot]

your temp is nothing to be concerned about.

 

[Insomniak]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
your temp is nothing to be concerned about.

The hell it isn't. 54C is high as hell for idle. I wouldn't want my LOAD temps much higher than that. Idle, he should be running high 30s at the hottest.

My 2.2Ghz A64 3000+ (400Mhz OC) runs low 40s under load after hours. His proc is basically the same chip with twice as much cache and 400 more Mhz on the clock. 55C would be an acceptable load temp for him, but definitely not idle.

 

[zakee00]

the stock HSF dosnt come with a thermal pad, it comes with paste pre-applied. its good stuff, forgot the brand though. get some AS5 and apply it CORRECTLY, and flash back to a non-beta bios. if that dosnt fix it, you have a defective cpu i would think.

 

[JBDan]

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
your temp is nothing to be concerned about.

Huh? What temps should he concerned about then? Interesting.

 

[olternat]

You sure bout that? I thought that was a thermal pad I saw stuck to the underside of the heatsink. But even so that is what is driving me crazy. Shouldn't the stock heatsink fan give me better idle temps?

 

[miketheidiot]

Originally posted by: Insomniak

Originally posted by: miketheidiot
your temp is nothing to be concerned about.

The hell it isn't. 54C is high as hell for idle. I wouldn't want my LOAD temps much higher than that. Idle, he should be running high 30s at the hottest.

My 2.2Ghz A64 3000+ (400Mhz OC) runs low 40s under load after hours. His proc is basically the same chip with twice as much cache and 400 more Mhz on the clock. 55C would be an acceptable load temp for him, but definitely not idle.

#1 you are comparing a 2.2ghz .13 part to a 2.4 130 part built on a 130nm process that runs hotter. This temp is entirely acceptable.

 

[olternat]

Well I got windows installed with all the updates for windows as well as the drivers for the mobo.
The asus probe is installed along with amd cool n quiet. Well I don't know bout cool n quiet in windows...all that seems to do is list the cpu speed and voltage. Maybe its doing something in the background?
But anyway the asus probe reports that the cpu is running at 54c same as the bios. As of this very second I see that it has actually gone down to 52c.

Welll, tommorow I am going to buy some arctic silver paste and reseat the stock amd cooler with the new paste (cleaning the hsf from the thermal pad residue along with cleaning cpu of course). Hopefully that will improve the temperature by a few degrees. And I wil stilll order a new cpu hsf combo monday.

Now can someone please advise me as to which heat sink/fan would perform the best without sounding like a jet engine? Any products out there for socket 939 that might get the temperature down to the 30s ?

 

[tjmaxwell]

I'm having similar temperature issues with my FX-55-based SLI rig. According to Asus Probe, my CPU is idling at around 55 and hits 75 under load. On the advice of someone here, I downloaded Everest Home Edition and it's reporting differently. My CPU temperature in Asus Probe is matching a temperature reading called "Aux" in Everest. Everest reports my CPU temps at about 38C idle, 44C load which I would like much better. Problem is, I don't know which one to believe.

 

[olternat]

OMG..!!

You mean I bought a thermalright xp-90 for nothing?
Where do you get this program?

 

[Duvie]

Careful there is no confirmation everest is reading it right...6c swing form idle to load tells me 2 things...

1) You have no clue what load is

2) The program is wrong...

Even with the best xp-120 cooler 6c swing from idle to load even on the wattage of this chips is not possible. Check the manufactures spec and their watt/celsius factor listed... You would need a .1 or less to achieve that!!!


I think they are both wrong...Asus probe is notorious buggy, everest likely isnot compatable to date with the newer mobo of the SLI boards, etc.....



If the hsf is hot too the touch then it tells me 2 things...

1) You are making good contact so the whatever you call the stock crap is also good and doing what it is supposed to do...It is helping make a perfect conductove bridge of heat from the IHS of the A64 to the heatsink and its fins...pull the heat away from the core...

2) the fan speed and cfm is ineffective and you could be helped with a larger 92-120mm fan to push more air over the fins and dissipate heat...



I am running 2.61ghz right now on a sckt 939 3000+ at 1.47-1.48vcore (loads to 1.49v) and runing PRIME95 FOR 60+ HOURS!!!! My hsf is barely even luke warm.....

I have reported temps of 49-50c thru everest and speedfan...I idle at 32c..Yes an 18c swing and I have no slouch for a hsf...defintely not that bad compared even to the xp-120...With a stock cooler which I was using for the first 2-3 weeks I would have loaded at arounf 58c and it was prime95 stable....My room is a about 71f right this moment according to the thermometer. I have 3 case fans....

 

[olternat]

ARGHHHHHH Duvie!

I was feeling all happy cause everest home edition is reporting a cpu idle temp MUCH lower than the 52c - 54c idle temperature reported earlier. From what u just said i dunno what to believe now.

In fact, everest is reporting a *glances over at pc* idle temperature of 32c ????
Thats an almost a 20 DEGREE difference than what the bios and asus probe is reporting. One of them has got to be wrong. But perhaps the bios is reporting it inaccurately. But if that is the case then what is everest home edition doing differently.

However, I do notice that everest is also reporting the same asus probe temp and bios temp as an entry called "AUX" just like tjmaxwell.


Ok, so whats going on and what should I do? If the true cpu idle temp is about 32c then I won't install the new heatsink/fan the xp-90. If the true cpu temp is around 52c then I will install the new hsf.

On a side note I do notice that the average cpu temp that the bios and asus probe reports is slightly lower than when the machine was first turned on almost a week ago. Its reporting the cpu temp as about 50c now. Maybe if I wait a month it will go down further? lol

 

[Duvie]

Not that much down....Eeverset reads within 3-4c of corecenter (MSI's app) for me and matches Speedfan and Sissift Sandra...I use everest cause it reads my HDD temps as well...gets my volatges whacky...says 2.6v on the +12v rail...

Lets face it most of these fvckers are all messed up....

The main issue is the HSF is hot!!! It apperas as the fan is not effectively removing the heat from the fins. Those heat not being removed will slow done the transfer of heat from the IHS to hSF and raise the core temp.....

Just but the new HSF on it and see.....

the stock cooler worked for me up to even 2.7ghz...What is the fan rpm on the stock??? I remember mine doing like near 3600-400 speed and it seems to speedstep up when it was under load as I noticed a slight wind up.....To be honest it was a opteron 248 cooler but it should have been similar in thermal rating as it looks identical to ones like yours..all luminum and finned the same with the smae size fan...

 

[Duvie]

The real issue is does anybody believe these chips woudl only have a 6c swing fro idle to true load??? And by loadind I mean 100% cpu usage for more then like 3-5 minutes...

Run prime95...let it load and record the temp evry min from 1-5 then record it at 10, 15, 30...then stop...I bet you could maybe even still see temp rising a degree or so from 15 to 30 minutes...Closed case I have even seen a 1 degree rise after an hour (AMD system)...I have pretty good case cooling so load doesn't start effecting itself as much now in this system...In my P4 I would still be climbing in temp after a few hours.....That told me I wasn't exhausting the heat out of the case well enough and the hsf was recycling increasingly warmer and warmer air...

 

[olternat]

Wait!

So your saying that it isn't necessarily the stock heatsink that could be the problem but just the stock fan that went along with it? For all those who just tuned in I am using a athlon 64 4000+ cpu with stock heatsink and fan. The fan seems to be a 80mm I think.

The speed of the fan currently is about 1875 rpm and current idle cpu temp of around 50c.
Is the speed of the fan good, bad or average? I just don't know enough yet to tell.

 

[Duvie]

That is low...does it idle up to near 4000 under load??? The fan is actually like a 70mm....

 

[olternat]

I hadn't actually tested it under a load yet. I wanted to get the idle temp without load a lower than it is currently.
So 1875 rpm is slow for a cpu fan? What should it be then? Are you saying amd's stock fans suck? Wanna know before I change out the fans.

 

[Duvie]

The problem is you need to load it for a few seconds and see if the fan kicks up...if it does then that means it is thermally sensored..Some have stated their cpu hsf dont do this...I am confuesd by this but it may be yours is with a 130nm 4000+ chip....

Load it for a minute and if the fan does not throttle up to near 4000...maybe something is wrong...

70mm fan to push any decent cfm will need to run about 4000 rpm....MOst good 80mm fans will run 3400-3600rpm and 92mm fans running 2800-3000rpm and 120mm fans running like 2200rpm....

 

[Duvie]

The problem is you need to load it for a few seconds and see if the fan kicks up...if it does then that means it is thermally sensored..Some have stated their cpu hsf dont do this...I am confuesd by this but it may be yours is with a 130nm 4000+ chip....

Load it for a minute and if the fan does not throttle up to near 4000...maybe something is wrong...

70mm fan to push any decent cfm will need to run about 4000 rpm....MOst good 80mm fans will run 3400-3600rpm and 92mm fans running 2800-3000rpm and 120mm fans running like 2200rpm....

 

[olternat]

Woh woh woh woh woh.!!

Are you saying that there is something wrong with the cpu fan or the CPU ITSELF!! ??
And I do believe the amd 64 4000+ is a 130nm part. What does that have to do with anything by the way?

Well ok I will load up prime95 for a few min and check the fan speeds. Its funny.....amd rep told me that 54c was "normal" and "falls within range" for the idle temp which is baloney in my opinion. And I still can't get through to asus support.
Argh! I wanna avoid installing the thermalright xp-90 if I don't have to. Especially if the bios is reporting an incorrect temperature.

But anyway help me arghhhhhh!!!

 

[Duvie]

NO I am not saying anything is wrong with the cpu....

What I am wondering is why the rpm is sooooo low on that hsf....70mm fan running 1700rpm is not going to puch enough cfm to cool xp 2100+'s let alone A64 4000+....

54c is baloney...It is a crap idle temp if it is right. You can almost surely bet it will load in the mid 70's plus. swings from idle to load from stock hsf's are running in the range of 20c....

You are making a connection and good conductivity or the hsf would not be hot to the touch. It is the fan is not pushing enough air over the fins to expel the heat....Basic thermal dynamics here....

 

[olternat]

So its your opinion that its the stock fan itself that might be the problem? I'm going to call amd support and see what they say about that.
Tell me though.....what kind of difference in temperature on average a thermalright xp-90 would have vs a stock amd heatsink/fan combination.
I don't mean exact temperatures but I mean how many degrees cooler the xp90 would be vs the generic coolers.

Back to my case. Maybe my stock fan is defective? Maybe the mobo is not doing its job? That also could be an issue. Please note I am also running two 120mm case fans so thats probably why the cpu temp right now is about 50c.

 

[Duvie]

run the damn thing at load and tell whether the fan throttles up at all.....

You are also not the first guy to get high score with an asus sli board so maybe the temps are wacked...I can just tell you from actual real life right now my priming system which says 50c at load right now is not even warm to the touch and I just finished 62 consecutive hours oof 100% load....

You need to run it at 100% load to see the temps rise...The board has thermal controls you wont kill it...Watch it and when it hits 70=75 turn of the program (prime95 is good) and the temps will retreat....

The xp90 is nice and should drop the idles a bit....MOst high end fans wont drop the idle much, but where they are gold is in minimizing the swing from idle to load....I bet an xp-90 with decent idle temps could have a ~14c swing....If you think you will get much better then 4-6c idle drop you will be dreaming....Then you would still look at loading of near 60c with the ~14c swing.....

The problem is you need some room since you dont even have that oven of a vid card in there yet which could idle 50+c on its own and load in the 70's....