severely hot t-bird... what can i do ?

[Valhalla1]

1.2 tbird on a microstar (msi) k7 master ddr board (not overclocking)

with the retail heatsink and fan, with the stock pink thermal pad, my cpu runs quite hot, idles in the low 60c and when maxed out it gets very hot, 72+c

these are the temps reported by PC Alert III which is microstar provides with the board. motherboard monitor wont work, none of the temp monitors show anything. when i go into the bios, the temps are the same, very high

what worries me even more is that supposedly the thermostat or whatever is not even touching the cpu core, but several m.m. away from it, so the temps provided are actually not as hot as the cpu really is

the pink thermal pad melted thru in a perfect rectangle the shape of the core. I bought a much larger heatsink and fan (generic or something, the box says "speeze") from a local shop today, with the same pink thermal pad. I asked if they had thermal grease and they told me (which i didnt believe.. ) that the pink pad was better than grease, they didnt have any i guess

so i tried the new hsf which i thought would help but it was actually much worse, topping out at 80c and climbing after starting a DC client. I didnt have it booted for long needless to say before turning it off and leaving it off for now until I figure out how to fix this


why is my cpu so freaking hot.. both retail and the larger with the bigger fan were not coming close to cooling the cpu, i think AMD and "speeze" couldn't get away with selling HSF's like these if all tbirds acted like mine, so something is not right.. I am worred that even if i get an expensive ultra-HS with thermal grease that its still going to be cooking. is it a voltage issue? i have it set on default on the bios, can i bump the voltage down to make it less hot, or will it become unstable? i am not overclocking


what heatsink and preferable quiet fan would cool this sunofabitch ? this is unacceptable, people tell me their tbirds run in the 40 degree C range even topped out 100%. why is mine twice as hot?

or maybe the thermometer is spitting out much too hot temps, and its not that hot? but it melts right thru the pink pad like butter

 

[Woody419]

Carefully clean the heatsink and CPU of all of that nasty pink thermal pad with acetone or 90% isopropyl alcohol, you may need a razor blade, and put on a thin layer of thermal paste. Radio Shack has stuff that will work just fine.
Read about thermal compound here
Thermal compound application instructions

 

[MoFunk]

Along with thermal paste make sure you have decent airflow in the case. Like an intake and an exhaust. You could also invest a little into a better HSF. The SK-6 gets high marks here. You can put an 80mm fan on it. Since you are not really overclocking you can get a very low speed one that will be whisper quiet!

 

[2cool4u]

is 72 C high or something? i never thought it was that bad. Anyway your first mistake was taht crappy bubblegum they put on the bottom of the heatsinks. Go with thermal paste and even round the cables to increae airflow...also a bigger case might help.

 

[MistaTastyCakes]

72C is very high. Ideally, you want a load temp at 50C max.

You could try an SK-6, Alpha PAL8045, or the big Swiftech model (name is escaping me..) as well as a few others out there. I find it odd that temps were THAT high though. Did ya make sure the HS wasn't on backwards, and the tape was removed from the thermal pads?

 

[2cool4u]

HA HA i'm a moron, i forgot i don't use celsius, i was looking at farenheit... well then i guess my stress temp of 30C isn't bad

 

[BUTTUGLY]

I just replaced my alpha 8045 with the new heatpipe from coolermaster, it kicks alpha butt.
But true, get rid of that pink thermal pad, it's not meant to be re-used.

 

[mechBgon]

Based on several creditable reports, the new Radio Shack compound is not good to use with modern CPUs, because it runs and/or dries out. Get some Arctic Silver II or use the thermal pad, which may not be the ultimate but has staying power for the long haul (which I believe is why AMD specs it).

Those temperatures do sound very high. Do you have any other motherboards you could try with your CPU/heatsink combo, to see if it's an anomoly of your particular motherboard? Is the heatsink on the right way, with the "step" in the base over the cam box on the CPU socket? What does the motherboard temperature say if you do a cold start and immediately go into the BIOS... does it read close to room temperature at that point?

 

[Smaulz]

You'll actually have to lose the HS and buy a new one. Once those pads and tapes melt, they fill the pores of the HS and there's no way to completely remove it. (see here... Arctic Silver Instructions

 

[mdcrab]

As several have suggested use AS2, it is also avail on EGay cheap. As a temporary measure try running you PC with the cover off, if that is an option. I also have found that a blow hole can drop temps significantly. I do not like to see temps much over 55 deg C, as one time I burn't a core on a Duron 700. That was due to a shim which I will never use one again. Good luck. Here's link on Blow Hole:

Blow Hole

mdcrab

 

[MoFunk]

I would have to say that a blow hole would help quite a bit. I have 2 in mine. a 92mm intake in the front bottom, a 92mm exhaust at the top and an 80mm exhaust in the back next to the HSF. It works so well that when I take the side of my case off my temp goes up almost 2c!