Thermaltake Volcano+ Hell

[Ketchup]

Originally posted by: Acanthus

Originally posted by: mechBgon
An AMD CPU core weighs perhaps 5 grams and generates upwards of 50W of heat. You do the math on the thermal ramp rate but it's easy to see that without the emergency shutdown circuitry, you can expect the CPU to be permanently damaged in under 10 seconds if there's nowhere for the heat to go.

I'm still wondering if parkerbink has verified that he is

• using the correct clip, out of the three that the Volcano 7+ comes with
• has the clip oriented so its pressure point is, in fact, over the CPU core, as illustrated by Figure 13 of this guide
• has the heatsink slid as far AWAY from the DIMM slots as the clip permits, to prevent the situation illustrated in Figure 14.

I don't see where AMD owes you anything, parkerbink. They don't make the heatsink/fan unit that you're blaming your problems on, and using it voids your retail AMD warranty anyway, no ifs, ands or buts. If they warrantied it anyway, that was awfully nice of them.

I agree with the tip about throwing certs around No offense meant, but it sounds rather pompous.

Anyone remember when THG made the video about thermal protection and they ran the cpus without heatsinks? the athlon smoked in under 10 seconds easy.

That was a really cool video (about the only thing constructive to ever come from THG) but you also have to remember that was playing Quke under 100% CPU load, or close to it. CPU wouldn't get that hot before the computer POSTed, even if there was no heatsink at all.

Since he did have a heatsink on the CPU, and the Asus has such good thermal protection, I also smell a fish here. It is becoming more and more clear that this was simply user error.

 

[parkerbink]

Firstly I was not "throwing my certs around", I was telling the story which is I asked TT's position on ruining CPUs and got pictures of the heatsink on backwards so I replied thanks I know how to orient the heatsink and btw I am what I am.

Second I was able to put the old heatsink (plus the TT's fan) which is why I bought a new heatsink my old fan was dying and it worked (on the new XP2400) Then I thought the problem was too much pressure from the clip, bent it to relieve the pressure and killed the 2400. As for pictures the 2100 is on it's way to AMD (I will not complain if they do not replace it) and the 2400 was replaced by the vendor.

Thanks for all the negative responses guys I hope you don't get into a nightmare like this and have people treat you like an idiot.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: parkerbink
You seem to be missing the point which really is that ThermalTake refused any conversation outside of User Error.

Secondarily THERE IS NO NO NO physical damage to the processors Plural 2 (2) two processors dead in under a minute.

Somehow the TT heatsink caused electricity to flow where it shouldn't have.

Give the guys flaming you a *little* slack - this whole thing does kinda smell of user error. I'm going to assume you know what the f*ck you're doing but I'm still going to have to disagree on the heatsink causing the problem. First burned cpu, yeah maybe but not a second. I would start investigating some other possibilities like your mobo is eating cpus. If you have to grab another cpu, cough up a few more bucks and get the retail version (you'll get a spiffy warranty too) and temporarily use the heatsink that comes with it. If it works, try switching back to the TT.

Also (not sure if this applies here) some heatsink fans pull too much juice to be plugged into the mobo headers - you'll have to use an adapter and plug it into one of your 12v molex connectors.

The thing to check next round: make sure there is no tilt or gap at all under that heatsink. Be a little crazy with the heatsink compound - if you have a gap it might save your butt. If it posts ok shut it down and then reapply the thermal paste properly. Also, leave the fan disconnected during your initial test post and only hook it up on your second boot after you've redone the thermal paste.

Good luck!

 

[dakels]

You say you bent the clip then the 2400 toasted? I hope you didnt bend the clip while it was on the CPU? I had a similar issue while installing a Zalman 7000. It too a rediculous amount of pressure but the P4 C cores have a top plate so they are not as sensitive as the Athlons.

And you have to ignore the rude/OT comments here and glean the wheat so to speak. Alot of good comments have been made here which should be your primary focus. Many others and I seem to feel it was a short or physical damage. While you may say it wasn't physically damaged, how can you know for sure? Anyways, its all pretty moot at this point. You have to get RMA's and cross your fingers. I'm sorry you got a possibly rude rep at thermaltake but sending you an image of an improper installation is not degrading. Its par for the course. (not saying with attitude) but you should know this as a tech. Tech support will always read off the "sheet" first. I could tell my ISP tech support that I invented the router, but they'll still ask me if I have the power cable plugged in.

 

[Smilin]

Originally posted by: dakels
hey smilin

where did you get the 3 second number about the chip overheating? I always heard like several minutes or more before a chip, even with no heat sink to fry. Then again that could have been statistics from older lower voltage lower heat processors. But even the guy that I think you linked ran with just like a little water/moisture (which is insane) and didnt fry the chip within minutes.

Also speaking of which, I was working on a mobo recently and noticed a drop of sweat fall onto the mobo. Even after paper toweling it dry, I made sure not to turn the machine on for a few hours before trying to give it power. Not noticeing that could have been disastrous.

If you get old enough on the cpu's eventually you'll get to ones that don't even need passive heatsinks. I had the Athlon's in mind when I said 3 seconds. I've watch this happen and I think everyone's seen the THG video from a while ago. Anything modern that I know of will run for minutes to days with a failed fan and won't actually toast the cpu. Going without anything at all contacting the top of that cpu will fry you in seconds. It might take 5 seconds for the smoke to appear but the cpu is probably done for in half that time.

cpu's happen to be the "perfect" heaters when you think about it... after all a heater is just tiny wires with electricity in them. If you increase the number of wires, make them thinner and pack them closer together you get a better heater. cpus are the extreme of this and they have almost no mass to heat up so the temp rises to over a couple hundred degrees in an instant. Put a chunk of metal on the thing that's say 500 times the size of the cpu and it will take much much longer to warm up. Eventually the chunk of metal will heat up too much and you'll have to throw a fan into the mix.

 

[dakels]

aah thanks for the response smiley. So its the combination of the tighter density, more transistors, and size of the newer CPU's that make them so nuclear eh?

I have always wondered why CPU makers just dont manufacture the CPU's with heat sinks already on them or built on. I see they are doing that with the new 3.2ghz P4. What the hell took so long for this to come out? I mean it's nice to be able to select your own cooler but it allows for alot more problems... then again, more fried processors from end users means more business.

can someone link that THG video please? I have never seen it and I like watching electronics self destruct -that aren't mine of course

 

[bigpow]

geez parkerbink, you need to relax a bit.

That's what you get when you post to a forum with such a high tone.
You see some people will try to help you within their expertise. Again, within their expertise. Not everyone in the forum carries A+ btw.
Others, well, who knows?

It's only a PC anyway, why would you be so pissed at this?
I bet all this will cost you a small amount of money (if at all), yet I'm sure you're angry and upset for days hence cost you a lot of energy & wasted time.

Don't let simple things like this take away your precious life.
Just get on with your life.

 

[Smilin]

Here you go Dakels:

THG video

 

[dakels]

Originally posted by: Smilin
Here you go Dakels:

THG video

awesome thanks man.

 

[parkerbink]

Update:

AMD (my hero) is replacing the XP2100 with an XP 2200 hows that for the right way to support a customer?

Thanks to all that had some constructive input.

P.S. cool video!

 

[Smilin]

Right on! Sux to have your rig down, hopefully you'll be up and runnin soon!