Vcore temps and CPU Cooling...

[PrivateIdaho]

I am running (or trying to) an MSI MS-6341S with an XP2100. Not only am I having a hard time getting CPU temps down but I am getting a VCore voltage of 1.68 which hardware monitor told me was low. Everything else power wise seems fine. I don't know anything about the voltage side fo things so I don't know whether to take this seriously or not.

My temps are at 62c at idle with a Swiftech MC462 with a 120mm 80+ cfm fan on an 80 to 120 adapter. I tried before with a plain Thermaltake with an 80mm fan and thought that things would get better.... is there something amiss? Does the use of the adapter hurt rather than help?

I am stumped....

Thanks

 

[Duvie]

First off lets discuss motherboard inaccuracies and under/overvolting....

1) Motherboards are famous for being calibrated slightly diff. Many times asus amd boards were considerably higher temps reported then elsewhere. Whereas the epox or what not may on same setup read 8-10 cooler...

In your case the 62c would be hard to imagine even if it is being more accurately read as the core temp through the thermal diode.

Look at heatsink contact. Makes sure it is tight. I like the alphas and there screw down method as you know you have contact when you see a slight bend in the board. Also make sure you didn't over apply the thermal compound. With Artic Silver it is a very thin layer. Almost transparent but not quite.


2) I have had epxerience with the MSI boards on the p4 side and it undervolted around .07v which is about what your board is. default vcore for a xp2100 is 1.75v. On the other hand I hear asus amd boards usually overvolting in the .02-.03v range...

Go ahead if you can and raise the vcore up a notch to get it closer to that deafult vcore at idle...

Also go ahead and list the PSU you have and more specifically the +3.3v,+5v, and+12v rail as reported by the bios and mbm...

My temps are at 62c at idle with a Swiftech MC462 with a 120mm 80+ cfm fan on an 80 to 120 adapter. I tried before with a plain Thermaltake with an 80mm fan and thought that things would get better.... is there something amiss? Does the use of the adapter hurt rather than help?

I think this definitely sounds like a contact problem. Also make sure fan is blowing down onto the swiftech hsf. In my testing I believe that is the way the swiftech worked the best during my amd days...

 

[PrivateIdaho]

PSU.... An Antec 300w unit that is about 2 years old. Came with my Antec case.... I have a spare Enermax so I may tryt o swap it out and see what happens.

Swiftech... the fan is set the right way. You remember right, they recommend blowing down into the heat sink, not up through it. I used some PC Power and Cooling stuff I had laying around. Amazingly, there are no local shops that carry Arctic Silver that I can find. The next closest is the Antec stuff that Micro Center carries. I know it would make a difference of a few degrees but that much? As to the tightness of the screws... I did it as tight as I feel comfortable with. Pretty tight if you ask me.

There are 2 80mm exhaust fans and 1 80mm blowing over my SCSI HD. All are going the correct way.

Voltages...since my SCSI terminator seems to have gone south during all this, I can only report BIOS numbers...

VCore.. 1.68
2.5...2.65
3.3...3.36
5....4.92
12....12.18


I will examine the heatsink and its contact with teh CPU. There are tiny washers inbetween the stand offs and the motherboard that the directions teel me to install if the holes are not grounded. Maybe I will remove one of the 2 on each hole to see what happens?

Thanks

 

[PrivateIdaho]

Well, it turns out that it was probably the contact between the cpu and the heat sink. I reapplied everything with some Antec paste and the temps dropped to 32c at idle.

Sadly, the board has decided to eat scsi termintors for some reason so now I have to post another thread in another forum...

It never ends...lol.

Thanks..