What a small amount of pressure can do ...

[petrusbroder]

I have a computer with an "old" AMD Phenom 9950 CPU, which has been crunching along on 2.6GHz well enough. Core temp reported 77ºC which is somewhat high for my taste - but not too bad.
I cleaned the compurter (removed all dust, took off the HSF (Arctic Freezer 64 Pro II) blew away all dust. When first dismounting and then remounting the HSF I noticed that the HSF did not sit - in my opinion - tight enough on the CPU. I tested it and after one hour of 100% load (WCG on all four cores) the temps were as before, 77ºC.
Then I removed the HSF and bent the spring somewhat more in the "opposite" direction, i.e. so the pressure on the CPU would be greater and remounted the HSF.
After one hour of 100% load (as before) the temps were now 67-68ºC ... 9-10ºC lower. This morning, after more than 13 hours of continuous 100% load the CPU temp was still only 68ºC.

This really confirms the hypothesis that the mounting of the HSF is of upmost importance for efficient cooling .

BTW: I used the same therma compound (Arctic Silver 5) and the same procedure for mounting the HSF.

 

[Drsignguy]

Pretty interesting Peter Not only does it reduce the temps but it also shows how tough your processor is Let this be the example for most that ask that question of "why is my CPU overheating" and "how do I fix it". Seems to be one of the most common, I guess. I have done this before and it amazes me that is all it takes!Crunch on :thumbsup:

 

[petrusbroder]

Well, for this processor the junction temperature is 105ºC (IIRC ... may be wrong) and I have run it (for a short period of time and by mistake) @ 95ºC. So 77ºC is not way too high - just too high ... ;-)