Yikes! I'm such a moron!

vetteguy

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Sep 12, 2001
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The other day I got an Athlon XP 1800+ to replace my 1.4 (for a little more speed and less heat). Well, I popped out the old one and put some grease on the XP, and slapped my Vantec copper heatsink on it (topped off with a Delta black label) and put everything back together. I turned it on once just to make sure it booted, and hadn't used it as I was away all weekend. Well last night I was working on my new P4 system and I powered up the Athlon one to install Windows, etc. After a couple of hours, I happened to touch the top of my case (it's aluminum) and it was REALLY hot! I thought that wasn't good, so I went into the BIOS to check readings, and the cpu was at 64.5 degrees!!! I couldn't believe it, as I thought the XPs were supposed to run cooler. Then I realized that when I took off my HSF I must have unplugged the fan, and never plugged it back in. As a matter of fact, I remember thinking to myself last night "wow, this system seems a lot quieter than it used to". So obviously the Delta wasn't even on. So I guess this is a lesson to not do that again. Fortunately, the processor is fine, even though it was at 64 degrees for a couple of hours. I am actually impressed that it didn't go higher, since there was only a heatsink working for it. D'oh!!!
 

bendixG15

Diamond Member
Mar 9, 2001
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Welcome to the club.
You'd be surprised how many members there are in the
..duh, I forgor to plug the fan in.....club.
Good Luck
 

vetteguy

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2001
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Well, I'm not exactly new at this (building computers) so that's why I'm especially mad at myself. Just something stupid you do. At least I remembered to attach the heatsink!
 

gf4200isdabest

Senior member
Jul 1, 2002
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heh...silly Athlons. I like my Northwood. I would get "seriously worried" if it ever went above 45 but it doesn't :)

But yeah; that was dumb of you. If I see you playing CS, I'll be sure to hit you in the toe with an AWP ;)
 

RSMemphis

Golden Member
Oct 6, 2001
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Thanks for confirming two things (and I am not being sarcastic)

1.) with the proper external cooling, you *can* run an XP w/o fan on the heatsink. (like with a Dell - style fan duct)
2.) If your heatsink is properly seated - and your fan dies, your XP will not. Especially since a lot of the new motherboards (even the cheapo Shuttle KT266A) feature cut-off tempteratures.

Very interesting. Glad your CPU did not bite it.
 

vetteguy

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2001
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Originally posted by: RSMemphis
Thanks for confirming two things (and I am not being sarcastic)

1.) with the proper external cooling, you *can* run an XP w/o fan on the heatsink. (like with a Dell - style fan duct)
2.) If your heatsink is properly seated - and your fan dies, your XP will not. Especially since a lot of the new motherboards (even the cheapo Shuttle KT266A) feature cut-off tempteratures.

Very interesting. Glad your CPU did not bite it.

Yeah, I guess it was a good confirmation, but I would have rather not done it with my 3-day-old XP! I'm currently looking into getting another HSF that will cool just as well but not be nearly as loud as the Delta, although maybe I should keep this heatsink since it seemed to do a good job.
 

vetteguy

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2001
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Originally posted by: wfbberzerker
Originally posted by: teddymines
Do you change the oil in your car????:p

he probably leaves the cap off.
Yes, I know, I'm stupid, I get it. I just meant to show that even experienced people can make mistakes sometimes, but I guess there are somepeople who never do anything wrong.

 

vetteguy

Diamond Member
Sep 12, 2001
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Originally posted by: nourdmrolNMT1
Well i like my 1.8a at 2.7! stable with water cooling harbly any noise!!
Mmm...water cooling...I've always wanted to do that. I used to work at an aluminum extrusion company where they designed cooling stuff, so I always hoped one of the engineers would volunteer to help me, but no such luck. Maybe I'll have to look into it again sometime.

 

ObiDon

Diamond Member
May 8, 2000
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Then I realized that when I took off my HSF I must have unplugged the fan, and never plugged it back in.
[Nelson Muntz] Haw haw! [/Nelson Muntz]

Even before I clicked the link, I knew that's what this thread would be about!
Don't feel bad though. I've been building systems for a while now (first one I built was a Cyrix PR150 :)) and I still do that at least once a year. I even did it with my XP 1500+.
I found that one out by accidentally touching the HSF after I turned the system on!

Even if not everyone has done this, I'm sure they've done something similar. :D

Edited -- for sloppiness and bold letters!
 

teddymines

Senior member
Jul 6, 2001
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We all make mistakes, some people admit to them freely, others do not. You obviosly have no problem admitting your mistakes. Fortunately, you noticed something was wrong and caught it before it became a disaster. I'd never admit I backed the camper into the garage door, or forgot to turn off the power when replacing a switch.