Cpu running too hot?

[CrankyDragon]

I've never posted to a forum before so I hope that I do this right. Here it goes...

I bought a new cpu (Amd 64 3200) and motherboard (Abit AV8-3rdEye) for Christmas which ran at about 45C idle and 55-60C stressed. The cpu failed (first time that ever happened to me), and it was replaced by Amd with a 3800+. Yes, I thought that was lucky too. But whereas the 3200 was 90nm, the 3800 seems to be 130nm (Newcastle?). With the faster processor I was anticipating higher temps so I bought a Zalman 7700cu (huge does not begin to describe it) hoping that would make up the difference. Unfortunately it didn't and the temps actually increased much more than I thought. Now my temps are around 50-55C idle and 60-65C (sometimes 68!) stressed.

This is the first time I have fit a non stock cooler and I am a little disappointed. I installed the cpu cooler and fit it to the processor with an Akasa Thermal Interface pad instead of the supplied thermal paste. I think I made a mistake there but can't be sure.

Can anyone tell me what I did wrong? Is it the interface pad, the faster processor or something else that is causing the excessive heat?

Thanks a lot.

Current config is:

AMD Athlon 64 3800+
Abit AV8-3rdEye
Sapphire Radeon 9600XT
1 GB OCZ dual channel Ram
Zalman CNPS7700cu cooler
Thermaltake purepower 480w

C

 

[Mrvile]

My guess (and probably everyone else's) is that you didn't seat the heatsink properly. Try reseating it again, and see if you can use some Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound, that really helps.

 

[CrankyDragon]

That was my thought too and I was going to buy some Arctic Silver 5 and some Arcti Clean and try reseating but the idea of just putting "a little more than a grain of rice" on top of the cpu die makes me nervous. Does it really make that much of a difference over the pads? Also, I've got Akasa's citrus based solvent to clean the cpu and heatsink off but the Arctic Silver site says that won't be enough. Should I believe the hype and buy their Arcti Clean too?

 

[MrKneecap]

I have a very similar processor, the 3700+ s754 Newcastle. I've used Arcti Clean, Arctic Silver 5, and a similar (albeit smaller) Zalman 7000Cu HSF. My idle temps were 55 C stock, 45 C with the Zalman. Load used to get to 65 C stock, now it's 55 C. It seems a bit warm to me, but this is also my first attempt with an aftermarket cooler and Arctic Silver 5. I just think the Newcastles are really hot, since the 130nm process doesn't dissipate heat nearly as well as the 90nm.

For comparison, an identical setup with a Sempron 3300+ Palermo (90nm) runs 30 C idle and 39 C load! Now that's a cool processor on just air.

 

[DoobieOnline]

Hey Dragon, go to your local drug store and ask the pharmacist for the purest isopropyl alcohol they have. Try to get as close to 100% pure as you can. I wouldn't use anything less than 90%. It's cheap and works great for cleaning up heatsinks and chips. Ideally, you want to use a solvent that leaves no residue behind and I'm not sure if the citrus-based stuff you have fits the bill. Sounds like it might work well to get the traces of thermal pad off and you could always follow it up with the alcohol to be sure.

 

[Pooed Unit]

Use the ArctiClean. It works in 1/30th of the time of isopropyl and dissolves pads before your eyes without having to worry about scraping. Yes the stated amount of AS5 is the right amount. Any more and the heat transfer gets less efficient.

 

[CrankyDragon]

Thanks guys, especially MrKneecap, I appreciate the advice and those stats tell me I did seat it with the wrong thermal compound. If I still lived in the states then I would go with the isopropyl but it is difficult for me to get here in England. I'll use the Arcti Clean. Thanks again guys.

For anyone else out there with this problem, I did some research on the Abit forums and found that many other people are having this problem (high temps). To sum up what I found here, it looks like the problem is an incorrect reporting of the cpu temps by the bios and Uguru utillity which has not yet been adressed by Abit:

Abit's support forums

I'll still end up reseating the heatsink because you have to cover all the bases.