CPU Temperatures

[bstatham]

Ok here goes, i'm building a computer with a Athlon 1600XP+ on a Gigabyte 7VTXE mobo, I bought a heatsink and fan from a local computer store. The make of this was NENG which they assured me would be suitable for Processors up to 2GHz. Once all the bits had been put together I booted the computer up and had a quick look in the BIOS. It was recording temperatures of 70 degrees C +, I immediaitely thought that this was way too hot and shut the computer down. As far as I could see the heatsink had been seated correctly and the fan was working, just to make sure I removed the heatsink so I could seat it again. Now this is probably where my mistake comes in, on the bottom of the heatsink I noticed some green tape stuff so I scratched this off and put the heatsink back onto the CPU. I booted the computer had another look at the BIOS, this time it read 102 degrees C, within a couple of seconds of realising this the CPU blew. Was this my fault???? Surely the temp should have been around about 40 in the first place???

 

[Bovinicus]

Unless you are talking about green thermal compound, you probably left the tape on that covers the bottom of the heatsink, or thermal interface compound. This could be bad, you could have possibly melted some foreign material (The tape) onto the CPU core. Unforunately, it sounds like your fault. There should be a 30 day warranty at least though. Take it back to where you bought it and see what they will do.

 

[bstatham]

Yeah the first time I took the heatsink off It looked like the green whatever it was had melted onto the core ( which I scratched off the core aswell ). What i'm really wondering is, is it partly the fault of the store for selling me a crap heatsink and fan?

 

[Bovinicus]

It can't be said for sure. There was a mistake made by you which seriously altered the results. The heatsink they sold you could be decent. Next time, just remember to remove the tape. Also, if the tape was covering some kind of compound on the bottom of the heatsink, I would replace that compound. Those TIM's aren't as effective at transfering heat as good ol' thermal compound. Of course, if you're not overclocking, then the extra few degrees won't help you.