Tale of computer building skills

[Lean L]

Alright that's sarcasm. I recently worked on a computer that belonged to a friend. He spent $2000 on a college budget to build this and constantly complains about it. It has been randomly shutting off. I download and run hwmonitor and his i7 was idling at 96C.... (BTW, this task took a good 5 mins on an i7)

I took the thing apart, remounted the stock heatsink without applying fresh paste since I didnt have any and now it idles 46C.

I just don't know how the fuck people end up doing shit like this. Oh and the way he uses his computer has me shaking my head. He installs every piece of software that comes with the MB, any peripheral software, and runs 3 firewalls. His justification is that he paid for those features so he will use them...

He's now on the very exclusive list of people who shall never touch my computer lol.

 

[PatrickBateman]

did he use the whole tube of thermal paste because he paid for it?

 

[Crono]

It idled at 96C? I'm not even sure I could get my CPU at that temp with no heatsink!
(well, probably could)

And I feel bad for anyone who runs 3 (!) firewalls, let alone someone who did that and assembled the computer himself.

 

[Lean L]

It idled at 96C? I'm not even sure I could get my CPU at that temp with no heatsink!
(well, probably could)

Well... closest thing to idle I guess... He had like 150 processes running so not so much idling.

 

[DominionSeraph]

Well... closest thing to idle I guess... He had like 150 processes running so not so much idling.

Let's see... shut down Chrome and:

 

[Jeff7]

Heck, even if he was using all cores at full power, I don't think you should be seeing that kind of temperature.
And I've got 80 processes going right now. CPU usage - it's hovering below 10%. (No temperature monitoring software though, so I don't know what it is. I still haven't stopped mourning the end of MotherBoard Monitor.)

 

[janas19]

did he use the whole tube of thermal paste because he paid for it?

 

[PottedMeat]

Let's see... shut down Chrome and:

wow that's pretty minimal. i've gotten down to ~28. usually hovers around ~30-50.

 

[brianmanahan]

Let's see... shut down Chrome and:

lol, windows xp? doesnt matter how many tasks you have running, you still fail.

 

[allenk09]

lol, windows xp? doesnt matter how many tasks you have running, you still fail.

Couldn't that just be...Windows 7's old timey theme?

It idled at 96C? I'm not even sure I could get my CPU at that temp with no heatsink!
(well, probably could)

My brother was using the stock heatsink/fan, no thermal paste on a E6300. He was idling 100c, processor was clocking itself down to 1.7Ghz. He had been playing games like that for a year. So when I got back from Arizona for 3 years I said that's not right, put paste and reseated the heatsink/fan and he's now down to 33C idle and 60C on prime95. After I did that he's like "wow I gained 50fps in league of legends"

He was running for a YEAR with 100c idle.



One question I don't want to start a new thread for, is there a picture of peoples computers...thread anywhere on anandtech?

 

[RavenSEAL]

Couldn't that just be...Windows 7's old timey theme?

Nope, look at the task manager icon.

 

[mobobuff]

Heck, even if he was using all cores at full power, I don't think you should be seeing that kind of temperature.
And I've got 80 processes going right now. CPU usage - it's hovering below 10%. (No temperature monitoring software though, so I don't know what it is. I still haven't stopped mourning the end of MotherBoard Monitor.)

Have you tried Speedfan? Before I moved my tower into the other room that program was very handy. I'll open it now to see what my temps are...

 

[allenk09]

Have you tried Speedfan? Before I moved my tower into the other room that program was very handy. I'll open it now to see what my temps are...

Speedfan works on my motherboard with my phenom, but HWMonitor displayed temps 15c lower than what the bios were using so I no longer use HWMonitor. Speedfan works fine though.

 

[JimmiG]

Applying thermal compound and mounting the heatsink without messing it up is the hardest part of building a computer. It's more of an art, getting just the right amount on and getting the blob just the right shape. I lowered my CPU temps 5C by cleaning and re-applying the thermal compound.

 

[SKORPI0]

Applying thermal compound and mounting the heatsink without messing it up is the hardest part of building a computer.

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_install_cpu_and_apply_thermal_paste

:thumbsup:

 

[Crono]

http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/howto_install_cpu_and_apply_thermal_paste

That's not the way I do it.

I usually put little dots of the thermal compound all over the surface of the CPU, spread it out with a metal ruler (most people use a razor or credit card, but I find this works well for me), then place it gently in the socket. As long as you use a sparing amount or thermal compound - just enough to cover the surface - it works perfectly. You want the coimpound spread out before it comes in contact with the heatsink.

What the OP's friend did, I have no idea. The heatsink must not have been seated properly, or he used an entire tube of compound.

 

[waggy]

That's not the way I do it.

I usually put little dots of the thermal compound all over the surface of the CPU, spread it out with a metal ruler (most people use a razor or credit card, but I find this works well for me), then place it gently in the socket. As long as you use a sparing amount or thermal compound - just enough to cover the surface - it works perfectly. You want the coimpound spread out before it comes in contact with the heatsink.

What the OP's friend did, I have no idea. The heatsink must not have been seated properly, or he used an entire tube of compound.

thats what i do.

i have found cheap compound will wear away in like 2 years.

 

[BladeVenom]

did he use the whole tube of thermal paste because he paid for it?

That's the way Apple thinks.

 

[ch33zw1z]

I use Artic Silver's instructions on their website for dual/quad core cpu's. for single core and bare core, i apply a little and spread it evenly with something clean and plastic.

 

[Lean L]

That's not the way I do it.

I usually put little dots of the thermal compound all over the surface of the CPU, spread it out with a metal ruler (most people use a razor or credit card, but I find this works well for me), then place it gently in the socket. As long as you use a sparing amount or thermal compound - just enough to cover the surface - it works perfectly. You want the coimpound spread out before it comes in contact with the heatsink.

What the OP's friend did, I have no idea. The heatsink must not have been seated properly, or he used an entire tube of compound.

When I took it off, the entire heatsink popped off after undoing one mount point. He didn't know how to mount it since he said "hear the click then turn it right?"

Idk why the hell ppl like him bother with building computers... just a waste of money. That and people who buy all the greatest hardware just to browse facebook.

As for paste application, I usually get the direct contact heatsinks for my builds so in that case, it's draw thin lines along the pipes since the dividers eat up paste.

 

[janas19]

Applying thermal compound and mounting the heatsink without messing it up is the hardest part of building a computer. It's more of an art, getting just the right amount on and getting the blob just the right shape. I lowered my CPU temps 5C by cleaning and re-applying the thermal compound.

Applying thermal paste is not hard at all. It amazes me that this somehow vexes people. All you have to do: cover the entire part of the CPU heatsink with paste. Thick enough so it is covered, but thin enough so that it doesn't squish out of the sides when you put the cooler on.

That's all there is to it.

 

[ch33zw1z]

Applying thermal paste is not hard at all. It amazes me that this somehow vexes people. All you have to do: cover the entire part of the CPU heatsink with paste. Thick enough so it is covered, but thin enough so that it doesn't squish out of the sides when you put the cooler on.

That's all there is to it.

never applied to a bare core i see... newbie! IHS's weren't always the norm. it's better to apply directly to the cpu so there's no extra if the heatsink is larger than the cpu.

Check out Artic Silvers website for good instructions.

 

[janas19]

never applied to a bare core i see... newbie! IHS's weren't always the norm. it's better to apply directly to the cpu so there's no extra if the heatsink is larger than the cpu.

Check out Artic Silvers website for good instructions.

That's what I meant . IHS, just didn't have the term for it.

 

[lxskllr]

That's not the way I do it.

I usually put little dots of the thermal compound all over the surface of the CPU, spread it out with a metal ruler (most people use a razor or credit card, but I find this works well for me), then place it gently in the socket. As long as you use a sparing amount or thermal compound - just enough to cover the surface - it works perfectly. You want the coimpound spread out before it comes in contact with the heatsink.

What the OP's friend did, I have no idea. The heatsink must not have been seated properly, or he used an entire tube of compound.

That's mostly what I do, but I don't spread it with a ruler. I put down several drops, put the heatsink on, twist a little, then clamp it down.

 

[ch33zw1z]

That's what I meant . IHS, just didn't have the term for it.

gotcha