Overheating X2, Help plz

Nutbusta · 21 May 2006 at 00:47

Just wondered if this sounds familier to anyone. I've just been helping a friend trouble shoot his new rig, specs as follows:
X2 4200+
Zalman CNPS7700-ALCU
Asus A8N-SLi SE nForce4 SLi (I think)
2x1GB Corsair XMS (not matched, from old machine)
2xGainward 7900GT's
2xSeagate baracuda 250GB
Plenty of case fans.

Yes I know he should probably bought an Opteron and an ATI card especially as his TFT only displays 1280x1024 but he daftly didn't take the time to consult me first. Rant over, the problem is that his CPU was quickly climbing upto 75 degrees where upon we decided to switch it off. After taking the Zalman off and re-applying and proper thin and even layer of AS5 and re-fitting the cooler we still had the same problem abeit much slower taking maybe 15mins to get to 70c instead of 4. I then knocked the Vcore down to 1.32 and then to 1.21 and we are still having the same problem. The heat just builds up very slowing but just as surely.

I have been using prime95 on one core and ATI Tool on the other for stress testing purposes.

I can only think that the problem could be with the IHS and not having been applied properly in the factory causing this slow build up of heat.

Anyone have and ideas as I'mn pretty much out??

Thanks in advanced.

SiriusB · 21 May 2006 at 01:57

Wow... shooting up to 70C to me sounds either like a dodgy heat sensor or something physically wrong with the CPU.

Personally I would get a refund and buy a 3800 or 4400

SiriusB

Nutbusta · 21 May 2006 at 02:07

Yeah, I did think it could just be a faulty motherboard but prime fails at about 70-77c depending on voltage.

You think my heat spreader theory might have some ground?

SiriusB · 21 May 2006 at 02:13

What are the temps like at idle?

If the heat spreader isn't making good contact with the IHS, then there will be poor heat transfer to the HSF leading to increased temps... so yeah I think a duff IHS is a good a theory as any

SiriusB

Nutbusta · 21 May 2006 at 08:25

Idle temps about 45-46 ish, but it does stabilize about there.
And my little sempron idles at about 33-34 and thats with 1.575v, a 1Ghz overclock and a similare cooler.

sgoaty · 21 May 2006 at 10:10

Nutbusta said:
Idle temps about 45-46 ish, but it does stabilize about there.
And my little sempron idles at about 33-34 and thats with 1.575v, a 1Ghz overclock and a similare cooler.

That is quite a high idle. Does the zalman feel hot when the cpu reads 70c?

Nutbusta · 21 May 2006 at 10:17

sgoaty said:
That is quite a high idle. Does the zalman feel hot when the cpu reads 70c?

TBH mate not particularly hot. But I've double and triple checked the HSF seating.

sgoaty · 21 May 2006 at 10:23

Nutbusta said:
TBH mate not particularly hot. But I've double and triple checked the HSF seating.

Oh well definately sounds like a very bad ihs contact. Usually with a bad contact the idle tems arent too bad but the second you load the cpu the load temp jumps up by at least 10c

juno_first · 21 May 2006 at 11:02

Why don't you try another cooler ?, maybe the stock cooler if you have one.

Does the heatsink get hot ?, at 70c it should be very hot if it's absorbing the heat from the CPU, I guess if its not hot then this points towards a faulty sensor or poor contact with the CPU. My X2 tops out at 60c under long heavy load & does not throttle & is still stable.

It's easy to take the top off the CPU with a razor blade, though this would bork your warranty, ahmm.

Whats the Zalman cooler you have ?, got a link ?.

I once put a heat pipe cooler on a PD 3Ghz, did not read the instructions & the damn thing hit 95c in 2 minutes, as the cooler only worked when at the right angle, huh, lol.

Nutbusta · 21 May 2006 at 12:52

He has a venice 3000+ which I've told him to try. He'll probably get back to me today so I'm expecting it to be fine.

Also with it running at 1.2v it's getting to about 46-47 on full load but something's obviously not right and he's forked out nearly £1100 on a new system so he might as well make sure it's proper eh?

Nutbusta · 21 May 2006 at 14:27

Yep, as suspected the venice is cool (pun intended, sic). Should I tell him to get an Opteron 165? He's using an Asus A8N-SLI deluxe. Does that do very high HTT speeds?

juno_first · 21 May 2006 at 16:32

my A8N-SLI-p is doing 1180 HT fine

Mikey1280 · 21 May 2006 at 16:43

I think he means fsb

Nutbusta · 21 May 2006 at 17:24

Mikey1280 said:
I think he means fsb

Yeah, so I know weather he can get a good overclock with an Opteron 165's low multi.

juno_first said:
my A8N-SLI-p is doing 1180 HT fine

So what HTT/FSB does it run at fella?

Mikey1280 · 21 May 2006 at 17:57

From his sig its only running at 236 which would make sense, 5x236= 1180

juno_first · 21 May 2006 at 18:13

my A8N-SLI-p with 4400 will do 11x250 =2.75Ghz / 4x250 HT not 5x250HT

Though I run at 11x236 = 2.6Ghz as then I can turn off all the fans, even if they are on 7v they still noisy.

Nutbusta · 21 May 2006 at 18:52

Cool. I was just wondering if anyone knows if they tend to get upto the 300MHz kinda area?

Mikey1280 · 21 May 2006 at 18:55

I dont think they do IIRC but check with an owner

Raikiri · 21 May 2006 at 18:58

juno_first said:
my A8N-SLI-p with 4400 will do 11x250 =2.75Ghz / 4x250 HT not 5x250HT
Though I run at 11x236 = 2.6Ghz as then I can turn off all the fans, even if they are on 7v they still noisy.

Just so you know the speed of the HTT makes pretty much zero diference to performance but can cause instability when over 1000mhz, you'#re better off running it at 2.75ghz with 4x250mhz FSB (or 11x236 and 4x236)

As said the poor cooling sounds like naff IHS contact...could always try removing it

or just RMA it and get a X2 3800+

juno_first · 21 May 2006 at 21:01

I've never tested HT speed performance, just presumed higher is better.
Whats all the hype over HT speed then ?