Normal temp on A7N8X-E - possible CPU damage?

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A

Alice

I have a Thermaltake 2000 case, with the 8 cooling fans. My room temp
is about 74F. Idle temp according to ASUS probe: 53C CPU, 26C MB. The
CPU was at 51C till I added a 2nd hard drive. If I put the CPU under
100% load, it climbs up to 60C in less than 10min. I stop the test at
this point, because I am afraid of meltdown. The system doesn't show
any signs of problems when heating up.

It seems to me that since the MB temp is only 5 degrees F higher than
the room temp, the fans in the case are doing a great job, but probably
the stock heatsink and fan on the CPU are not.

Also, I had a DOA motherboard and was foolish enough to let 'Geek
Squad' members at a local Best Buy try to diagnose the problem. After
getting no answers, I took the computer to a local small shop, and they
showed me the CPU has a very small chip on the side of the die. It
wasn't like that when I took it to Best Buy.

Anyway, is this small damage likely to be causing the high temp? I am
used to seeing temp more like 37C with the older Athlon and PIII
systems. Also, the system has stability issues, but when I ran
memtest86 and the Windows Memory Diagnostic, there were no errors. When
I ran Prime95, there are only problems when I test RAM over 128MB. Then
I get the rounding error right away.
 
Alice said:
I have a Thermaltake 2000 case, with the 8 cooling fans. My room temp
is about 74F. Idle temp according to ASUS probe: 53C CPU, 26C MB. The
CPU was at 51C till I added a 2nd hard drive. If I put the CPU under
100% load, it climbs up to 60C in less than 10min. I stop the test at
this point, because I am afraid of meltdown. The system doesn't show
any signs of problems when heating up.

It seems to me that since the MB temp is only 5 degrees F higher than
the room temp, the fans in the case are doing a great job, but probably
the stock heatsink and fan on the CPU are not.

Also, I had a DOA motherboard and was foolish enough to let 'Geek
Squad' members at a local Best Buy try to diagnose the problem. After
getting no answers, I took the computer to a local small shop, and they
showed me the CPU has a very small chip on the side of the die. It
wasn't like that when I took it to Best Buy.

Anyway, is this small damage likely to be causing the high temp? I am
used to seeing temp more like 37C with the older Athlon and PIII
systems. Also, the system has stability issues, but when I ran
memtest86 and the Windows Memory Diagnostic, there were no errors. When
I ran Prime95, there are only problems when I test RAM over 128MB. Then
I get the rounding error right away.
Click to expand...

The stock HS/fan should do better than that. You don't say what the chip
is. Here I have a P4 Northwood 3.00 GHz with the stock HS/fan, and Asus
probe indicates the chip usually runs at no more than 6 deg. C above board
temp. I would check your thermal compound between the chip and HS, renew
with Arctic Silver or equivalent, but contrary to other instructions, just
put a small pile of compound on the centre of the cpu and then lower the HS
onto it, allowing the compound to spread under the pressure from the HS.
This will eliminate trapped air between the faces, which will almost
certainly happen if you spread the compound out first. The small chip
probably won't cause any trouble. Sounds like the first shop tried to
lever the chip out without releasing the ZIF lever. If they have had the
HS and chip apart, then you will have to renew the HS compound. Never use
it twice.

Colin.
 
Alice said:
I have a Thermaltake 2000 case, with the 8 cooling fans. My room temp
is about 74F. Idle temp according to ASUS probe: 53C CPU, 26C MB. The
CPU was at 51C till I added a 2nd hard drive. If I put the CPU under
100% load, it climbs up to 60C in less than 10min. I stop the test at
this point, because I am afraid of meltdown. The system doesn't show
any signs of problems when heating up.

It seems to me that since the MB temp is only 5 degrees F higher than
the room temp, the fans in the case are doing a great job, but probably
the stock heatsink and fan on the CPU are not.

Also, I had a DOA motherboard and was foolish enough to let 'Geek
Squad' members at a local Best Buy try to diagnose the problem. After
getting no answers, I took the computer to a local small shop, and they
showed me the CPU has a very small chip on the side of the die. It
wasn't like that when I took it to Best Buy.

Anyway, is this small damage likely to be causing the high temp? I am
used to seeing temp more like 37C with the older Athlon and PIII
systems. Also, the system has stability issues, but when I ran
memtest86 and the Windows Memory Diagnostic, there were no errors. When
I ran Prime95, there are only problems when I test RAM over 128MB. Then
I get the rounding error right away.
Click to expand...

60 degrees is not too terrible, the maximum allowable die temperature on
Athlon XP CPUs is 90 degrees. The higher clock speed chips do tend to
run a bit hot. However, it's possible the heatsink isn't making as good
contact with the CPU as it should..
 
in a Chenming case (similar to yours) I am runing an A7N8X-Deluxe rev
2.0...Barton 2500 @200X11 (XP3200)....room temp 21c...I don't see much above
40c under load..but I also have a Volcano 11 for cooling with arctic silver
paste.(2 80mm intake,1 side,2 rear exhaust).my other unit..A7N8X-X with
stock cooling in a cooler room is around 40c idle...47 under load running
stock Xp2500 speeds.(chieftec case with 2 92mm fans and 2 80mm fans).there
is also 4 HD's and 2 DVD's in my main puter.
 
also what are your system specs?..ram...cpu...if more than 1 stick RAM what
slots??...are they matched..IE same company..same size..????
 
Alice said:
I have a Thermaltake 2000 case, with the 8 cooling fans. My room temp
is about 74F. Idle temp according to ASUS probe: 53C CPU, 26C MB. The
CPU was at 51C till I added a 2nd hard drive. If I put the CPU under
100% load, it climbs up to 60C in less than 10min. I stop the test at
this point, because I am afraid of meltdown. The system doesn't show
any signs of problems when heating up.

It seems to me that since the MB temp is only 5 degrees F higher than
the room temp, the fans in the case are doing a great job, but probably
the stock heatsink and fan on the CPU are not.
Click to expand...

Have you tried removing the side of the case and seeing what happens
with the temperatures? I am fighting a Pentium 4 3.4 Prescott which has
temperatures similar to yours if the case is closed. Opening the case
drops the temperature of the CPU to around 39C at idle. It looks like
the air flow from the CPU fan is being blocked and I have to find a new
case that won't block it.
 
System spec:
Athlon XP 2800+
1GB RAM (512 Crucial, 512 Kingston) DDR2700 333

The case is a Thermaltake Xaser 2000, it has 2 fans blowing onto the
chip, 2 fans in the back, 2 fans on the power supply, a fan on the top
of the case, and 2 on the front of the case. As I said, the MB temp is
very low, so I think the fans are doing ok. I got this case so that I
wouldn't have to have the case open, I am tired of doing that, it's
noisy (in my bedroom) and gets very dusty.

The reason I took the thing to a shop to check the problem is that I
have a large problem getting the heat sink onto the chip. Not sure why
it's so much harder with the new chips.... Are there any good coolers
that aren't dangerous to install? (The stock one left me mystified as
to how to install it)

By the way, the damage to the chip is on the raised metal part that the
heat sink touches. (on the edge anyway). Not on the ceramic package. As
I mentioned, the stock heat sink is almost impossible to install
correctly w/o damage.

I've searched on google for the normal temp, and find a lot of people
that say below 40 and just as many that say they also have high temps.

-Alice
 
Alice said:
System spec:
Athlon XP 2800+
1GB RAM (512 Crucial, 512 Kingston) DDR2700 333

The case is a Thermaltake Xaser 2000, it has 2 fans blowing onto the
chip, 2 fans in the back, 2 fans on the power supply, a fan on the top
of the case, and 2 on the front of the case. As I said, the MB temp is
very low, so I think the fans are doing ok. I got this case so that I
wouldn't have to have the case open, I am tired of doing that, it's
noisy (in my bedroom) and gets very dusty.

The reason I took the thing to a shop to check the problem is that I
have a large problem getting the heat sink onto the chip. Not sure why
it's so much harder with the new chips.... Are there any good coolers
that aren't dangerous to install? (The stock one left me mystified as
to how to install it)

By the way, the damage to the chip is on the raised metal part that the
heat sink touches. (on the edge anyway). Not on the ceramic package. As
I mentioned, the stock heat sink is almost impossible to install
correctly w/o damage.

I've searched on google for the normal temp, and find a lot of people
that say below 40 and just as many that say they also have high temps.
Click to expand...

How are you installing the cooler? Assuming it has the usual Socket A
style spring clip, you just have to set the heatsink on top of the CPU,
hook the one side of the clip onto the socket and use a flat-blade
screwdriver to push down the other side and hook it onto the other lug.
There shouldn't be a significant risk of damaging the core if you do it
properly..
 
Alice said:
System spec:
Athlon XP 2800+
1GB RAM (512 Crucial, 512 Kingston) DDR2700 333

The case is a Thermaltake Xaser 2000, it has 2 fans blowing onto the
chip, 2 fans in the back, 2 fans on the power supply, a fan on the top
of the case, and 2 on the front of the case. As I said, the MB temp is
very low, so I think the fans are doing ok. I got this case so that I
wouldn't have to have the case open, I am tired of doing that, it's
noisy (in my bedroom) and gets very dusty.
Click to expand...

The reason I mentioned this is that you could still have an airflow
problem. I have a fan in the front of my case, one in the rear, and two
in the power supply. With the side of the case on the CPU temperature
is about 51C. Taking off the side of the case drops the temperature of
the CPU about 12C. The motherboard temperature stays at just above room
temperature. You could have something masking the airflow to the CPU
and taking off the side will tell if that is a problem.
 
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