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problems with cpu coolers

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  • Heatsinks
  • Overclocking
Last response: in Overclocking
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June 25, 2002 2:47:26 AM

Just had a local vendor put together the following system -

Dual Athlon MP 2000
(2) Thermaltake Volcano 7+ Coolers
Asus A7M266-D
Western Digital Caviar WD1200JB
1.5GB Crucial DDRAM ECC REG
CDRW - Plextor 40x12x40
DVDROM – Pioneer 106s 16x/40x slot load
Floppy, Zip, IntelliMouse, Keyboard, Network Card, Firewire Card
LianLi PC62
Enermax Whisper 430W (EG465P-VEFC)
Nvidia/ PNY Quadro4 750XGL

The system ran fine for a day and then crashed and was unable to be rebooted. Upon bringing the system in, they initially told me that AMD’s are just not stable and difficult to deal with, that this is why they always push Intel and that the cpu’s seemed to be too hot. With Asus Probe the cpu temps were idling after a few minutes at 51 and 54 and the mobo was at 38. They ran some tests and discovered that a memory module was bad – they then decided to try the standard heatsink and fan that came w/ the cpu’s. With both of these changes, they say the system is running fine. I have yet to pick up the system again.

I have done all my research online and have read repeatedly that a high end processor (whether AMD or Intel but especially AMD) these days require special cpu coolers – that the standard cpu heatsink/fan combos supplied by AMD for instance are not satisfactory. My questions are as follows –

1. Is this true? Why would AMD and Intel supply a heatsink/fan to their processors that are not sufficient for cooling their respective processors?
2. Should I reattach the Volcano 7+’s? Keep the standard heatsink/fans?
3. The Volcano 7+’s are intolerably loud on High or Medium. I asked Thermaltake techs and they said Low would provide sufficient cooling – on Low at 28 CFM/3000rpm do you think this is correct?

Thanks for any input,

Brian

More about : problems cpu coolers

June 25, 2002 5:59:28 AM

Many people have reported their standard cooler to be sufficient, however your assumption that AMD coolers have problems is somewhat correct. This is seen in AMD's new requirements that coolers use copper contact points and have a secure fastening system. Intel designed theirs better for the most part. By this I mean that it's equally feasible to put together an AMD/Intel HSF and attach it to the mainboard, but that it's not equally likely. One likely criticism is that the AMD system for attaching the HSF to the mainboard is simply not sturdy enough. Intel, meanwhile, has a very sturdy system using plastic braces that extend beyond the 478 socket.

Use your Volcano 7+'s, but make sure you attach them well (don't use too much thermal grease, only enough to provide full contact with the heatsink). The low setting for a MP 2000 is taking a risk in my opinion, let alone two of them very near each other. What I would do instead is to buy 2 fanmates and attach them to the Volcano 7's (in other words do away with their 3-speed fan switch). What the fanmate allows you to do is control the fan speed in very small increments. First turn up the fanmates to full speed so that the fans are unbearably loud. Then load your computer and run something cpu intensive like prime95 or cpuburn or something else like that. At the same time run motherboard monitor so that you can monitor fan RPM and CPU temps. Gradually lower the fanmate's speed and wait for the CPU temperature to adjust in motherboard monitor until you are at an acceptable sound level (don't aim for a sound level that's unreasonably quiet) and the CPU temperature under load (load means it's doing something very cpu intensive) is under about 55 celsius. To be safe you might want to only go as far as 50 celsius. Fanmates are cheap, which is why I suggest this to you:
<A HREF="http://www.directron.com/fanmate.html" target="_new">http://www.directron.com/fanmate.html&lt;/A>
I bought my fanmates from this vendor, for $5 each. With shipping it should cost you $15.

More links:

<A HREF="http://www.ocaddiction.com/downloads/MBM5191.zip" target="_new">MBM5191.zip</A>

<A HREF="http://www.aoaforums.com/files/code.php?file=934" target="_new">CPUBurn4</A> (Make sure you use this in conjunction with runprio to set run priority, currently I cannot find you a link for this program so you may be better off running Prime95)

<A HREF="http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm" target="_new">Prime95</A>

Some people also like to use <A HREF="http://setiathome.ssl.berkeley.edu/" target="_new">Seti@Home</A>

This little cathode light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!
!