Athlon x2 3600 overheating

Are your voltages correct? Any overclock?
You need that CPU driver; chances are without it you're only running one of the two cores (hence the increase in heat).

Make sure nothing is blocking the HSF and preventing it from seating properly on top of the CPU. When you "redid the heat sink," did you clean the old goop off, and with what? 91% Isopropyll alcohol works well. WD40 is a no-no. Then a paper-thin layer of new goop is all it takes (or a rice-grain sized blot which will spread).

Oh, and is the HSF fan running, and at a decent rate? Try going into the BIOS and disabling fan controls so it will run at max rpm; at least until you know it works.
If all that fails, an aftermarket cooler may be a good idea. I have a Zalman 7000-Cu on my S939 X2 3800+ and it stays cool.

Go ahead and try re-installing the CPU. Go ahead and order some decent thermal paste(I like Arctic Silver) and replace the oem grease. While the OEM grease is fine, it would be something that I would do to help eliminate as a possible problem. At stock, my 3600+ with stock heatsink and everything ran at about ~40-45*C under full load in a ~74*F room

There's always a drone...


He says he replaced his HSF once already, using AS-5.

Yes I put to much the first time and redid it properly the second time. I've been reading since I'm at work hence "boredatcanon" and think it may be a sensor misreading the temps. When I first turn the computer on and go to bios it's already reading at 60 c and then when I run orthos and make it increase up to 70 the heatsink is only warm and I can hold my finger on it all day. I will try updating the BIOS tonight and see if thats it. If not what part has the temp diode that could be faulty is it the mother board or CPu? I hope I don't have to return this to newegg.

it really sounds like you didnt mount your HSF correctly...

I have it mounted correctly. I downloaded core temp and it reads the processor at 19c. Speedfan shows it at 51c. I'm running more tests to determine whats wrong. I'm doing orthos right now fft and it's 63c. I will check the hsf. Would a scratch on the hsf cause this problem?

The AMD K8 architecture runs very cool, I had an Athlon 64 3200+ that idled around 26C and maxed at 38C. My current Opteron 170 is around the same temps, but my rig is next to an AC vent.  

Yeah, your temps are abnormally high. After seeing that your temps seem to be all over the place depending on what program you use, I have no idea what could be wrong.

Sorry, missed the last sentence. What does your MOBO Bios say the temp is? That thing is running hotter then is should. Did you put the AS5 on there initially, or was if after you realized it was overheating?

I did some more test and I think the actual cpu temp the bios shows is right. I Remounted the hsf as I found out it was on with the arm to lock not on same side as arm to lock processor in. I'm not sure it really has to be that way but now the processor reads 60c to 70c unlike before on the other side it was much cooler and windows xp keeps hanging on boot up. I'm so confused at this point I'm unsure what it could be. I put the as5 on the first time I ran the cpu. Could it be the motherboard or processor.... one other issue I have is that the memory test at bios screens goes forever unless I skip it. I ran mem test on my ram for like a hour with no errors though. I have 1gb x 2 gskill 800 ddr2.

You could simply double check the bios value by touching the heatsink. if the bios says 19C it should barely feel warm at all. If your software is right and it really is 70C then you will quickly burn your fingers.

I reinstalled the HSF again before work and made sure I put everything on right. Now the temperature is at 45c idle in my case. Didn't have time to put a load on it to see how high it will go. Does that temperature seem about right? I can't use core temp as I have a Brisbane and it doesn't read them right. Also the lockups booting into windows are gone.

My
Athlon X2 3600+ 90nm (should be hotter)
1GB Kingston 667 overclocked to 800 with heat spreader
MSI MS-7309 (MSI gf 6100 based chipset)
550watts powersupply
with 1 side panel fan
Samsung 160GB with HDD cooler

runs 33c-45c only @ stock fan and heatsink

Your problem:
1. Maybe caused by poor case ventilation
2. Caused by thermal paste not properly spread
3. Caused by other device inside the cpu (but this is minimal)
4. Bios setting should be in default

Try this software it may help cool down upto 10c
http://www.cpuidle.de/downloads.php

Replace your stock heatsink and fan (possible defect). If still disable the Cooln'Quite feature. If still again warranty your product hopefully they will replace that.

Thanks for the feedback. I'm going to pick up a new stock replacement from compusa with a copper core to test.

I had the same problem (computer shut itself down , temps freakin high)with my X2 brisbane 3600+ but it turned out that the mobo was just giving me bullsh*t readings there was no overheating, everyone told me that 75c cpu temp was ridiculous for a stock 65nm X2 and that Am2 mobos gave wrongful readings and that i should only trust coretemp. And to this day cpu is running just fine 37-38 C

I see well core temps reads mine at 15-19c idle which I don't believe is right.

FINAL CONCLUSION: You got a defective motherboard. It happens sometimes. Disable the threshold part or the temperature limit in the bios. If it cant be replace it.

Or a defective (read concave) factory heatsink. I bought a 3700 with a warped heatsink a couple of years ago, took a while to figure out why it ran so hot.

Ok I tried another heat sink the G-powerlite and the temps dropped to around 44c idle. I doubt the processor would cause all these problems so I'm going to test another processor and see what happens. I kinda needed my computer running good for school next week so I think I will order another board and rma this one.

Update: Temps are normal about 24-29 idle and light use and 35-40 full load. I can't over clock though. The highest I can go is 2.1 ghz and it crashes. Can't figure out whats stopping me from OC. I'm trying to hit 2.4ghz to increase crysis performance.

I ran my 3600+ at 2.6Ghz daily. It would run higher, but was less stable as my MOBO would not allow higher voltages and my room is really hot most of the time.

What motherboard are you using, I may have missed it.

TF 560+ I'm going to update the bios and try different parts to see whats limiting me. It's probably the cpu though. I probably have one that yields suck except for stock speed.

Almost all AM2 motherboards need a bios update to read brisbane core temps correctly. I'm sure that will sort it all out, as I just flashed my own bios, lol.