AMD Athlon x2 5000+ overheating.

[Sulimen]

Hello there. I have this overheating problem that has bothered me for quite some time.

Every time i'm playing a game, the Motherboard and CPU starts rising up to 90 C with the Motherboard and over 100 C with the CPU.
It increases more rapidly with a high spec and slowly with a low spec game, but its still rising up till the warning temp to automatically shut down.
Both of them have normal temps (50C motherboard, 40C CPU) on idle, playing a move, using browsers or other things like that.

Specs:
AMD Athlon x2 dual core 5000+ , 2.61 GHz
ATI Radeon HD 3800 series
3 GB RAM
Windows 7 ultimate 32 bit
CPU Core is 1.3V
PSU is 530W

-With the same specs and fan, this thing used to work normal.
-I added another fan inside. No change.
-I currently have aprox. 2600-3300 RPM on my CPU and aprox. 5400 RPM on the Chassis. All my fans work.
-I cleaned the dust hundreds of times. No change
-I also have to mention that if the temperature is low, my pc freezes and the only thing i can do is to force reboot, so i always have to run a small flash game or program to maintain the temperature to 60-65 C on both of them.
-I always have to leave the case open, every time the temp is rising i can feel the hot air that's coming from when i open it.
-I never overclocked my pc.. so as far as i know, my pc is not overclocked.
-I use everest home edition, its enough for me to know when my pc shuts and when it freezes.

This thing only happens on summer and usually it starts doing this at the end of spring. Its pretty hot on summer.. it can get up to 40+ C outside.
Even though my PC runs fairly fine on winter and autum, i still don't know how to deal with the freezing.

I'm not that good with a pc, but i know how to assemble and dissasemble most of my components.
Any advice that results in me buying something is pretty irrelevant. For the moment i can't really afford any components, maybe a fan at most.

I know there's no such thing as a "too low" temperature for a CPU, but still the only time my PC freezes is when its under 60 C. It could be an inflated diode on the motherboard.

The problem i think i have for the overheating is either a bad power supply (unlikely, since i replaced it with a better one) , my CPU is damaged, or is just too hot. I wanted to completely remove the case and buy a desk fan to cool my pc.

I had this problem for 2 years, so any advice is welcome.

 

[o1die]

A system will start to shut down or windows will give you a bluescreen at around 75c on older systems. First item is to try another monitor program; apparantly, yours isn't very accurate. I use the latest version of coretemp. Then open your case and be sure all the fans are turning when it's on, including the power supply fan. I use a canned air product called "perfect duster" but any number of brands will work fine to clean fans and heatsinks. Also see if you have any leftover thermal paste somewhere. You can clean your cpu and heatsink with isopropyl alcohol or fingernail polish remover. Then apply one drop of thermal paste and spread it around with an old credit card or single edge razor. I had too much on my newer heatsink recently and switched back to my old amd heatsink. Applying the proper amount of thermal paste dropped the temp by 5 degrees.

 

[Sulimen]

A system will start to shut down or windows will give you a bluescreen at around 75c on older systems.

Not entirely true, AMD processors usually have a higher temp than the others.

I installed CoreTemp 1.0 RC3, here are the temp on this one

Processor #0 temp:

Core #0: Min. 55C, Max. 69C (yellow)
Core #1: Min. 54C, Max. 72C (yellow)

Here are the everest temps:

Motherboard: 54C
CPU: 46C

I did not have this problem 2 years ago and i even had 1 less fan than now when i added another and changed nothing. And yes again i mentioned that all the fans are on.

I never used a canned air product before, and again i cannot really afford that much, at least not now. If the price is low enough i might get one, how much is it?

I indeed cleaned them a lot of times with the isopropyl (sanitary/rubbing right?) alcohol and ear sticks,brushes, a mini blower etc. and did nothing. However i did not applied any thermal paste pretty much since got it from the insurance company (1 year and a half maybe? my insurance is expired anyways), so i might borrow from someone since i don't have any.

 

[geekapproved]

I don't know about Athlon X2's, but I know the max recommended temp for a Phenom II is 62c.

Cleaning the fan really isn't going to help much if the heatsink is clogged with dust, you need to blow it out with canned air.

I would clean off the old thermal paste with 91% alcohol (isopropyl) and re-apply new paste. Don't follow others advice for using thermal paste, follow the directions on the package, they are all different.

Other than that, since your computer is like 10yrs old or more, I would think about upgrading it sometime.

 

[Sulimen]

Again, how much i the canned air worth?

I will ask somebody for thermal paste. Can i just remove the old one for a day while i get a new paste? or it will just heat even more?

10 years? i bought this PC in 2009, that's not even near 10 years, unless you are referring to the quality of my pc components, which i doubt since i can run battlefield 3 with very decent FPS. I only changed my PSU (Which is a raidmax) and added 1 fan since then.

 

[geekapproved]

X2 5000+ came out in 2006, if you bought it in 2009, you got some seriously old stock or it was used.

You need a fast, modern quad core and a modern video card to run BF3 multiplayer at ANY decent fps, unless your running a tiny monitor at 1280x1024. There's no way a HD38XX and a X2-5000+ is running BF3 at any resolution over 1440.

Canned air is somewhere around $3 per can.

 

[Sulimen]

1280x1024 is.. tiny?. My monitor resolution is 1360x768, so i never actually experienced anything higher than that. You probably mentioned the highest spec the game can be. I indeed run the game on medium graphics, but it did not ruin my game experience and it had a decent FPS.

3$ one can is actually pretty cheap, i will most likely buy one.

 

[geekapproved]

Today's standard is 1920x1080p. The standard size monitor is 21.5-22". Even the 20" monitors run 1920x1080p.

I have an older 22" that runs 1680x1050.

My friend runs 2560x1600 on his 30" Dell monitor.

 

[Sulimen]

Maybe that's the standard in the USA. In my country the highest IS 1920 x 1080, and very expensive.

Back to the topic, is it possible that i can temporary downgrade my CPU so it can actually use less memory performance for it to lower the temperature?

 

[o1die]

The coolermaster hyper 212 is fairly cheap in the usa if you want to upgrade you cpu heatsink. I live in south texas and my room temps are high, due to limited a/c. If you aren't getting any bluescreens or artifacts while gaming, I wouldn't invest too much in it. Newer video cards do generate alot of heat even with large fans, so most of the heat my be coming from your video card.

 

[papalarge123]

i had a similar problem with a AMD athlon 4200x2 some years ago, found out that the voltage regulator on the chip had fried, so i had to go into the bios and set the voltage frequency of the chip manually, cus when set to auto, it would over heat, try this, hopefully it is a similar problem, good luck

 

[Sulimen]

i had a similar problem with a AMD athlon 4200x2 some years ago, found out that the voltage regulator on the chip had fried, so i had to go into the bios and set the voltage frequency of the chip manually, cus when set to auto, it would over heat, try this, hopefully it is a similar problem, good luck

That could be very possible. However i don't remember ever trying to set the voltage frequency. What exactly is the voltage frequency called in the bios, the CPU VDDA Voltage? Also, how much did you set it?

 

[papalarge123]

i cant remember the details, but i used google to find the frequency, my old system was set as standard, not overclocked, so same as u, never touched the voltages untill it almost took off with the temps, google the voltages, this should give u what u need

 

[papalarge123]

just looked and found the brisbane core (5000x2) runs on 1.25-1.35v, i suggest starting at 1.25v, see if that is stable, also checking the temps, as for where the voltage info is in the bios, it should be under the headin of "CPU Voltage Control"
what ever u do, dont touch the VDDA voltage, this if i remember right is for control of the CPU to northbridge voltages, good luck

 

[geekapproved]

Maybe that's the standard in the USA. In my country the highest IS 1920 x 1080, and very expensive.

Back to the topic, is it possible that i can temporary downgrade my CPU so it can actually use less memory performance for it to lower the temperature?

Actually they are made in Japan and Taiwan, not USA, so it would be the standard there. A 22" monitor at 1920x1080p is about $120 USD. Very cheap actually.

It' s 95nm cpu, it's gonna run hot. Time to upgrade or get an aftermarket cooler.

 

[Sulimen]

@geekapproved: Yes, a 1920x1080 is pretty cheap in USA, but the price of a 1920x1080 in my country is equivalent to 500$.

@papalarge123: I did set my CPU frequency in bios from normal to 1.2V (1.3V being the basic).

When i rebooted, i tried to ran a program that would increase to 90C and shut down. When i ran it this time, it didn't even passed 60C.
I was shocked .. so i tried a game that would just overheat my pc in seconds, it barely passed the 60C and stood like that.

What i'm trying to say that it worked! I had this problem for 2 years and i honestly can't believe that a simple command like that just made it work. Thank you very much papalarge, you have been the most helpful person so far.

 

[papalarge123]

not a problem, glad it worked, have fun

 

[geekapproved]

You would think after 2 years of running your cpu at 100c, you would buy a aftermarket cooler.

There's no possible way changing voltage .1v lowered the cpu temps by 40c. Just not possible.

 

[Sulimen]

No, it just prevented it from rising, like going from the breaking point and just rising without stopping at any point.

Apparently my coolers and fans are doing very well since i fixed it, so that would be a waste of money.

But still, thanks for the advice and all, i will reconsider buying a quad core once i have enough money for it.

 

[Mad Hatter 42]

How can i set my voltage on BIOS? I dont have any options to do it and i got the same issue of Sulimen!

 

[Juxta]

i had a similar problem with a AMD athlon 4200x2 some years ago, found out that the voltage regulator on the chip had fried, so i had to go into the bios and set the voltage frequency of the chip manually, cus when set to auto, it would over heat, try this, hopefully it is a similar problem, good luck

Yes! bloody hell! THANK YOU! Perfect solution for me. I set the voltage manually and it just stopped overheating. Exactly the same chip. Must be an issue with some these.