Zalman CNPS9500 and AM2+ Compatible?

[calciofool]

Will this heat sink work fine with an AM2+ CPU? It's listed as AM2 but it seems to be working fine. It idles at around 30-35c at around 60f in my apartment but if I turn off the A/C, it moves up to around 42c or so. It is pretty hot in my apartment with the A/C off. Any ideas? Suggestions? Anything is much appreciated.

 

[yomamafor1]

Yes it is fine with your CPU. AM2 and AM2+ sockets are essentially the same.

 

[calciofool]

Thank you yomamafor1. Do those temperatures seem okay? After playing WoW for about 2 hours the CPU is up to about 47c. Minimizing the game brings it back down to 42-43c.

 

[yomamafor1]

Its actually pretty good. Usually CPU would hit around 55~60C w/ stock coolers, so your temperature is pretty good.

 

[calciofool]

Thanks again. One thing it's started now doing is it won't actually post all of the time. It will start but it won't advance to the BIOS or anything, the system will just run but nothing on my screen will show up, the lights on my monitor won't even go green (they stay orange). I'll usually open the case and make sure everything is connected properly and eventually I will get it to finally post. Although, I've just recently switched off the PSU (on the unit) and switch it back on and and that now seems to get it to post properly. Sound like a bad PSU? I just got all this new hardware and I'm just being extra careful. It's driving me crazy!

The PSU is a Corsair TX 750w. Thanks again for any insight.

 

[calciofool]

Any ideas?

 

[linux_0]

The Corsair is a nice unit. What are your full specs?

I've seen the problem you describe and the system that had that issue worked for years despite that problem. In the end it proved to be an annoyance.

I've also been boards catch fire though, so it might be serious.

Grab a very bright flashlight and check all your power connections for burn marks. If all your pins are nice and shiny and you can't smell anything you should be good.

Good Luck

 

[seboj]

Are you OCing?

Also, I wouldn't use the 9500 for a CPu over 2 cores, but that's me.

Full specs would be helpful.

 

[calciofool]

Thanks again for the heads up. A friend of mine in IT suggested I make sure the BIOS is updated. I haven't manually OC'd anything so far. My full system specs are as follows:

Vista Ultimate (64 bit)
ASUS M3N78 PRO Motherboard
AMD Phenom 8750 Toliman 2.4GHz Socket AM2+ 95W Triple-Core Processor
MSI 512MB OC GeForce 9600 GT
OCZ Reaper HPC 4GB RAM
Western Digital Caviar 640GB Sata HD
Zalman CNPS9500 CPU Heat Sink
Corsair TX 750w PSU
XCLIO Windtunnel Full Tower
Samsung DVD-RW Drive
Dell 2005FPW Monitor (No Vista drivers available for this)

Are you OCing?

Also, I wouldn't use the 9500 for a CPu over 2 cores, but that's me.

Full specs would be helpful.

I haven't really been able to find any solid AM2+ compatible Heat Sinks.

 

[linux_0]

As your friend said, make sure the BIOS is updated and check your voltages in the BIOS after you update and see if they're within spec.

A Corsair TX 750W should be able to easily handle what you have in your system.

Semper Fi, carry on!

 

[seboj]

Throw a TRUE on there.

Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme.

Far as I know, still one of (if not THE) best air cooler on the market, along with the Tuniq tower.

Edit: Do you have a spare PSU you can try?

 

[calciofool]

As your friend said, make sure the BIOS is updated and check your voltages in the BIOS after you update and see if they're within spec.

A Corsair TX 750W should be able to easily handle what you have in your system.

Semper Fi, carry on!

Got the BIOS updated and all of the voltages are set on Auto atm (the RAM voltage right?). It's running fine and I never have noticed or smelled any burning whatsoever. The true test will be once I power it down for a bit. If it posts without issues, I'll assume it may be resolved. I wasn't sure about my PSU placement though, it's on the top of the case but the fan is pointing down toward the rest of the hardware. Does this really matter? Thanks again for all of the tips so far!

Throw a TRUE on there.

Thermalright Ultra-120 eXtreme.

Far as I know, still one of (if not THE) best air cooler on the market, along with the Tuniq tower.

Edit: Do you have a spare PSU you can try?

I'll see how these adjustments go and I might be able to throw in a 550w I have from my old system. Thanks.

 

[linux_0]

I wasn't sure about my PSU placement though, it's on the top of the case but the fan is pointing down toward the rest of the hardware. Does this really matter?

That's the right placement, you're good!

What does your BIOS screen where you can monitor the voltage put out by your PSU show?

Maybe you take a picture of the screen and post it.

Semper Fi, carry on!

 

[calciofool]

That's the right placement, you're good!

What does your BIOS screen where you can monitor the voltage put out by your PSU show?

Maybe you take a picture of the screen and post it.

Semper Fi, carry on!

So after updating the BIOS it's still doing the same thing. This morning it wouldn't post properly until I reset the power switch a few times. I've only had the system for about 4 days now. On day one it would boot fine but I don't recall ever shutting it down completely and needing to reboot. The second day is when I got the Zalman and also moved the RAM to the other 2 slots on my mobo because they would have been right up on the CPU Heat Sink. Maybe moving the RAM or switching CPU Heat Sinks is causing this. When it doesn't boot successfully, I did notice it keeps trying to load the DVD-RW Driver and seems to get stuck there (the green lights keep flashing a few times and you can hear it kicking in). Maybe a bad cable or IDE cable? I'll check the watt output tonight or over the weekend. Thanks again!

My IT buddy suggested I just RMA the motherboard. Since it's only happening at start up and a bios flash didn't help, it sounds like mobo issues. Said the boot environment is bad. Sound about right?

One of my other friends thinks it may be something that is incompatible with the motherboard. I'm pretty sure everything checked out to be compatible, although the DVD drive is a bit old and as I mentioned above, it does strange things with the DVD drive when it doesn't boot up properly. I'll try booting without the drive to see if that helps and I may need to get a new one, they are super cheap anyway. The one I have now is like 3-4 years old.

btw my brother is a Marine. /salute!

 

[byteman]

Thats the one im using for my X4 9850. For me it isn't much better at cooling than the stock cooler. I'm using a M2N32 SLI Deluxe mobo and before i lapped the cpu and fan i was getting around 44c-46c just on idle. Since i am going to be overclocking im going to need a better cooler and if you're going to oc i would recommend a better cooler as well.

 

[linux_0]

Sounds like it could be your mobo but then again it could be something else.

Did your system have these symptoms with the stock HSF?

Disconnect your DVD and any other components you do not need and see if it helps.

You could dowload memtest http://www.memtest.org/download/2.01/memtest86+-2.01.iso.zip or a Linux Live CD and run some diagnostics and some apps.

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors

http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso and Fedora-9-x86_64-Live.iso

Both ubuntu and Fedora have memtest on their Live CDs and distro media.

The ISOs can be used to boot from a USB flash drive or a memory card

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

Good Luck

 

[calciofool]

Sounds like it could be your mobo but then again it could be something else.

Did your system have these symptoms with the stock HSF?

Disconnect your DVD and any other components you do not need and see if it helps.

You could dowload memtest http://www.memtest.org/download/2.01/memtest86+-2.01.iso.zip or a Linux Live CD and run some diagnostics and some apps.

http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/downloadmirrors

http://fedoraproject.org/en/get-fedora

ubuntu-8.04.1-desktop-amd64.iso and Fedora-9-x86_64-Live.iso

Both ubuntu and Fedora have memtest on their Live CDs and distro media.

The ISOs can be used to boot from a USB flash drive or a memory card

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Installation/FromUSBStick

Good Luck

Disconnecting my DVD drive didn't help. Flipping the PSU switch off and back on is still working fine though. Is putting the stock heat sink back on an issue at this point? I don't recall if this was happening before I put the Zalman on since I don't recall shutting it down the first day I had everything up and running. I'm thinking of going to Frys and picking up the same Mobo to save me the RMA turn around time just to see if that's the issue. I can always return the Fry's one. I can also call ASUS and see if they have heard of anything like this with their board. The extra PSU I have is not compatible with my new system, so I may be out of luck as far as testing that out. Here are my wattage and misc numbers from my BIOS at startup:

Vcore: 1.32v
3.3v: 3.34v
5v 4.97v
12v: 12.09v

CPU Temp 38c
MB Temo: 30c

CPU Fan Speed: 3376 rpm

 

[linux_0]

Voltage is good.

Temp is good.

Fan speed is good.

Watch out frys may have a nasty restocking fee.

It may be an ACPI problem, some mobos are really buggy.

Have you tried any of those ISOs?

Semper Fi, carry^H^H^H^H^H Linux on

 

[calciofool]

Voltage is good.

Temp is good.

Fan speed is good.

Watch out frys may have a nasty restocking fee.

It may be an ACPI problem, some mobos are really buggy.

Have you tried any of those ISOs?

Semper Fi, carry^H^H^H^H^H Linux on

I'll give a few of those ISO's a run. Swapping back the stock heat sink and moving the RAM to the original slots didn't change anything.

I did also notice an Application was running under my Task Manager called "Asus ACPI Center". Looking around on the net, I found a few posts from various forums talking about how it can or has been known to cause some issues with your BIOS but after uninstalling it and any other things linked to it, I'm still experiencing issues. I suppose if the ISO tests fail to find anything, I could try reinstalling Vista and not install any ASUS software.

 

[linux_0]

http://isorecorder.alexfeinman.com/isorecorder.htm ISOrecorder will let you burn those ISOs to CD or DVD ( and it's free! ).

It works on XP ( burns CDs only ) and vista ( burns CDs and DVDs ).

After you record one or more of the ISOs to some CDs or DVDs, change your boot order in the BIOS to boot from your DVD drive and boot up from one of the Live CDs you just made.

When you get to the desktop check out the apps and tools that are on there. It will be particularly interesting to see what happens when you shutdown and reboot using the Live CDs as opposed to what happens with Vista.

You should check the boot messages to see what it says about ACPI and PM me the output if you can.

Good luck

 

[linux_0]

Any luck?

Did you get around to trying it?