A10-5700 Overheating in new build. How to tackle the problem?

[jalagl]

Hi all,

I put together a SFF PC for HTPC/light gaming use with the following components:

CPU: AMD A10-5700. Using the stock heatsink
Motherboard: ASRock FM2A75M-ITX
Case: Antec ISK 310-150, built-in 150W PSU
Other: 8GB DDR3-1866 (4GBx2), 120GB SSD, Slim Bluray drive.

The thing is that ever since I first booted I have been facing stability problems and shut downs. The first suspect when this happens is heat problems, so I explored that first, and sure enough, the CPU was getting to 71 degrees C (maximum temp according to AMD specs) and the computer shuts down.
So in order to try to solve this, I have tried the following:

- Added an extra fan (another Antec Tricool running at full speed). Using it as an exhaust fan, next to the other Tricool on the right side of the case
- Added a small 40mm fan I had around to the left side to push in a little bit of air (doesn't do much, really)
- Removed the heatsink, used the ArctiClean to clean it up, and applied Arctic Silver thermal Paste.

None of those solutions have worked, the system still overheats and I haven't been able to get it to work.

It takes the CPU around 2 minutes to reach the shutdown temperature when idling at the BIOS (sometimes it takes longer when booting into Windows 8). I made a video of the CPU getting to that temperature here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qT2xLuMyrKo ... it starts at around 30C and shoots up to 71C in two minutes and it shuts down.

The stock heatsink is kinda plain, it may not be sufficient for this type of SFF case. It doesn't have heatpipes and is just a block of aluminum with fins. For a 65W TDP CPU in a large case it will probably work OK, but here I think it may be causing the overheating problem.
Also I read about undervolting the CPU might help, but I have never done anything like it.
So the next step I'm thinking is buying a decent heatsink, but before spending that money I wanted to ask here:

What else could I try before spending money on another heatsink?

And also:
What else could be causing this overheating issues?
Has someone had similar problems with this CPU/MB/Case?

What heatsink would you recommend that would fit in this small case but still provide sufficient cooling for this CPU?
I'm looking at these options for the heatsink:
Noctua NH-L9A (too expensive but looks really good)
SilverStone NT07-AM2
Cooler Master GeminII M4
Nexus LOW-7000 R2 Low-Profile Universal CPU Cooler

Thank you for your help!!

 

[knightdog56]

Make sure you are not overclocking or over volting the CPU, check the settings n the BIOS, here are theprocessor specs. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-A10-Series%20A10-5700.html , best o check settings before ordering new parts.

 

[smorizio]

did you use some thermal paste on the bottom of the heat sink or was there some there.did you make sure if there was pre paste that you took off any plastic cover over the paste. the other issue is with the plastic heat sinks did you make sure the white locking feet went through the mb and locked in so that the heat sink is sitting all the way down?? it be a little bit of a pain but take out the mb and flip it over make sure all 4 legs are locked in and down.i dont like the stock heat sinks do to those flimsy clips. myself i would by a aftermarket heat sink that uses a back plate and screws and pick up a tube of good thermal paste.

 

[jalagl]

Make sure you are not overclocking or over volting the CPU, check the settings n the BIOS, here are theprocessor specs. http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/Bulldozer/AMD-A10-Series%20A10-5700.html , best o check settings before ordering new parts.

Ok, checked that just in case, and the values are where they are supposed to be.

I tried undervolting the CPU, right now I have it at 1.2325V (or thereabouts), and it idles (in Windows) at around 50C and got up to 68C in Prime95, so it looks much better. I still think that 50C idle is too high, though.

The only downside is that it hung running 3dMark 11. I'm playing a Bluray movie right to see if it hangs/crashed again, and after that I'll run some other benchmarks/games to check stability, and see if it is a 3DMark issue.

 

[jalagl]

did you use some thermal paste on the bottom of the heat sink or was there some there.did you make sure if there was pre paste that you took off any plastic cover over the paste. the other issue is with the plastic heat sinks did you make sure the white locking feet went through the mb and locked in so that the heat sink is sitting all the way down?? it be a little bit of a pain but take out the mb and flip it over make sure all 4 legs are locked in and down.i dont like the stock heat sinks do to those flimsy clips. myself i would by a aftermarket heat sink that uses a back plate and screws and pick up a tube of good thermal paste.

There was some thermal paste in the stock heatsink, the last thing I tried was to remove it (using Arcticlean) and applied Arctic Silver thermal paste. Looks like that with a slight undervolt has helped with the heat issue, but might have caused some stability problems.

The heatsink is correctly installed as far as I can tell, and is getting hot as hell, so it looks like it is doing what it is supposed to, but in a poor way.

What heatsink would you recommend? Have you used any of the ones I listed earlier?

Thanks!

 

[knightdog56]

Sounds like an incorrect fan and heatsink installation, if all the settings are correct in the BIOS. Did you follow artic silver directions for AMD FM2 processors thermal compound application. Can not figure out what smorizio is talking about with the white locking feet going through the motherboard, only boards i have seen that on is Intel boards! May have the heatsink installed improperly, if this is your first build with AMD I would ask for some help from a friend how has done this before. You should not have to undervolt to get your processor temp. down to 35c at an idle

 

[smorizio]

is the cpu fan spining real fast or just sluggishly slow.about the pins sorry thought amd and intel used the same pins. stock amd is like the old 775 with the latches. check that the heat sink latched on both sides of the cpu chip?? to see if it an airflow issue try taking the side off the case see if the cpu temps go down. also make sure there no wires being sucked into the fan and stopping it.

 

[weaselman]

Did you check that the board could take the wattage of the A10-5700 chip, what was the wattage rating of the board ?
50c is high if it is in idel mode. As said the heat sink may need a tweek, dont apply to much thermal paste, and make sure it is spread all the way across the Cpu heat spreader in an thin layer.

 

[popatim]

I have seen some stock amd heatsink latches not be tight when in the locked position but is tight when the handle is straight up for what its worth.

 

[jalagl]

Sounds like an incorrect fan and heatsink installation, if all the settings are correct in the BIOS. Did you follow artic silver directions for AMD FM2 processors thermal compound application. Can not figure out what smorizio is talking about with the white locking feet going through the motherboard, only boards i have seen that on is Intel boards! May have the heatsink installed improperly, if this is your first build with AMD I would ask for some help from a friend how has done this before. You should not have to undervolt to get your processor temp. down to 35c at an idle

Yeah, the heatsink was my first thought as well... and I agree with you about the undervolting. But to the best of my abilities it seems like the heatsink installation is ok, the clips are locked, and seems firmly in place. Any tip/trick to validate it?

I have experience building computers, both AMD (my main PC is a Phenom build, built 3 Semprons for my parent's business, etc) and Intel, and this is the first time I've run into this issue... but then again, this is the first time I've attempted a small form factor case, so I'm not sure if it could be an issue of the heat getting trapped in that small space. It has me completely stumped, I haven't done anything differently that other times.

Thank you for your help!

 

[jalagl]

is the cpu fan spining real fast or just sluggishly slow.about the pins sorry thought amd and intel used the same pins. stock amd is like the old 775 with the latches. check that the heat sink latched on both sides of the cpu chip?? to see if it an airflow issue try taking the side off the case see if the cpu temps go down. also make sure there no wires being sucked into the fan and stopping it.

This is a good tip, but I checked with Speedfan and it is spinning at 3200 RPM, and I tied the cables to the frame inside the case so they would be out of the way and to try to aid the airflow.

 

[jalagl]

Did you check that the board could take the wattage of the A10-5700 chip, what was the wattage rating of the board ?
50c is high if it is in idel mode. As said the heat sink may need a tweek, dont apply to much thermal paste, and make sure it is spread all the way across the Cpu heat spreader in an thin layer.

Yes, it can allegedly handle the A10-5800K which is 100W. This one is 65W.
Also the case is supposed to support 65W CPUs as well, but I'm starting to think that the 150W power supply could be causing problems...

 

[weaselman]

Hum, 150W. May I ask what the amps are on the 12v power rail, or rails please.
Amps are just as important as the wattage. Saying that you are using a low profile cooler on the ITX board. so the temps will be slightly Higher due to its size and depth, it may be the case that it cannot dissipate heat quick enough away from the cpu. If the case thermal shutdown protection will kick in and shut the system down. Then it will be a case of a new cooler. You have to rember that you have a cpu and a Gpu in the same package, so heat will build up quickly once the Gpu is running as well.

 

[popatim]

Hmm. another thought. Is the gpu self enclosed so it vent out he rear or open so heat is transferred to inside the case?

 

[jalagl]

Hum, 150W. May I ask what the amps are on the 12v power rail, or rails please.
Amps are just as important as the wattage. Saying that you are using a low profile cooler on the ITX board. so the temps will be slightly Higher due to its size and depth, it may be the case that it cannot dissipate heat quick enough away from the cpu. If the case thermal shutdown protection will kick in and shut the system down. Then it will be a case of a new cooler. You have to rember that you have a cpu and a Gpu in the same package, so heat will build up quickly once the Gpu is running as well.

According to the label on the PSU:
+5V 10A
+3.3V 8A
+12V 10A
-12V 0.2A
+5VSB 1.5A

Here is a pic of the power supply:
http://imgur.com/kKFO2

So far after undervolting and reapplying thermal paste (used Arctic Silver 5, which is what I've used for all my other builds), the computer is running stable, if a bit hot. I ran Prime95 for about half an hour on the weekend, saw LOTR: The Two Towers Bluray, and played Borderlands 2 & Rayman Origins for a couple of hours, with no crashes so far.
It still idles in the mid-40s, but maybe that is the best I'll be able to achieve without replacing the heatsink with a better one because of the limited space in the case.

I uploaded a couple of pics of the build in case that might help:

Here is the CPU with the tray that holds the Bluray/Hard Drive installed:
http://imgur.com/7miDS

This is a pic of the motherboard with the top tray removed
http://imgur.com/ceYxS

Here is a side view of the case, you can see the two case fans, both of them are Antec Tricool and are blowing air out. I've been running them on Max, but will try running them on Med and monitor the temp. On High speed they sound like a jet engine, which isn't ideal for watching movies, etc.
http://imgur.com/M2Tgr


Thanks!

 

[jalagl]

Hmm. another thought. Is the gpu self enclosed so it vent out he rear or open so heat is transferred to inside the case?

The GPU is integrated with the CPU, just one package. Combined it has a TDP of 65W according to the specs.

 

[Cazalan]

You could underclock it a notch or two.

 

[popatim]

what case and where do you have it placed?
ie - if you expect a pc not to overheat when its in a closed cabinet ...

 

[TTuren]

I have the exact same problem with a brand new build using the A85600K and a Gigabyte F2A75M-D3H motherboard. First open case test had the temp spike to 70 C and then cool down but under load it went back quickly to 70 C according speccy. Pulled the cooler and applied artic silver but it still has the same problem under load. This is with an open case with both panels removed and yes the cpu fan and case fan work fine. Any ideas?

 

[azITdude]

pick up another heatsink,I got the a10-5800k and at stock speeds and heatsink my temps were terrible i picked up a Coolmaster for like 20 bucks and some artic silver having DL in the backround and BF3 on higher settings i am not even hitting 50c staying in the 40's with an OC of upto 4.5ghz

 

[jalagl]

Revisiting this thread after some more tinkering and coming back from Christmas vacation and some business travel. The issue was the **** motherboard - it is now dead, which apparently is a very common occurrence, as you can tell from these threads:

Asrock FM2A75M-ITX Motherboard Fire

burned motherboard picture

And the reviews over at newegg:

ASRock FM2A75M-ITX FM2 AMD A75 (Hudson D3) HDMI SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 Mini ITX AMD Motherboard

So my warning to you all - stay away from this ASRock motherboard. It gave me nothing but trouble since I bought it, and now I have a nice burnt paperweight, and I just want to smash it to pieces, not sure I'll even ask for a replacement since it will probably suffer the same fate.

I also learned my lesson - I will never buy another motherboard from ASRock, and will keep buying from MSI, Intel and ASUS - never had a problem with motherboards from those manufacturers.