Why is my new Athlon XP running so hot?

[kinney]

I don't have anything extraordinary going on here. I have a slightly restrictive case (http://www.keepitsimple.com/character cases.htm) its the "Doggie". I have a 3dcool 80mm fan in the traditional front spot which does not have holes to pull air in from the front, it just recirculates air in the case.
I have a 90mm 3dcool fan at the back and a antec 300w ps with a decent built in it.
The cpu had a alum. that tries to be copper (has copper plating on cpu core area) Alpha heatsink which is pretty decent size and a Delta fan that runs at around 7500rpm, as soon as I got my Athlon xp this combo was no longer doing the job it did for my Athlon C 700 as I am experiencing lockups due to to much heat. The room the computer is in stays hospitable for me but I don't mind the place being a touch on the warm side, when it was in the 70's outside today the computer started locking.
I went looking for a better fan/hs combo and wanted to quiet down the computer at the same time. I found the dragon orb 3 but the store didnt have the 4000rpm model and I can't live with 7000rpm anymore considering this is my tv/stereo/entertainment system and its in the room i sleep in.

Soooo, I picked up a Mini Super Orb (www.thermaltake.com) and its about the same as my alpha/delta combo maybe a touch better but its going to take more with my case and environment, neither of which i would consider to much for a computer system. My past systems which were all pentiums until I switched to athlon took some pretty extreme heat conditions as far as the room temp goes.. I'm no A/C weenie in my house esp. now when no one is running their AC (midwest). I need to prepare this fragile system for real heat (summer time) when it hits over 100+.... please help!

Edit- After a lockup which happens very soon while running games like madden 2002 on reboot the bios is showing 52C and on a cold boot sometimes in the 30c area which is fine. Some things I don't want to do: cut on the case because I shouldnt have to to get it stable..., go extreme with any solution like water cooling that is ridiculous for a stock clocked Athlon 1700+ (ECS K7SA BTW) that will never be overclocked.
Basically what the heck does a computer company like gateway do when they deal with athlons? I just want a quiet machine that stays cool.

I'm using a silicon for thermal distribution (or whatever) but have some arctic silver laying around somewhere but I doubt this will help enough (slight laugh)..?<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by kinney on 11/17/01 01:03 AM.</EM></FONT></P>

 

[MadCat]

Basically, the fans at the top should be expelling air. The fans located at the bottom should be drawing air in. This augments the natural chimmey effect. Fans that just circulate the air around in the case don't do any good (IMHO).

 

[bgates]

You sure your power supply is good enough? 300 watts seems a little low...

-¤ Shut the f*ck up or go AMD ¤-

 

[kinney]

This model isnt AMD certified, could that possibly cause a freeze, about when the cpu would be cranking like in games? If this is it im going to be relieved.

 

[bgates]

Possibly...maybe try unplugging your CD-ROM drive to free up some power, or some other device you don't need first. Maybe that can narrow it down.

-¤ Shut the f*ck up or go AMD ¤-

 

[Kelledin]

Hmmm...

First of all, Orbs in general seem to suck. Up until the Dragon Orb, Orbs are not very good Socket A coolers--they're bulky, they're notorios core crushers, and there are HSFs that cool better for less money. Dragon Orbs seem OK, except I keep hearing about the fans on Dragon Orbs failing.

I myself am using an old GlobalWin FOP32 HSF on a 1.33GHz T-bird, and it rarely breaks 50C. Your AthlonXP 1700+ should run somewhat cooler than my CPU (somewhere in the realm of a 1.1 or 1.2GHz T-Bird), so I would expect a FOP32 to be sufficient.

Kelledin
<A HREF="http://www.linuxfromscratch.org/" target="_new">LFS</A>: "You don't eat or sleep or mow the lawn; you just hack your distro all day long."

 

[Guest]

get a SK6

 

[Matisaro]

Say it with me folks.


If he is not overclocking why did he not buy a retail heatsink@!@@

It sounds like a psu issue to me honestly. But the orbs suck ass.

~Matisaro~
"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
~Tbird1.3@1.5~

 

[cera26]

Just try running the computer with the case open. That will determine whether it's an airflow problem or something else.

Death to all trolls (Intel trolls, that is. AMD trolls aren't really trolls

 

[Copenhagen]

Proper cooling in a modern computer system is so damn important, especially when dealing with a high frequency AMD Athlon CPU or overcloked CPU's in general.

Whenever you have the opportunity to buy a new case, go for a quality one. That means it has to have at least one, preferably two exhaust fan(s) besides the built-in one in the power-supply. You don't really need intake fans, it's more important that the case has some small holes in the lower front. (heat tends to go upwards, therefore the coolest air is to be found near the floor).

It's as simple as that. I can recommend something in the region of an Antec SX-830. I personally have very good experience with that one. Also make sure that the power-supply is powerful enough, now, and in the future, i.e go for at least 400 W.

 

[Guest]

300W should be ok wut

 

[kinney]

So I should go back to my Alpha PAL6035 and delta fan? The reason I didnt like it was because dust and lint kept gathering in between the fins and I didn't think that could help the cause any when I had to clean it every 4months. The orb didnt look like it would do that but I think I am going to take it back now, I researched my alpha hs and it was the best one until the new one came out.

 

[kinney]

Would a high powered unit like a 400w create more heat than a lower 250w or 300w? I was going to get a 400w but was told it would increase heat and not have any other tangible benefits.

 

[mbetea]

if your not overclocking, why didn't you get the volcano 6cu? i would take it over an orb any day. i have it on top of my xp1700. with just the stock thermal pad i don't see even a load temp break 48 C. also a 400w psu with good ventilation isn't going to create anymore heat than the psu you're using now. a psu alone isn't going to overheat your comp with the heat it despenses.

I was going to get a 400w but was told it would increase heat and not have any other tangible benefits.

who told you this? would you please go to whoever told you this and beat them down with a baseball bat.

well if luck is a lady, it explains why i have no luck :frown:

 

[AMD_Man]

It would create LESS heat, especially the Enermax PSUs! When a PSUs is forced to work closer to it's maximum capacity it starts to heat up so a 300W would be hotter. Also 2 fan PSUs actually REDUCE case temps because they exhaust heat from inside the case out!

AMD technology + Intel technology = Intel/AMD Pentathlon IV; the <b>ULTIMATE</b> PC processor

 

[Thanatos00]

Get yourself a 350 or 400 watt Enermax with dual fans. A good high quality PSU is a must in a high performance system and yours just aint cutting it. The Enermax will run much cooler than the PSU that you have and (as has already been said) will draw the hot air out of the system much better than the PSU that you have now.

<font color=blue>- Studies show that the human brain approaches 100 percent retention. -</font color=blue>

 

[Guest]

WHAT ARE YOU CRAZY, MINI SUPER ORB! Come on, these computers produce more heat than my heaters! Atleast, get a Dragon Orb 3. Preferably a swiftech or alpha hsf (heatsink and fan). I also used to have my system in my room (my parents moved it into my bros room in da summer when i was in sleep away camp, bro is in stanford med, rarely comes home, so the room is now my computer lab, laptop and desktop). Computers now adays produces more and more heat, as well as more and more noise.
Your power supply might also have to do with something. Usually, i find the power supply's make da most noise (huge fans). 300 watts for an athlon xp, i'm surprised it starts. For the last year, athlon recommended a MINIMUM of 400 watts in their systems.
Recommendations:
1. get a new power supply, minimum of 400 watts
2. get a better hsf, in the end, they don't really produce a lot of noise, the powersupply mostly does.

P.S. dvd/burners can also produce a pretty hefty amount of noise when running, when my laptop dvd plays a dvd, i can't hear anything else cause it's sooo damn loud. Eventually it calms down, but still makes the most amount of noise in the laptop/

 

[bront]

The 2 fan 400W PSUs are pretty good. I have a 1 Fan 400W PSU from Antec, and it doesn't put out any more heat than my old 300W, at least most of the time. Heat is more an issue of the CPU and other components.

Try a Volcano 6 CU if you need a new Heat Sink. I've liked mine. Also, adding a case fan always helps, and many are quite quiet, and make nice white noise generators when you sleep, and don't make enough noise to disturn anything when you want to listen to music or watch TV, at least my case with 4 fans, a 1 fan PSU, and a Volcano 6 Cu does all this.

Chesnuts roasting on an open CPU
Bill Gates nipping at your wallet

 

[bront]

The alpha is a very good HS, yes. Check the website. I can't remember if it was the swiftech or the alpha that was designed to have the fan blowing away from the HS. Also if you have too much dust getting into the system, you can install some filters on any intake fans. Also, vacuming the area around your computer more often will help too.

Chesnuts roasting on an open CPU
Bill Gates nipping at your wallet

 

[kinney]

My DVD player is no louder than a regular cdrom drive. I have noticed more noise with laptops but not with desktops.
I'm going to put my Alpha PAL6035 back on with the loud POS delta fan that I absolutely hate. I think they perform almost identical (mini super orb vs. PAL6035 which is no shabby HS) and the delta fan is out of this world annoying at 7500rpm but does it ever blow air.

Theres nothing with this mini super orb at all, I could easily see if your mobo had capacitors in the way why it would be useful.
From what I've read the dragon orbs dont perform as well as they should and what I had to begin with, the Alpha is the real mccoy of heatsinks.

 

[MeTaLrOcKeR]

This is standard with all AMD based products, RMA it back to AMD at once and buy an Intel, you'll get that stability and wont have to worry about that fragile POS CPU you got now......With the P4 you can....

Oh sh*t...sorry...I got a bit carried away for a second, I thought I was amdMELTDOWN......woah.....identity crisis....

LoL

Sounds like Power Supply.....try takign out non-essential Expansion cards.....leave just the Video Card in there, than run an intense program, like TOAST....it tests the stability of your Athlon......

-MeTaL RoCkEr

<A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?id=13597" target="_new"> <b> My Rig </b> </A>

 

[AEboy128]

Try putting the artic silver on. I have a compaq presario 7000CTO and it came with a cheap tai-sol cooler. It came with the CEK733092. It is quite quiet.

My system: <A HREF="http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=8946" target="_new">http://www.anandtech.com/mysystemrig.html?rigid=8946</A>

 

[bgates]

I think everyone needs a non-retail HS/Fan for an AMD 1700+ or faster. That extra cooling on your cpu helps out alot...especially with artic silver or comparable stuff on it. It's better to be safe then sorry!

But yeah, get a good fan...I haven't heard much about the Orbs.

-¤ Shut the f*ck up or go AMD ¤-

 

[Matisaro]

NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

You NEVER need a better heatsink than the retail standard hsf UNLESS you plan to overclock. The RETAIL heatsink comes with the chip for a reason! It is the best balance between sound and cooling and it is PERFECT for stable non overclocked systems. There is no reason to buy an additioanl expensive hsf unless one plans to overclock.


Thats it, I'm changing my sig.


~Matisaro~
"The Cash Left In My Pocket,The BEST Benchmark"
~Tbird1.3@1.5~

 

[Crashman]

Generally speaking, PSU's EXPELL more heat than they CREAT. In fact many OEM's used the PSU fan to draw air through the system for cooling. More powerfull PSU's tend to have better fans in them, drawing even more air out of your system.

I think a Volcano6CU should do the job for you.

What's the frequency, Kenneth?