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It overheats and I can't stop it.

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ThePerfectCore

Red Raccoon Dojo
Joined
Mar 1, 2002
Location
Texas
My machine continually overheats and locks up at anything over 48C. I've done everything sensible that I can to try and fix this, but nothing is working. I'm posting this now because 1) I leave to go back to college soon and I need this fixed within the next 18 hours, and 2) it's 4:30am, only natural.

-I've applied and reapplied the Artic Alumina I have to two different heatsinks. One had a thermal parafin wax pad which melted into the heatsink, and now none of the particles in the paste can get down into the "cracks". I'm guess that's why the one heatsink doesn't do it's job very well.

-Rearranged cables in my case. With just a single harddrive, I could idle at about 41C. After adding everything else, cards/drives/cables, it hit 43C. That's an improvement over the regular 44C.

-Switched fans. I know that a 7000RPM fan would do the trick, the 5000 I have on it now just doesn't push enough air through. I ordered a 6Cu+ with a 7000RPM fan from Newegg a few days ago, but of course, they sent me the wrong part - a 6Cu, only 5000 RPM. Can I step up the voltage without ruining the fan? I imagine I can, I'm just checking.

-Took the side of the case off. This actually hurt airflow and got my chip to idle at 45C.

So, there. That's all that I know to do without putting a giant floor fan on it (like I have right now). I hope someone has a suggestion, because I'm all out of ideas.
 
First off, what chip do you have? I'm assuming an Intel based one. Still 48C is not really "hot".

Second, 41C idle is "hot". The heatsink must be mounted wrong, otherwise your monitoring software is way off.

Third, what are your specs and voltages. If this is an AMD chip, 48C should not cause freezing, and other components of your system should be looked at.
 
Have you tried cleaning off the core very well using some isopropyl alcohol?
If you had the parafin pad one on there, you may have some 'chunkage' holding any hsf off the core a tad.
Even a fingerprint can do some bad things...
You might have to lap the heatsink now, because anything left on the core would also now be on the bottom of the next heatsink too.

Another thing to try with the hsf you have is to make the fan stand off the heatsink a tad if possible. If the fan holds on with screws, use longer ones and fill the gap with some tape (for testing). I firmly believe that fans are mounted WAY too close to be as helpfull as they should, and leaves far too much of the center of the heatsink shrouded in the fan's dead spot (where the core is)...especially if you're using one with lower rpm.
My idea about using an old dead fan's shroud as a fan shroud between the heatsink and fan works, just cut the struts off on the old one and bolt it in between.

Hope ya get it bud, hate to see your rig crippled the first few days in a new home.
 
Second, 41C idle is

Not really. My old p4 1.8 idled at a round 37-40c.

My machine continually overheats and locks up at anything over 48C. I've done everything sensible that I can to try and fix this, but nothing is working. I'm posting this now because 1) I leave to go back to college soon and I need this fixed within the next 18 hours, and 2) it's 4:30am, only natural.

Maybe your bios shutdown temprature is very low? Your board might have overheating settings that you havent looked at.
 
I lapped it with 220 grit :eek: (yes I know, but it's all I had) and then cleaned the core. It's idling between 39C and 40C now, I'll see how it holds up under a few hours of UT2k3.

Thanks guys.
 
I lapped it with 220 grit (yes I know, but it's all I had)
There's your problem! The heatsink was much smoother than 220 grit before you started. If you want to use that heatsink, you'll NEED to lap it smoother than 220 grit. Go at least to 600; 800 recommended; 1500 if you want a nice shine. With 220 grit, you now have macroscopic (as opposed to microscopic) valleys and ridges, which greatly diminish the heat transfer from the CPU to the HSF, even with thermal paste.
 
Your sensor is probably reading about 20C lower than it actually is.

I'm assuming this is AMD... just spare yourself the agony and expense of buying new fans, and get something like the SK6+ or the SK-7. No volcano heatsink that is all or part aluminum can keep it cool enough. And the heatsinks I have mentioned are under $20. If you're on a P4, you can get an adapter for these here for $5.
 
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