cooling problems

ive got a 1700+ ive recently installed, im working on a phase change unit, so i didnt want to spend 25$+ on a good heatsink to get me by until then. so i found a deal on a volcano5+ from newegg for only 5$ new. also, i get a thermaltake copper shim cause ill be making my own block and dont want to chip a die.

well today i take my heatsink off and take some measurements for the new block im making, when i check out the volcano and cpu die it got my attention. i used as3 and only half of the die had marks of it on there, the other half looked brand new. and on the heatsink, only a small mark was made where the contact area was.
last time i checked in bios it was running around 40c. is that hot for a stock chip on that crappy heatsink?
well i put it back on and boot up a few minutes ago, have the right amount of pressure and everything, except it gets to a certain part of the post screen and then just shuts down. so i go in bios and check out the temps. i sit there during the boot and watch it go from about 37c to 48c, clicking off about a degree every 2 seconds. then when it gets between 48c and 51c it shuts down.
funny thing is that i have my temp safety at 65c. why is it shutting down so soon?
so i come to the conclusion that it may be the shim, i take it off and its sitting right now at about 43c and boots fine.

so......wtf is up with the shim? have you ever heard of this happening? and is 43c bad temp?

thx for any help.
laters.
t

Shims when improperly cut/machined will actually prevent the HSF from contacting the die thus causing temps to rise. I experienced this firsthand with the first computer I built. I was using a silica shim (non-conductive) and a Volcano 2. I have not used a shim ever since. As for 43C, you're fine. Most OEM machines run in the 50s and 60s b/c the chips don't experience thermal damage or instability until 80C and 70C respectively. We overclockers like to keep our temps real low at stock because that gives us more Vcore headroom.

~THT

Yes this is not uncommon when using a shim. If you are careful mounting your blocks and apply pressure evenly the chance of crushing the core is low without using a shim.

cool. i knew that was the culprit. i wonder if i can lap the side down that i think is higher, thus maybe taking the ridge out and giving me a flat contact area?

thx for the help.
laters.
t

tgp said:

cool. i knew that was the culprit. i wonder if i can lap the side down that i think is higher, thus maybe taking the ridge out and giving me a flat contact area?

thx for the help.
laters.
t

Click to expand...

I guess you could but how would you know how much is needed? If you lap more than is needed, the shim will be lower than the cpu defeating its purpose of preventing you from crushing the core. Personally, I would just ditch the shim.