System improvements based on information from these forums, thanks everyone

I just wanted to thank everyone here for the help they've provided me. I've posted a couple of times, and spent quite a bit of time lurking on these boards. I've learned an enormous amount of valuable information concerning cooling and modding my system. I thought I knew what I was doing years ago, but you can always learn something more I guess. I'd mastered the hardware aspect of computers years ago, but now I'm learning more of the intricacies and manipulating aspects of improving performance and getting the most out of my system.

I have been building my own systems for about 10 years now, and until the last two or so I've always just haphazardly slapped heatsinks on my CPUs etc, but after reading posts on the boards here and wondering why I was having so many problems with my main system I discovered what was wrong with it. I'd applied my AS3 totally wrong, and used way too much thinking the more I had the better the conductivity. So as a result my AMD 1800+ was running at only 1.2Mhz, and nothing I could do would increase the speed, and the temp was around 72-94C on any given day during the summer. (I even saw 107C one day before it seized up on me. So far I haven't seen signs of permanent damage, though I've probably shortened the life-span of that CPU) Of course this was causing lockups and corruption problems. I finally got fed up and started looking for details on the boards here, and discovered that part of my problem was the AS3 application. (part of course was the PoS CPU cooler I'm using, and I'm in the process of installing an SLK on it now.)

So the first step was to totally disassemble and clean the dust/cat fur out of the system then remove the CPU cooler and clean all of the AS3 off the cpu, this took quite awhile. The compound was smeared all over the top of the CPU and in places quite dried and hardened in place. It took me about 6 hours with Q-tips and Alcohol to clean it all up. I reassembled the system and rebooted (still using the original CPU cooler, but with the intention of updating it in the near future) and immediately saw an improvement as the CPU was registering the proper speed of 1536 Mhz. After running for a couple of hours (and I crunch Seti and run EQ so the load on the cpu was fairly steady, and usually near 100% all the time) and with just the stock setup I was seeing my temps around 55-58C, so this was a huge improvement. Being the middle of the summer and having the garbage A/C in my place I was pretty happy with this. A floor fan running on the mobo helped out quite a bit, and dropped the temps to around 48-50C during the summer and now it's running around 42-46C since the temps outside have dropped. As I said I'm in the process of getting an SLK and fan on the CPU and then I've got to mod the side panel with a 120mm fan blowing onto the CPU and Video Card. Hopefully this will help reduce the dust/fur buildup in the open sided case as it is now and still allow sufficient airflow into the system.

I'm not quite ready for more extreme cooling measures, nor severe overclocking, I just want to keep the system stable and cool for the moment, then later this winter I'll look into upgrading to a new system, then I'll start doing more extreme modding to this one. Also during this process I did mod my second computer which is also running an AMD 1800+ and was suffering lockups as well, though to a lesser degree. I modded the case side and put a 120mm fan on it which cools the CPU and video card and eliminated all of the lockups on that system, its in need of some further mods, and probably I ought to disassemble and clean the AS3 on it as well, but it's running stable at the moment, so I think I need to concentrate on 1 system at a time.

But once again I just wanted to thank everyone here for the help and direction I've recieved in getting my system running better and diagnosing the problems I was having.

nice to hear a bit of appreciation once in a while.

i don't know if i ever helped you personally, but i feel the same way you do.... i didn't know much when i came here, and now i am doing quite well....of course, i had tons of help from members here, and i know enough now to share my experiences , and help others.

stick around, and post more often, and you'll see...there is always something to talk about here...

Im amazed that the Artic Silver didnt short out the cpu. I lost a Tbird and a duron before I figured it out

I agree, knowing what I do now, I'm surprised I didn't fry the CPU, there was so much compound smeared across the top of the CPU that you couldn't see at least 1/3 of the wafer at all. I looked at my second system last night and it's the same way. I'm going to have to get it disassembled and cleaned in the next couple of weeks, though it's been running stable for the past 4 months crunching on Folding@Home with no complaints. Went to a friends place last night to do some work on his old computer (He's got an old PIII 850 of mine that I foisted off on him when his last computer took a dump and he couldn't afford a new one) and while he's got some other issues with old components that are causing problems, we also knew that he's been having problems with the CPU posting at the wrong speed all of the time, and only running at 550 instead of the 850 it's supposed to be at. I removed the HS and lo and behold the same thing, AS3 all over the CPU! So I need to get in there and clean and reinstall that setup as soon as possible. At least he'll be running at the right speed. Then of course he still needs to replace his 8 year old monitor that's doing the fuzzy lines and black-outs of a dying monitor, and I've got to see if I can come up with a replacement fan for the HS as the bearing on it is shot, and it sounds like a Gerbil in a meat-grinder right now.