- Joined
- Jun 12, 2001
- Location
- Dorchester UK
Having read these posts for a couple of months, it's set me wondering about "high temps". It seems that AMD's max temperature for a nonclocked Athlon of 1000Mhz and above is 90C-95 C, it's even printed in the stepping code on the die (see attachment).
Until I joined Overclockers.com I didn't pay any attention to my Athlon 900 temps. When I did it was running at 67 C and had been for over 9 months, no lock-ups or problems whatsoever. Trying to get these temps down I fried my trusty old 900, got wires stuck under the HSF. Plus it's cost me about $70 for more cooling in addition to a new TB.
I've seen plenty of postings of how people have chipped cores, left HSF's off, damaged MoBo's and other mishaps trying to lower CPU temps. But I have yet to see a posting saying my CPU died because it had been running at 65 C with a retail HSF.
Also plenty of postings saying that Athlon/Durons are running in high 50's even 60 C with no problems, with the cry "Are my temps too high?" It seems a contradiction that more damage seems to happen when trying to reduce temperature, than running at 60 C. If stability isn't an issue, what's the problem? Alright there is a small perfomance increase and life expectancy to consider, but is the risk worth the gain?
If my Thunderbird is unclocked and dies at a temperature lower than 90 C, I'll return it to AMD. Just how many years do people expect their current system to be in use for?
Until I joined Overclockers.com I didn't pay any attention to my Athlon 900 temps. When I did it was running at 67 C and had been for over 9 months, no lock-ups or problems whatsoever. Trying to get these temps down I fried my trusty old 900, got wires stuck under the HSF. Plus it's cost me about $70 for more cooling in addition to a new TB.
I've seen plenty of postings of how people have chipped cores, left HSF's off, damaged MoBo's and other mishaps trying to lower CPU temps. But I have yet to see a posting saying my CPU died because it had been running at 65 C with a retail HSF.
Also plenty of postings saying that Athlon/Durons are running in high 50's even 60 C with no problems, with the cry "Are my temps too high?" It seems a contradiction that more damage seems to happen when trying to reduce temperature, than running at 60 C. If stability isn't an issue, what's the problem? Alright there is a small perfomance increase and life expectancy to consider, but is the risk worth the gain?
If my Thunderbird is unclocked and dies at a temperature lower than 90 C, I'll return it to AMD. Just how many years do people expect their current system to be in use for?