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Heat probs...Please help if you can.

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Chapsat.com

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Joined
Dec 21, 2000
Location
Adelaide, AU
I have a PIII-FCPGA 850 on a msi 815epro Motherboard, and my cpu is at 42 degrees C IDLE..

I have totally ventilated my case, I am using a coolermaster heatsink with a 4600Rpm fan. I have include a diagram of my setup and temps, tell me what you think could be done to alleviate this problem.

I might have to change heatsinks...

Thankyou very much, Andrew
 
The single largest cause for air-cooling problems is the "thermal interface" between the heatsink and the CPU die. Look here first. 42C is pretty warm; touch the heatsink with your finger-- is it "warm". It should be! If it is cool, it is not working-- you have a poor thermal interface. The idea is to get the heat out of the CPU die and move it to the heatsink quickly where it can be disapated to the air. Even a sink of less than great quality/perfprmance should keep the temp below 40C at idle. . .

Use a high quality thermal compound and do not use much-- less is better. Assure that the mating surfaces are FLAT. And most importantly, be sure they are fit-up and mate properly-- NO gaps!!

I know you have heard this a hundred times-- but check it out! I have built scores of machines and I still have this heatsink problem more often than I'd like to admit. . .
 
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