Ive got a 1.4Ghz AMD and its running at around 65-70 C with your cooler master £17 heat sink which you say is recommended by AMD. Is this a normal running temp because i thought it is too high or is it just that these proccessors are hot. Its running on a GA7 DX. The fan is at around 3500RPM, is this the normal RPM for this fan?

If it is running too high what may the cause be? How can I fix it? Can it damage the proccessor running this hot? Is it likely that heat isnt being transferred properly between the proccessor and the heat sink?

-- will (willlaslett@hotmail.com), August 07, 2001

Answers

Will, the AMD 1.4 runs up-to 95 C according to AMDs website before any problems start, if you need to cool it further you have several options:

-Case fans. make sure they are configured correctly, the rear fan should blow air outwards, the front panel fan should suck air inwards.

-Extra side mounted fans.

-Plenty of space around computer case. If there is not enough space around your PC case then the chassis fans will suck up hot air and recycle it around your PC and heat up the system.

-Cool Room. If the ambient temperature rises to above 22 c then problems can arise unless the hot air is adequatley vented from your machine.

-- John Holroyd (johnh@aone.co.uk), August 08, 2001.

Use some Artic Silver II on the die of the CPU, and prime the h/s with it first. Go to www.articsilver.com for full instructions. And DONT listen to ANYONE who says it doesnt need it, EVERY cpu benefits from this stuff, and its only 5 quid tops for a tube (syringe). Officially Athlons can take up to 95 deg, but thats a load of crap, we all know they hang at at temps lower than that. Dont worry tho, your CPU will cause instabilites at a lower then melting temperature, so Itll hang before it dies, usually.

The following tips shoudl help. 1. Is your hs fitted correctly / seated correctly. 2. Your fan is a little slow, although not abnormal. 3. Try a different h/s, Im using the thermoengine with a Delta (610- 4225), and its running at 7500 rpm. 5. Your BIOS maybe incorrectly reporting CPU temps. 6. Are these temps under load or idle? 7. Are there any differences between your idle temp and load temp? If not then you may have ACPI disabled, try enabling it.

Hope this helps, email me for any more help as I rarely check here.

-- Bod (m.booth@lineone.net), August 19, 2001.