CPU Cooling Solutions?

[Shorty]

Good day!

 

It has come to my attention that my cpu has, during load, some significantly high temps of 70-75, which I dread to think jumps way, way into the red while gaming. I checked the heatsink today and blasted it clean, which did no good even though the damn thing was filthy.

 

I've been on ebuyer and tried to get my head around possible solutions of where to go next, but such things confuse the heck out of me. If there's anything I don't know about my PC, its cooling, power and fan speeds - which leaves me a bit out of the loop in this particular problem.

 

Can anyone reccomend me where to go from here? I'd rather get something cheap, but if it'll save my PC I could take a stretch. It would be helpful if somebody could explain the best steps to cooling a CPU and maybe give an example using their own setup. I have used the almighty google, but I would like a more subjective response from you lot too

 

Incidentally I'm running on a slightly dated AMD Athlon XP 2000+ 1.67GHz

 

Thanks in advance!

[Jon]

Right then, I see no reason why you would need water cooling so thats rule that out. There are however plenty of really good coolers that cost no more than £20. One slight problem is that many of today's coolers aren't compatible with socket A cpu's like yours. Without a doubt though, the best cooler I have seen for your cpu is the Gigabyte G-Power Pro.

 

 

 

Here are several reviews:

 

http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=799

http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1904

http://www.pcmoddingmy.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.233

 

You can find it here for £27.61, second from bottom.

 

Hope that helps.

[=NukeBlaze=]

The problem is that the Athlon-xp does not have a built in thermal diode, so it has to rely on the motherboard to determine the temp with its diodes. On my Athlon 64 board, there was a problem with incorrect reporting of the temp, but mind was a bit diffrent than yours. I reccomend searching around google to see if anyone else has had temp reporting problems with your board, and I also believe that they used a thermal pad between your heatsink and CPU. I reccomend a re-application and re-seating of your heatsink with proper thermal paste. DON'T CRACK THE CORE! Even pressure and don't force.

[fatnickc]

Do you have a thermal compound applied between the HSF and the processor?

[Bogbas]

Because the athlon XP is a lidless processor. AMD recommends that for long -term use a thermal pad is used. Rather than thermal grease. Thermal grease may leak out or harden over time.

 

You can use thermal paste too, but be sure that the paste is of good quality. Pads are easier to handle too.

[Shorty]

Thanks for all the suggestions, unfortunately I didn't have time to read them because just after reading JonSt's post, my PC pretty much gave up. I went away knowing that water cooling wasn't a good idea and I needed a socket A compatible fan, so it was helpful I went out and bought a new CPU fan and, for good measure, a nice new chassis fan. My cpu temp has now dropped to 29ºC And Bogbas... wish I'd read your post first :p the fan came with paste and I used that... hopefully it will last a good while anyway

 

Thanks again all.

[Bogbas]

Well don't worry about it. You'll probably have upgraded the PC before the paste hardens or leak out. And now you know what is wrong if the temp suddenly rises

[=NukeBlaze=]

Personally, I have had more trouble with pads, even with the exposed Athlon XP core.

 

All pads that came standard dried out compared to the artic silver thermal paste, are are less efficent at heat transfer than paste.

 

Now, the white silicon thermal paste they give out....well that is another story.

 

 

Good to hear the new heatsink works though.