AMD Phenom II X3 720 Black Edition issues

Wow that takes me back, that was about a year ago and the big go around with someone you had about the ability to get a ****** heatsink on :haha:

It didn't actually end with the gentleman's ability to instal a HSF....

I know exactly who you're talking about.

He was more or less incapable of accepting input. A really severe handicap with respect to any technical endeavour. I forget, what was his screen name? Oh wait, I think it was "a**wipe to the stars".

The fun part came when he thought he would try to get me fired from a volunteer job. Some stupid s*** about how he felt he was entitled to be treated. Much in the same way that if you "live by the sword, you die by the sword", it summarily follows that if you," act like a complete a******, you get treated like a complete a*****".

I felt like Tiger Wood's at tee time.

uhh, in case i didnt already say it, the hsf was properly attatched. And look around, others have had the same problem with stock phenom ii thermal paste.

You have no idea how happy that makes us.

I have this bizarre notion that CPU manufacturers won't sell OEM HSFs with thermal material that would damage their product.

Your experiences up to now seem to contradict popular wisdom. For example, increasing the amount of thermal paste, and having the temps go down.

When last I heard your CPU was running @ 60C during boot. Has that resolved itself?

The thing that confuses me is that I can just pull a stock Intel HSF out of the box, slap it on, then have it work, and with the stock thermal pad, no less.

I guess it's true what they say, "God protects drunks, children, and people with average technical ability"!

yeah no more problems during boot- case alarm isnt going off anymore and i've even noticed that the cpu temp has lowered while using windows too, by a few degrees.

yes..lmao, thats the one. that was the first time i took note of your posts. i remember you ran verbal and logical rings around him, and he basically got to "im taking my ball and going home" :haha:

@ bedouinrising, yes that stock 'thermal pad" on the stock HS does indeed leave a lot to be desired. AS5 it aint.

i'm just glad i didnt have to put out the money for a new HS...

At 95 watts TDP, ,this isn't likely to be a really cool running CPU anyway, even at stock clock. I think the Prescott P-4 has about the same design power.

I'm sure you'll take offense at this, but I sort of think that you may not have had the HSF properly attached at first.

Without disputing the absolute worth of the AMD thermal material, it does logically seem it should be good enough to not set off the case alarms.

This goes to my original statement that no manufacturer is going to include a HSF with a CPU that is going to harm their product. So, assuming it is not defective, it should cool adequately, at least at stock speed. The computer case is factored into this equation though. Intel has tested cases and and recommends some as "TAC", (thermally advantaged chassis)!

you may be right, but i'm having the problem again. i didnt notice, but i had switched my bios alarm to go off at 70 celsius, and then applied the thermal paste. I just now switched it back to 60 celsius and the alarm still goes off during boot. Maybe its a case problem like you suggested?

ps: dont worry, no offense taken!

Check the Vcore....!

for what exactly?

vcore reads 1.392 V.

stock vcore is 1.325... so its not that

You'll need to hit the AMD site and get the data sheet on the CPU, to find out exactly what it should be. The higher it is from nominal, the higher the CPU temps will be.

The other possibilities are either the CPU heat spreader is not flat, ot the HSF contact area is not flat.

Actually the case fans may not matter as much during the brief boot sequence as they might during prolonged heavy use. Not to say you shouldn't check out the case cooling, but I think it's the least likely culprit in your problem.

How much deviation would it take to cause problems?

Is there anything else that could contribute to the problem? IE, multiplier set too high, or do you think this is a purely mechanical issue?

to vcore, or not to vcore

Cap, the x3 720 is my cpu and 1.312-1.325v is the stock vcore, it really is a rather cool running cpu. i have mine cranked up to 3.8ghz @ 1.536 and these are the temps im running with adequate airflow
http://www.techspot.com/vb/attachment.php?attachmentid=51753&d=1251242139
i really don't think that's it, something else is going on

im with you cap, mechanical problem

in all this, did you check the rpm of your HS fan?...i apologize if i missed it in the thread

stock HSF is running at just over 3000 RPM.

still having the high temps bedouinrising?

That is a very high Vcore. 70mV over the standard Vcore and approaching 1.4V. IMO, check using multiple programs like SIW, CPU-Z & CoreTemp to see if the VCore really is that high. If it is, lower it down to the stock value via the BIOS and see if it makes a difference. IMO, it should make for a drastic improvement in temps.

Yeah, still having temperatures over 60 c at bootup. I never changed the vcore value, so it should be at stock value, but i'll try lowering a bit more, down to 1.325, see if that helps.

PS. CPU-Z and CoreTemp are both reading a Vcore value of 1.392 as well as the BIOS.

Set core voltage down to 1.264 and still experiencing high temperatures at bootup...