Damn It AMD

[triggert]

I finally got all the pieces in for my new PC today, sorted everything out and continued to piece it together. I got the A7N8X Deluxe, 2800+ AMD, 9800 Pro PowerColor, and I'm running mobo sound. Everything was going good until I began to install the processor. Following the directions provided I carefully inserted the processor into the socket A easy enough then continued on to the Heatsink/Fan installion. It states that a portion of the heatsink is covered in phase-change thermal interface material. Its protected by clear plastic or tape, just pull to remove. So I'm looking at this gray material which looks nothing like tape or plastic but why would AMD lie to me? So I begin to peel off the "tape" until I'm looking at a bare heatsink. I happen to get the 1 in a million that had nether tape nor plastic just thermal compound! Thanks AMD! Now I've gotta wait and order a new heatsink damn it.

William T. Thompson

 

[Rick]

"Phase change" my rear end.

I might be weird, but who needs that crap?

Just slap it on and live with the extra few celsius. If it works.. It works. If it doesn't and your system locks up or restarts, then just don't run your system at full speed. Problem solved.

 

[XtR-X]

Apply some different thermal compound than what came with your processor.

I recommend Arctic Silver 3.

 

[triggert]

Lets say I was to change to FSB jumper on the mobo to run at 200FSB instead of the original 333. That should make the processor run a little cooler right? Would it be possible to run the processor without any thermal compound on the heatsink?

Thanks,
William T. Thompson

 

[Phantasm66]

It will make your machine run colder - or it should - however you should try to get what you paid for.

 

[triggert]

No doubt, I just wanted to sample a little bit of the processing power. I've waited a week for it and all I'm lacking is the $2 thing of thermal compound. I might go ahead and lower the fsb and run it without some for little bit until I can get some in here on Monday or Tuesday.

Thanks,
William T. Thompson

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Without a thermal compound of some sort, there will be gaps between the CPU core and the heatsink - so I'd be very careful with it.

And those AMDs don't even have proper thermal protection..

 

[triggert]

Bah, to hell with that then. I suppose I can wait a while longer... Better to wait 3 days and get some compound then run a processor at half speed and burn it up and have to buy a new one.

Thanks,
William T. Thompson

 

[Arris]

Originally posted by Mictlantecuhtli
And those AMDs don't even have proper thermal protection..

AMD XP....

From hothardware.com:
These enhancements included, support for Intel's SSE instructions, improved hardware data pre-fetch circuitry, improved look-aside buffers and an on-die thermal diode.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Yes, they do have the diode but it doesn't work fast enough.

 

[Phantasm66]

Originally posted by triggert
Bah, to hell with that then. I suppose I can wait a while longer... Better to wait 3 days and get some compound then run a processor at half speed and burn it up and have to buy a new one.

Thanks,
William T. Thompson

Yeah, I agree. Be patent and don't so anything silly, when all you have to do is wait for a few days.

 

[Justin]

Originally posted by Mictlantecuhtli
Yes, they do have the diode but it doesn't work fast enough.

That was the classic athlon, duron, thunderbird, palomino, and early revisions.

Later revisions of the AXP work plenty fast and the system will instantly shutdown when critical heat is reached.

 

[Rick]

If there is a heatsink on it AT ALL.. Even WITHOUT a fan on, it buys enough time for the CPU to shut down the system. Just make sure you have the BIOS set to shut down the system at a certain temperature (like 70*C)

I have some first hand experience with this as I've shown some of my work mates this by demonstration.

You, trigert, will not burn up your CPU if you just put the bare heatsink on it and let it run. I've done this with 2 AMD Ahtlon 2800+ CPUs w/ stock HSFs before (no thermal paste!). I do this at work for testing, because if the HSF gets so hot without paste that it overheats, then it isn't worth putting on the shelf.