Tbird 1.4ghz @ 66 C?

[Justin]

I recently finally found a board for my 1.4ghz tbird.

After a few different combinations of heatsinks/fans, I finally settled for a Volcano 6 with a 7000rpm grilled fan.

It idles between 57 and 58 C, which I am not too worried considering the cramped conditions of the case.

At 100% load, it peaks at 66 Celcius

Does anyone else here have a tbird 1.4, and if so, is this a safe temperature for one? Notice I said safe. As long as the cpu survives, I don't care if it is that hot. I just don't want it to die in 6 months. Eventually I will get a more efficient cooler for it, but is this safe for now? I know the tbird is already a hot chip...

 

[Rick]

It is a physically safe temperature.. Meaning you will not burn your CPU.

I do know the Tbird 1.4GHz runs fairly hot, but 66*C may be too hot. You may want to flash your BIOS to the newest one to ensure the temperature is being read correctly. There have been many motherboards that misreport temperatures as being higher than what they really are.

You also may want to follow this quick checklist to make sure your heatsink is doing its job:

• Scrape off ANY thermal pad/tape from the heatsink. These are not useful anymore.. Paste is better.
• Wipe off and reapply thermal paste. Administer the smallest amount possible. Large amounts of paste actually reduce CPU/HSF contact. Spread super-thinly and evenly over the CPU.
• Dust off heatsink. After a few months, dust can collect and it really does make a difference. I knocked off 10*C on my CPU by dusting my heatsink after 6 months of operation.
• Ambient (case and room) temperatures make a difference. If it is hot in your room, then your CPU will be hot too.
• Adding case fans could drastically lower your CPU temperature. I recommend AT LEAST one intake and one exhaust.

 

[iss]

a friend of mine has a t bird 1.4 Ghz and he got the same temps when using the stock cooler when he switched to a volcano heatsink his temp dropped to around 55 C under heavy load.

 

[Justin]

1) Heatsink is brand new, no dust whatsoever. Same with fan.

2) I applied thermal paste fairly decently. Originally, the temperature was rising close to 70 C when at 1050mhz... now it idles @ 52 C when at 1050mhz.

3) Sadly, the case is rather cramped and small... there is no room to add an exhaust fan without modifying the case.

The motherboard in question is an ASUS A7 266...

Did that misreport temperatures?

 

[Rick]

Actually, I remember this model being the subject of such a debate here... I did some searching, check this out:

http://www.asus.com/support/faq/qanda.aspx?KB_ID=83045&SLanguage=en-us

 

[Justin]

Ooo... scary...

But, my revision is even later then that... 1006

And actually, turns out it is at 71 C max...

71 C... that is too hot for my tastes... bleh.. what am I going to do.

 

[iss]

case airflow is important when running AMD chips. personally I would never run an AMD chip without being able to have a fan in front drawing air in and an exhaust fan in the rear of the case. even most cheapo cases these days have at least two fan slots 1front and 1rear.

 

[Justin]

For now I'm not too worried.

I jimmy-rigged a 5500 rpm fan to the underside of the heatsink, that lowered the temp a few degrees C. Not a terrible lot, but enough to keep me happy for now. Eventually I will remove the backplate and put an exhaust fan on.

If it ever shows itself as a problem I will move the board into a much bigger case with better airflow. Sadly the board has the capacictors fairly close to the socket making it difficult to put anything larger then a Volcano 6 onto it.

And hey, if the chip fries, it just gives me a reason to buy an AXP.