Warm Pentium 4

[arrie]

So I received a call from someone that has a 3.2GHz P4 S775 based machine with Intel mobo.
This thing is overheating like crazy.
I added three fans to it, no joy, still overheating.
So I decided to install a thermaltake blue orb 2 onto the CPU. I have one spare, and these deliver great performance at low noise.
So I open the case, removed the standard fan, surprise, surprise.
Intel has thought it well to place the CPU virtually on the edge of the mobo. So in the case, it's right next to the PSU.
No place to fit a nice clunk of copper to the cpu. I'm limited to a max of 50mm radius for a cooler.
Damn, that's a bugger.
Why must these guys pull sideways on after market accessories?

 

[Sceadwian]

I SEVERELY doubt component placement on their motherboards has anything to do with trying to make it hard for an after market heat sink to be placed on the chip, why would they care in the first place? That's just the way the engineers decided it needed to be layed out. Those heatsinks are so oversized it's no wonder you have trouble fitting them in some machines, and they're largly unnecesary. IF the machine is overheating there's likley some other reason for it, like being over clocked. If it's running at it's given rate simply take the old heatsink off, clean the back of it very throughly and apply the normal thin layer of heat sink compound and put the old heatsink back on (after clean it as well) to make sure you have a good thermal link. If it's still overheating at that point the chip is probably bad.

How have you determined that it's overheating? If it's overheating as much as 'crazy' indicates a copper heat sink isn't so much more efficient that it's going to keep it from overheating.

 

[Space Varmint]

I'm sure at that speed with all those transistors, it does get rather hot. Maintenance program!!!

They probably had to put the radio chip right there. At those frequencies strip line ground loop effects are everywhere. The signal probably can't travel more than an inch without some kind of a problem.

 

[Speakerguy]

Lots of mobo's have issues with what fans will/won't fit them, Intel or not. My Gigabyte EP35 would only fit my aftermarket Zalman HSF in one out of four mounting configs, and it was kind of close even then.

Did you try just re-mounting the original HSF? Maybe a bad thermal interface on the original install?

 

[HiTech]

Check airflow- cool air should enter from the front and exit through the rear panel- typically. Too many PSU fans exhaust their warm air in the direction of the CPU, further worsening the situation. Reverse the PSU fan position if necessary so it exhausts outward of the cabinet. Route ribbon cables to maximize internal airflow. You didn't say if the P4 is overclocked but I'd take a guess that it is at that speed. Use Arctic Silver thermal paste instead of the usual white paste that's marginal in performance to begin with.

 

[arrie]

Sceadwian, the CPU is not running overclocked.
Intel's first P4's have been plagued with heat issues.
I actually have a stack of these round Intel coolers as people have replaced them early on. For starters the fins are too close together and can clog up within 5 days, depending on PC location.

I have already removed the CPU and cleaned the heat sink properly and installed new and more expensive heat compound.
That maybe helped out with one degree, but not a solution in the long run.
There are three fans extracting warm air out the back, excluding the PSU fan.
All fans are spinning willingly along as well.

I've succeeded to drop my AMD Athlon 2800+ Barton with more than 10 deg. C. using a fat block of copper with proper fan, it was licking 72° C with the original amd cooler, now it barely breaks 50°.
I'm sure I'll help this PC out, but I'm limited to max heatsink size of 110mm.
I wanted to put on one with about 70mm radius for good measure.
The client wants the PC to be quiet, so 120mm fan is your answer.

I do not agree that a copper block will not make much difference, copper is far better than alu for heat sink, but the fan is just as important.
I always shop for coolers with fans that has a high air flow as well as decent pressure capabilities.
And I always have good results.

This Intel board are just making my life difficult.
I'm sure Intel did not intend to make life difficult with their design, but it's the first board I've come across that places the CPU so close to the edge.
And as I said, that puts it really close to the PSU as well, another great source for heat generation.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

Hi Arrie

Had endless problems with mine as well as powering up problems and would not boot with USB printer plugged in. Downloaded the mobo firmware, the patch claimed it fixed a reporting problem on the temperture of the processor and some power related issues.

Can't get it to overheat anymore, powerup problems are gone and I can now boot with with the printer plugged in.

Could be an option to check?

3.0gig P4 on a ABit mobo.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[arrie]

Thanks Andrew
I will do that.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

Hi Arrie

Is it safe to launch or is it still like pea soup. Was thinking of launching at Oberon in the next few weeks. Are there any places one can pull a boat into on the dam to have a beer and a bun.

Andrew

 

[arrie]

It still green as..... well, snot.
It stinks too, but worse than snot, I'm afraid.
I would think twice to even thinking about eating on the dam (george comes to mind), maybe the middle is better, but I haven't seen that part of the dam in years.

Are you here in RSA, or coming to RSA?

Unfortunately the BIOS update and copper with 6 heatpipe cooling system did not fix the heating problem, it still pulls to 70/1°C.
The Intel cooler regularly hit 74°C, so I suppose it gained some 3/4°.
Wow, for all that money.
I'll be looking at liquid cooling that bugger now.

 

[Mikebits]

Arrie, take a look at this site.
http://www.heatsink-guide.com/content.php?content=maxtemp.shtml

 

[arrie]

Thanks Mikebits, maybe I must just leave that P4 and let it happily potter around at around 70°.
I'll just go there and set the threshold a bit higher.

 

[Andrew Leigh]

It still green as..... well, snot.
It stinks too, but worse than snot, I'm afraid.
I would think twice to even thinking about eating on the dam (george comes to mind), maybe the middle is better, but I haven't seen that part of the dam in years.

Are you here in RSA, or coming to RSA?

Unfortunately the BIOS update and copper with 6 heatpipe cooling system did not fix the heating problem, it still pulls to 70/1°C.
The Intel cooler regularly hit 74°C, so I suppose it gained some 3/4°.
Wow, for all that money.
I'll be looking at liquid cooling that bugger now.

Hi Arrie,

pity about your P4, keep plugging away.

I stay in Alberton and generally put my boat in on the Vaal River, was getting a little boring so I though of a change in scenery.

The algae the last time was so bad that there were patches where the boat would actually lose revs the sludge was so thick.


Cheers boet
Amndrew