Have been bold ? CPU Question

MDR

I upgraded my brothers computer a few months,
added a AMD Athalon Thunderbird 1ghz processor, new mb, new coolmaster fan/heatsink, new video card, new sound card, new ram. The CPU always seemed to be running a bit hot and the system was pretty unstable (alot of apps wouldn't run, I reinstall winxp to no avail). On hindsight after the CPU burned out (I presume when it smokes when you turn the computer on, its burdened out), I relised that the four rubbery things on top of the CPU meant it wasn't in direct contact with the fan/heatsink ... is this wrong ?... is this why the CPU was running so damn hot .... ? what should I do ?
should I be using a gel or something ?

Canis Lupus

despite this sounding trollish....
yes u need to use thermal paste

Ciaran500

You need to use thermal paste and you need to do a completly clean install of XP with such a big upgrade.

MDR

am not trolling, I seriousily havn't a clue,
haven't built a PC in years so it all new to me,
how much thermal paste do I need to use,
does it need to "fill" the gap between the PC and
the Processor ? is this like tiling, should I be throwing the
stuff in there ?

Khannie

No, small amounts. It just needs to provide contact. It should be as thin as possible. Most thermal pastes are conductive and can destroy a processor pretty quickly if it gets near the pins.

AFAIK, arctic silver (best thermal paste by all accounts) isn't conductive though.

Gerry

Looks like no-one actually read his original post. He is referring to the 4 circular pieces of rubber on each corner of the cpu package. They should of course be in contact with the heatsink, regardless of what thermal paste/pad you were using. If they aren't contact the heatsink, well the cpu die isn't going to be near the heatsink either, you must have had the heatsink on the wrong way round.
For future reference, you only need a tiny, tiny bit of thermal paste, put on the thinnest coating you can.

MDR

The heasink can't be the wrong way around, the fan is attached to
the top of the heatsink ... which serves as a pretty good indication
of which way around it should be going. I take it what I need is
a very thin coat of thermal paste to ensure there is something providing
contact between the CPU and the heatsink (as thin a coat as possible,
I hear ya). I take it not having this coat before was all kinds of badness.

Gerry

I'm not suggesting it was on upside down, just rotated the wrong way. As in, take off the heatsink, rotate it 180 degrees, put it back on.

jor el

There should be no gap between the CPU and the heatsink. If there is then the heatsink isn't in contact with the CPU and it will die rather quickly.

As for the wrong way around, I'd say Gerry meant it was rotated 180 degrees in the wrong direction, rather than being upside down (with fan facing down as you say).

Try rotating the heatsink/fan through 180degrees and see does it make full contact with the top of the CPU. Of course your current CPU ist kaput so you'll need a new one but you'd at least know that it will work next time. Use a tiny ammount of heat sink compund too.

Also, one other thing. Are you sure the heatsink/fan is the correct type for that socket? If it's not then it won't make propper contact.

Hope this helps somewhat.

/edit Gerry just got in before me with clarrification.

MDR

grand, many thanks for the info, will rotate the heatsink,
apply compound (will purchase from IT direct at lunch),
bought a new processor off Ebay yesterday, will
do my best not to fry this one.

jozi

Why no one posted this yet i dont know: Instructions how to apply thermal compound

Jozi

MDR

Got the Artic Silver stuff today €9 from IT Direct, will
apply to the new processor when it arrives,
pretty pissed off at myself for distroying a decent processor ... :mad:
thanks for the instructions.

Giblet

Khannie wrote:

Most thermal pastes are conductive and can destroy a processor pretty quickly if it gets near the pins.

AFAIK, arctic silver (best thermal paste by all accounts) isn't conductive though.

You have that backwards.

str8_away

MDR wrote:

On hindsight after the CPU burned out (I presume when it smokes when you turn the computer on, its burdened out)

SMOKES??
Didn't think burning a CPU will make smoke.
Where did the smoke come out?
what does it smell like, burning rubber, plastic or capacitor?
If there are smoke but no fire then it could be capacitor.

It might not be your CPU it could be your PSU or MB.

Gurgle

MDR wrote:

I presume when it smokes when you turn the computer on, its burdened out

Yes, smoke makes ICs work, when the smoke escapes the chip stops working.

Gerry

They will make a little bit of smoke when they burn out, as they go up to 300 odd degrees celsius, tends to melt stuff a bit.

quarryman

Gurgle wrote:

Yes, smoke makes ICs work, when the smoke escapes the chip stops working.

i think its called magic smoke.

Gurgle

quarryman wrote:

i think its called magic smoke.

No no magic smoke is something else entirely.

I work in an assembly factory, we make most of the chip, leaving just a little hole. The chip is then filled up with smoke through this hole and the machine puts the plug in really fast. Many people think the resulting dimple on the chip is to mark pin 1.

Thats just co-incidence.

*takes a puff of magic smoke*

RicardoSmith

str8_away wrote:

SMOKES??
Didn't think burning a CPU will make smoke.
....

Oh yes it will. Fan failed for a few seconds once on me before I realised that I could hear no fan, and there was a smell of burning and wisp of smoke! My old 1Ghz Athlon was all blackened and crispy. But oddly enough it still worked! Even up to 1.4Ghz but it ran a little hot.

MDR

Eh, got me new processor and stuck it in, after much fiddling the whole lot boots up again, me thinks there is a good chance the old processor works too now. Any way, I am now back to the original problem, general system insability. does my ram speed need to match my processor speed in some way ?

I am now using an 800mhz Duron, 100FSB and a "256MB PC2100 266Mhz 184 pinn DDR CL2.5 " on a ABIT KR7A - 133R any clues ?

RicardoSmith

If you have Creative sound card, remove it and see if that hleps.