Heatsink Problems

[Direwolf]

Hmm...thought I might enlist a little help on this one.
I finally decided to go and get myself a decent heatsink, as my current one was cobbled together from other ones and wasn't performing as well as I would have liked. I had to squeeze it in since its so much larger (this involved actually taking a hack saw to my case ), but its seated properly and in contact with the chip with a shim and compound.
I've got it set on high and the damn things still cooking as badly as it was under my old jury-rigged one (about 54C), but I'm running a 2600 and this heatsink supposedly can handle up to a 3400. I got it off of NewEgg, one of the few online retailers I trust, so I don't think false advertising is a factor.
This leads me to think one of the two has happened: by some error this thing isn't performing up to snuff, even though it seems to be fully functional.
Or when I originally bought my chip way back when, it wasn't actually a 2600 but a chip capable to being overclocked to a 2600, a fact which would explain its never being detected properly by my hardware and easily remedied by getting a new chip.
Anyone have any thoughts on this kind of thing?

 

[blahblahblah]

How are you measuring the temperature of your processor? Most likely that reading is off by 10 degrees celsius.

Also, are you using thermal grease?

 

[Direwolf]

Yeah, I actually invested in some good thermal compound this time around. I'm using a proggie from my motherboard manufacturer which I don't trust exactly, but even if I boot and check it in the bios its running at least 50C.
I'm starting to lean towards option B, as everything is detecting this chip as a 2000.

 

[psyno]

Yeah... That's way too hot. I've heard of this happening, and is, unfortunately, the one downside to AMD's unlocked multipliers.

Well, anyway, CPU-Z is a solid little program that should give you more than info info about your processor to get to the bottom of this (except temperature, ironically... ).

http://www.cpuid.com/cpuz.php

 

[blahblahblah]

You should almost never trust your bios tempertures. They are notorious for giving wrong temperatures.

If you computer isn't detecting the processor right, you may not have your FSB set at the proper frequency. I know that people have had problems where the motherboard doesn't detect the right FSB frequency, so it makes it look like its a slower processor. Its happened to me.

 

[Direwolf]

My processor settings are all manually done by me, and are set correctly for a 2600, which is why this stymies me so.
I will however, check out that program.
Edit: Yep, that seems to be it. This darned thing is a 2000, and I've likely only recently had trouble because its been getting warmer out. On an upbeat note, I'm damn surprised you can push these chips that far especially with some of the subpar cooling I've been using. Another reason I still trust AMD.

 

[Direwolf]

A follow up: I've gotten the CPU temp managable for now, but what would anyone recommend as a program for monitoring CPU temp more reliably?

 

[Asus]

Lemmie guess, you have a Thermaltake Volcano of some sort...
BTW shims dont exactly help with heat dissapation.
How much did you spend on the cooler?

Motherboard Monitor 5 is a great program for many things.

 

[Direwolf]

Nope, not a thermal take part. An Arctic Cooling heatsink off of Newegg. I threw the shim in there along with everything else for hell of it, I always use them on all my setups so I don't do something stupid.
Spent about $20 on the cooler after shopping around trying to find one with both a low decibel level and that other people had had success with.
I'll check out that program though.

 

[Maxi]

I'd remove the shim. That might help.

 

[Direwolf]

I thought that was worth a shot too, but no such luck. As far as I can tell the chip and the heatsink are making contact, and the heatsink is working fine. That chip is just throwing off too much heat. I've been able to keep my system stable by switching the fan into high, but I'm just now running tests to see if its going to survive or is on its way out.

 

[Maxi]

Hmm, touch the heatsink on the side, If it really is 50c the heatsink will be VERY hot to the touch. The temp sensors on the mobo aren't the most reliable of sensors.

 

[Direwolf]

I'm installing that program now, so I'll see what the deal is with the actual temp, and maybe I'm still OK. The thing is definitly warm, although its now backed down from fifties since I've turned up the fan and have been trying to keep from doing any heavy processing in the mean time.
Edit: Got the thing installed, and it seems my motherboard's sensor was dead on. Its running about 46-47 while I type this. I'm gonna run futuremark, see if it bugs out on me.

 

[SidewinderX]

Might also want to see your cases ambiant temperature... if your prcessor is really 50C, it should be quite warm inside your case (probably around 100F.... depedns on ambiant though)

 

[Maxi]

You should also check what youre vcore is, if its much over 1.675v it will raise youre temps dramatically unless you have a heavy-duty heatsink.

 

[Direwolf]

My vcore is fine (reset it just to make sure), and my case's temp is running high enough for me to believe its real.
No actual performance problems recently though, so I may just leave it as it is.

 

[Maxi]

Yeah, you shouldn't have any problems. My families other comp is running at 45c idle, 51c load, and it's doing fine.

( It's an amd xp 2400+)

 

[RABIES]

Uhm, after checking newegg, by brand (arctic cooling) I found the heatsinks you were talking about. Although different models were there, none of them were copper. They had one which had a copper core, but the heatsink was still aluminum. My recommendation, try something a little better like solid copper.

I run a Volcano 11, with the Overclockers Kit, it idles at 38 and loads at a max of 43, it will not go higher. (XP 2600+)

 

[Maxi]

A heatsink doesn't necceserily have to be copper just to be good, the design of it is just as important as the material.

 

[RABIES]

If that is true then their design must really suck...

 

[Direwolf]

I really doubt this is the heatsinks fault, and lean more towards a damaged or mislabeled chip.
Like I said I looked around before buying, I should be getting numbers in the low fourties or more likely in the thirties with my current setup.
As of now I'm just going to upgrade sooner than I planned, so its not really much sweat off my back.

 

[Maxi]

You could pop the heatsink off and clean the CPU and look for any cracks or pieces missing, sometimes if you crack a corner of the CPU it will still work fine, but the temps will be extraordinary.