Defective AMD 4200+ X2 CPU ?? - Catastrophically Overheating

[John Smith]

I received the Thermaltake cooler today. It was a cinch to mount compared to
the Zalman fan. Note: p00lb0y -
Newegg got it here in 36 hours shipping from LA.

The CPU now runs at 25c and the mb at 22c - the case is open right now, but
I don't think closing it will make that much difference. I guess w/the
Thermaltake Big Typhoon now I can do something I never dreamed of doing -
overclocking my PC by a bit - - its a very lightly loaded system - one one
hard drive and a Matrox video card that doesn't even need a fan. We'll see.
What's the most conservative overclocking setting?

One of the extra drive cages in the Antec P180 had notthing to mount in it
so I just removed the cage to give the case more air flow. Does that make
sense? Can you have too much airflow?

Thanks again for all of your help. I got some great ideas and I now feel
pretty empowered. The tech who screwed it up refunded 1/2 my money back.

PS - I must say that I would never buy another Zalman cooler. I don't
understand why they don't manufacture their heatsink/fans so that they use
the existing metal bracket already on the back of most motherboards. In the
case of Asus the metal bracket is glued on. I have read posts of people
heating the area to melt the glue and in any event, its scary to pull it
off. Why would Zalman insist on using a different backplate or manufacture a
product which can't use the existing backplate. Their tech support was also
poor and the workaround they posted for the Asus board is inexplicable. I am
no dummy - I passed the CA bar and I couldn't figure it out.

 

[Paul]

I received the Thermaltake cooler today. It was a cinch to mount compared to
the Zalman fan. Note: p00lb0y -
Newegg got it here in 36 hours shipping from LA.

The CPU now runs at 25c and the mb at 22c - the case is open right now, but
I don't think closing it will make that much difference. I guess w/the
Thermaltake Big Typhoon now I can do something I never dreamed of doing -
overclocking my PC by a bit - - its a very lightly loaded system - one one
hard drive and a Matrox video card that doesn't even need a fan. We'll see.
What's the most conservative overclocking setting?

One of the extra drive cages in the Antec P180 had notthing to mount in it
so I just removed the cage to give the case more air flow. Does that make
sense? Can you have too much airflow?

Thanks again for all of your help. I got some great ideas and I now feel
pretty empowered. The tech who screwed it up refunded 1/2 my money back.

PS - I must say that I would never buy another Zalman cooler. I don't
understand why they don't manufacture their heatsink/fans so that they use
the existing metal bracket already on the back of most motherboards. In the
case of Asus the metal bracket is glued on. I have read posts of people
heating the area to melt the glue and in any event, its scary to pull it
off. Why would Zalman insist on using a different backplate or manufacture a
product which can't use the existing backplate. Their tech support was also
poor and the workaround they posted for the Asus board is inexplicable. I am
no dummy - I passed the CA bar and I couldn't figure it out.

What is your temp under load ? It used to shoot up to 80C, and
I'm curious how far it goes now.

You could run two copies of Prime95 (mersenne.org), to run both
cores at 100% loading. Either you use the old method (keyword
is "affinity") to get one copy of Prime95 per core, or look to
see if a recent version of Prime95 now has options for working
with two cores. I've run four copies of Prime95 under Knoppix
on an Intel processor with Hyperthreading, so that is a way to
do it as well. All that is needed in that case, is four directories
with a copy of the executable in each one. (Prime needs a private
directory to store its preferences etc.)

Paul

 

[John Smith]

Paul - will try your program tomorrow - however w/multiple index programs
running and yahoo music downloading files, the cpu temp has not broken 34c -
i used artic silver 5 w/this cooler and apparently the combination is quite
effective. It doesn't appear the CPU was damaged from the overheating - I
was lucky. Will let you know later about that prime number program.

 

[PB]

I received the Thermaltake cooler today. It was a cinch to mount compared to
the Zalman fan. Note: p00lb0y -
Newegg got it here in 36 hours shipping from LA.

The CPU now runs at 25c and the mb at 22c - the case is open right now, but
I don't think closing it will make that much difference. I guess w/the
Thermaltake Big Typhoon now I can do something I never dreamed of doing -
overclocking my PC by a bit - - its a very lightly loaded system - one one
hard drive and a Matrox video card that doesn't even need a fan. We'll see.
What's the most conservative overclocking setting?

One of the extra drive cages in the Antec P180 had notthing to mount in it
so I just removed the cage to give the case more air flow. Does that make
sense? Can you have too much airflow?

Thanks again for all of your help. I got some great ideas and I now feel
pretty empowered. The tech who screwed it up refunded 1/2 my money back.

PS - I must say that I would never buy another Zalman cooler. I don't
understand why they don't manufacture their heatsink/fans so that they use
the existing metal bracket already on the back of most motherboards. In the
case of Asus the metal bracket is glued on. I have read posts of people
heating the area to melt the glue and in any event, its scary to pull it
off. Why would Zalman insist on using a different backplate or manufacture a
product which can't use the existing backplate. Their tech support was also
poor and the workaround they posted for the Asus board is inexplicable. I am
no dummy - I passed the CA bar and I couldn't figure it out.

Yeah, my packages with UPS 3 day arrive here the *next* day, but they
are shipped on to Lexington because to deliver it early for the 3 day
rate would somehow violate their policy, or so I was told by UPS. They
would not even allow me to drive to the customer pickup window and
retrieve it early for the same (lame) excuse.

Go figure.

Many of the NewEgg comments are aligned likewise with respect to the
poor performance of UPS.

Merry Christmas.

 

[\Outback\ Jon]

Yeah, my packages with UPS 3 day arrive here the *next* day, but they
are shipped on to Lexington because to deliver it early for the 3 day
rate would somehow violate their policy, or so I was told by UPS. They
would not even allow me to drive to the customer pickup window and
retrieve it early for the same (lame) excuse.

Go figure.

Many of the NewEgg comments are aligned likewise with respect to the
poor performance of UPS.

Merry Christmas.

Gee, I guess I'm not the only one grumbling about their switch to UPS
for the cheap shipping. I've watched things sit for three days at a UPS
location while awaiting them. When FedEx had their cheap shipping with
Newegg, I got stuff MUCH more quickly.

On the other hand, I had something shipped privately to me (NY) from New
Mexico - 3 day shipping - and it arrived OVERNIGHT.

--
"Outback" Jon - KC2BNE
(e-mail address removed)
AMD XP 2400+ @ 2.18 GHz and 3.5GHz of other AMD power...
http://folding.stanford.edu - got folding? Team 33432
http://www.teammft.com - got a clan? Misfit Toys

1980 CB750F SuperSport "CoolerKing" (until it tells me it's name)

 

[Michael W. Ryder]

Gee, I guess I'm not the only one grumbling about their switch to UPS
for the cheap shipping. I've watched things sit for three days at a UPS
location while awaiting them. When FedEx had their cheap shipping with
Newegg, I got stuff MUCH more quickly.

FedEx will do the same thing. I had a computer case shipped from NewEgg
with FedEx ground. The package arrived at the local center on Thursday
but because the scheduled delivery date was Monday it sat there. This
center is only a mile from me but they would not let me pick it up early.

 

[milleron]

I received the Thermaltake cooler today. It was a cinch to mount compared to
the Zalman fan. Note: p00lb0y -
Newegg got it here in 36 hours shipping from LA.

The CPU now runs at 25c and the mb at 22c - the case is open right now, but
I don't think closing it will make that much difference. I guess w/the
Thermaltake Big Typhoon now I can do something I never dreamed of doing -
overclocking my PC by a bit - - its a very lightly loaded system - one one
hard drive and a Matrox video card that doesn't even need a fan. We'll see.
What's the most conservative overclocking setting?

One of the extra drive cages in the Antec P180 had notthing to mount in it
so I just removed the cage to give the case more air flow. Does that make
sense? Can you have too much airflow?

I've put together two P180 systems to date, and I've left that middle
cage out on both of them to improve air flow. It can't hurt, and it
makes the case a little lighter to move.

Thanks again for all of your help. I got some great ideas and I now feel
pretty empowered. The tech who screwed it up refunded 1/2 my money back.

PS - I must say that I would never buy another Zalman cooler. I don't
understand why they don't manufacture their heatsink/fans so that they use
the existing metal bracket already on the back of most motherboards. In the
case of Asus the metal bracket is glued on. I have read posts of people
heating the area to melt the glue and in any event, its scary to pull it
off. Why would Zalman insist on using a different backplate or manufacture a
product which can't use the existing backplate. Their tech support was also
poor and the workaround they posted for the Asus board is inexplicable. I am
no dummy - I passed the CA bar and I couldn't figure it out.

Ron