My CPU is on verge of overheating - please suggest a better heatsink

[OhioGuy]

I just put together a Duron 1.3 system, and noticed that it is running at
about 9 degrees below the lowest automated shutoff temp on my motherboard.

Although I have the auto shutoff turned off, this is still almost 25
degrees higher than I had the same CPU on another system. I think I have a
smaller heatsink on this, and I believe it is about 5 years old, so maybe
not up to snuff.

Anyway, at first I had this 5% overclocked, but it couldn't handle it, and
the system shut down. Now I have it set to failsafe defaults, and it runs
ok, though hot. This is going to be a system for my grandparents, so I need
for it to be quite stable and cool.

Can anyone suggest a heatsink and fan in the $10 range that would do a
good job for my socket A platform? Thanks!

 

[Kenny]

I just put together a Duron 1.3 system, and noticed that it is running at
about 9 degrees below the lowest automated shutoff temp on my motherboard.

Although I have the auto shutoff turned off, this is still almost 25
degrees higher than I had the same CPU on another system. I think I have a
smaller heatsink on this, and I believe it is about 5 years old, so maybe
not up to snuff.

Anyway, at first I had this 5% overclocked, but it couldn't handle it, and
the system shut down. Now I have it set to failsafe defaults, and it runs
ok, though hot. This is going to be a system for my grandparents, so I need
for it to be quite stable and cool.

Can anyone suggest a heatsink and fan in the $10 range that would do a
good job for my socket A platform? Thanks!

If 10 bucks is all you can spend, start looking in garbage cans.

 

[sdlomi2]

I just put together a Duron 1.3 system, and noticed that it is running
at about 9 degrees below the lowest automated shutoff temp on my
motherboard.

Although I have the auto shutoff turned off, this is still almost 25
degrees higher than I had the same CPU on another system. I think I have
a smaller heatsink on this, and I believe it is about 5 years old, so
maybe not up to snuff.

Anyway, at first I had this 5% overclocked, but it couldn't handle it,
and the system shut down. Now I have it set to failsafe defaults, and it
runs ok, though hot. This is going to be a system for my grandparents, so
I need for it to be quite stable and cool.

Can anyone suggest a heatsink and fan in the $10 range that would do a
good job for my socket A platform? Thanks!

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835106602
Wanna try this--keeps my AMD, 1.75g cool runnung at 2.41g. Less than $9
at Newegg. I didn't care for the neon led's but then I keep my case cover
on. Good luck, s

 

[OhioGuy]

If 10 bucks is all you can spend, start looking in garbage >cans.

Ha, ha. I just said $10 because I would hate to spend more on the CPU
heatsink than on the CPU itself.

Normally, I buy new retail CPU's when they are on closeout for about $35
or so. The genuine AMD heatsink is included, and you get the 3 year
warranty. However, in this case, I'm using really old, used stuff.

Anyone know if any of the newer CPU heatsinks are backwards compatible?
As I said, I rarely shop around for heatsinks, because the processors I buy
usually just have one that comes with them. Would any of the newer socket
754 or 939 CPU heatsinks clip on securely to a socket A motherboard?

 

[Frank McCoy]

I just put together a Duron 1.3 system, and noticed that it is running at
about 9 degrees below the lowest automated shutoff temp on my motherboard.

Although I have the auto shutoff turned off, this is still almost 25
degrees higher than I had the same CPU on another system. I think I have a
smaller heatsink on this, and I believe it is about 5 years old, so maybe
not up to snuff.

Anyway, at first I had this 5% overclocked, but it couldn't handle it, and
the system shut down. Now I have it set to failsafe defaults, and it runs
ok, though hot. This is going to be a system for my grandparents, so I need
for it to be quite stable and cool.

Can anyone suggest a heatsink and fan in the $10 range that would do a
good job for my socket A platform? Thanks!

I don't know about the $10 range; but COMP-USA has a *real* nice
solid-copper CPU heatsink with fan that dropped the temperature of just
about every older system I have dramatically for a hair under $20. So,
I installed one on all of the systems that would take it, including the
ones that were doing fine.

As I recall, it works on both Socket-A and Socket-7 CPUs.
It's called a "Gamer's heatsink", again, as I recall.
(Not certain about that last.)
Can't find the box it came in, or I'd tell you more.

 

[Andy]

Cooler Master X Dream II HAC-L82 Socket A/370/462 CPU Fan
<http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=HAC-L82&cat=FAN>
<http://www.geeks.com/imageshare/H/300x300/HAC-L82-unit.jpg>
<http://www.geeks.com/imageshare/H/300x300/HAC-L82-soft.jpg>
<http://www.geeks.com/imageshare/H/300x300/HAC-L82-box.jpg>

 

[OhioGuy]

Oh my goodness. I opened up the case and you will not believe what I found
in there! No, it wasn't a chipmunk. Actually, somehow I had reversed the CPU
heatsink. You know the raised area the side of the socket A, and the
corresponding depressed area on one side of the heatsink? Well, I had it
reversed, which meant the heatsink was at an angle, not even really making
contact. There was a big pocket of air above the CPU core, and the heatsink
compound hadn't even been spread out.

I applied more of the thermal compound, and then got it right this time. The
temp went from averaging between 133 and 143 down to about 120 F.

Then, I noticed that ECS had released two different versions of the K7VZA
motherboard. I have the 1.0 board, but had flashed the BIOS with the version
3.X BIOS. I flashed it back, and now the Duron 1.3 shows up as a 20
MegaHertz Athlon processor in the BIOS. The important thing, though, is that
everything seems to run faster on the system, yet the CPU temp has dropped
down to
104 F! When I run Sandra, it still shows the CPU info properly, and that the
system is really running at 1300 MHz.

 

[Ed Medlin]

Oh my goodness. I opened up the case and you will not believe what I found
in there! No, it wasn't a chipmunk. Actually, somehow I had reversed the
CPU heatsink. You know the raised area the side of the socket A, and the
corresponding depressed area on one side of the heatsink? Well, I had it
reversed, which meant the heatsink was at an angle, not even really making
contact. There was a big pocket of air above the CPU core, and the
heatsink compound hadn't even been spread out.

I applied more of the thermal compound, and then got it right this time.
The temp went from averaging between 133 and 143 down to about 120 F.

Then, I noticed that ECS had released two different versions of the K7VZA
motherboard. I have the 1.0 board, but had flashed the BIOS with the
version 3.X BIOS. I flashed it back, and now the Duron 1.3 shows up as a
20 MegaHertz Athlon processor in the BIOS. The important thing, though, is
that everything seems to run faster on the system, yet the CPU temp has
dropped down to
104 F! When I run Sandra, it still shows the CPU info properly, and that
the system is really running at 1300 MHz.

hehe.......been there and done that. I completely forgot about that issue. I
am not familiar with that particular MB, or when it was made so I don't know
if any of the XP line of processors would work. Some of the XP-1700-2100s
may be supported, but I am not sure. It has been a long time since I have
built any of those systems.

Ed