P4C800-E Q-Fan burned my CPU ??

[MB]

Looking for some advice and insight.

I put together a brand new system built with the following components:

Intel P4 2.8C GHZ 800FSB CPU
ASUS P4C800-E MB (came from the factory with the latest 1009 bios)

The CPU was a retail box kit which included a stock fan. I assembled
the system and it ran stably for about 5 days.

At that point, I enabled Q-FAN in the motherboard bios and proceeded
to use my computer for the next few hours. I shut down the system and
came back the next morning, and viola... the machine wouldn't boot. I
could hear the powersupply fan/CPU fan/VGA fan whirling, but no video.
I removed the AGP VGA card and RAM from the system and listened to the
voice POST report and it complained that the CPU failed its startup
tests. At this point, I can only conclude that ASUS's Q-FAN
technology caused my CPU to overheat and fail, but I don't have any
concrete proof. My system was not (and never was) overclocked, btw.

I have a new CPU on order, and my question is this... if the problem
wasn't Q-FAN, what else might have occured? Should I consider getting
an aftermarket heatsink and fan and/or use a silver compound like
Arctic Silver between the intel heatsink and fan even though I'm using
a retail kit CPU at stock speeds?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[jaeger]

I have a new CPU on order, and my question is this... if the problem
wasn't Q-FAN, what else might have occured? Should I consider getting
an aftermarket heatsink and fan and/or use a silver compound like
Arctic Silver between the intel heatsink and fan even though I'm using
a retail kit CPU at stock speeds?

It is extremely unlikely that the problem is an overheated CPU, as P4's
are almost impossible to overheat to the point of permanent failure.

And I would never advise using the stock thermal compound applied to the
retail box heatsink. Not for performance, but because eventually it
will form a glue-like bond and stick to the CPU...and when you go to
remove the heatsink you'll tear the CPU right out of the socket robbaly
bending or breaking some pins. Also, I wouldn't use Q-Fan with the
retail cooler. The retail fan has it's own thermal control.

 

[MB]

Please clarify the statement "I would never advise using the stock
thermal compound..."

Do you mean that I should remove the thermal compound that comes from
the factory on the underside of a retail box heatsink and replace it
with an aftermarket product?

 

[jaeger]

Do you mean that I should remove the thermal compound that comes from
the factory on the underside of a retail box heatsink and replace it
with an aftermarket product?

Yes. And no, it doesn't need to be Arctic Silver.

 

[MB]

What's the best solvent for removing the original compound? Acetone?

Also, do you (or anyone else) have a favorite thermal compound? I
only suggested Arctic Silver because I come across references to their
products quite frequently.

 

[jaeger]

What's the best solvent for removing the original compound? Acetone?

99% isopropyl alcohol. Acetone won't work too well.

Also, do you (or anyone else) have a favorite thermal compound? I
only suggested Arctic Silver because I come across references to their
products quite frequently.

Any silicone based compound is fine. I don't like AS because it makes a
nasty mess, especially on P4's. They do have a new non-silver product
called Ceramique which is much, much better.

 

[Mark Ericksen]

I remove the old compound with a cleaner called Static-Free Big Bath,
produced by GC Electronics. It works very well and leaves no residue. By
the way, I have had the experience of removing a heat sink and having the
CPU go with it. It is very unnerving. Now, if possible, I try to give the
heat sink a little twist before I lift up to break any stiction.

 

[Andreas Schuerger]

Mark Ericksen typed:

I remove the old compound with a cleaner called Static-Free Big
Bath, produced by GC Electronics. It works very well and leaves no
residue. By the way, I have had the experience of removing a heat
sink and having the CPU go with it. It is very unnerving. Now, if
possible, I try to give the heat sink a little twist before I lift
up to break any stiction.

The trick here is to heat up the Heatsink before removing it. Either
use a hairdryer, or let the PC run and after removing power
immediately remove the heatsink as long as it's hot.