P5AD2-E and P4 640 3.2GHz Overheating

[DeepOne]

I've been trying to upgrade my (other) computer with the parts in the
subject line, and I'm having serious thermal problems. After the
initial installation, the CPU was at 57C when idle, and it would
quickly climb well into the 70s (or higher) during use (I watched it
with the Asus Probe software). Apparently, it was throttling its
speed which reduced performance considerably according to benchmark
software. BTW, this is all with the case still open.

I bought a 3rd-party cooler (Cooler Master Hyper 48) only to discover
that the P5AD2-E has capacitors too close to the CPU to allow its
installation. It looks like these would be a problem with the Zalman
coolers as well.

I then tried replacing the stock thermal pad with Arctic Silver 5. I
followed the instructions as well as I could, and now the problem is
worse than ever! The computer shuts itself off before I can even get
into the BIOS to view the hardware monitor. I've tried several
applications with varying amounts (more and less) of Arctic Silver 5,
and it still shuts off within 20 seconds or so.

What are other P5AD2-E users doing for CPU cooling? I've never had
any problems with CPUs overheating before this one.

 

[stray77]

Start from scratch, remove the processor and heatsink and clean off any
residual heatsink compound thoroughly off both. (I use 100% Isopropyl
alcohol and compressed air). Re-seat the CPU. Practice placement of
the heatsink a few times. Get familiar with its orientation, any wires
you have to hold out of the way, whatever. The idea being that once
initial contact between the CPU/compound/heatsink is made, it is
permanent. (or at least until you upgrade CPUs). As for the heatsink
compound, everyone uses too much, so you probably do too. I use a tiny
amount and apply it in a five dot pattern on the CPU (like on dice).

I've only used the heatsink and fan included in "boxed intel
processors". If the heatsink is making proper contact with the cpu,
the fan is spinning at its intended rpm and the ambient room
temperature is reasonable, the cpu will not overheat. I'd suspect a
faulty voltage regulator. I've put together several P5AD2-E / Intel
630 / 2x1024 DDR2 711 / 2xRaptor 76GB SATA 10000rpm (striping) / X800
and have yet to have any overheating issues.

As for the capacitors being too close, get a dremel (or a file) and
cut away the part of your aftermarket heatsink that makes contact.

Good Luck
stray77

 

[Paul]

I've been trying to upgrade my (other) computer with the parts in the
subject line, and I'm having serious thermal problems. After the
initial installation, the CPU was at 57C when idle, and it would
quickly climb well into the 70s (or higher) during use (I watched it
with the Asus Probe software). Apparently, it was throttling its
speed which reduced performance considerably according to benchmark
software. BTW, this is all with the case still open.

I bought a 3rd-party cooler (Cooler Master Hyper 48) only to discover
that the P5AD2-E has capacitors too close to the CPU to allow its
installation. It looks like these would be a problem with the Zalman
coolers as well.

I then tried replacing the stock thermal pad with Arctic Silver 5. I
followed the instructions as well as I could, and now the problem is
worse than ever! The computer shuts itself off before I can even get
into the BIOS to view the hardware monitor. I've tried several
applications with varying amounts (more and less) of Arctic Silver 5,
and it still shuts off within 20 seconds or so.

What are other P5AD2-E users doing for CPU cooling? I've never had
any problems with CPUs overheating before this one.

I would guess that means the heatsink is not making contact with the
top of the chip. AFAIK, throttling should work even in the BIOS,
and what you are seeing is THERMTRIP at 135 degrees C. And that must
mean there is an air gap between the processor and the cooler.

Pull the motherboard from the case and examine how the cooler is
mounting carefully. Look at the socket on all sides, to see if the
cooler is sitting flat, or is resting on something. (I had a board
once, where the heatsink was resting on the socket lever arm, and
wasn't sitting flat).

Clean off the top of the processor (just wipe off the AS5, no
need for solvent - you want any roughened surfaces to be filled
with AS5, and not AS5 plus solvent). Place a dot of AS5 on the
top of the processor (half a grain of rice or a little less), then
mount the cooler on top. Use whatever fastener(s) it has, so that
the cooler applies the normal pressure to the socket (making sure
there is adequate support underneath the board for the force you
will be applying - you don't want to flex the board while doing
this test).

Now, remove the cooler. Has the dot of AS5 been squashed into
a nice circle ? You would expect to see a puddle of AS5 the
size of a quarter. If there is very little spreading, or
the spreading is not symmetric, find out why. Effectively,
you are using the AS5 in this case, as a "feeler gauge".

Zalman has compatibility info on their site. Here is an example.
The "gap" mentioned in the table, is the clearance from the
top edge of the motherboard, to the PSU's metal case.

http://www.zalman.co.kr/product/cooler/7700-775MBlist_eng.htm

Paul

 

[DeepOne]

Start from scratch, remove the processor and heatsink and clean off any
residual heatsink compound thoroughly off both. (I use 100% Isopropyl
alcohol and compressed air). Re-seat the CPU. Practice placement of
the heatsink a few times. Get familiar with its orientation, any wires
you have to hold out of the way, whatever.

The heatsink design (how it attaches to the board) seems to have been
the problem for me. It is insanely difficult to get it installed
properly (it seems like 1 or two of the "pegs" will usually not click
into place no matter how much force is applied), and even though I've
probably done it a dozen times by now, I still wouldn't expect that
I'd have more than a 33% chance of getting it done right on the next
try if I had to do it again.

The idea being that once
initial contact between the CPU/compound/heatsink is made, it is
permanent. (or at least until you upgrade CPUs). As for the heatsink
compound, everyone uses too much, so you probably do too. I use a tiny
amount and apply it in a five dot pattern on the CPU (like on dice).

I tried both too little and too much at different times. I followed
the instructions at arcticsilver.com and just used a single dot in the
center of the chip.

I've only used the heatsink and fan included in "boxed intel
processors". If the heatsink is making proper contact with the cpu,
the fan is spinning at its intended rpm and the ambient room
temperature is reasonable, the cpu will not overheat. I'd suspect a
faulty voltage regulator. I've put together several P5AD2-E / Intel
630 / 2x1024 DDR2 711 / 2xRaptor 76GB SATA 10000rpm (striping) / X800
and have yet to have any overheating issues.

Well, it seems to be doing OK now finally. It's running at 45C while
idle, and it doesn't seem to go much beyond 60C under load. Benchmark
results now seem appropriate.

As for the capacitors being too close, get a dremel (or a file) and
cut away the part of your aftermarket heatsink that makes contact.

That's a good idea; I wouldn't have thought of that. But I'm not
very handy with tools (and would have to buy a tool to do that), so I
think I'll just return it. I do think it's a better design than
Intel's though. It doesn't require you to apply considerable (if not
extreme) force with extreme precision; it just screws into place.

Thanks for the response. I was just about at the end of my rope when
I posted earlier. I just kept trying the same thing (more or less)
repeatedly while hoping for different results. I think I've heard
that called the definition of stupidity, but it eventually worked.

 

[DeepOne]

I would guess that means the heatsink is not making contact with the
top of the chip. AFAIK, throttling should work even in the BIOS,
and what you are seeing is THERMTRIP at 135 degrees C. And that must
mean there is an air gap between the processor and the cooler.

That is probably what happened. I had considerable difficulty getting
the heatsink to snap into place correctly at all four points, and it
was virtually impossible to tell whether it had done so while it was
still in the computer case (the board needs to be installed in the
case during installation of the heatsink).

Thanks. It seems to be OK now.

 

[RBM]

I too had exactly the same problem and found it was one of the spring clamps
hadn't caught just right and the cooler wasn't flat on the CPU. When you do
get it right, it cools pretty well, but it is noisy