Hello

Eversince I bought my AMD XP 2100+ i'v been having overheating problems. Im using the stock heatsink/fan and im running at 70c/170f give or take. I was running around 90c/230f with the stock heatsink until I replaced it with another AMD XP stock heatsink and it went down a little. I have to downclock to 100 FSB to even run, this has been an ongoing problem.

Now the question: Where can I find a good heatsink fan combo that will fix this?
Any good brands I should look into? I only have around 40 dollars to spend on it right now.
I'd like to know if any of you had simmilar problems and if you got a new fan/heatsink and what brand/model it was and how dramatically it fixed the problem

thanks

It should NOT run that high, period. What kind of thermal paste are you using? Even the stuff that comes with the stock heatsink should keep it under 55.

Sounds like you do not have good contact between the heatsink and the processor shell, metal to metal has an air pocket between which acts as an insulator not a heat conductor. Some heatsink's have a silicon pad to make heat transfer between the two, others require a silicon grease (available at Radio Shack for $ 2>3.00). I am not familiar with this particular processor, but if no pad or missing, buy the grease and follow the instructions carefully

Honestly, it's not even *that* complicated. Go to newegg.com and buy a tube of arctic silver, you'll get MUCH better heat transfer than silicon paste will provide, and it's only $5 or $6 USD. The entire process is to use a piece of plastic, like a credit card, and spread the paste evenly over the top of the die, making sure the entire die surface is covered with a thin layer. then put the heatsink on it. My athlon xp 3200 ran overclocked at under 40.

Besides the new artic silver, should I invest in a fan/heatsink too? My case isn't the best at keeping things cool on the inside, its just a plexy glass box I made out of a discarded golf cart window with two fan openings, one in the front sucking in and one in the back blowing out.

I figure if im going to make an account somewhere I misewell order everything at once, one of my friends recommended the 'tornado' fan/heatsink but it has a real loud shriel sound to it.

anyways, thanks.

Honestly, I'd sooner buy a new case than a new cpu cooler. I ran the stock athlon xp cooler for awhile just fine, but it was in my Antec Sonata case. Frozencpu.com has some really nice acrylic cases if you want to stick with something all plexi, and they also sell thermal paste and cpu coolers. There's one made by Vantec called the AeroFlow(there's also an AeroFlow 2, but I haven't used it) that I was using on my athlon xp box. It's really quiet and kept my system cool.

MW

maybe you have the voltage set too high in the bios?
this place has a bunch of inexpensive cooling stuff. i've bought from them a few times. http://www.nexfan.com/

I found lots of interesting reviews and links to useful information at www.silentpcreview.com.

For my own computer, which was so loud because of the CPU fan that I had to shut it in a closet, I bought a Vantec fan/heatsink combination (I have an "old" Pentium III 650 Mhz chip) that runs so quietly I was able to move the unit out where it's accessible again. Then I got a Zalman fan controller switch that enables me to turn the fan down or off when it's not needed so much. Result is a very quiet computer, for one that's not customized to be silent.

Thanks for all the replys

The links help alot, I searched on pricewatch myself but I much rather use a place someone on here used so I know I won't get ripped off. Im checking out nexfan and im going to use that since you've bought from there too

thanks agian everyone

they also have some $1.50 case fans you could get for putting around in your case blowing in and out. i just saw they have some 92mm fans for $1.99. that's a little bigger than a power supply fan.
i have an extra 80mm fan blowing across my hard drives, and a 120mm blowing across the cpu and motherboard.