I have an asus A7N8X-X Mb and an amd 2700+ processor. Origionally, the BIOS said that it was a 1500+, but besides that, it worked perfectly. I updated the bios, so I could get the most usage out of the processor. It displayed that the processor was a 2700+, and everything was fine. Then, the computer shut down by itself. I let it sit for a while, them I plugged it back in and went to the bios menu. The CPU voltage was somewhere in the higher hundreds (like 175F) I was shocked and I quickly shut off the machine. Luckily, no CPU damage, but I don't want to try that again. I put thermal grease on, but I'm not sure I did it right. I put it on the raised rectangle in the middle, but some dripped off the side and fell onto the actual processor (I figured this out after this happened.) The CPU fan is from an old 700Mhz HP, and I have one case fan in the front. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
JC

the fan u have is not enough to cool a processor of that speed. My advice would be to get another fan. U may possibly with the grease dripping onto the processor pins have shorted it. It`s most unlinkely that this will have happened ...u only need a bit...but I would advise that u get urself some extra cooling

With that processor the fan you got isn't nearly ehough. Here is what I would look for in a fan myself. i would try to find one with brass or copper used as its core and fins if possible on the note of the heatsink. The reason being is aluminum is inferior to brass or copper when it comes to heat dissapation.

When you have an aluminum heatsink, what happens is it heats up quickly and then looses effiency. It can't wick the heat away from the processor at that point fast enough. Brass or copper takes a while to heat up and because of this it can dissapate heat well.

Well it also comes down to the molecular structure of each metal as well. Thermodynamics ect, but we don't need to go into too much detail on that note.

I went out and sunk $40 on a copper CPU cooler, and it helped a bunch. It still overheats when I play games though. I currently have one case fan in the back blowing air out. I'm planning on getting two more, one for the front and one for the top. My question is, which way should the fans be blowing (out or in) for the most efficient cooling system? The CPU temp is idling at 54C with the side of the case off according to the BIOS. Is this normal? I've heard that the temp for AMDs are supposed to be somewhere between 40C and 60C, but 54C when idling?

Thanks,
JC

In at the front - all the other fans blowing out as you need to circulate the air.

BTW - is the CPU fan good enough?


Dutch

CPU fan is supposed to work up to Athlon XP 3400+, so I don't think that is a prob. (I'm running a 2700+)

Thanks
JC

the fans need to be blowing air out as when they expel air and create a vacuum by blowing air out it sucks air in through the vents in the case ...u want to be looking at temp of around 45. If u have onboard graphics that will force the CPU to run hotter whilst u r playing games.... but if u have a graphics card GPU then this will take away a lot of heat from the processor as it`s work will be a lot less. I wouldn`t have any fans blowing air in as this is negative air pressure. Onboard fans on processors graphics cards etc..blows air onto the hardware...u need ur other fans blowing out to dissapate the pressure....if u think of ur casing as a balloon if u keep blowing air in it`s going to have too much pressure in there for the size of the vents....so u want to blow air out and then the case will suck air in through the vents.

You want the air flow to be in one direction, and because the power supply fans blow out, any other fans on the back (or sides) of the cabinet should likewise blow out. Any fans on the front therefore should blow in.

If the fans are pointed in opposite directions, basically they will be fighting one another. If all of them blow in, or all of them blow out, you just aren't going to be getting as much air movement as if they worked together, and the greater the air movement, the better the cooling.

Good luck with it. As a side comment, always make sure that the CPU fan is matched to the actual CPU. I would not advise trying to recycle a CPU fan from an old chip and use it on a new chip. Even if the dimensions are OK, the spin rate may not be sufficient to keep it cool -- J.W.

I was thinking I would have a fan on top blowing out since hot air rises. I don't think it makes sense to have just one fan blowing in, while two (plus the PS) fans are blowing out. I only have space for one fan in the front, though.Would it be a good idea to put a hole in the front of one of the case sides?

Thanks,
JC

Now, I have one fan in front, blowing in, one on top, blowing out, one in the back, blowing out, and one on the side directly parallel to the CPU blowing out. In windows, MBM5 says the temp. is around 37C when idling. But, my MBoard under clocked the cpu to a 1500+ instead of a 2700+. When I rewrite the bios, it runs the CPU at normal speed (2700+) until I restart two times. The MBoard is an asus A7N8X-X, and it supports my cpu, but it continues to under clock it. I originally thought it was automatically doing it because of the temp. being too high, but it idles at around 43C when it runs as a 2700+. How can I get the CPU to work at normal clock speed?

Thanks,
JC