Hello, Guy. You might want to take a quick look over at Toms Hardware at his recent comparison of a whole slew of heatsinks http://www6.tomshardware.com/cpu/01q2/010521/cooler-29.html. For an Athlon 1GHz, 56C was about the worst of his bunch, while 30C was the best. The best was achieved with a solid copper heat sink and monster fan, which is probably out of reach for most users. It is also likely that the guy who built your system cut corners and didn't put good goop between the CPU and heat sink. This stuff is the best (Arctic Silver II) http://www.coolerguys.com/CPUCOOL/compound.htm. This goop can reduce temperatures by about 6C. You might want to get some extra case fans too to help extract the hot air from your case. Bear in mind that the newer Athlons are rated to run up to 95C, although they won't last very long at that temperature, so 56C is not exactly the end of the world, especially for a 1.333GHz. I was a bit concerned when I built my wife's machine recently to find her 1.333GHz chip running at 46C, and a friend of mine has his running at about 41C, but I was comparing these to my Dual PIII-850, where the chips only run at 31C. Bear in mind that those super fast chips do run hotter. If you want to replace your heatsink, Thermaltake have a new Super-Orb coming out soon with a copper core which promises good cooling at a reasonable price. Copper, silver and gold are the best materials for a heatsink, but silver and gold are a bit expensive, hence the silver goop I mentioned above. Do NOT use thermal tape, it actually reduces heat transfer between the CPU and heatsink. Keeping systems cool is something of an art form, but airflow is the key. Buy those extra case fans, but have some blowing in and some blowing out. Intake should suck cooler air in at the bottom, and the exhaust should blow hot air out from as close to the CPU as possible. Remember, hot air rises. As for the overclocking, the chip does have a number stamped onto the surface which would allow you to see what speed the chip is actually supposed to be. If it has been overclocked, the vendor is a putz, since the price of these things is so low, he's doing it for a very small amount of extra cash. Your best bet is to get a tube of goop. Bye for now, Stuart. -----Original Message----- From: suse-linux-e-return-59164-stuart=yorkshirepudding.com@lists.suse.com [mailto:suse-linux-e-return-59164-stuart=yorkshirepudding.com@lists.suse .com]On Behalf Of Guy Van Sanden Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2001 8:14 AM To: suse-linux-e@suse.com Subject: [SLE] [OT] Athlon Processor Hello I know this is off topic, but I just bought a new PC (for Linux), but I suspect that the guy who sold it to me isn't completely honest. So, I need some help, and I've always found friends here. The thing is, my wife has been saving for a long time to give me a decent Linux machine (for my birthday, cause my old one was getting real slow for what I use it for), and I really don't want it to break down in a couple of years. My system is an Athlon 1.333 GHZ with a ThermalTake Volcano cooler. (- Abit motherboard, to be replaced with an Asus which was out of stock - VIA chipset - Award bios) It should cool the CPU down to about 30°-40°C (specially when idle), but my CPU is constantly running at 56°C - 60°C... Even when idle (same on full load). I thought the kapmd-idle thread would keep it cool? But that guy claims that isn't so for an Athlon (only Intel). He also claims that this temperature can do no harm to my CPU, but I doubt that. Searching the internet indicates that temperatures like that shorten the life of an Athlon (most of my systems run up to 10 years, about 4-5 years with me, and than past on to family members), and on many sites, the ThermalTake volcano is rated very good (should cool to 30-35° when idle). He claims I might be able to get my CPU cooler by running (once) a windows utility that can set a register on the chipset to make it run idle when not loaded? Does anyone know if this is true? I also fear that the CPU might be a lower type (1-1.2, overclocked to 1.333), is there any way to check this? I'm sorry about posting this topic, but I really need help. Thanks for any ideas! Guy -- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/support/faq and the archives at http://lists.suse.com

Steven is right about being very careful about applying the fan to the CPU. Make sure that the fan is specifically for the Athlon chip you have. I've heard too many stories about either putting on generic cpu fans and/or using a little too much force when mounting/setting the fan and then cpu into the board. Athlons are notorious for cracking the cpu in these instances - they can be a bit fragile. You can do it as long as your mindful and cover all your bases. HTH. Cheers. Curtis On Wednesday 30 May 2001 08:14 am, Guy Van Sanden wrote:

Hello

I know this is off topic, but I just bought a new PC (for Linux), but I suspect that the guy who sold it to me isn't completely honest. So, I need some help, and I've always found friends here. The thing is, my wife has been saving for a long time to give me a decent Linux machine (for my birthday, cause my old one was getting real slow for what I use it for), and I really don't want it to break down in a couple of years.

My system is an Athlon 1.333 GHZ with a ThermalTake Volcano cooler. (- Abit motherboard, to be replaced with an Asus which was out of stock - VIA chipset - Award bios) It should cool the CPU down to about 30°-40°C (specially when idle), but my CPU is constantly running at 56°C - 60°C... Even when idle (same on full load). I thought the kapmd-idle thread would keep it cool? But that guy claims that isn't so for an Athlon (only Intel). He also claims that this temperature can do no harm to my CPU, but I doubt that. Searching the internet indicates that temperatures like that shorten the life of an Athlon (most of my systems run up to 10 years, about 4-5 years with me, and than past on to family members), and on many sites, the ThermalTake volcano is rated very good (should cool to 30-35° when idle).

He claims I might be able to get my CPU cooler by running (once) a windows utility that can set a register on the chipset to make it run idle when not loaded? Does anyone know if this is true?

I also fear that the CPU might be a lower type (1-1.2, overclocked to 1.333), is there any way to check this?

I'm sorry about posting this topic, but I really need help.

Thanks for any ideas!

Guy

-- To unsubscribe send e-mail to suse-linux-e-unsubscribe@suse.com For additional commands send e-mail to suse-linux-e-help@suse.com Also check the FAQ at http://www.suse.com/support/faq and the archives at http://lists.suse.com