My cpu starts at 70C when i boot up and when i monitor it in bios it goes to about 85C until my computer shuts off because i have that anti-burn thing on my motherboard. I have not formated my hard drive or anything so I dont have an o/s and its not like im playing extreme games to over work the processor. All my fans are working. I have 2 fans in the back both 80mm, 1 on the side 80mm, the cpu fan/heatsink (from cpu retail box), and 1 fan on the motherboard. Any advice???!?!?! AMD Athlon XP 2100+ Soyo KT400 Ultra Black Edition retail AMD fan/heatsink 5 fans 350watt power supply When i put the thermal goo on the cpu and heat sink (a little amount) and i turn on the computer and go to bios. It says external cpu Temp. 29C, something else CHAN CHEN? dont remmember constant 21C, and cpu die 78C. I feel the heat sink and its warm not hot. Then i feel the flow from the fans coming out of the computer and its cool/cold. When the temp reaches 85C and I shut off the comp, I take off the heat sink and the thermal goo is off the die of the cpu, like it evaporated. What is the reason for the overheating, do i need a better fan/heat sink, a new power supply, any one know plz help?!?!? thank you

assuming you still have the heatsink off. clean the heatsink. put a drop of thermal compound on again make sure its secure and clipped to the motherboard and see what you get again. also make sure your motherboard has the latest bios. sometimes motherboards give the wrong temp reading. that was the case with mine untill i upgraded to the latest bios.

I'll try ur first suggestion with cleaning off the heatsink bottom, but the problem with the updateing the bios. I do not have a o/s on my hard drive yet because i just made a new computer unless there is another way to do that like through DOS, im not great with computers, so how would i update bios without entering windows(if theres any way). It could be that the motherboard is reading the temperture wrong, but in like 5 mins gets to 85C. Do i want to take the chance by setting the anti-burn thing to 100C or something so i can update bios. If the temp reading is right I dont want to burn my chip. plz reply thank you.

Not sure the above dudes acutally had an Athlon 2100XP I have a Volcano 8 Cooler with copper bottom on top of mine and it runs b/t 5000 and 5440rpm. I get 53(idle)-63(hard gaming) deg. C. This is normal for this processor. Factory fan is just sufficient if no o/c will be done... ever.... Use the below as a guide to keeping your AMD cool: 1) It helps to have 2 case fans. 2) I like to remove the heatsink thermal tape crap as it just seems to melt on top of the processors anyway. I cleaned the top of the processor (carefully) and the bottom of the heatsink very well. Applied hs compound to the top of the cpu's little metal protrusion. 3) Alignment is very important, make sure its seated in the proper direction there's a ledge that should align with the processors seat ledge. When hooking cpu fan to my motherboard I put on the inside latches (while hovering the body of the fan, align the fan (pull it to the now latched side) and make sure aligned correctly. Visually check its straight with cpu socket, also Then lower the fan and clip in the other end (this is best to do in the mobo box on top of the foam some fans require you to press pretty hard. 4) Get the latest bios. My msi ami bios is flashed by booting to windows me disk and copying bios + flash utility to rom drive me creates, then running flash program. Your mobo manufaturer will have details on their site. 5) Ram doesnt make cpu hotter. But it can halt or crash system if your bios ram speed settings are too high for it. pc2700 ddr ram should be certified to run at 333 data rate (says 333 in bios) 6) Update Windows to latest SP. XP original release doesn't know about 2100 temps so it will be sensitive about starting with a 58C cpu. 7) My mobo comes with a fan cooler utility that adjusts current to the fan to speed it up when needed. See if yours does as well. 8) Bios cpus settings. An AMD 2100 should be set to 133 FSB. If your temps are to hot for it to boot try lowering it to 100. It will only give you a 1500+XP performance but you'll be working... 9) If still getting high temps (67C+) You can also hook fans right to the power supply so it always runs at full speed (just loose fan/temp info). Motherboards can vary the cpu fan speed depending on temp.

the heatsink which comes with the cpu is not so bad, but not the best! 1)first make sure that you have removed that tape sticked under the heatsink and then add the thermal paste! 2)second, buy a good heatsink made for overclockers like ThermalTake VOLCANO 7, 7+ or 9! the heatsink of the VOLCANO 7 is the same as 9 but with different colour! i have both! now my cpu temp is 37C and if i play a hard game it goes only up to 41! TRY them! 3)third, make sure that your case is big enough and the PSU(Power Supply Unit) is not in front of the CPU! arrange all of the system wires so that the clean air can go around! 4)fourth, make sure that your case fans are blowing in and not out!!!! if you have too many fans, add only one at the back blowing out! waiting for your results!

I Have put many 2100xp in peoples computers with no problems with the retail heatsinks. But not all will get the same results. you have to make sure the bottom is clean you and did not try to spread any compound on the bottom of the heatsink with your fingers. or try to spread compound on the cpu itself with your fingers. you can update the bios without having to go into windows. But if you are not experience in updating a bios then i suggest let it be for now.

Surprised with your temperature! I'm also running AMD XP 2100+ with the FAN and HEATSINK included in the retail box. i've been running my system for about 1 month. The temperature is 56 C (idle)----- 63(extreme gaming). Get a "SPEEDFAN" which is a great program for monitoring your CPU and CASE temperatures while you are working in windows (you don't need to check it in BIOS everytime). AND i don't think the FAN and HEATSINK in the CPU retail box are bad. My system is stable. However, i'm not sure that stability will stand when i overclock! Can you predict what will be my new CPU temperature if i overclock as 166*12.5 ?