Arg! What a pile of crap. I've just finished putting together my new computer for the second time but again, the processor is getting way too hot. I bought the Volcano 9 CoolMod and set it so it's in full blast all the time. That said, I'd imagine I could run it at the normal clock speed without it getting hotter then 60C. Unfortunately it hits about 80C when it's at the 166MHz setting, so quickly I set it back to the lowest available in the options. [100MHz, 1250MHz] Originally I thought I screwed up with not putting enough Arctic Silver III thermal paste on, so I took apart everything and added some more [I could see some of the die, so I knew the coat wasn't thick enough.] and added a little to the copper base of the heatsink and rubbed it off. I then re-assembled everything and went back to see how hot the Bios were saying it was. It still stays at 60/61C at the 1250MHz clock setting and this time there was a nice layer around the heatsink, roughly as thick as a sheet of paper -- maybe slightly thinner. The fan/heatsink is running at the highest available option and it certainly sounds that way. What could be causing it? Also, I forgot to mention that I did spill a little of the Arctic Silver III onto the CPU around the die, but I wiped it all up. Any ideas? Thank you.

System Stats:
ASUS A7N8X Deluxe
Athlon 2600 333FSB
Volcano 9 CoolMod
Arctic Silver III
Crucial 512MB of PC2700 Ram. [Buying another stick this week to use the dual channel]
450Watt Power Supply
GeForce 4 Ti4200
80GB Western Digital HDD
Yamaha 24x CDRW
56x CD-Rom
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1
1 Blow Hole Fan, but 2 more normal 80mm case fans are on the way.

Oh yeah, and the Motherboard is staying around 20-25C so that isn’t all that hot.

Try touching the heatsink, the bios may be repoting inaccurate temps.

If it feels comfortable to keep your fingers there for more than a few seconds, bounce it between two or three different diagnostic programs to get an idea of the true cpu temp then take a happy medium.

I can't believe I didn't think about touching the heatsink before. I kept my hand on heatsink for about 45 seconds and it felt plenty cool. Much cooler then my old PIII heatsink. Just because the heatsink is cool doesn't mean the processor is, does it? Maybe I installed it wrong? Thanks.

If the bios is repoRting accurate cpu temperature, then the obvious one is checking to see if the cpu is seated comfortably, which im sure you've already done. Apart from that, other replies may be more helpful. I run the same cpu, overclocked and under load it runs at 43 to 45c, so it sounds like you have a serious problem.

I believe it's seated properly. The clips kinda limit on where the heatsink can be. I can't really see if it's totally leveled, perhaps I should re-install it again.

Also, I would check the temp with other apps, but I'm unable to get into Windows. Whenever it gets to the selection screen for what to do [Safe Mode, Last Good Config, Normal etc.] it will give a blue screen for half a second and reboot on me. Do you know what is causing that? This is not a clean install of Windows, I used to run it on my 500MHz P3 system. My friend said something about there being an option in the Power Management, but I didn't see anything that would help. He said "SF" something but he didn't remember the name and he'll check on his mobo when he gets home.

http://www.chipcenter.com/analog/c040.htm

http://www.livewiredev.com/bbs/search.php?s=5da686eaadfece933efbcbf9755292b9&action=showresults&searchid=57930&sortby=lastpost&sortorder=descending

http://www.maximumoc.com/reviews/asusa7n8x_3.html

Thanks for the links. Could someone tell me what a "diode" is? Thanks.

The term diode usually implies a small signal device with current typically in the milliamp range.

With the Processor at 60-64C wouldn't I feel the heat around the heatsink?

temperature software reports temperature readings in two ways - motherboard probes and on-die diodes. The probe is a bulb shaped sensor located in the middle of the socket and/or elsewhere on the mobo, the diode is tiny circuit in the cpu which produces a voltage that is relative to its temperature, so the diode's voltage goes up as temperature goes up. Some mobos have both a cpu sensor and can also read the diode. The diode will show a temp of 10C-15C higher than a sensor because it is inside the cpu.

Check to see if the vcore is set to default. i had this problem with my new 8knxp i just got last week which is really weird. i turned it on with my p4 3.06ghz and went into the bios, it said normal vcore 1.55v and it said it was set to normal so i just ignored it and went on to boot up windows. when i got to windows i downloaded hmonitor and it was telling me the vcore was at 1.77v and my temps were going above 50c like nothing, i was like wtf. so i went straight to the bios and changed the setting from normal to 1.55v went to windows hmonitor says the vcore is 1.6 somtehing and temps were still too high. then i decided to install easy tune 4 that comes with my m/b..installed it and the second i started the program, i had hmonitor open too the vcore went right down to 1.55v on hmonitor and easy tune 4. it hasn't budged since and if i turn it up or down it works fine all of a sudden. now that's some freaky s---.

Mobo/bios problem? Obviously the 'blue screen of death' shows that there is a real problem and not just false readings. And still hitting 60c with the cpu well underclocked, if the things properly fitted, i'd go with the cpu receiving too much voltage, by the sounds of it WAY too much.

You said you'd put together a new system. Does this mean the cpu is 'brand' new?

I'd like to thank everyone who helped assist me. The problem was the heatsink being on "backwards" It was resting on the part where it says "Socket 462" rather then connecting with the other half of the CPU. I switched it around and now I have it running at a nice 38C at the normal 2600 clock speed. However, I'm still having a problem loading up Windows XP. No matter what option I choice the computer will reboot on me. When I choose "Load Normally" or "Last Known Good Configuration" I'll see a blue screen of death for a second, then it reboots. Safe modes, however, do not have the blue screen before it reboots. Any ideas on what I could do other than format and re-install XP? This is a copy from previous hardware. I have a driver cd from the ASUS board, but I have no idea when I need to use it. I tried booting off the CDROM, it didn't do anything.

I think you would have to format, it could be drivers from the old stuff causing a conflict.

Think I found out the problem. It's the controller IDE that's causing the problem. I need to hook it back into the old mobo and change it to the standard. What a bitch. *sign*

I have almost same system and my temps are also too high! Same mobo and CPU. Now idle temp is 53 C and load 56 C. I have Thermalright SK-7 heatsink with 12dB Papst fan, and one 120mm casefan. I have installed Arctic Silver 3 several times, and always same temperature. So I guess I installed it right.. I didn't have any overheating problems with Duron 1300. BIOS reports load temperature close to 80 C, and one time system just shutted down when I was playing. C.O.P? The heatsink is like 50 C when I touch it, it's quite warm but I don't burn my fingers on it. NO WAY over 70 C what BIOS reports! Mobo revision is 1.04 and the newest BIOS..

I have the same cpu/mobo/ram/video card configuration except I got the volcano 8. No problems, with asus probe during 3dmark2003 demo the temperature stays around 96F. This motherboard is a dream, its got everything i wanted and a lot of stuff i can say i have but never use.