Hello! I have been going crazy the past couple weeks trying to drive my CPU temp down. This all started when I was playing GTA Vice City for a couple hours and my system locked on me. I went and checked the temperature in my bios just for fun, and my CPU temp was at 66 Celsius! Gack!

Anyway, I am running an AMD 1400 TBird on an ASUS A7A266 mobo and a RADEON 8500LE vid card. Before this incident I had never paid attention to my temps or anything like that. I had a Thermaltake Volcano 5 heatsink/fan combo on my CPU, and had been using this for over two years without doing anything to it.

Allrighty...fan time. Before this, my only fan in my computer (other than my heatsink fan) was my power supply exhaust fan. Well, I went out and got a 120mm fan (with 4 blue leds, just for fun) and mounted that sucker on the front of my case as an air intake, making sure to drill lotsa holes in the front of my case to provide the fan with air to suck in. Well, that was all well and dandy, but it didn't really appear to solve my heat issues. My computer was idling between 48 and 52 Celsius, and getting around 60 under load. My case temperature never got too high though...maybe the mid 30s?

My next possible solution was tinkering with my heatsink. I a Thermaltake Volcano 9Cu+, but that didn't fit on my mobo, so I returned it and just bought some OZ thermal paste, thinking to reapply some on my cpu. So I took off my Thermaltake Volcano 5 heatsink, and the guy at the computer store clean it real good. Then I applied the thermal paste to my cpu and slapped the Volc 5 back on there. Well, I was still getting high temps (around 50 idle).

Allright, new heatsink time. I bought a Dr. Thermal V770 or something like that...it had a copper core and the rest was aluminum. Now, in reading reviews about this sucker, it became apparent that the copper part of the heatsink does NOT rest directly on the CPU chip once installed properly. But the reviews praised this heatsink anyway, so that prompted me to buy it (that, and the fact that it is the MAX size of heatsink that will fit on my mobo...even still a couple transistors bend a little bit when I install it, but no big deal). Oh, and I bought some nice Arctic Silver 3 thermal paste to use too.

Now when I installed my new heatsink, I followed the Arctic Silver 3 instructions for installation. I'm not positive I completely cleaned off my cpu core, but I did a pretty good job.

I took my old heatsink fan from the Volc 5 and screwed that in as an exhaust fan right below my power supply, near to my cpu. I realize that Arctic Silver 3 has a 'settle-in' period, over which CPU temps are supposed to drop as much as 4 degress Celsius. Even still, my computer is idling as hot as ever (around 52-53 Celsius), even though my CASE temperature is around 29-30 Celsius (not too high in my opinion, I'm sure my added case fans are working nicely).

Anyway, I was just wondering if anyone could give me some info about proper CPU cleaning or AS3 application or anything like that, because I think my CPU temp should be somewhat lower (maybe mid 40s would be nice!). I've put in a ton of work on my computer too, and it's frustrating as hell to not get the results I expected.

Thanks a lot for any tips!

do you have a rear exhaust fan?
try a top of the case "blowhole" fan, both of which blow outward....

i have an aluminum Lian Li case with 2 front intakes,1 rear and top "blowhole" exhaust and a coolermaster 7,000 rpm 60 mm cpu fan and with the sides on, my temps hover around 38-40 celsius at idle on my 2500+ Barton

Size of the fan doesnt matter. Its how much it can handle (how much CFM it can transport) so I would make sure you got some high power fans in there. Also, I would set up a system of fans which will give a circulation in the case. One at the top isn't gonna do the job alone. Have some intake fans at the bottom or side maybe. This will expel the heat and bring in cooler room temp air because of the flow. By doing so, this helps drop the case temp. Note when you drop the case temp, you will also drop the temperature of the components inside, including video card and hard drives. When the case is cooler, the heat coming off the heatsinks is more easily dissipated.

Just to clarify, I have one front intake fan that brings in a lot of air (it's a 120mm fan with a high CFM), and one rear exhaust fan (two if you count my power supply fan).

If your case temp is around 30c then you've done a good job on the case cooling and further effort is not going to help the cpu.

The dr thermal sink was one of the better coolers of its time, but you can only do so much with a sink of that weight and size.

What you need is a 100% copper sink that can take an 80mm fan. It sounds like the volc9 doesn't fit though.

This is the best 60mm cooler that is certain to fit on your board. It is louder than hell though.

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproduct.asp?DEPA=&submit=Go&description=HHC%2D001

According to this post

http://www.computing.net/cpus/wwwboard/forum/5272.html

the slk800 also fits on your board, and with a high speed 80mm fan that's the best you're going to get short of a high-end water cooler. svc.com has good prices for each.

btw a tbird 1400 may not get under 50c at load even with an slk800.

"Size of the fan doesnt matter. Its how much it can handle (how much CFM it can transport)"

yes it does,bigger the fan, more cfm...that's a no brainer

small fast fan= more noise
larger slower fan= less noise and more cfm

and he did mention he had a large intake fan, i suggested a top and rear exhaust in conjunction with his intake

Just a quick follow-up to let everyone know how it goes...

While my load temps are still higher than I would like (topping at about 58 Celsius), my motherboard temps are pretty good - around 30 Celsius under load. So I think I'm just going to live with the temps I have, as I haven't experienced any heat-related lockups since my new fans/new heatsink (with Arctic Silver 3) have been installed.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!