One of my machines (amd athlon 2000+ palomino) runs exceedingly hot all the time. I have left the computer on in DOS bios setup for 20 minutes and it is idling at 129f in the pchealth menu. It is using a Foxconn CMA-A3-1B heatsink/fan ( http://www.cpspc.com/cafocmsococp.html ). I use to run that chip on another mobo with a zalman CNPS3100-Plus heatsink/fan ( http://www.overclockers.com/articles350/ ) and it ran at a cool 95f idle. So yes, the problem here is really the HSF assembly or its connection to the cpu. I put a thin layer of thermal grease just like always, so that shouldnt be the problem. Isnt 129f hot for a 2000+ idling? or is it just me? is there anything i can do to better the heat transfer from cpu to hsf? helphelphelp ~matt

i dont know about that chip specifically, but in general that is hot for a processor. i suggest a new HSF and also a case fan wouldn't go amiss either

NOTNOTNOT! Palomino core AXP's run fairly warm. 53C is not excessive, even at idle, especially if the room temp is high. What's your system temp & average room temp? Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz 768MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro

I searched and found an article/benchmark that showed that the foxconn HSF works just about as good as the amd's stock-shipped fan. Maybe I was just spoiled by that zalman flower heatsink (its great btw, runs a 2800+ at 105f). I dont know the idle case temp on it; my ambient/environment temp is about 80f. However it probably is hot in that case because it has no exaust fan on the back (or any at all besides psu). I guess i need to hack up the case a bit and mount an 80mm. Also, the foxconn hsf is old, when i put it on, i tried to remove this gummy stuff (which i have figured out is called 'phase change' material). I didnt quite get it all off, so a thin layer of it is still there (still used thermal grease as usual). Do you think thats the cause? ~matt AMD athlon 2800+ 512 pc3200 80gb SATA ATI Radeon 9250 - 883 3dmarks baby!!

1st of all, since you apparently have no case ventilation other than the PSU, I'd say your temp is pretty good. Remember that the Palomino's default vcore is 1.75v, so that's a big reason they tend to run warmer than other AXPs. My 1800+ Tbred is idling at about 48C (118F) right now & I'm not concerned in the least. My room temp is 84F & my case has 2 cooling fans (1 intake, 1 exhaust) plus the PSU. It obviously runs cooler when the room temp is lower. Doing a better job removing the old pad may help (I use lacquer thinner), so would adding a front intake fan (if you case provides an opening for it). Bottomline is you could probably do better, but there's definitely no need to panic.... Asus A7N8X-X 1800+ @ 8.5 x 200MHz 768MB PC3200 2.5-3-3-7 Asus A9550GE/TD 128MB WinME/WinXP Pro

A lot of folks don't realize how much difference the room temp makes. My system and cru run about 5 degrees (C) cooler in the winter than in the summer. There is a point where no matter how many fans you are running you won't be able to get your temps any lower because of the temperature of the air being drawn in from the room.