[eebee_jcb]

I have a 4 year old computer that I built for myself with a Soyo Dragon KT400 Ultra MB, 768 megs of ram, and an AMD Athlon XP 2800+ processor. For some time now, the processor heat has been coming up as extremely hot even just after I boot up (around 65+ degrees celcius) and has been freezing frequently. Recently, I replaced mt old cheap generic processor fan with a Thermal Take fan with a solid copper heating element and speed control. This has helped the problem, as my computer no longer freezes, but only if the fan is at its highest speed (which is really loud and annoying) and the side panel of my computer case is off. even with these exra ventilation measures, the computer still registers a tempurature of arounf 55 or 56 degrees celcius on the boot screen. does anyone have any idea what might be causing this overheating or how I can help cool it down without making my machine any louder? (I have thought of liquid cooling, but it is currently out of my price range). Thank you.

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Welcome to G2G

When you installed the heatsink originally, what did you use by way of thermal compounds?

[Samm]

Welcome to G2G

When you installed the heatsink originally, what did you use by way of thermal compounds?

[eebee_jcb]

Thanks for the fast reply.

I used the white thermal compound that came with the fan.

[Samm]

How much of it did you apply?

[eebee_jcb]

I applied enouhg that it would run over the edges a little bit when I put the fan in.

[Samm]

That sounds like too much to me. Applying too much thermal paste can be just as bad as not applying enough.

I suggest you try the following :
1. Get some really good thermal compound (such as Artic silver)
2. Get an appropriate solvent (rubbing alcohol or Articlean from Artic Silver)
3. Make sure the cpu is cool then remove the heatsink & scrap off the thermal paste from the heatsink & cpu. Next clean off the remainder from the heatsink & the cpu using the solvent & a lint-free cloth.
4. Make sure everything is bone dry then apply a small blob of the new paste onto the case of the heatsink (no more than a pea sized blob)
5. Wear surgical gloves or use a plastic bag over your hand & rub the paste over the heatsink.
6. Next, using a clean lint-free cloth, remove the fresh paste from the heatsink by rubbing. Do not scrap it off or use any solvents
7. Allpy a tiny blob (size of a grain of rice) to the die of the cpu.
8. Use either the edge of a clean credit card or razor blade to scrape the paste over the die evenly.
9. Reattach the heatsink to the cpu.

Also ensure that the system is not overclocked & the vcore voltage is correct for your cpu.

If you still have problems with it running hot, I suggest either getting a larger heatsink or installing more case fans. Make sure one of the case fans blows over the cpu & check the air circulation in the case.