New heatsink/fan for 3800+ not working

[kmillerusaf]

Hello all again,

It seems like I am running into problems left and right lately but my latest problem has been on going for the last several weeks.

I recently bought a 3800+ dual core 939 processor as my last upgrade to this system to replace my 3700+ (yeah, I know now it wasnt that great of a decision, performance gain isnt substantial). Well, I bought it OEM with the hopes of being able to use the 3700+'s stock cooler to keep it cool but I was quickly proven wrong when I got the 3800+ in. Idle temps were around 44C and load temps using orthos gromacs test for about 1 min were 69-71C. So obviously after trying to put thermal paste on again and again about 4 times, I gave up and went back to the 3700+ and bought an aftermarket cooler/fan.

I bought the Thermalright Ultra-90-K8 and a 92mm Panaflo fan. I got these 2 in yesterday and tried to give it a stab with the 3800+. Well, after trying several positions of the fan (on the bottom intaking, on the bottom exhausting, on the top intaking, on the top exhausting), the coolest idle temps I was able to get was 31-33C with still a load temp of about 63-66C after 1 min of gromacs. I tried reapplying the thermal paste about 4 times last night with no avail. When I thought I put too much on, the temps were cooler and when I did it exactly like ppl suggest (smooth and so thin u can see some of the letters), it got warmer. So I have no idea what I am doing wrong. I am using coffee filters and 91% alcohol to clean it and AS5 as the thermal grease. One thing I noticed the first 3 times I took the heatsink off, there was no grease on the middle of the heatsink, just sort of along the edges of the core's square outline. Usually when I took the stock HSF off, there was grease all over inside the square and outline.

Does this sound like it's not seated properly? I read the directions and I dont see any other way to seat it on there. Even when the lock is on, I am able to rotate the heatsink about 60-70 degreess right or left until the heatpipes hit the mounting bracket that it came with... Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as I am about to just say forget it and go back to 3700+ with stock cooler and will have wasted $100. Sorry this was so luck but I thought I'd be thorough to minimize questions.

Keith

[shadowpr]

Yiou might want to look into lapping the heatisnk.

Also, what is your room temp like? That will play a big factor.

[Lespaul20]

Yiou might want to look into lapping the heatisnk.



Unless you are thinking it's warped, isn't that the purpose of the thermal grease?

[kmillerusaf]

Heating is set to 70F... I am about to switch the 3800+ out with the 3700+ and if it runs cool, i'll know the CPU probably needs lapping... If it doesnt cool, then the heatsink needs lapping or I am the worst person ever at applying thermal grease. I'll let ya know! Thanks

[shadowpr]

From what I read on it, by lapping the heatsink you will do two things. One, you will remove the aluminum layer (I believe that's what it is) and get it to it's copper layer which is supposed to conduct heat better. Two, by lapping, I am assuming that it is warped, and even if it's just a bit, by lapping you will smooth it out and have a better chance of having better contact, and thus not having as much space for the thermal compound to fill.

[Lespaul20]

shadowpr - Thats what I figured you meant.

kmillerusaf - Try using some saran wrap around your finger to get a thin layer.

[kmillerusaf]

Lespaul,

I have been using a plastic glove to spread it and it was super thing and smooth. kind of a bad pic but you can view it here: Thin grease (http://www.touchofdeath.org/thermalgrease.jpg)

You can also see the bottom of the heatsink after i removed it from the 3800+... Notice no grease in the center: Heatsink (http://www.touchofdeath.org/heatsink_grease.jpg)

[shadowpr]

I know when I did mine, I did the whole small drop in the center of the cpu and just smushed the heatsink onto it, and sort of twisted it around a bit.

[MaxRat]

I'll bet you have a LCB*E stepping....those do run hot....

the hottest I have seen to date are the LCBQE steppings....I have a 4200-X2 that ran 44c idle and hit 85c loaded....

I let it run Orthos for 12hours at 85c and it was very hot and never had a single error....

Not sure what is whith those chips but alot of people with the LCB*E steppings have had heat issues....

I have bought 3 4200's in a row and the other 2 are LCB9E and even those get warm....60c loaded and dont OC much at all....

I did manage to get the LCBQE down to 65c levels at stock loaded but it took a modded heatsink to do it and it was loud as all get out....

I did the same you did...put the 3200 back in it I had and left it go...still have the 4200 right here....

doesnt matter how much lapping you do it aint going to help much....finding a Opteron/Foxconn heatsink with a modded 80mm fan will help but not by much....

[kmillerusaf]

Thanks for replying you guys...

After about 4-5 applications of themal grease with different combinations of the CPUs and heatsinks, I finally got some decent progress with the 3800+ and the ultra-90 heatsink. What I did was apply a thin layer of AS5, then put a 3mm line of AS down the middle and seated the heatsink right on top of the CPU. My reasoning for doing this was everytime I took the ultra-90 off a CPU, no matter if it was the 3700+ or the 3800+, there was no grease residue in the middle. It was clean so I figured there either wasn't enough grease or it wasnt making good contact so I tried that. It idles about 34/35C and max load during a 15 minute orthos test is 64C right now. I'll give it a few days to let in burn-in but if I dont like the results, I'll try the same thing on my 3700+ since the dual core probably wont help much with gaming performance and I can overclock it much faster than the dual core.