Recommened temps for Fx 55 (Raffle Prize!)

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-05-28 05:36pm

Hey,

I just installed this FX-55 AMD CPU. It was donated as a raffle prize (2nd hand it seems). There was old thermal past on the CPU. I cleaned it off, and applied Akasa AK-450 Silver based thermal compound. I am watching the CPU temp and it's sitting around 47-48 at idle. What kind of temps am I looking for? Should I be worried?

I think the AMD cool n quiet is in effect. CPU fan RPM started at 3.5K and is up at 4.4K now. It's the stock cooler for the FX-55.

I read online that the performance of the thermal compound will increase over time, by up to 5 deg. Is this correct?

Thanks!

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-05-28 05:42pm

Did you also clean off the cooler?

How much thermal compound did you apply?

How warm is the room your computer is in?

Your CPU should be fine at those temperatures.

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-05-28 05:54pm

Uraniun235 wrote:Did you also clean off the cooler?

How much thermal compound did you apply?

How warm is the room your computer is in?

Your CPU should be fine at those temperatures.

I cleaned the crud off with a plastic card (credit card). Then wiped the fine stuff off with a cloth, from both cooler and chip.

Amount of compound would cover say the metalic end of a double AA battery. In form it looked like a dog turd.

Room is... uh cool. Less than 21 deg C.

Pezzoni · Post by **Pezzoni** » 2006-05-28 06:08pm

Is the heatsink lapped (a mirror finish on the base), or roughly lathed? If it's roughly lathed, then that sounds like around the correct ammount of paste, but if it was smooth and shiny, then it was probably a bit much.

You want enough paste to very thinly (almost just a haze) cover the cpu die, assuming that the two surfaces will fit together cleanly - all you need to fill are the very small imperfections and microscopic gaps. If this is the case, you might have a tiny bit too much paste on.

At the end of the day however, those temperatures are pretty good (especially considering the stock cooler). You don't have to worry till you start hitting 70-80 degrees under load, and even at those temperatures, my XP2000+ ran fine for 3 years (before it was abandoned, due to shitty motherboard capacitors which had leaked electrolyte in a major way).

So yeah: don't worry about it.

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-05-28 06:17pm

It has a copper plate underneath. I think it was smooth, it seemed to have a sort of grain to it i suppose. It had a few scratches too.

It's probably going to go into the mid/high 50's under load I think. Well, what I might do is go to PC world tommorrow and get a new cooler. It's just freaked me out since my 3000+ AMD 64 ran at 45 deg under load, and it was OC'd to about 1980mhz.

Pezzoni · Post by **Pezzoni** » 2006-05-28 06:19pm

I wouldn't worry about it: The chips are rated up to 85/90 degrees in general. If you still want a new cooler however, I'd strongly reccomend the Zalman ones. Mine is keeping my 3500+ down to about 35 degrees, and with a minimum of noise.

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-05-28 07:01pm

Yeah, I just tried running 3d mark 2006 and it hit 69C by the time it was doing the CPU test. The fan when up to 6250RPM trying to keep it cool. The temp wasn't showing signs of stabilising, I think I'm going to just leave it for now. Must be too much paste or something. I'll try and get a Zalman, though I think the local PC world only had an Akasa stuff.

Thanks for the help.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-05-28 07:22pm

In the future, consider using high-purity isopropyl alcohol to clean thermal compound. I like to dip cotton swabs in alcohol and then gently scrub the compound off of the processor and the heatsink. This will help get the most used compound off possible.

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-05-28 07:43pm

Yeah, I'll look out some cleaning fluid while I'm out tommorrow.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-05-28 08:39pm

I have the heatpiped stock Opteron cooler laying around if you want it - you might have an older AMD heatsink. That said, the stock one should be more than sufficient - you might need to consider other factors, like the amount of thermal interface material or if your case has sufficient airflow.

Pezzoni · Post by **Pezzoni** » 2006-05-29 05:19am

Uraniun235 wrote:In the future, consider using high-purity isopropyl alcohol to clean thermal compound. I like to dip cotton swabs in alcohol and then gently scrub the compound off of the processor and the heatsink. This will help get the most used compound off possible.

I was always reccomended to use a lint-free cloth, to avoid leaving residue on the heatsink or cpu that could interfere with the thermal interface.

That said, I don't know if cotton swabs will do that... On thought, maybe not, due to their use medically?

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-05-29 11:24am

I don't recall seeing any residue any time I did it.

That said, lint-free cloth would probably work just as well. I just personally like using Q-Tips.

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-05-29 04:50pm

Ok, I got some cleaning fluid and tried about a rice grain of thermal paste. After running 3dMark2006 test, the temps settled at 62C.

I'd like to get a replacement cooler. I'm trying to find something suitable, but I'm not having much luck, could you recommend anything? The only thing I've found that seems suitable is an Akasa Evo 33. What your opinion on this?

Scored 4145 3dMarks if your interested.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-05-29 05:05pm

What kind of caseflow do you have going? Are your cables neat and tidy or are they all over the place obstructing airflow?

Do you have any additional case fans or do you just have a CPU fan and a power supply fan running?

Is your computer in an area where it can easily pull in fresh air and expel hot exhaust, or is it tucked in a corner?

Acidburns · Post by **Acidburns** » 2006-05-29 05:39pm

Uraniun235 wrote:What kind of caseflow do you have going? Are your cables neat and tidy or are they all over the place obstructing airflow?

Do you have any additional case fans or do you just have a CPU fan and a power supply fan running?

Is your computer in an area where it can easily pull in fresh air and expel hot exhaust, or is it tucked in a corner?

Case temp is around 38C atm. I've got an 8CM fan on the rear, another on the side, and a big 12CM (ish) one on the front. Mind you, the one on the front seems to do almost nothing. The area around the CPU is quite clear, but I've got the fat IDE cables running around at the front. The case is in a corner, it has around 7 inches clearance on the back and 12 inches on the side fan area.