X2 3800 Temperature Issues?

[NaNd0!]

Hello all, I just recently bought an Athlon 64 X2 3800 to replace my single core Opty (CPU-Z screenshot below).

Now the thing is I’m having trouble working out what’s going on with the temps on the X2. It would appear that one core is running hotter than the other both whilst idle AND under full load. I used SNM to do the heat test and used Everest to monitor the temperatures. Running XP Pro, installed the AMD X2 driver and task manager does show the two graphs for each cpu core.

When starting the heat test on both cores together… Everest shows the Core #1 temp shooting up almost instantaneously to around 52-55deg whilst the CPU reading and Core #2 reading increase steadily but never reaching as high as the Core #1 temp. Similarly when halting the heat test… the Core #1 test drops instantly back to around 34deg. A screenshot of both cores being tested is below... showing readings in both Everest and SNM.

Tried testing each core independently but still odd results where the Core #1 temp shoots up. Tried reseating the cooler and changed the paste… was Arctic Silver before… now on some Thermaltake stuff. Made no difference.

The cooler is the Freezer 64 Pro. Motherboard is an Asrock Dual Sata2 S939.

Any help anyone? I’m new to Dual core cpu’s but surely this isn’t correct/normal?

Ta.

Screenshots –


CPU-Z


TEMPS IN EVEREST AND SNM

 

[El Jimben]

One core does tend to run hotter than the other but 12 degrees is quite a difference between the 2, in my case, core #1 usually runs upto 6 degrees hotter under load than the other. I would hazard a guess that the core isn't making particularly good contact with the IHS.

 

[OsamaBinLaden]

As the guy mentioned above, it sounds like a core contacts issuse. Hopeful someone elses will replys with more informations on it.

 

[Modjo]

One core does tend to run hotter than the other but 12 degrees is quite a difference between the 2, in my case, core #1 usually runs upto 6 degrees hotter under load than the other. I would hazard a guess that the core isn't making particularly good contact with the IHS.

I was gonna mention the IHS but Jim beat me to it! Had simailar probs when I first upgraded my cpu cooler, I didn't spread the thermal compound evenly and got a dodgy contact. I took it apart and cleaned with some Tim-Clean and used a top-up card to evenly spread the thermal compound on the cpu. There's only about 2-3c difference between the 2 cores on mine. From what I've read in other threads, that's the norm.

 

[gaz_0001]

I have the x2 3800 windsor. clocked by 15% to 2300mhz.

I notice that my temp difference between the two cores is 3c.

 

[sablabra]

I've had the same problem myself... Check out this thread, I've done it with several x2 cpus and it more or less cures the problem: http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17614184&page=1

 

[ghgh]

Ive got an 8 degree difference in my temps on my x2 and it runs totally fine.

 

[NaNd0!]

Sweet.. cheers for all the replies.. removed the ihs in the end. temps dropped by almost 10 deg and both cores are now within a few degrees of each other.

There was definately poor contact between the ihs and cores as could be seen by the distinct lack of thermal compound stuff in the centre of the chip!

Had no trouble modding the freezer 64pro either to get it to fit.. thanks to sunlitsix for the idea on how to do that!

 

[El Jimben]

Sweet.. cheers for all the replies.. removed the ihs in the end. temps dropped by almost 10 deg and both cores are now within a few degrees of each other.

There was definately poor contact between the ihs and cores as could be seen by the distinct lack of thermal compound stuff in the centre of the chip!

Had no trouble modding the freezer 64pro either to get it to fit.. thanks to sunlitsix for the idea on how to do that!

NaNd0 or sunlitsix, please please tell me what you need to do in order to mod your AF64 pro ? I'm thinking about decapitating mine, as I'm sure it'll let me hit 3GHz (or more!) stable with less voltage. What sort of a difference did you notice in the load temps NaNd0?