I am fed up with this. If you don't already know, I have an XP 2600+ CPU running at 2.6ghz clock speed [clock, not equivilant. 2ghz clock speed before overclocking]. I have an audible alarm that goes off when the CPU gets to 65*C. I also have an adjustable fan speed for the CPU fan. I usually keep it at about 40% when the system is idling [keeps the temps at 50* or so]. Then, whenever I need to do something CPU intensive, I crank it up to 100%. I do that, and the damn thing STILL overheats! It gets to about 72* and then it just shuts down. I have lost about 20mhz since this started. I need to fix this, because it is REALLY annoying! I have 7 total fans in my system [three intake, three exhaut, one CPU]. The fans are all equal as far as CFM rating, except the CPU one. The air coming out of the exhaust fans isn't blazing hot, just warm like it always has been. I am going to underclock the CPU now, and see if that helps any, but I don't think it will. What do you guys think?


-justin

I once had an overheating problem, and found that my heatsink was on backwards. I didn't notice that there were notches in the heatsink mounting surface that lined up with raised notches. It'* an Athlon XP also.

Keep the clock speed down. You won't get a huge jump in performance by overclocking a lot. I've tried it in the past, and I noticed no differences, even though benchmarks show slight improvements. All I got was a hot CPU.

Underclocked the CPU to 1500mhz. Seeing now a 2*C drop. Seeing a huge drop in performance though :(. I've got all the fans cranked up, and will see if I notice anything cooler.

Jwikoff: I don't think I understand.. notches? Like on the mating surface? Or on the clips?

My heatsink is lapped by the way.. just in case that matters.


-justin

You need to get serious on the fan situation there bud if it is runnin at 72 C..or get the fire extinguisher ready to fire.

Hmm, only 2*. What kind of heatsink do you have? Is it copper or aluminum?

as sol said benchmarks only sho slight improvements, and u overclocked alot, try overclocking small amounts... and dont overclock with a retail box fan. i only have a small amount of experiance with overclocking, if nobody else here can give u information u need u might want to check out the anandtech forums were there are more people with experiance overclocking systems.

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...&Sku=T925-1064

That'* my heatsink, minus the Copper. It'* all aluminum.

My old heatsink is in my mom'* system [also XP 2600+] and her'* is an open system [just case, no cover] with only that one heatsink/fan. It'* just a cheapie too, and it sits at 59*C all day long. Never had a problem with it [was my old CPU, too. We just switched around, to see if my CPU was defective]. I am stumped at the moment. A new heatsink may be in order..


-justin

the 2600+ was not designed to run at 2.6 ghz, it was designed to compete with the intel pentium 4 2.6 ghz

You might wanna consider an all copper heatsink. I've experimented with many kinds. I used to have a Volcano 9. I have an AMD 2500+. I didn't like the Volcano 9 because it wasn't doing a great job for as big of a heatsink it was. I swtiched to the CoolerMaster Aero 7, which is all copper, and I've had great results with it. It stays very cool.