Maximum Temperature for Athlon Thunderbird? 1

[MRBOps]

Any opinions on the acceptable maximum continuous temperature for an AMD Athlon Thunderbird 1GHz?
I normally see 90 - 100°F, but when I go to continuous 100% processor utilization (like for video rendering) it gradually (over about 15 min) warms up to 135°F. At that temperature I have HMonitor set to throttle the processor back to 75%. This cools it back down to about 120°F.

I'm running the processor on a Tyan S2390 board with 512K of memory. The case has 3 fans (including the one on the power supply). The motherboard temperature runs 1° or 2° above ambient, so I think the case fans are doing their job. I've considered removing the heat sink and changing from silicone to the supposedly better silver based heat transfer cement. Would prefer to avoid the trouble and risk of damage if this is not necessary. The securing clip for the heat sink is hard to release without damaging a capacitor next to it.

 

[smah]

Thunderbird has the 233 FSB, right? According to this

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/DownloadableAssets/electrical_Specification.pdf,

it looks like up to 95°C (203°F) should be alright, but I wouldn't run it that hard for very long. When I'm working my 1333Mhz processor hard, it gets as high as 63°C (145.5°F). I've been running like this for quite a while without any problems.

 

[bmac50]

According to AMD's site the max temp for what you have is 90C or 194F so your well within limits.

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/23794.pdf

Changing from silicone to the supposedly better silver based will yield a lower temp but probably only 4 degrees or so. I'm running a 1GHZ with a Volcano 7+ and Arctic Silver 3 and never see temps over 40C.

 

[MRBOps]

Thanks for the info, and the link to the AMD tech documents. Looks like I will be OK if I use HMonitor to keep the temp limited to 57°C max (135°F)

Something that worked surprisingly well: My case has an air extractor fan on the back (in addition to the one on the power supply). I turned it around so it blows into the case. That way it blows outside air directly across the top of the CPU fan. I got a 2°C idle temp drop on the CPU and it takes much longer to reach 57°C when in 100% usage. As an added benefit, I can now put a filter on the outside of the case, over the fan, and stop dust intrusion into the case. Finally, since the fan pumps in more air than the power supply can pump out, the remainder exits out the slots in the front (there is a detectable breeze), after it passes across the HD's. This keeps them cool.

This runs counter to the conventional wisdom of "in at the front bottom, out at the back top" but it seems to work well.

 

[smah]

If it works then go with it.

 

[CapsMan]

Install an extract fan, (£10) in a spare pci slot, and give it plenty of room at the back. Cool!
CapsMan.
The Computer Unprofessional.