Uh oh. Is this Athlon Chip ok?

[Mighty Joe]

I just got the MSI K7-T Turbo Limited (Love it) with a 1.4 266 fsb athlon. Here's the problem. The fan i got was the
DP5-6I31-A1 shown in the link below. This fan was the worst I've ever used. I've built many systems, but this fan was my worst nightmare. The clips could not be adjusted and the tension it produces is enourmous. After putting thermal past on, I tried many times to put it on, all in vain, until finally the dreaded sound. That grinding that scares the day lights out of you. I look under the heatsink, and a tiny fragment of the die was crushed off. At this point I was just plain livid, and forced the fan in place. The fragment that crumbled off was tiny, but I'm wondering if it damaged the cpu's performance. I turned the system on, and everything works fine. I installed the VIA Hardware monitor 10.23 or something. It says my cpu is 50 degrees at normal use, and at load 56. I don't want to take the fan off cuz I feel lucky just to get it on. I was just wondering if it has something to do with the fact that my motherboard has a its sensor actually touching the bottom of my chip whereas my other botherboards were not in actual contact with the chip. I wish i got the volcano. What should I do? This is the first time this has ever happened? Is the temp readings more accurate with software provided from MSI? Is the temp reading have to do with the speck that crumbled off? Usually my systems run at 29, 30 in casual use. I have one case fan blowing air out. I will try having it blow in air. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

http://www.tcwo.com/cgi-bin/webc.cgi...gi2Ty0HC7ZKBty

[SPEEDO]

You were very lucky most of the time this would have been a crisis!
If it is running at 50c at idle I would not touch anything!
In my mind this is a dogsh.. design on AMD's part!
I don't know how many CPU's have been destroyed this way.

SPEEDO

[BobyJo]

If it works, don't be fixin it. If you feel that the cpu needs replacing, be sure you get a cooler that meets specs of applying the proper amount of pressure from the hs to the cpu. There are some that meets these specs and will not break the cpu, and there are some that is so awqward that breaking the cpu is something that happens quite often. I recommend that you get a hs/fan assembly that will work, but not breaking the cpu. One of the best is the ThermoEngine. This new design is about an inch shorter than the original but will not break anything.

A good shopping place is www.maxcooler.com They have a vast display of hs/fans. Good prices, great shipping, they will ship to you via USPO/priority mail. You wil get your cooler in 2-3 days fo about $5.00 shipping and handeling.

[Mighty Joe]

Thanks Speedo. I almost flipped when i saw that speck from the die's corner. I wouldn't have had the problem if the clip had a stupid adjustment option like even the generic supercool HS/Fan. I just looked through the posts again and saw that for the 1.4, it's not so bad to be at 50 degrees c. I could be worse. Generally, does the CPU just stop working if specks come off the die? Thanks again.

[MaxVal]

If it works at all, it's OK!
Don't mess with success!!
MAX

[Wizzard~Of~Ozz]

I took a small piece off the corner of my Duron and it still works, actually after I chipped the corner it will post at 1.05Ghz (Windows locks though) and before the chip it wouldn't post at 1Ghz. (Although I wouldn't recommend doing this). I feel lucky it posted it was a large chip in my eye's. Ah well, if yers runs great don't touch it, if you feel the need to replace the heatsink get a new chip first since it probably won't survive the removal.

[NavyDood_ F/A18_Mech]

A buddy of mine has a Duron 750 running at 1163 (or some where in the 1100's). Sorry dunt remember exactly. He chipped his corner too. Apparently Durons don't care.

[JayMan]

My athlon got chipped, due to very poor heatsink mounting on my computer shops part. It worked great until i pulled it about wondering why it was running so hot, when i pulled it off i seen it was chipped (and missing one of the pads on the corners of the cpu), i put it all back together carefully and wouldn't post. I took it back to the shop and told em the computer is stuffed, they pulled it apart and ended up replacing the cpu and mobo on waranty

There is a post in here called something like "is my athlon f****d -urgent-" about my whole story and the outcome. If your interested i can find it and give ya a link. Its got some pics of my cpu in it too.

JayMan

[JayMan]

Heres a link to my topic.

http://www.sysopt.com/forum/showthre...threadid=45826

JayMan

[Ruahrc]

Whew if I had a digicam I'd show you the size of the chip on my old Tbird 1GHz. When I saw it me and all of my friends were convinced it would not work but lo and behold it worked for several months before succumbing to an as of yet unexplained accident.

Definately don't mess with it if it works- but for future reference I always looked at my HSF clip and if it was too tight I'd get two pairs of pliers and bend them down a little so the pressure wasn't so high.

Ruahrc