what's going on : the answer
21 Apr 2011 12:29:03 UTC
Topic 195761
(moderation:
Hello folks,
I post a thread about crunching time that gets slower and slower.
I took the PC to the shop. 48 hours later, the problem seems to be solved. BRP3 needs 1 hour and S5GC needs 6 hours.
The failure was at the CPU - you were right Bikeman ! - : the white thermal paste was so cooked that it was all dried up. They put new thermal paste, the CPU gained 30° Celsius and run perfectly.
The "PC doctor" told me to put thermal paste every 6 months. Running Boinc is using the CPU at 100 % all the time, PC's are not build for that.
Well, if one of you see WUs taking more and more time to be crunched, and the fan runs at the right speed, check the thermal paste.
Hope that help.
I wanted to thank all of you who helped me during the pasts months by giving advices. It helped me a lot to understand the failure and "play" with all the parameters... ;-)
Bests.
Lionel.
what's going on : the answer
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I disagree there. I've had machines running at 100% cpu usage for years without issue. I've never had to replace the paste unless swapping heat sinks or cpus.
Consider this: In the DOS, Netware, etc, ages, there actually was no idle time. The CPU would just be running at 100% saying "anything to do!? nope, anything to do!?!? nope."
Either the paste was bad, or applied wrong in the first place (too much?).
i also have to disagree with
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i also have to disagree with the "PC doctor"...not that replacing the thermal paste every so often isn't a good preventative measure if you're having heat problems, the source of which you're having trouble pinpointing. that being said, if it was applied properly in the first place (a nice even, thin layer of compound with no air bubbles trapped inside), you can go years of running the CPU at 100% load and not have to replace the thermal compound.
RE: RE: The "PC doctor"
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I have to agree here, cpu paste does not 'go bad' it can be applied too heavily, too thin or not at all but I have never seen it 'go bad'. I have seen it be very dry when I have replaced it but it was still working just fine. I too have been crunching for a VERY long time and have never had a cpu go bad from using it. I have replaced machines and cpu's but never because one went bad, it has always been to upgrade the cpu and/or machine. I have cpu's sitting on the shelf that are perfectly fine, they are just slower than the ones I am currently using!
RE: ...but I have never
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there are plenty of sub-prime thermal compounds out there that "go bad" over time. and when they "dry out," their capacity to transfer heat decreases significantly. if you've dealt with dried up thermal compound but didn't experience a significant increase in temps, consider yourself fortunate. i've seen some ceramic based compounds dry up over time and cause heat problems, and i've seen other ceramic based compounds dry up over time and not cause heat problems...but seriously, who wants to take a chance? just stay away from the ceramic based stuff and you'll reduce your chances of having to deal with dried out thermal compound later on down the road.
while i can't speak for various other thermal compounds, i have been using Arctic Silver compounds for the last 10 years without a problem. OP, assuming your "PC doctor" did a good job applying the new thermal compound, and assuming it isn't ceramic based junk, i wouldn't be surprised if you don't need a new application of compound in 6 months time.
Well, I don't know if the
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Well, I don't know if the first paste was badly apply or if it was a cheap product.
What I know is what to do if I see the performances going down.
I'm using PC for years. I started with a 80286... ;-)
I'm not using my computer as much as now. I do agree this is the first time I've seen this kind of failure.
Well, I'll check in the next 6 month if the perf's are still good or not.
Bests.
Lionel.
Hi! Glad you could solve
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Hi!
Glad you could solve the problem. PCs are usually quite reliable these days, so everybody suspects a software problem first when something goes wrong :-)
HB
RE: Consider this: In the
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Many of those CPUs ran cool enough they didn't need a heatsink at all, and 486's just had tiny little ones; IIRC all passive types.
RE: RE: ...but I have
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I too use Artic Silver exclusively now, I did use some other stuff in the past but all the magazines rated Artic Sliver the best so i switched too.
RE: Artic Sliver A bad
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A bad sequel to an already bad Sliver. ;-)
RE: RE: Artic Sliver A
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"Sliver", as in the movie? Would you believe that I actually paid good money to see it?
Back on topic--A look at product reviews on the vendors' websites shows that there's a real difference in the different heat pastes.