K7VAT
System Board 79
5-2 System
Cooling
In older computer systems cooling was not a big issue. But with CPU speed constantly
increasing improper cooling of the system as a whole can lead to hard to trace problems.
The KTAPRO comes with 4 FAN Headers, make use of them!
The following is an excerpt from a warning AMD released on this issue:
The new PGA (Pin Grid Array) AMD Athlon(tm) and AMD Duron(tm) processors
have very different thermal specifications from any preceding AMD processor. Due to
these differences, the AMD Athlon and AMD Duron processors should NEVER be
run without a heatsink, not even for a few seconds. Doing so will cause the processor
to overheat and fail immediately, resulting in permanent damage. While testing a
processor by booting it up for several seconds without a heatsink installed may be
common industry practice, it should never be attempted with the new PGA AMD
Athlon and AMD Duron processors... Additionally, the new exposed flip-chip design
of the PGA AMD Athlon and AMD Duron processors requires a clip load between 12
and 24 pounds (typically 16 pounds), a load that may not be met by most older
heatsink designs. A thermal compound, such a thermal grease or phase-change
material, must ALWAYS be applied between the processor and heatsink as well.
Typically, AMD recommended heatsinks that include the thermal compound. If the
thermal compound must be purchased separately, a list of suggested compounds can
be found in the 'AMD Thermal, Mechanical, and Chassis Cooling Design Guide'.
Refer to the AMD website.
