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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.
This motherboard 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.
