I have AMD Athlon , 1.5 GHz, 512 MB of RAM. It is very noisy. It sounds like a vaccuum cleaner. If i have it running for 3 hours the desktop gets too hot. When I opened it up I saw that the noise was coming from the Microprocessor. Is it worth buying a new processor?
2006-12-09 12:39:15 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous in Computers & Internet ➔ Hardware ➔ Desktops
Before I start, I have 2 questions:
-Heat: is your Athlon accidentaly overcloqued?
-Noise: Can you look if all propellers of the fan cooler are physically in ok condition?
I can bet you are running on a "Palomino" core Athlon XP 1.5Ghz. ("palomino" is the core code name of the processor) You can check that with a freeware program called CPUZ which can be downloaded at www.cpuid.com, I really recommend it, to see the truth of what are you running in. The program will just open a window with all the info in it.
The history of the Palomino core Athlons is that they are known for being very hot under heavy tasks. And that's why they installed a noisy fan over it, I'm pretty sure the processor is being cooled very well. If it wasn't cooled well, you risk of shortening its life or even burn it. Those were famous because of that problem.
Newer Athlons that came immediatly after the Palominos, are much colder (T-bred and Barton Athlons).
Then you have 3 possible options:
-Check with CPUZ the brand and model of your motherboard (yes, generally it can give you that information too) so you can check which processor can replace the old 1.5Ghz Athlon, and I really recommend it only if you need a performance boost, I recommend any T-bred athlon (usually above the 1.4Ghz). The Barton core athlons are good, they have more caché (512K against 256k, which may improve most task performance a little bit) and they are 1,833 Ghz and up to 2.2 Ghz
-The second option is much cheaper, just get a new "silent" heatsink and fan for the old Athlon, we can help you to make a choice. However, I would check newegg.com, usually newegg users make good reviews. silentpc.com has a guide and advices for silencing your PC. Just make sure you don't use thermal grease and thermal tape at the same time because it will act against thermal dissipation. Big amounts of thermal tape or thermal grease will also act against thermal dissipation while the real reason of thermal tape/grease is to make the heatsink to be in perfect contact to the processor and make the high temp travel from the processor to the heatsink.
Just remember, processor + heatsink without thermal grease/tape in the middle, can be dangerous for the processor, since both surfaces aren't really mirror shaped and they could have lots of air particles in between them.
-The third option is a little bit dangerous for the health of the cpu, It consists of lowering the voltage of the fan cooler to make it run slower and that translates to less noise but CPU temp will increase. but in case you may read the actual temp by entering the Bios of your PC (under the hardware monitor tab) or downloading a software like sis sandra (www.sisoftware.net) that will tell the temp under windows environment, just make sure that it doesn't reach more than 60ºC (at 80ºC the CPU could say bye bye)
2006-12-09 13:40:57 · answer #1 · answered by thefumigator 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As far as I know, micropocessors themselves have no moving parts and seldom make noise. However the CPU usually has a fan/heat sink attached to it, and fans do have moving parts and make noise. Fans can be replaced. You may wish to unplug the computer and see if teh fan is clogged with dust. Don't use a vacuum cleaner on it, they generate static.
You may wish to consult an expert on the fan/heatsink replacement, they can be interesting to the novice.
2006-12-09 12:44:47 · answer #2 · answered by Computer Guy 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
CPUs don't make noise. It's just the CPU cooler fan. You can buy another one at best buy or Circuit City. Don't forget the heat sink grease.
2006-12-09 13:09:44 · answer #3 · answered by Nomadd 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Buy a new heatsink/fan combo for your CPU instead.
Overclockers.com has a TON of practical reviews.
2006-12-09 12:42:18 · answer #4 · answered by Kasey C 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Processors now are kind of pricely these days, I suggest that if you ar going to but a new processors, mine as well get a new computer. Sell this one and get a new one. But I do nto suggest to but a new provcessor unless you know how to install one because it is pretty difficult and I biuld compters. But if you do want a new processor I suggest FRYS at outpost.com where you could get good quality products for good price.
2006-12-09 12:43:01 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 2⤋
just clean or replace the old fan and heatsink and fan
2006-12-09 14:04:02 · answer #6 · answered by SANDY 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋