AMD K6-2 400AFQ Overheating? \ VOGONS

AMD K6-2 400AFQ Overheating?

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First post, by bergqvistjl

Posted on 2019-03-17, 14:41

bergqvistjl Offline

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Specs
Jetway J-542B with AMD K6-2 400AFQ - which apparently has a max operating temp of 60 degrees: http://www.cpu-world.com/info/id/AMD-K6-ident … K6_2_and_K6_III
32MB RAM
ATI Rage Pro 128
MS-DOS 6.22 (Fresh install)

So after applying the patched "write-back" BIOS for my mobo from here: http://web.inter.nl.net/hcc/J.Steunebrink/k6plus.htm My games are no longer crashing.

However, 30secs or so into the game (Grand Prix 2) the system abruptly rebooted. And even before I patched the bios, it rebooted in a similar way when the system was playing the intro movie of the game. I'm assuming the reboots are due to the CPU overheating - 60 degrees max temp does seem a bit low?

Unfortunately I can only fit one of these piddly little 50mm coolers: https://www.startech.com/uk/Computer-Parts/Fa … m-fan~FAN370PRO on it unfortunately, due to the capacitors crowding the CPU socket on the motherboard.

The cooler's fan is blowing air into the direction of the heatsink - I don't know if that's correct or not. If I switched the fan's direction, would that cause a noticeable drop in temperature?

Finally, if I was to upgrade to a AMD-K6-2+/550ACZ (Which has a higher max temperature of 85 degrees and a lower voltage of 2.0V), would that give me more headroom to breathe, or would the increased clock rate still have me hitting the temperate threshold to the same degree?

Reply 1 of 5, by rmay635703

Posted on 2019-03-17, 14:53

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Drop the clock 50mhz, past experience says that if it’s overheating lowering the clock will fix it, if lowering the clock has no affect you have something else going on

Reply 2 of 5, by retardware

Posted on 2019-03-17, 14:55

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bergqvistjl wrote:
The cooler's fan is blowing air into the direction of the heatsink - I don't know if that's correct or not. If I switched the fan's direction, would that cause a noticeable drop in temperature?

Finally, if I was to upgrade to a AMD-K6-2+/550ACZ (Which has a higher max temperature of 85 degrees and a lower voltage of 2.0V), would that give me more headroom to breathe, or would the increased clock rate still have me hitting the temperate threshold to the same degree?

The airflow direction is correct, this cools the caps around the CPU better than other way around, and makes less dirt.
Putting these fans other direction around would make them create vacuum, instead of creating pressure. And this kind of fans is very bad at creating underpressure.

Second question: Probably you will gain some headroom, if the power consumption is not much higher.

Reply 3 of 5, by bergqvistjl

Posted on 2019-03-17, 15:34

bergqvistjl Offline

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retardware wrote:
The airflow direction is correct, this cools the caps around the CPU better than other way around, and makes less dirt. Putting […]
Show full quote
bergqvistjl wrote:
The cooler's fan is blowing air into the direction of the heatsink - I don't know if that's correct or not. If I switched the fan's direction, would that cause a noticeable drop in temperature?

Finally, if I was to upgrade to a AMD-K6-2+/550ACZ (Which has a higher max temperature of 85 degrees and a lower voltage of 2.0V), would that give me more headroom to breathe, or would the increased clock rate still have me hitting the temperate threshold to the same degree?

The airflow direction is correct, this cools the caps around the CPU better than other way around, and makes less dirt.
Putting these fans other direction around would make them create vacuum, instead of creating pressure. And this kind of fans is very bad at creating underpressure.

Second question: Probably you will gain some headroom, if the power consumption is not much higher.

Hmmm. Well i'd like to try a beefier cooler (one that has a cut out so it will fit around the caps), but I can't seem to find any on ebay for Socket 7 anymore.

Reply 4 of 5, by retardware

Posted on 2019-03-17, 21:16

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bergqvistjl wrote:
retardware wrote:
bergqvistjl wrote:

Well i'd like to try a beefier cooler (one that has a cut out so it will fit around the caps), but I can't seem to find any on ebay for Socket 7 anymore.

When I was overhauling my K6-2/500 PC I replaced the taiwan-made old fan on the S7 cooler with one I took from an old beamer.
Although the power consumption rated on the "new" Japanese-made fan was lower than that one the little-trustworthy-looking old fan, the effect was massive, as I could barely feel the cooler get warm anymore.