Reasons to not buy a CPU

[Seehund]

JetRacer wrote:
I use Spire EagleRockII with my 1.666GHz AMD plug. 41 degrees w/o load, 44 with load (2800 rpm). The bad stats is probably related to me not able to remove all of the old thermal pad from the chip :-(

I wouldn't say that those are bad stats.

My two Palomino AthlonMP 1900+ (oc'd to ~1750MHz, or something like "2200+") weigh in at ~60 deg. C under max load (i.e. always ).
Spire Whisperrock II HSFs here.

As long as it's below what AMD says is the max (80-85 deg. IIRC), I don't worry about it.

[Seehund]

JetRacer wrote:
> AMD says is the max (80-85 deg. IIRC)

Seriusly..? I replaced the old one (aluminum cheapo enherited from a 1GHz Duron) because my CPU became unstable already at 58-59 degrees.

Yes, seriously. There are PDFs over at AMD.com which I can't be bothered to search through again... But it just means that the CPU won't be damaged as long as it's below the max rated tempereature. It doesn't guarantee it'll be stable though. I'd say your 44 deg. under load is normal, if not even low. It's not a good idea to compare with the peltier/water/extra-terrestrial-technology cooling freaks (who often seem to have misunderstood the original idea of overclocking; getting good performance while paying less).

My system is rock stable now. If I push up the FSB 1 more MHz, I get the occasional lockup in Linux (WinXP seems to be more tolerant). The CPU temperature OTOH changes much more with my room temperature than with increasing/decreasing the FSB with a MHz. My system stability seems to be more dependent on the actual frequency than temperature.