New CPU keeps overheating.

I just upgraded from an Athlon 2 250 3ghz dual core CPU to a Phenom 2 965 black edition 3.4 ghz quad core CPU. I put thermal paste on it but the computer keeps turning off after about 10 minutes.

Make sure that the CPU heatsink/fan is properly mounted.

The heatsink/fan is properly connected.

And how do you know that's the cause?

PIIs should be below 62C

What do you mean? My CPU gets up to about 85C then the computer turns off.

Reseat the heatsink and apply less thermal paste, check out a couple of YT vids; it's possible that you're using way too much. Make sure the fan is running.

Other things to note:

Possible BIOS update.

The cooler is simply insufficient.

PSU? 85C should'nt downright shut down the computer, I think. Unless that's the temp while just doing basic stuff in Windows... Then you have serious heat issues.

Reseat the CPU, just because.

Redo the thermal paste too much and not enough will cause the same issue. reseat the heatsink and make sure the fan is plugged in and working as well. Also are you using the heatsink that came with the Phenom or the one from the Athlon? using the the one from the Athlon would be the issue as well the Phenom 2's above 3ghz use the heatsinks with copper base and heat pipes.

My Phenom II X4 955 BE is running 30C idle and ~42C at load. That is with a Xigmatek Rifle 92 cooler. Currently it is at stock, I need to re-overclock it but I don't remember my temps above 50C when it was.

What do you have for a heatsink? I would remove it and reapply paste. I like Arctic Silver 5. I use either the "X" method or the simple rice-sized dot in the middle. I've had this CPU for 5 years with no issue other than testing out unstable clocks.

I have a similar Phenom CPU and only got good temps with a large case, twin fan heatpipe cooler and good quality paste.

I'm idling now at 29 deggres, but that will sure go up in summer however (more to like 35-37.)

I've reseated the cpu and heatsink. I am using the cooler from the Athlon. But would this cause it to shut down that quickly, (in 10 minutes)?

I think I've used the right amount of thermal paste, I watched a video to learn how to do it.

Yes it can , you can see the cooling difference between the stock heatsinks. Your going from a 65w TDP cpu to 125w TDP cpu.

I am running a 965BE.

The Athlon cooler was never made to handle a Phenom II 965BE. In fact, I ditched the stock Phenom II cooler that came with the chip within a few days - even it it did an extremely poor job keeping it cool. Fan was constantly roaring trying to keep it cool. Mind you, I never hit anywhere near 85... but it was very hot, even at idle, with the stock cooler.

I bought a low-cost Coolermaster tower fan (Hyper 212 Evo) and it idles at about 31-4 in my poorly ventilated case and never gets hot at all. 100% worth it; I see no option here - you can't use the Athlon cooler, and I recommend you skip ordering an OEM-style as well as it is just not a good cooler and insufficient for that chip. Pick up something decent but affordable like the Hyper 212 since you have to shell out for a new cooler anyway. Buy some Arctic Silver thermal compound and don't over-do it - a tiny bit (per instructions) evenly spread over is sufficient. It won't cool properly if you use too much.

Thanks for the replies, I did use arctic silver thermal paste, I just bought a stock 965 black edition cooler from ebay.

Let us know how it goes - presumably it's designed to be "good enough", but mine got pretty darn toasty with the stock cooler

My Phenom 2 X4 955 runs cool with its stock heatsink, keeps it at 55C with full load. However its in a well ventilated case.

I got the new heatsink and fan today. I tried to take out my old heatsink and fan but it was stuck to the processor. I probably used a bit too much thermal paste, I did separate them. Now about 4 or 5 pins of the CPU are bent. How can I fix them?

@Joe77: Remember to wiggle and jiggle the heatsink to break the thermal compound seal to remove the heatsink.

Just bend them back straight with a thin bladed knife, or flat head screwdriver or you can use a mechanical pencil(without the lead) like .7mm sized, and use that to bend back the pins.

@04dcarraher: Thanks for the reply. I've just bought a 0.7mm mechanical pencil from ebay. I've got one more question, how do you get the thermal paste off the CPU? The heatsink and fan I bought has already got thermal paste on it.

@Joe77:

You can use cotton swabs and rubbing alcohol make sure its beyond 70% alcohol by volume

Denatured alcohol works pretty good.

Thanks for the replies, I bought rubbing alcohol.

I found the stock 955 cooler to be crap, mine hit 60 at load in an Antec 900 case. With the CM212+ it maxed out at 45.

As long as it kept it below 62C it was ok. But with my stock cooler on 955 kept it below 55C.

Yeah my 965BE easily hit (if memory serves, even exceeded) 60 under load too with the stock cooler. Now with the 212 it never gets anywhere near those temps at all

Good luck with the pins. I bent some in the past, bending it back did absolutely nothing for me.

Stock cooler was bad, I'd reach 55c sometimes. 62c is the max, I don't want to be near that with the cpu at stock. With my 212 EVO and a OC to 4.00ghz, I'd peak around 42c when gaming. Even with prime95 going, the max was 47c.

I'm worried that the pins might break if I try to bend them back, one pin in particular which is quite badly bent, is there much chance of this happening and what is the best way to bend them back, I can't use the mechanical pencil on the pin that is badly bent, it's more than 45 degrees.

It's really easy to straighten the pins back to how they were previously, just get a needle and a magnifying glass and be very careful.

If you can straighten the pin back to how it was prior it will be as good as new.

I agree, it's night-and-day between the 212 Evo and the stock with that chip

^ this. Just to elaborate - set the chip down on a clean flat surface so the pins face up, slip a needle under the bent pin, and gently twist or lift it up. It is very unlikely it will break - it bent that easily because it is malleable to begin with. If you want, you can switch to the mechanical pencil method once you have it tipped upwards enough