The Report of My Thermal Death Have Been...

A reader writes "Not too long ago, Tom's Hardware posted a video of the grisly events that take place when the heatsink is removed on an AMD Athlon MP 1.2GHz in an attempt to show that the chip has inadequate thermal protection unlike the Pentium 4. Apparently, this is not the case. This new video, which looks like was done by AMD, shows the system continuing to work when the heatsink is removed. Even 9 minutes of Quake3 without the fan operating wasn't enough to destroy the processor. So who is right? It's in AMD's best interest to show that their product doesn't disintigrate under extreme conditions. " Update: 10/30 14:11 GMT by H : Note that it was Terry 'quad3d' Wang that actually did the video - not AMDZone.

Comments

Re:whatever

[MasterOfDisaster]

Nobody would run it without a heatsink...if they knew it didnt have one (outside of a test) however, my heatsink was so f*cking heavy, it cracked off the little tabs and fell off while I was away (thank god the box was off, and it took out some power cables on the way so i couldnt start it up)
Features like this will save CPUs....

So the chips get hot. Who cares?

[imrdkl]

AMD has been around awhile, why wouldn't they test this? The original article was pretty sensational... is this some kind of /. retraction? Anyways, I feel pretty sure that these chips are not a fire hazard, and I dont usually store anything flammable inside of my box. If I burned one, I'd call AMD, and they'd replace it, I guess.

Besides, alot can be forgiven of the company that gave me a real math co-processor and "fast" math toys on Hercules graphics for my 4/8 mhz(turbo!) 286.

P.T. Barnum was right

[lophophore]

Yeah, you are an idiot for spending $1500 for $400 worth of stuff.

Hardware p0rn

[Codeala]

I object to this type of video trash. They provide an unrealistic, degrading portrayals of CPUs that take off their heat sinks/cooling units for no apparent reason! Like that sort of things happen all the time in real life.

I don't care who is making them, it must be stopped. Will someone think of the children!

Another test.... .45 to the core

[Catbeller]

I propose a new test: strap the mobo+Athlon to a wall.

Scientifically fire a .45 into the heart of the processor. Run performance test.

Tests may show that the Athlon does not hold up under impact of a projectile. A video of this process may be necessary to prove the point to the skeptical.

Naysayers and Athlon proponents may argue that this test does not reflect real-world operating conditions, but who cares -- it's a great video.

Re:Danger?

[hattig]

I would put the risk of a fire from an overheated CPU at about the same as the risk of being run over by a Vorlon battlecruiser.

1) CPU burns out internally, then everything stops
2) Nice metal case around computer

You can set fire to chocolate if you use it as a heatsink though - look at the HardOCP archives.

Re:What the fuck

[GiorgioG]

I had a window fan pointed at my open tower case during the summer. It definitely reduced cpu temps by at least 20 degrees....but I had to go re-comb my hair every time I used my PC.

Re:Small loss.

[Anonymous Coward]

Maybe you are. I'm quite happy with my Alpha, thanks.

The reason the video is only 9 minutes

[sunhou]

After 9 minutes, the video camera stopped working because the room all of this took place in was cooled to -50 degrees C...