10° Cooler

For the past few months I’ve been wondering why the Barton Core (Athlon XP 2500+) has been running hot at 60° when idle. Five minutes into C&C, AOE or COD and the system freezes. The only game that the Barton can seem to handle is Spider Solitaire! Sheesh! What a disgrace!

This even after the all-aluminum Antec Super Lanboy enclosure with two 120mm fans. This even after I keep the Lanboy’s side panel open! I figured may be the thermal compound between the Barton and the stock heat sink may have gone dry and thereby affected the level of heat dissipation. And yep the system was due for a dust-up.

So it’s off to the Mecca of Computer Land - Lamington Road, for some thermal compound. I pick up Arctic Cooling MX2 from Prime ABGB for Rs. 300/-.

Captains Log; Star Date 18052008

Sunday morning, 500 hrs, I unscrew the thumb screws of the Lanboy, remove the RAM, TV Tuner, power cable, IDE, HDD and front panel cables and the mobo (Asus A7N8X-VM). Slowly unclamp the heat sink and stare wryly at the dry compound over the exposed core.

Wifi’s nail polish remover comes in handy to clear the dry compound from the Barton and the heat sink.

Spread some of the Arctic MX 2 over the core, smother some on the heat sink and put everything back. Call in R2 to vacuum clean the dust I’ve brushed off the components.

After I power on the comp, I bring up the Asus Probe to get processor temp. reading - 50°.

800 hrs, it’s already hot outside but Barton is now running a good 10° cooler.