I don't understand how my CPU survived

I finally got my new CoolerMaster heatsink installed the other day, after seeing some really extreme temperatures through HWMonitor. We're talking anywhere from 80 celcius to as high as in the hundreds. And we're not talking for just brief moments, these temperatures stuck around for a good period of time while I was gaming.

My CPU is a AMD Phenom II Black Edition processor, with the two other cores unlocked and with a 3.2ghz frequency. The stock heatsink just couldn't cut it anymore. I'm just in disbelief that my chip survived for so long at such high temperatures. I'm even more surprised that it didn't shut down, what are the thermal limits on these things? And by the way, my temperature readings are correct as they were all the same through SpeedFan, HwMonitor and my BIOS.

The Phenoms were especially hot CPUs. That is nothing out of the ordinary. They could handle the heat.

The Phenoms were especially hot CPUs. That is nothing out of the ordinary. They could handle the heat.

WiiRocks66

The thermal threshold of a Phenom II X4 is 62 or 63 degrees C. Seeing anything in the 80's should have killed it.

[QUOTE="WiiRocks66"]

The Phenoms were especially hot CPUs. That is nothing out of the ordinary. They could handle the heat.

hartsickdiscipl

The thermal threshold of a Phenom II X4 is 62 or 63 degrees C. Seeing anything in the 80's should have killed it.

Really? I've heard of them handling much hotter temps. Heck, my friend's original Phenom idles in the 60's and is still alive and in use today.

[QUOTE="hartsickdiscipl"]

[QUOTE="WiiRocks66"]

The Phenoms were especially hot CPUs. That is nothing out of the ordinary. They could handle the heat.

WiiRocks66

The thermal threshold of a Phenom II X4 is 62 or 63 degrees C. Seeing anything in the 80's should have killed it.

Really? I've heard of them handling much hotter temps. Heck, my friend's original Phenom idles in the 60's and is still alive and in use today.

Those were hot chips, the Ph2's ran colder.

i find this highly appropriate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkyhvCdJ_vM

them amd hardwares man. built to walk trhough fire and keep ticking. they simply put are impossible to kill with forces of nature

If anything that means your chip is of really high quality. Should be able to OC like a champ.Marfoo

[QUOTE="Marfoo"]If anything that means your chip is of really high quality. Should be able to OC like a champ.Elann2008

reading temps won't work at all for me when i unlock the remaining core on my x3 so i would think it messes with sensor data and i'd tend to not trust those figures. what readings did you get with just the stock 2 cores? and what are you getting with the new heatsink?

coincidentally motherboards have a safety mechanism that will switch off the system when cpu's get above a certain threshold, did you turn this off?

reading temps won't work at all for me when i unlock the remaining core on my x3 so i would think it messes with sensor data and i'd tend to not trust those figures. what readings did you get with just the stock 2 cores? and what are you getting with the new heatsink?

coincidentally motherboards have a safety mechanism that will switch off the system when cpu's get above a certain threshold, did you turn this off?

BLKR4330

I'm not quite sure what the readings were with the dual core. I never bothered checking, as the system appeared to ran cool and the fan's never got loud. Never played with the thermal settings on the BIOS either, but I'm sure there was a safety mechanism present.

With the old heatsink I was getting anywhere from 38 to 52 celcius idle, and under load 80 celcius to edging over 100 celcius. Now I idle at about 27 celcius (on average), and I never go above 45 celcius under load (with Prime95). So I'm pretty pleased.

I should mention that the new heatsink is a CM Hyper212 Plus+. Huge ass heatsink, I had a horrible time getting it installed on my motherboard and in my case (mid-size). But it works fine now.