AMD overheating

My moms computer has an AMD Athlon 1800+ processor I stuck my hand in the fan by mistake and changed the fan only, to a cool master DP5-6I11A and it has temperatures of around 66 degrees, what is the problem?

It could be a number of things... what exactly happened... and what exactly did you do?

Did you remvove the heatsink to replace the fan?
If so then you would need to replace the thermal paste between the heatsink and the cpu.

Did you unscrew the fan and replace it, leaving the heatsink in place?
It could be that you knocked the heatsink, or when you caught your hand in the fan, the heatsink moved. Again this would disturb the thermal paste, which will need replaced.

Is the new fan the same as the old one? This could also be where the problem lies.

Hope this helps to pinpoint the problem.

Personally I replace the thermal compound at least once a year........it does break down over time.
As far as your new fan,what is it rated for.......CFM wise......might be the same size but haver a lower CFM
Example
Masscool 70x70x15
Masscool 70x70x15
Notice the second example pushes more CFM (Cubic Feet per Meter)

the product he tells us about is an entire hsf assembly.

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Cooler_Master...cooler__5459486

i have model quite similar to that one. it cooled a thunderbird 1 ghz to about 55 IIRC - thus a athlon xp 1800+ should stay well below 60 on that cooler.

it is most probably the thermal pad. it is imperative to clean off the thermal pad once the old heatsink has been removed. best way to do this is with cotton swabs and isopropynol IMO. of course, if this was not done prior to the installation of the new HSF, then it explains the high temperatures. IIRC, thermal paste came pre-applied on mine. so you'll have to clean the whole thing off and get some thermal paste (Arctic Silver 5 is most recomended)

I didn't change the heatsink just the fan, I probably need to change the entire heatsink or clean off the paste or something. But i'm afraid I'll put too much paste or too little. Any help!

Could I clean off the old paste with rubbing alcohol?

Redoing the paste should help, most folk will recommend using Arctic Silver 5, so do I

Google it and have a look at the Arctic Silver website, there are some good instructions that show you how to do it.... for an AMD chip they recommend a blob the size of an uncooking grain of rice.

As for cleaning the CPU, a high isopropyl alcohol concentration of ~70%+ is what you need, I believe most rubbing alcohols qualify. Just make sure its free of contaminants and use a lint free cloth, and take the usual precautions when you poke around in your box (anti-static etc...)

Thermal paste is pretty darn important, and while it may seem daunting to remove and replace it... it really is a simple thing to do.

If your are running at 66C (on load I assume), I'd hope you'd see an affect immediately, but it will take a few days of "burn in" before you start to see long term affects...

Any probs just ask

The cooler master hsf combo I bought came with some white paste on the bottom of the heatsink, that would be the thermal paste right?

Yes.......Probably not as good as Arctic Silver 5 thought.......it'll get you buy

Here's the page with the instructions http://www.arcticsilver.com/ins_route_step2amdas5.html
Which one should I go on with my 1800+
Sorry if i'm being alittle difficult but I don't want to total my pc.

The best way is to read the three that will likely apply your CPU (small expose core, large exposed core and large core with heat spreader) then look at CPU to check which one it is...

Since its an older model I'm guessing it will probably be a small exposed core

when cleaning your headsink/ processor die make sure to use coffee filters.

dap some 70-90% alchohol on it and wipe/scrub

the fibers in the coffee filter soak up and dirt and shit, so you can really get down into the defects on the copper and pull up any heat trapping grime.

make sure to do it to both the heatsink and processor die