I have in my possession a Phenom II x4 system that i bought off craigslist. When I got it, i couldn't help but notice that the heatsink on it was almost pathetically small for it, being more along the lines of something that would be used for an Athlon II x2 or a Sempron, not a 125W Phenom II 920. On top of that, the chipset heatsink is also quite small, and it gets very hot even at idle (60C easily). I swapped the extruded piece of crap heatsink out for a Scythe Shuriken Rev B, and even in this repurposed HP SFF case, it lowered all temps by a good 3-5C (with the silence being a big plus).
Now, I left the machine on overnight last night, and when I got to it today i found that it had soft-locked, with the only hint being what went wrong was some minor artifacting and flickering around the cursor.
That leads me to my question: Is it possible that, while in the previous owner's hands, the extended periods of high temperatures due to inadequate cooling have cause permanent damage to either the CPU or the chipset? I know Phenom IIs are fairly sensitive to high temperatures, and I have no doubt the CPU slid past 62C more than once, but the bigger question lies with the board.
Thoughts?
Edit: before you ask, yes the system is at stock. I dont trust 3 phases to handle a 125W chip at anything more than stock anyways.
Now, I left the machine on overnight last night, and when I got to it today i found that it had soft-locked, with the only hint being what went wrong was some minor artifacting and flickering around the cursor.
That leads me to my question: Is it possible that, while in the previous owner's hands, the extended periods of high temperatures due to inadequate cooling have cause permanent damage to either the CPU or the chipset? I know Phenom IIs are fairly sensitive to high temperatures, and I have no doubt the CPU slid past 62C more than once, but the bigger question lies with the board.
Thoughts?
Edit: before you ask, yes the system is at stock. I dont trust 3 phases to handle a 125W chip at anything more than stock anyways.