I was transcoding some audio files last week when my computer suddenly shut off. After a little investigation I figured out that my CPU was overheating. I have an AMD 64 X2 4400+ chip in my computer, which is pretty powerful, but AMD chips are usually pretty good for temperature, so I was surprised. It was idling at around 40 degrees, but when I started transcoding on both cores the temperature immediately shot up to 97 degrees and then my computer shut itself off again in a desperate attempt to avoid damage.

So, I went out and bought a Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu Heatsink, because it was the cheapest decent heatsink that the local computer store had. After much frustration trying to install the new heatsink (if anyone else out there has a K8N Neo4-f and is attempting this, you have my sympathies... send me an email if you want advice), I finally got the system to boot up again.

The result? My CPU now idles at around 32 degrees. When I start transcoding on both cores, it quickly ramps up to around 58 degrees and then appears to be stable. Appearances are deceiving, however, because the temperature slowly starts to rise after that and after a few hours of transcoding I noticed that SpeedFan had registered a max temperature of 90 degrees!

Sigh. So, it is still possible for me to exceed AMD's max temperature specifications for my CPU. Transcoding audio is by far the hardest workout I've ever given my processor, so it's not so bad... the program I'm using (foobar2000) launches two LAME processes -- one for each core -- for each set of two audio files being transcoded. If I restrict the processor affinity for the parent foobar2000 process to the first core, it seems to reduce the CPU load just enough so that the core temperature stays stable between 60 and 80 degrees.

Anyway, that's what I did this weekend... sorry it's a little technical, but that's what happens when computers are involved. I just wish that one of these days somebody will make a computer that works.

Technical details: This was shot with my Rebel XT + EF 50mm 1.8 Mark II at ISO 200, f/4 for 5 seconds.