• Clean CPU fan

Out of boredom, I decided to stress my unlocked AMD Sempron 140 with Intel Burn Test v2.5.1 yesterday night. The last time I stress tested my CPU was many months ago, the first week I bought it.

Intel Burn Test cranks up your CPU temperature like mad. Within a minute, my CPU reached way above 60c and rising. I stopped the test immediately because even with a stock cooler, the normal temperature during full load had never touch 60c. Even with an ambient temperature of 28c to 32c, in the tropical weather where I live. No air-conditioner in the room. That was why I was confident stress testing my Sempron 140 at full load, cooled by the stock heatsink and fan, knowing well it never breached 60c.

I am certain my heatsink and CPU fan needs a good cleaning. So that’s what I did today. I took out the heatsink, removed the fan and gave it a thorough wash. Replaced the stock thermal compound with Coolermaster Nano fusion. And ran Intel Burn Test again.

At full load, CPU temperature dropped more than 10c. It now fluctuates between 48c to 55c in the hottest afternoon. In a cheap PC case with lousy ventilation. In a room with no air-conditioner. Before washing the heatsink, the temperature was racing towards over 65c at full load.

Oh, my unlocked AMD Sempron 140 successfully completed two sets (Standard, 50 times each set) Intel Burn Test.