Well, after turning my back on my machine for 5 minutes today, I returned to find the ASUS monitor in my face complaining that the CPU was spinning at zero RPM. And there was a funny smell eminating from the case. The _case_ was hot to the touch, the CPU was positively glowing.

Yes, the _official_ AMD fan that came with my boxed athlon died a spectacular death, and nearly took the system/apartment/subdivision with it.

Now, I don't want to go off on a rant here, but isn't the reason that you buy a boxed processor so you'll get the "high quality" fans that only the manufacturer can provide? Yecch. I'd like to know where AMD gets their fans.

Anyway, since I was in a bind & needed it back up & running, I replaced both the CPU fan and the case power supply with Antec power supplies (an American company I think, all stuff sourced from China, AFAIK.) CPU is at a constant 56C, the machine is relatively quiet. No funny smells. I am happy.

ps -- I thought one big advantage of ATX motherboards was that when the shit hits the fan (no pun intended) and the machine overheats, it will gracefully shut itself down. Didn't happen here, even with the ASUS tools installed.