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How to improve my CPU cooling

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  • Cooling
  • CPUs
Last response: in CPUs
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July 6, 2014 3:08:04 PM

I'm currently having an issue with my CPU cooling where it is getting exceedingly hot for no apparent reason. My CPU (AMD FX-8350) is sitting on around 40-45c idle and reaches 65c and over playing pretty much any game that you can name, sometimes getting to the point where my computer outright turns off without warning. I am unsure as to what may be causing this heat issue as I am using an aftermarket cooler on my CPU (Arctic Cooling Freezer 13). My case (CiT Vantage) has a reasonable amount of airflow, and regardless of if the side panel is off or on, the temperature rises to extreme levels.

I am unsure as to whether or not I would need to buy a new cooler (Corsair H100i) or buy a new case with better airflow (Corsair 500R). Any outside opinions as to how I could improve my cooling, or which I should buy, would be greatly appreciated.

More about : improve cpu cooling

a c 84 à CPUs
July 6, 2014 3:18:35 PM

I'd double check and take off the current cooler, clean it and the cpu top off and reapply thermal paste, and reattach the cooler. See if that makes any differences in temps first, before you decide to to just toss that cooler aside.
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a c 230 à CPUs
July 6, 2014 3:20:16 PM

The Arctic Cooling 92mm heatsinks are kind of a rip off. They are small and don't perform well, yet cost you as much as the good heatsinks do.

The standard Freezer 13 runs 20.9 C above ambient while the Freezer 13 Pro runs 17.4C above ambient with a 125W load at their highest fan settings, the stock heatsink for the AM2/AM2+/AM3 CPUs only runs 17C above ambient.... (we'll ignore the fact that it is 18 dBA louder...)
http://frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleid=2770&pa...

You don't need to spring for something nearly as pricey as an H100i, if you have the standard Freezer 13 a Hyper 212 Evo will cut 8 C off your temps, rig that up as a push pull setup and you should drop even more.
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a c 84 à CPUs
July 6, 2014 3:29:48 PM

Oh jeebus, didn't even think to look up the cooler. Yeah, that thing has to go. As was said earlier, the Hyper 212 Evo will be a great cost effective cooler that can handle that Cpu. The Xigmatek Gaia would be another good option as well. No need to drop a hundred on the 100i from Corsair.
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July 6, 2014 3:39:28 PM

What exactly is wrong with the cooler that I currently own? Admittedly I got it for my previous CPU, an AMD Phenom II, but when I initially upgraded to my 8350, the cooler seemed to handle the CPU nicely as it was, but suddenly it seems to have dropped in efficiency dramatically.

EDIT: Turns out that the Hyper 212 Evo wont actually fit in my case without removing the side panel, I think that was the reason why I never went with it originally.
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a c 230 à CPUs
July 6, 2014 3:51:37 PM

Cooling ability is determine by the surface area of the fins and the airflow through them, the cooler you have is only meant for a 92mm fan so your fin stack is 92mm x 92mm which gives you only 59% of the surface area of a 120mm cooler like the Hyper 212 series, so to even out the performance you would need a very powerful fan installed and even then it would be hard to do. There is a reason that the high end coolers like the H100i have a dual fan radiator, it gives them twice the surface area so you can get great cooling with average fans.
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July 6, 2014 4:04:36 PM

This is some very handy information as I never really considered that my CPU fan was actually bad to begin with, only thinking that it was breaking somehow. As for a case, does the airflow or how compact the case is really have that much of a difference in terms of cooling? Would upgrading my case have as much of an impact as upgrading my cooler?
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