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stumped with cooling

Tags:
  • Heatsinks
  • Cooling
  • Overclocking
Last response: in Overclocking
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June 17, 2002 5:08:05 AM

I'm getting frustrated with my PC's cooling. Right now its basically idling at 50/38 (CPU/system) with an ambient of 25-26 (roughly 77F), with the front bezel off. Here's my listing of usual suspects:

XP 1600+ running at 1.4 (default)
thermaltake volcano 6Cu (5000rpm, arctic silver 2)
Gigabyte 7vtxe (kt266a, just has a HS, no fan on the north bridge)
Leadtek winfast gf3 ti200, default speeds
Enlight 7237 case, enlight PSU (300 or 330W i think)
80mm intake(front, came with case) and exhaust(back,3k rpm, added later)

The pictures (640x480):
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/bvalenzo/side_view.jpg" target="_new">Side view of the case (49k)</A>
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/bvalenzo/agp_closeup.jpg" target="_new">Close up of the gf3 area (42k)</A>
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/bvalenzo/thermo.jpg" target="_new">Temp reading setup on gf3 (27k)</A>
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/bvalenzo/front_bezel.jpg" target="_new">Front bezel, modded with more, slightly larger holes(14k)</A>
<A HREF="http://members.aol.com/bvalenzo/intake_fan.jpg" target="_new">View of the intake fan (32k)</A>

I think the wires are as out of the way as they can be. I'm probably going to drill bigger holes in the front bezel again, because with the case fully closed, the side vent on the cover acts as an intake (it sucks a piece of paper up to it).

My system has frozen while playing morrowind, and just crashed to desktop playing sof2, both pretty graphics intensive. within 5 seconds of crashing to desktop, i got a temp reading of 54C/42 (cpu/system). I've gotten the cpu up to 57 before (burnk7 and toast, was colder ambient then) with no problems, so i think its the system temp i need to look after.

I think the gf3 is the source of the problem. twice now i've opened the case and found the fan on it had stopped (gonna clean it tomorrow). It also seems to run hot even with the fan on, 40C at idle on the edge of the heatsink (see the pic, yes, its a digital meat thermometer), up to 45C after 10 minutes of 3dmark2k1 (looped Nature at 1024, 32bit, 4x fsaa, 10-13fps).

I have one spare 60mm fan that came with the retail athlon, separates from the heatsink easy enough. is it safe to try and mount that to the gf3 instead of the POS fan it has now?

anything else that looks like it could be improved?

More about : stumped cooling

June 20, 2002 3:04:39 PM

Did cleaning the fan on the G3 help? Did the fan start operating again? Using that 60mm fan is fine if the other is dead.

Here are some things you can do...

I think that you are correct in assuming the video card is the prime suspect. You might want to think about getting a video card cooler. Basically it is a fan that directs more air across your video card. I think that air flow through the case might be another issue. Your case is narrow and that makes it hard to cool your AGP, PCI, and ISA cards. You could cut a hole in the side at side panel next to the cards. All it would cost is a fan, grill, screws, and some elbow grease. This would force air by you cards. With the fan working on the video card it should maximize it's cool effect to the GPU and the RAM.

As for airflow through the case, try to equalize the amount air flowing out of the case as is flowing in. (We went into a huge discussion on <A HREF="http://forumz.tomshardware.com/hardware/modules.php?nam..." target="_new">this thread</A>.) Equalized air in and out will achieve the best results. So, if you put a fan on the side of your case, make sure you have equal amount of air flowing out of the case.

You could use a northbridge cooler if you want. Is it hot to the touch? If not don't worry about it. If it is warm, getting a heatsink will help a little. (The less internal resistance in the wires the better.)

Your cables are pushed out of the way and look good.

I think that one fan blowing in from the side should equalize and maximize the flow into, around inside on necessary components, and out of the case quite well.

Hope that this helps. If you need anything else post it here and someone will respond.

<b>"Sometimes you can't hear me because I'm talking in parenthesis" - Steven Wright</b> :lol: 
June 20, 2002 4:58:01 PM

Heh. just did that last night actually with the 60mm fan. Drilled it so it blows right on the gf3. Also cleaned the fan on the gf3, it still kinda rattles, just a bad fan i guess.

Anyway, case temps dropped about 4-5C right away. Its now about 34/49 (down from 38/50) I still need to get a grill, and probably a filter for it. North bridge should be ok now, since the case thermistor is underneath (or near) that anyway.

With an open case, i held the 60mm fan blowing on the bridge, and even running at half voltage (6V lantern battery and some wires) it dropped to 27C (23 ambient). Didn't think that was possible. Once i get some money (read: a job) this could become a new hobby.

btw, how does everyone else cut holes in their case? I used a drill to get started, then a jig saw with a metal-cutting blade to make a stop-sign shape (octogon). Its pretty damn ugly, and was hard to keep it neat, since i was cutting through the air vents on the side. I was thinking a good metal chisel would be great, since i'm just making short straight cuts.

anyway, it works. thanks for the reply.
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June 20, 2002 6:31:24 PM

Jig saw works, so does a Dremel or any other rotory saw. You can use a Blank CD for a 120mm opening. They are the perfect size.

To clean up the edges you can use a grinder arrachment for a drill. Creates some mess but works well.

<b>"Sometimes you can't hear me because I'm talking in parenthesis" - Steven Wright</b> :lol: 
June 21, 2002 4:03:02 AM

hey, i never thought of that... great idea
!