Cooling for an Athlon 64

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

"SPRITE1001" <sprite1001@aol.com> wrote in message
news:20040616071127.16931.00000041@mb-m20.aol.com...
> Hey, been looking for something to cool my Athlon 64 3200+ rig better than
the
> retail heatsink/fan. Currently running it on an Asus K8V-Deluxe.
>
> I was looking at the Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, but seeing as how its coming in
just
> shy of $50US I'd like to be sure of it before I buy. Anyone know if this
lives
> up to the reviews? Any alternatives that wont cause me to go deaf?
Basically
> I'm looking for something that's going to drop my current temp of around
47-50C
> (54C under Prime95), ambient in case of about 34-37C, but wont sound like
a
> jet. Also curious if this is a realistic expectation without having to
jump to
> 7000rpm fans.
>
> Thanks to all that reply.
> Arie

Depending on the room temperature, which you didn't cite, I'd say your
problem is case airflow, not CPU cooling.
Your differential between case and CPU temperatures is 13C and doesn't
appear to increase (the differential, that is) under load. That tells me
your HSF is doing fine. A 13C differential is pretty impressive. Now, let's
say your room temperature is 22 - 24C. With good case airflow, you should be
able to reduce the case temperature to within 5C of your room temp. Get the
case temp down to, say, 29C and the CPU temp should follow.
For case airflow, look especially at the fan(s) that exhaust hot air from
the top-rear of your case. If you have a single 80mm fan there, what is its
CFM rating? If it's a cheapy, it probably doesn't move enough air. Check
your internal cables. Are they routed so as not to restrict air getting to
the CPU area?
I have three computers here, all running XP2500 Bartons overclocked to
XP3200 speed. With a room temperature of 22C, my case temps never rise above
27C because I use full towers (lots of space, no congestion) with dual 80mm
exhaust fans or a single 120mm fan to get rid of the hot air coming off the
HSF. CPU temps are 39 - 44C depending on load.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

On 16 Jun 2004 11:11:27 GMT, sprite1001@aol.com (SPRITE1001) wrote:

>Hey, been looking for something to cool my Athlon 64 3200+ rig better than the
>retail heatsink/fan. Currently running it on an Asus K8V-Deluxe.
>
> I was looking at the Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, but seeing as how its coming in just
>shy of $50US I'd like to be sure of it before I buy. Anyone know if this lives
>up to the reviews? Any alternatives that wont cause me to go deaf? Basically
>I'm looking for something that's going to drop my current temp of around 47-50C
>(54C under Prime95), ambient in case of about 34-37C, but wont sound like a
>jet. Also curious if this is a realistic expectation without having to jump to
>7000rpm fans.
>
>Thanks to all that reply.
>Arie

Why not find a fan that does more CFM at a lower db (noise). You may
also want to use a thermal paste instead of the thermal pads, the HS is
probably just fine.

Built this for a friend,
Antec Sonata w/380W
A64 3000+ OEM (running @ stock speed)
HS/Fan for AMD64 (only 21db) (using Therm Pad) ?$6.99? @ newegg.com)
Prime95 - 48C, not sure what the room temp was, guessing around 22-23C.

Ed

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 11:11:27 +0000, SPRITE1001 wrote:

> Hey, been looking for something to cool my Athlon 64 3200+ rig better
> than the retail heatsink/fan. Currently running it on an Asus
> K8V-Deluxe.
>
The retail HS is very good. The fan on it could be better. Since it's
70mm, a TMD fan should help. I've got one to put on my stock cooler but
haven't seen the need to do so yet. The stock fan is fairly quiet.

> I was looking at the Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, but seeing as how its coming
> in just shy of $50US I'd like to be sure of it before I buy. Anyone
> know if this lives up to the reviews? Any alternatives that wont cause
> me to go deaf?
> Basically I'm looking for something that's going to drop my current temp
> of around 47-50C (54C under Prime95), ambient in case of about 34-37C,
> but wont sound like a jet. Also curious if this is a realistic
> expectation without having to jump to 7000rpm fans.
>
As already suggested, you need to lower case temps. If you don't have a
front intake fan, install one, but cut out the extra metal and plastice
first to unrestrict airflow. If the fans already there, then rework it to
get maximum airflow. With 24C room temp, my case temp is 29C and cpu temp
is 41C in bios.

--
Abit KT7-Raid (KT133) Tbred B core CPU @2400MHz (24x100FSB)
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

Hey everyone, thanks for the suggestions. To answer a few questions, my room
temp when I was doing these tests was WELL below my case ambient. I primarly do
these tests at night so my temp in room is generaly around 21C.

I think part of the problem is the case I have is a Lian Li PC-6070. Beautiful
case but while it has 2 intake fans in the front the intake is through the
bottom of the case, its currently raised off the ground by a couple inches so
it has unrestricted airflow.
Also they put only 1 exhust fan in the rear with no room to add another. Would
a slot fan help with the ambient case temp?
Maybe replace the current fans with a higher CF fan? (it doesnt state any stats
on the stock fans).


Thanks
Arie

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

On 16 Jun 2004 22:22:21 GMT, sprite1001@aol.com (SPRITE1001) wrote:

>Hey everyone, thanks for the suggestions. To answer a few questions, my room
>temp when I was doing these tests was WELL below my case ambient. I primarly do
>these tests at night so my temp in room is generaly around 21C.
>
>I think part of the problem is the case I have is a Lian Li PC-6070. Beautiful
>case but while it has 2 intake fans in the front the intake is through the
>bottom of the case, its currently raised off the ground by a couple inches so
>it has unrestricted airflow.
>Also they put only 1 exhust fan in the rear with no room to add another. Would
>a slot fan help with the ambient case temp?
>Maybe replace the current fans with a higher CF fan? (it doesnt state any stats
>on the stock fans).
>
>
>Thanks
>Arie


I've got a case with the case fans dialed down (7volts) and the cpu
fan dialed down (82%) for low noise. I just set my ram to faster ram
settings and ran memtest86 and prime 95 for about 21 hours combined.

Cpu was about 45C and max reading was 46.5C (speedfan monitor) at the
low settings for all fans.

thermalright SLK948U and 92mm panaflo high speed

I've found cranking up all the noise only gets you down to about 42C.

Maybe a couple of degrees less if I took off the intake filters.

It's well under problem temperatures at full load, so I don't worry
about 5C. Usually it's idling about 33C (like now) so I worry more
about the hard drives. They'll get up to 40C on long defrags and I'm
thinking of putting a real quiet, fairly gutless fan on them just to
see what it does for them.

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

On Wed, 16 Jun 2004 22:22:21 +0000, SPRITE1001 wrote:

> Hey everyone, thanks for the suggestions. To answer a few questions, my
> room temp when I was doing these tests was WELL below my case ambient. I
> primarly do these tests at night so my temp in room is generaly around
> 21C.
>
21C outside to 34C inside case is really bad.

> I think part of the problem is the case I have is a Lian Li PC-6070.
> Beautiful case but while it has 2 intake fans in the front the intake is
> through the bottom of the case, its currently raised off the ground by a
> couple inches so it has unrestricted airflow.

Been reading about your case. The 2 front fans are real weak, but what
makes the design so bad is the limited amount of space at the bottom of
the case that these fans have to get air from. Now add the filter to that
already limited space and the problem is obvious. The airflow to the front
fans is severely restricted. Hard to say what your best options are. I'd
first try and find a way to get more air to the front fansm and maybe
replace the weak fans with some fairly quiet 2500rpm models if you can
find a way to get enough air to them.

> Also they put only 1 exhust fan in the rear with no room to add another.

But that's 2 counting the PSu exhaust fan. No need for more.

> Would a slot fan help with the ambient case temp? Maybe replace the
> current fans with a higher CF fan? (it doesnt state any stats on the
> stock fans).
>
Maybe a through the side panel intake fan. What temps do you get if you
leave the side cover off? If it's a lot lower, then you know case cooling
is the problem.

--
Abit KT7-Raid (KT133) Tbred B core CPU @2400MHz (24x100FSB)
http://mysite.verizon.net/res0exft/cpu.htm

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

Wess, I'll give the side off thing a shot when I get back in town this weekend.

Problem is of course I cant really leave the case side off all the time, have
curious critters that will, no doubt, do something horrid to my system.

I was thinking bout just taking the filter out of the front, its only a wee bit
of webbing and blowing out the inside of my case a bit more often isnt that big
a deal. Any suggestions on good fans to replace the current intakes with?

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.overclocking.amd (More info?)

SPRITE1001 wrote:
> Hey, been looking for something to cool my Athlon 64 3200+ rig better than the
> retail heatsink/fan. Currently running it on an Asus K8V-Deluxe.
>
> I was looking at the Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu, but seeing as how its coming in just
> shy of $50US I'd like to be sure of it before I buy. Anyone know if this lives
> up to the reviews?


You'll *love* the Zalman. It very quiet even at full rotational speed.

I use one on my Gigabyte K8NS-Ultra 939 with an Athlon64 3500+ Winnie
core (no OC). My *northbridge fan* is much louder than the Zalman is!

If you want, you can save a few bucks, you can go with the CNPS7700-ALCU
CPU Heatsink/fan (copper/aluminum combo instead of the pricer all copper
CNPS7000-CU), and save about $10-$15US, without compromising much in the
cooling ability. Computer3G.com and eWiz.com seem to have the best
prices right now.


-Rick