New Guts in Old Gateway (pics) -- Overheating Solved

[Findail]

Hello again, experts, technicians and pure speculators. I recently gutted out my old Gateway P4 ATX mid-tower and stuffed it full of goodies. First, here's the list of the important stuff that went in:

MB - ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model
RAM - Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
GPU - EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
HDD - SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD321KJ 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply
CPU HSF - ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan
OS - Microsoft Windows XP Professional 32-bit With SP2B 1 Pack

Before: Life as a Bland Gateway P4


After: Life with Some New Guts


I put in an 80mm Zalman intake fan (bottom front) and a 120mm Zalman exhaust fan (top back). However, I've discovered that while sitting at idle in my relatively cool office at work, the CPU was reaching temps of about 39C. Under load (graphics intensive game -- NWN2 with everything cranked), it was reaching about 48C. Those numbers seem to be repeating themselves in my home office, plus a degree or two as it's warmer there. So my question is, are these "normal" temps for that CPU (no overclocking yet) with a monster 8800GTS mounted underneath it? Or is there a possibility that I didn't get a good mate of the HSF to the CPU? I used Arctic Silver on clean surfaces, so don't know how that could go wrong... :?

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

Those temps seem high. Most people seem to be getting temps of 26-30 C at idle, and up, at load, depending on the HSF. What are you using to measure temps?

 

[Findail]

What are you using to measure temps?

The ASUS AI utility that came on a disk with the motherboard...

 

[IcY18]

Those temps certainly aren't anything to brag about or worry about. They might be slightly on the high side but unless you're a perfectionist they are easily within the operating range of a Core 2 Duo and i wouldn't bother to reset your heatsink unless you plan on doing some moderate-heavy overclocking.

Taking a look at your case looks like you don't have enough airflow with only an 80mm intake fan. Not only would i consider that too small of an intake fan that cold air isn't really even close or blowing on any critical components.

The only thing to do would be to reset your heatsink if you think it doesn't have the best contact, otherwise your system is perfectly fine.

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

Hmmm.....

ASSUMING that the temps you listed are your CPU temps, I would suspect that you may have the HSF seated incorrectly, that you may have insufficient cooling in your case, or that you are getting incorrect readings.

I would try to reseat the HSF again, using the Arctic Silver sparingly, and see what happens.

 

[alcattle]

Looks like poor airflow, as there is room for bigger fan in front and the rear is right on the HSF cooler, can you adjust the CPU fan, and which way is the PSU fan blowing? I might try a 120 with increased CFM in front and move all the cables best one can.

 

[No1sFanboy]

The temps are not really that bad.

You are limited with options at the front of the case but can you mount a fan on the side panel? If it is vented maybe a 120 on the side directed at the cpu, gpu area would promote more airflow. Removing the side panel and directing a fan at the computer would give some indication if stirring up air at the cpu area improves it's temps.

 

[apache_lives]

Hello again, experts, technicians and pure speculators. I recently gutted out my old Gateway P4 ATX mid-tower and stuffed it full of goodies. First, here's the list of the important stuff that went in:

MB - ASUS P5N32-E SLI Plus LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 650i SLI ATX Intel Motherboard
CPU - Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Conroe 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model
RAM - Patriot eXtreme Performance 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit
GPU - EVGA 640-P2-N821-AR GeForce 8800GTS 640MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card
HDD - SAMSUNG SpinPoint T Series HD321KJ 320GB 7200 RPM SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive
PSU - CORSAIR CMPSU-620HX ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V 2.91 620W Power Supply
CPU HSF - ZALMAN CNPS7700-CU 120mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan
OS - Microsoft Windows XP Professional 32-bit With SP2B 1 Pack

Before: Life as a Bland Gateway P4


After: Life with Some New Guts


I put in an 80mm Zalman intake fan (bottom front) and a 120mm Zalman exhaust fan (top back). However, I've discovered that while sitting at idle in my relatively cool office at work, the CPU was reaching temps of about 39C. Under load (graphics intensive game -- NWN2 with everything cranked), it was reaching about 48C. Those numbers seem to be repeating themselves in my home office, plus a degree or two as it's warmer there. So my question is, are these "normal" temps for that CPU (no overclocking yet) with a monster 8800GTS mounted underneath it? Or is there a possibility that I didn't get a good mate of the HSF to the CPU? I used Arctic Silver on clean surfaces, so don't know how that could go wrong... :?

make sure your rear fan is blowing out, and is your ram in dual channel configuration? check what slots your using, to me it looks like two

new computer -> new case, makes things easy

 

[baddad]

Your right in order to be in dual channel the memory has to be in slot 1 and 3 or 2 and 4.

 

[Findail]

First, thanks for all the helpful replies. Sorry it's taken me a while to get back to this, but I had to do that sleep thing.

Looks like poor airflow, as there is room for bigger fan in front and the rear is right on the HSF cooler, can you adjust the CPU fan, and which way is the PSU fan blowing? I might try a 120 with increased CFM in front and move all the cables best one can.

CPU fan is fixed, so no adjustment there. The PSU is in a bad place, as the fan blows out of the PSU, so directly down onto the CPU. Perhaps a 120 in front is the way to go... I've checked, and the front is definitely drawing in while the back is blowing out.

can you mount a fan on the side panel?

Well, I'm definitely not afraid to take a dremel to this thing, as I already have to get the MB faceplate to fit in the back. Perhaps that's a way to go as well.

and is your ram in dual channel configuration?

8O Good catch! The manual said nothing about that setup. However, it does say that the left two slots (where the memory currently is) are Channel A and the right two slots are Channel B. I'll have to move one of the DIMMs tonight.

I would try to reseat the HSF again, using the Arctic Silver sparingly, and see what happens.

I think this will end up being Step 1 for me tonight. I'm just not confident that I did this part right. I put the thermal paste on as per the little flash video on Zalman's site -- they show you spreading it over the whole CPU. Then at one point when I couldn't get the HSF screws to catch, I pulled the whole thing off, examined it and then placed it back on. Having now checked Arctic Silver's instructions on their website, I'm just not confident that I did this part right, so I may as well do it again per arctic silver instructions. Will normal rubbing alcohol suffice to remove the old thermal paste?

new computer -> new case, makes things easy

Le sigh. Yes, that would have been beautiful. However, I didn't skip the new case because I ran short on the $50. I skipped the new case for other reasons that were unavoidable. Consider this a "stealth" rebuild. 8)

 

[oolong]

Hehehehe, that tiny 80mm front intake fan looks funny (lonely even) at the front... what with all that phat hardware next to it. Nice parts dude.

 

[bLAKEpERKINS]

i'd take everything out of the case, and make a blowhole for the psu and mount it upside down. should be right with a 120mm hole saw (or the closest size) then at least your hot air form the psu will be going straight out of the case.

Also you can get a 80->120mm fan addapter thingy which will allow you to put a 120 mm fan at teh frount of the case. Then you could move the 80mm fan to that little slot in between the HDD rack and the frount, should help cool your HDDs (always a good thing).

as for the hole side fan idea... it is a good one. my cooler master case came with a duct and a grill above the GPU. I removed teh duct and put a fan there (i have a water cooler you see) this helped with some airflow over my ram. and got some cable ties and got another fan over the grill. whather or not you want to have them sucking or blowing is up to you (would rely depend on the other fans)

which brings me to another point, the rear fan should be sucking air out of the case.

 

[Findail]

Also you can get a 80->120mm fan addapter thingy which will allow you to put a 120 mm fan at teh frount of the case.

I drilled the holes for the 80mm mount, so I could easily redrill for 120. Careful application of the shop vac should prevent me from having to gut the whole system just to drill down there. Alternately, I could just line the edges of the 120 with that double sided foam tape and slap it in there. Like you said, I'm sure I could find a home for the 80mm somewhere.

which brings me to another point, the rear fan should be sucking air out of the case.

It is. I think it's just pure semantics on this one. Since the fan is inside of the case, I say that it is "blowing out." If it were outside of the case, I would say it is "sucking out."

I like the thought of the PSU blowhole, but I'm not sure I want to go through the arse pain of taking everything out again to make a mod of that size. It makes deadly good sense, though. :?

 

[bLAKEpERKINS]

my next system will be the mother of all air coolers, going to have the psu blowhole and i'll be getting one of them 30cm ducting fans for the side of the case, bunch of fans on the bottom of the case (kinda like reversed blowholes.... but sucing air) bunch on the top and bunch of fans on the frount and back.... everything blows air out while the 30cm fan clows air on the entire system... just have to figure out how to stop all the viabrations :?

 

[apache_lives]

umm no PSU these days blows the hot air into the case check that one again

 

[bLAKEpERKINS]

yeah.... now that you mention it ....that fan sux air into the psu from th case and blows it out the rear

 

[Findail]

umm no PSU these days blows the hot air into the case check that one again

Hmm... I may have misjudged it then in that tornado alley caused by the rear case fan, HSF and PSU fan. That's fabulous if it's actually sucking heat off of the CPU. However, that would really make me think that I mucked up the HSF thermal paste/install if I'm constantly running at 40C idle. There are two 120mm fans within 2 inches of the HSF cooling fins drawing air away from the CPU...

 

[bLAKEpERKINS]

wait.... what? i don't have a good psu so i can't tell.... but anyways if the second fan blows air into the case then i'd do the psu blow hole but if it sux air out throught the psu and out the back then that would be good....

 

[Gary_Busey]

I have that exact same case. Pretty solid case considering it came from Gateway. Solid construction, looks good, basically tooless. I have the system in my sig, with my CPU overclocked to 3.5Ghz, and it sits under 38C at idle, usually less. I have 5 80mm fans. Two in the back as exhaust, 2 on the side panel, and 1 intake in the front. I cut some holes in the motherboard tray and did some basic wire management, nothing fancy. I'll put up some pics when I get home if you want.

 

[Findail]

I'll put up some pics when I get home if you want.

I want, I want! I looked at routing some cables behind the MB, but didn't go there... would be interesting to see.

 

[Gary_Busey]

Excuse the dust. Not the best, and I could probably get it a little better, but I think this is about as good as it gets for me.

I cut three holes in the motherboard tray, and stuffed any cables I didn't need behind, then I routed all other cables through the holes to their device. I wish I could turn the hard drives around, but there's a metal lip on the back of the hard drive cage that makes it impossible to plug the IDE cable in if they were to be turned around. Also, notice my homemade round cables. Increases air flow a bunch if you don't have those wide, flat cables hanging around.

 

[bLAKEpERKINS]

i have to say that is a pretty good looking case....

 

[alleycat38]

thats the same case i have im fixing to build a new system
what did you use to cut those hole in the side panel with to install the fans
thanks

 

[Gary_Busey]

i have to say that is a pretty good looking case....

Yeah, I like it, especially with the mods I've done.

thats the same case i have im fixing to build a new system
what did you use to cut those hole in the side panel with to install the fans
thanks

Dremel, a very handy tool for anyone who wants to mod cases.

 

[bLAKEpERKINS]

that it is... just wondering is ther a hole saw bit for it? i do have a drill so i guess it dosn't matter...