Advice on cooling QX6700

[Sumotku]

Not for lack of scouring the net but I'm still not feeling the love for any of the cooling solutions out there. Stock is fine apparently, but I'm planning on letting this thing loose on day long burns at a time and I want better than fine. Not considering water at this point - somewhere in between. Money isn't the first priority, I'd even consider a Vigor Monsoon, but it would help a lot to hear from some of you who own a quad and are satisfied with the full load temps.

 

[JAG87]

Tuniq Tower 120
Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Thermalright ULTRA-120
Zalman CNPS9700
Noctua NH-U12F


When shopping for a heat sink those would be on my list. They are in order of preference. All those heat sinks will give you temperatures within 1-2C from each other.

Right now I am running a Zalman CNPS9700NT. I could not fit a Tuniq nor the Ultra-120 because of their height, and I could not use the Big Typhoon because my side panel was too close to the fan, which would severely hurt the CFM of the fan.

So I picked the Zalman. Couldn't be happier. I am running 3.2 GHz with 1.35v. 35C idle, 60C load (nvidia monitor). 50C idle, 75C load (core temp). And these temperatures are case closed, with 2x 8800 GTXs in there, and at night after the computer has been on the whole day (so the room itself is pretty warm, maybe around 27C). For most of the day temperatures are lower, as much as 4-5C lower.

 

[Sumotku]

Thanks for the considered response JAG87. Considering I won't be too tempted by the ease with which these procs OC for a while it sounds like I should be pretty well off with a Zalmann as well. Anyone else care to add their 2 pfennigs?

 

[JAG87]

If I were you, the way I would make my decision would be like this:



Tuniq Tower or Ultra-120 if I have at least 16cm between the socket and the side panel.

Big Typhoon if I keep my side panel off or I have a meshed side panel like the CM stacker.

Zalman CNPS9700 if nothing above is true.



I hope this makes it easier for you.

 

[Sumotku]

I've got 18 cm clear so options are open. Reading a lot of trials regarding installation of both the Tuniq and the Ultra-120 over at newegg, I suppose it comes down to fear and desire now. I'm no stranger to modifications but around the cpu and northbridge I get a bit squeemish...nothing risked - nothing gained though.

 

[thilanliyan]

I HAD the Big Typhoon (1st version) and it was a real bitch to get on the board. It also needs a clear path of air on top of the fan or it doesn't work that well. The Ultra-120 was a bit easier to get on the board but I had to remove the fan when I was mounting it.

I currently have the Ultra-120 and it cools a bit better (3-5 Celcius) with the case closed and about the same as the Big Typhoon with the case open.

 

[Sumotku]

thilan29, did you use the s type mount or is it facing upwards? What fan did you decide on for the Ultra-120? I think after reading all I could find that it's the ticket. Thanks for the help guys!

 

[thilanliyan]

Originally posted by: Sumotku

thilan29, did you use the s type mount or is it facing upwards? What fan did you decide on for the Ultra-120? I think after reading all I could find that it's the ticket. Thanks for the help guys!

I thought you can only use the socket 775 mount?? That's the one with the 4 holes for screws and just fits over the base of the mount. I didn't use the one with 2 holes since I think that's for the socket 939 CPUs.

I used a Noctua 120mm fan and it is very quiet and moves a decent amount of air and comes with several connectors to hook it up how you want it. I highly recommend that fan (at least with the experience so far.

Also, I have put a second fan on the opposite side with it sucking out and it makes a slight difference...about 1-2 celcius. You have to DIY mount that though since the Ultra-120 only comes with mounts for 1 fan.

 

[Duvie]

I have seen reports where this thing at stock speed and vcore...with stock cooler....still hit 50's with ilde and 70's under load with coretemp...

This thing is hot period....

Stock speeds is 130watts of heat to dissipate.....Air will struggle to handle this period.....That is equivalent to 3.4ghz and 1.45v on a C2D....

I would go with Tuniq Tower.....

This chip will make water coolikng struggle....

 

[Don66]

Originally posted by: Duvie
I have seen reports where this thing at stock speed and vcore...with stock cooler....still hit 50's with ilde and 70's under load with coretemp...

This thing is hot period....

Stock speeds is 130watts of heat to dissipate.....Air will struggle to handle this period.....That is equivalent to 3.4ghz and 1.45v on a C2D....

I would go with Tuniq Tower.....

This chip will make water coolikng struggle....

QFT..
Mine runs like a dream.
I'm watercooling my QX6700 and it still runns warm.
mid 40's to upper 60's C'
I expect that after AS5 settles in it will drop a few degrees.

 

[Idontcare]

My QX6700 is cooled by a VapoChill LS and I routinely run software that pegs all 4 cores at 100%. -45C at idle.

I thought I was stable at 3.74GHz w/1.50Vcore. Over the past 8 weeks I have slowely tweaked down the OC on this system at suffers random reboots and lockups.

Lately it has been very stable for me without any issues now for 2 weeks at speed of 3.33GHz w/1.50Vcore, under an LS.

I can still clock it to 3.74GHz and be orthos stable all day long, but apparantely Orthos is not the end-all/be-all of CPU stability because my other software definitely crashes computers that are orthos stable.

These things are HOT and pump out the WATTS. Your usage will vary from mine, hopefully your usage lets you get more GHz out of your QX6700 than mines allows me.

 

[Sumotku]

@Duvie, is the engineering sample clearly labeled as such? I've seen the qx6700 at auction for a c-note less than retail and am wondering if they're ES, and if that really makes a difference. Also, are you running a Tuniq on yours, you didn't mention. Thx.

- My thinking is that with exceptional cooling and stock frequency it will be manageable. In another year there'll be much better options from both contenders.

 

[Duvie]

Yes my is clearly labelled as such....it would never come in a retail box, so that should be say to figure out...


I use a Sctyhe Ninja Rev B with an aftermarket 79+cfm 120mm fan adn it woudl hit 71c under 4 cores of load of F@H at 3.2ghz.....orthos would come up to 78c-80c....So I didn't do that long. It was only set at a vcore of 1.4125v but loaded to 1.33v...which is below stock vcore of 1.35v for that chip...

Same chip on my Asus P5B-deluxe still at 3.2ghz...needed same loaded vcore but had to be set to 1.4375v un bios to get 1.33v loaded....I am now running it with a Freezone chilled cooler...It can handle 175watts of heat....I can orthos load 4 cores at 61c....F@H will hit low 50's and idles in low 40's....

At stock speed I can run orthos stable at 1.25v actual and the temp never goes over 50c in orthos....


I can get 3.5ghz but it is not orthos stable yet cause it needs set vcore of 1.575v or 1.47v loaded to hold it and that starts hitting temps back up in the 70's.....That is 200watts of heat at that point and beyond thios coolers capabilities....

Reboot issues like Idontcare stated at pretty much most things above 3.33ghz even if it runs prime for 24 hours or F@H for days...really random....it is obviously a power issue but I think it is more related to the boards...

I notice I could get it to do is sooner if I ran workunits that tagged the cache harder, and longer then I ran orthos...

 

[hytek369]

Originally posted by: JAG87
Tuniq Tower 120
Thermaltake Big Typhoon
Thermalright ULTRA-120
Zalman CNPS9700
Noctua NH-U12F


When shopping for a heat sink those would be on my list. They are in order of preference. All those heat sinks will give you temperatures within 1-2C from each other.

Right now I am running a Zalman CNPS9700NT. I could not fit a Tuniq nor the Ultra-120 because of their height, and I could not use the Big Typhoon because my side panel was too close to the fan, which would severely hurt the CFM of the fan.

So I picked the Zalman. Couldn't be happier. I am running 3.2 GHz with 1.35v. 35C idle, 60C load (nvidia monitor). 50C idle, 75C load (core temp). And these temperatures are case closed, with 2x 8800 GTXs in there, and at night after the computer has been on the whole day (so the room itself is pretty warm, maybe around 27C). For most of the day temperatures are lower, as much as 4-5C lower.

I like this list.

 

[Sumotku]

Duvie, it sounds like you're all over this thing, care to venture a guess what a Tuniq will do for it at stock? It seems a shame not to at least reach 3.2Ghz with it, but that'll come after my plate is clear of the workload I'm justifying buying for.

 

[Duvie]

Originally posted by: Sumotku

Duvie, it sounds like you're all over this thing, care to venture a guess what a Tuniq will do for it at stock? It seems a shame not to at least reach 3.2Ghz with it, but that'll come after my plate is clear of the workload I'm justifying buying for.

IMO....you can do 3.2ghz with the tuniq...If i could do it with a lesser scythe ninja you can do it...temps will be high...maybe more then you like...

At stock 2.66ghz I bet the tuniq will give you upper 50's under load...

 

[Sumotku]

Well, I gave in to peer pressure (thanks peers!) and snatched up a Tuniq for 10.00 less than the Egg was selling it for at SVC, they have it listed at 54.99 'on sale'. Newegg was also OOS, which paid off as it turns out. I may try my hand at lapping it if it looks rough as some have written. Thanks for all the help everyone. : )