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Good 80mm compatible heatsink for ECS e7s5a?

F

FrontlineWarrior

Diamond Member
To my dismay I found out that the Alpha 8045 doesn't fit on the new ECS e7s5a. Stubborn me tried anyway.

Anyway, right now I have a Taisol 60mm copper heatsink on it and have an 80mm panaflo hooked up to it major ghetto style (i.e. with rubber bands!!!) This is a bad thing because I know rubber bands can rip (it has happened to be before, in fact).

I also don't want to mess around with an adapter cuz that will just suck. Besides, for around the same amount of money I figure I can get a new heatsink anyway.

AHA! And here's the problem!

Which heatsink should I get?

For reference, I am running ECS e7s5a, an AXIA 1.33ghz Athlon (no overclocking), and I want to use my 80mm Panaflo. Ideally, I'd like the cooling to be better than my Taisol 760092 (copper base). Thanks!
 
Svc Gc-68

Since you have an athlon 1.3, it will be more than effective

The gc-68 has a 60mm base but a 80mm top, so that 80mm panaflo will fit

and you also get a nice 30 cfm, 29dba fan since you are replacing the stock fan w/ panaflo
 
I would recommend the Thermalright AX-7. It's working great in my K7S5A system with Athlon XP 1600+. With an 80mm Panaflo it's almost silent and my CPU temps are consistently around 42 C during full load.

Plus it came in 1st and 2nd in this HSF Roundup

 
Since you're not overclocking, I suggest the Thermaltake Volcano 7. I've got this installed and it works perfectly on my K7S5A. The fan's pretty quiet by default, but if you do the thermistor mod (move the thermistor from the side of the fan and jam it between the fins of the heatsink), the fan goes significantly faster and it cools very well. On my Athlon XP 1700+, I get idle temps of 31 degrees Celsius at an ambient temp of 21, with the fan spinning at around 3300RPM (thermistor modded). Without the thermistor mod, the fan runs at 2700RPM and gives me 34 at idle.

Best thing about the Thermaltake Volcano 7: it costs only $20. Excellent performance for the price, and works great on the K7S5A. Note that you'll have to remove the stick of ram in the first DDR slot (the one on the left) before you can install the Volcano 7...but there's just enough space so that the heatsink can be installed with the second slot filled.
 
All good choices here. The SVC heatsink looks pretty good for the price, but I'm gonna research it a bit more. The AX-7 looks like an amazing heatsink from the reviews I've read so far. And of course the old favorite value heatsink: the Volcano series. Thanks for the suggestions so far!
 
I'll vouch for the AX-7. I run full load temps, after burning in with SiSoftware of about 36 degrees (when I'm not overclocked). I run at about 32 degrees idle, with an Antec fan.

If you want price effective, go with the gc-68 from svcompucycle.com if you already have your own fan.
 
well, i loaded up the svc gc68... the thing runs very cool. at 8 bones, it's a steal!!! everything is looking smooth with the gc68 on the replacement k7s5a. woohoo!
 
im doing the SVC on ECS XP1700... i dont see how you guys are getting those great temperatures. im using silver artic 3 and this thing idles at 51*. that's with a 80mm in the back near the hSF sucking hot air away.

at first, it was quiet, but now it drones again...guess i just got uised to it... but its probably the maxtor 740J making all that noise
 
To my dismay I found out that the Alpha 8045 doesn't fit on the new ECS e7s5a. Stubborn me tried anyway.
Click to expand...
Huh? That's what I'm using right now with a PC Power and Cooling 80 mm Silencer fan. One of the caps was a little close, but it still fits fine. Also, according to Alpha's site, they say that it fits.

If I couldn't get the 8045 to fit, I'd definitely go with the Thermaltake AX-7, which has been previously recommended for you.

Hmm.. What are you guys using to test your CPU temps? I used Arctic Silver 3 along with the Alpha 8045 and a PC Power and Cooling 80 mm Silencer fan rated at 28 cfm blowing down on my Alpha hs. My temps according to the hardware monitor in the ECS BIOS says that I'm running 44 degrees Celcius at idle with a Athlon XP 1800+ (not overclocked).

Why are you guys getting so much lower temps than I am? The Panaflo is only rated at 24 cfm, isn't it? Am I not getting a reliable temp reading off the BIOS?

I didn't think anything of it because 44 degrees celcius is still well within the guidlines. I'm just wondering why others are getting better results?

TIA,

Sal
 
I have the revision 3.1 board. the caps aren't just close for me, they are over where the heatsink is supposed to be. i couldn't twist the heatsink to make it fit or anything.

I'm also using the stock fan included with the gc68 right now because i wanted to make sure it would cool sufficiently before i changed it to the low cfm panaflo. at idle it's in the low 40's and perfectly stable. i'll change it to the panaflo once i get my other components quieted down.

i'm using ASII
 
Damn.. I just went to the Alpha site and noticed that they have a note now about the version 3.1 of the ECS K7S5A not working because the newer version have larger caps and the hs can't make contact with the CPU.

You know.. One of the reasons why I wanted an ECS board is because it worked with the Alpha 8045. The AX-7 wasn't out yet and I had never heard of the SVC HS, so I almost had to have the Alpha because I wanted a quiet system.

Anyway.. When I went to put my 8045 on this mobo, the cap was awefully close and I didn't think it would work at first. I was thinking to myself that this has to work because others have tried it and been successful with the 8045 on this mobo and it was even listed as working on the Alpha site.

I now doubt that I'm making good contact because my temps range from 44-48 degrees Celsius at idle. I don't see how I can't be making contact though. I was able to tighten down the hs. It is tight, but it seems to work.

Don't you think that my CPU would fry if I wasn't making contact with the CPU?

I don't know what to do now. I would hate to change HS at this point because I just bought the thing. Besides, I would have to pull the mobo to remove the hs. Do you think my temps are a little high because I'm not making full contact with the hs?

Thanks again.

Sal

PS. How do you know which version of the ECS K7S5A that you have? I looked on the box and in the literature and don't see anything. I bought the XP1800+/ECS mobo combo about a month ago from Outpost.com.
 
Ok, as far as the heatsink not being in good contact with the CPU, I made the mistake of putting on my old heatsink in the wrong direction. The temps reached 70 degrees Celcius! If I didn't make ANY contact with the CPU, it would have fried in less than a second. heh. So I don't think 44-48 idle is because of bad contact. The only thing in terms of contact would be if the heatsink isn't flat and you might need to lap it to make it smoother...

Or maybe you didn't put enough ASIII on it and it didn't fill out all the little crevices.

As for the version number, it was REALLY small. It's on the bottom left of the mobo, to the left of one of the last PCI slots. In small letters it says something like version 3.1.

Also, keep in mind I'm running a thunderbird 1.33 and you're using an 1800+. The 1800+ might be more efficient, but just remember that the CPU is different so that could be the reason for your temps. Oh yeah, and you're using a panaflo and I'm using the slightly higher CFM fan included with the GC68. My temps will probably go up a few degrees when I switch to the panaflo... so there might not be anything wrong with your temps.

Lastly, check your system temperature (the temp inside your case). It might be the case that it's hot inside your case (not enough ventilation) so even though the HSF might be doing it's job, it's too hot inside the case to run any cooler.

As long as your system is stable, don't worry too much about temps.
 
Ok.. I just installed Sandra and it Sandra says that my CPU temp is 25 degrees Celsius at idle and 27 while running the burn in program. How could the temp readings be so different?

Also, Sandra tells me that my mobo is version 1.0? Was there such a version? I guess I need to look on the mobo itself.

The cap was close to the hs, but I don't think it would've mattered. I carefully tightened down the screws and everything went together snug and level as far as I could tell. I would've definitely been alarmed if it wouldn't have.

I think I used enough AS3. I applied it to the core and then took off the excess with a credit card, leaving a thin film of it. It wasn't goopy, yet it covered the core. I was told that you don't want to use too much or too little.

I've heard a mixed bag on lapping. Some say that you can make it too smooth for it to be effective. I have heard that flatness is more important than smoothness. The compound should've filled any gaps or uneveness anyway. I've also heard that the benefits aren't all that great when you do things right, so I just didn't bother lapping.

I think I'm well within the temp range. Now that Sandra tells me that my temps are quite a bit lower than what the BIOS is telling me, I'm not too worried. I'm burning the system in right now and it's working perfectly fine. It's been on for about 3 hours on the burn in program and it hasn't locked up or acted goofy yet.

Thanks for the reply.

Sal
 
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