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How to install Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro on a P5N-E SLI?

J

JoelG

Junior Member
I have a vexing question about how to install a Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro on an Asus P5N-E SLI mb to cool my E6600.

The size and position of the Northbridge HS on the motherboard make it imposible to mount the cooler front-to-back, with its fan blowing air from the front of the case over the CPU and out toward the case's rear exhaust fan (as per Artic Cooling's instructions).

I can, however, sucessfully mount the cooler sideways with (1) its fan blowing air from the top of the case over both the CPU and the hot Northbridge HS to its immediate left; or (2) with its fan pushing warm air, rising over the Northbridge HS, over the CPU towards the top of the case, where the intake vents for the power supply are located.

The question, of course is which is better? Or should I chuck the Artic Cooling Freezer 7 Pro altogether and install the stock Intel C2D cooler, which blows air neither left nor right, but straight up away from the CPU?

I've written to Artic Cooling with the same question. But, since they haven't answered in over a week, any help would really be appreciated.

Thanks, in advance, for your responses!
 
Hi and welcome to the AT Forums. 🙂

I have the same cooler, but a different motherboard.

The basic idea behind keeping a PC cool is AIRFLOW. Ideally, draw large amounts of cool, fresh air through the case, over the hot components/CPU and then exhaust the hot, stale air out of the case.

If you can't mount the cooler in the recommended position, don't worry too much about it. There are two things to remember:

1. Heat rises
2. You want to get that heat out of the case

So, if you have a top-mounted (top of the case) exhaust fan, or your power supply has an intake fan right above the CPU, mount the cooler so that the fan blows towards the exhaust of the case. The fan on the AC Freezer blows THROUGH the heatsink to push air thru the fins to move the heat away. Blow that hot air towards an exhaust and you'll be fine.
 
I have the Gigabyte DS3 and encountered this same problem. I have it mounted blowing up because my Enermax Noisetaker has an intake fan at the bottom. Never blow air downwards because that's hot air coming through the fins onto your northbridge. You don't want that.
 
I've read that the Arctic Freezer 7 pro is designed so that you should point the downward curved parts of the heatsink towards the area of your motherboard you want to cool. I think it was specifically intended to cool the RAM though I guess if you can get it pointing towards the northbridge that works too.
I'm going to have the same problem tonight/tomorrow since I'll be installing the same cooler in the same board. I'm also planning on getting something for the southbridge.
 
So, if you have a top-mounted (top of the case) exhaust fan, or your power supply has an intake fan right above the CPU, mount the cooler so that the fan blows towards the exhaust of the case. The fan on the AC Freezer blows THROUGH the heatsink to push air thru the fins to move the heat away. Blow that hot air towards an exhaust and you'll be fine.[/quote]

Michael:

Thanks for welcoming me to the forum and for your replys. You guys are great!

After everyone's feedback and much consideration, I've decided to mount the AF7Pro
so that it blows air from the top of the case (an Antec P160) downward over the CPU and and also the Northbridge (about an inch away from the back end of the cooler).

I have a big 120mm case exhaust fan sitting immediately in back of the AF7pro (even though the HSF is sitting sideways) and the NB. I also have another 120mm intake fan at bottom front of the case that should pull cool air in and create a nice cross-breeze.

I know this arrangement violates the "heat rises" principle, since the cooler's fan is blowing down. But I figure it's better than pulling hot air from the NB right over the CPU, and. this way, the exhause end of the AF7Pro is much closer to the exhaust.

There's also one other good reason for this orientation --- if I put this HSF blowing air up, it would place the plastic grill of the fan directly in contact with the top of the Northbridge and melt the plastic all over the NB heatsink!

Wish me luck, if I can find a good program to monitor the temp of the CPU, we can compare notes and see whose AF7Pro is working best. 😀

P.S. I loved your case and cable management pictures! And, since you have an Antec 180, I have one other question. Does your case come fitted with temperature sensor cables to monitor the hard drive and motherboard temps, like mine does. And, if so, how do you attach the sensors to the HD and the MB?

Thanks for being there for all us technically challeged idiots!

Joel

 
Originally posted by: StopSign
I have the Gigabyte DS3 and encountered this same problem. I have it mounted blowing up because my Enermax Noisetaker has an intake fan at the bottom. Never blow air downwards because that's hot air coming through the fins onto your northbridge. You don't want that.
Click to expand...

Why is better to pull the hot air from the Northbridge over the CPU? I'd rather blow air on the Northbridge than the other way round!

See my reply to Michael for my complete reasoning. Besides I hate the smell of burning plastic as the Northbridge mells the grill of the AF7Pro.
 
Originally posted by: blanketyblank
I've read that the Arctic Freezer 7 pro is designed so that you should point the downward curved parts of the heatsink towards the area of your motherboard you want to cool. I think it was specifically intended to cool the RAM though I guess if you can get it pointing towards the northbridge that works too.
I'm going to have the same problem tonight/tomorrow since I'll be installing the same cooler in the same board. I'm also planning on getting something for the southbridge.
Click to expand...

Ah! We're brothers in crime 😉, or, at least, in motherboards and heat sinks!

Read my reply to MichaelD for what I finally decided to try. I can't get the AF7Pro to blow air from the Northbrige up towards the PSU exhaust fan at the top of my case without risking the Northbridge heat sink melting the plastic grill of the AF7Pro's fan.

Tell me what you finally get for the Southbridge. I haven't found anything really suitable on the web.

Good luck to us both!

Joel
 
blanketyblank:

The fins on the back of the AF7Pro are curved downward to cool the capacitors and other electronic parts that sit behind the cooler. The cooler would have to be put on backwards to cool the memory modules.

I finally decided to buy a very fine tooth hacksaw blade and cut off just a bit of the lower left hand corner of the AF7Pro's plastic grill so the cooler can be installed properly (i.e., front to back).

Someone suggested this solution in a forum on Tom's Hardware Guide, and it works just fine. If you don't have a hacksaw, just make sure you wrap the hacksaw blade in tape so you won't cut your hands. It does a pretty professional job if you saw slowly.

I will monitor my CPU temps. and get back here with the results.

Joel

 
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