HSF cooling problems

[ChoppedBroccoli]

Hey guys,

I need a little help with my HSF set up. I have an AMD Athlon 2000+ XP processor with a Gigabyte GA-7VRX rev 2.0 mobo in an Enermax Case (Cheiftec knockoff with three case fans).

My HSF is a basic Dynatron HSF seen here at newegg: Link

My system temps are not too bad and hover between 33-38 C. I have three case fans, 1 intake and 2 exhaust, which operate at a slow 1600RPM but seem to do the job.

BUT my CPU temps are horrible. For some reason this fan (although it does not describe itself as having a variable RPM as a feature) kicks down to 2000-2300RPM (sometimes even lower momentarily) and my CPU temps kick up to 60+ C. When the fan is at full RPM (~5000RPM), the temps are OK at ~45C. I guess this is a sign that my fan is dying. I could just replace the fan, but it seems like this fan is not very reliable.

Here are my two ideas for a replacement:
Option 1

Option 2

Any ideas? My current HSF is pretty screwed up right?

Thanks for any input.

 

[mechBgon]

Try powering your CPU fan directly from the power supply, to take the motherboard's fan headers out of the equation here Also be aware that the 7VRX family report the CPU temperatures directly from the CPU's internal diode and were known for giving readings that people didn't like. 60C on a VRX/VRXP is not something to be alarmed about, in and of itself.

 

[ChoppedBroccoli]

Originally posted by: mechBgon
Try powering your CPU fan directly from the power supply, to take the motherboard's fan headers out of the equation here Also be aware that the 7VRX family report the CPU temperatures directly from the CPU's internal diode and were known for giving readings that people didn't like. 60C on a VRX/VRXP is not something to be alarmed about, in and of itself.

Ok thanks for the advice. I will try to power the CPU fan directly from the PS and see what flys. Hopefully doing that will get my fan to ping at speeds above 4000 RPM (although I won't know since there will no longer be a way to read the fan speed via the motherboard, I'll just look at the CPU temps to see its effect).

Its good to know that 60C isn't abnormal, but I should mention that my computer shut itself off yesterday (it wasn't warm in my room, but my comp. was a little dusty so I just cleaned last night) and once before in Feb. (most likely because it hit the thermal shut down temp @ 80C). Should I increase my thermal shut down temp since this is a Gigabyte mobo, or leave it where is?

Despite my comp's high temp readings, its been pretty rock stable; I leave my computer on all day for weeks at a time, play BF1942, (even during heat waves) and its never given me problems (only the two shutdowns I just mentioned).

 

[ChoppedBroccoli]

Ok I connected directly to my PS and got the same results. The huge oscillations in the fan speed lead me to believe that my fan is just dying. In fact the fan almost quit entirely a while ago (im typing on a friends comp right now), so I'm just gonna get the Artic-Cooling one from SVC for $12.99 (I don't plan on doing any serious overclocking or anything). It has a copper core and seems to be pretty decent. Hopefully it will solve my problems and serve me well.