I did something really stupid...

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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I wanted to change out my GPU heatsink with the Zalman VF700, re-apply the thermal paste on the CPU, and change my fans to Panaflo.

This is the order of what I did, including the "mistakes" that I made:

1. I had trouble pulling out the MSI RX9800Pro from my DFI NF3 mobo, since I couldn't pull out the card after pulling it pretty hard. I lifted up the front end pretty much all the way, but the back was still latched. I couldn't figure out that I had to unlatch it, until I figured out how to do it by finding the "hidden" latch under the card.

After I took out the card, I took off the heatsink and fan, cleaned off the old paste with Isopropol alcohol, put on the Zalman heatsink with Artic Silver thermal paste, and put the GPU back in the case.

2. I pulled off my Zalman AlCu7000B, cleaned the processor and heatsink with alcohol, re-applied the Arctic silver, and attached everything again.

3. I changed out the fans.

4. I turned on the computer, it posted, went to the Windows loading screen, then froze shortly after the welcome screen. The only way to power off was manually. I cannot even go to the bios screen for more than a couple of seconds before it freezes or go into safe mode.

Any ideas?

I have a paper coming up soon, so I need to figure this out. Any thoughts?

Thanks.
 

wisdomtooth

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2004
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Hmm...

If everything is mounted correctly and securely, no bent pins or excessive thermal grease or other confounding factors...

Try starting up with nothing but what's needed to get into BIOS: CPU, one stick of RAM, vid card, nothing else. Disconnect all your other components (HDs, optical drives, PCI cards, etc.).

If it still freezes in BIOS with this bare config, then you have narrowed the culprit down to the four things in the system (CPU, RAM, vid card, motherboard).

That's when you have to start swapping in components (if you have spares) to further isolate the problem.

HTH.
 

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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Thanks.
I think I figured it out by doing all that you said before I read this. I took out the GPU and thoroughly cleaned it until it was beloved patriot and span (I just cleaned the GPU but left the other gunk behing), then re-applied the thermal paste. I connected the fan to the 12V (higher speed), and powered everything up. So far, everything's working fine. I think it was an overheating issue.

I'll let it run for awhile and see what happens.
 

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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Well, everything was stable last night for the most part. I wanted the Zalman VF700 fan to be on the low setting, so I tried switching it to the 5v supply. The computer froze again. So it was definitely the GPU overheating, so I switched it back. I don't understand why, though. I don't overclock my card or processor, and my cables are fairly neat inside the case.

Also, my cpu temp dropped only a couple degrees when I re-applied the paste (now ~47C). I don't get why everythings running so hot.

Any ideas?

DFI LP NF3 mobo
AMD64 3000+
2 Panaflo's
2 "connected" 7200 HDDs (Hitachi, Seagate)
My case is similar to this

It just doesn't make sense to me.
 

wisdomtooth

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2004
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If it's a heat issue, I would:

Look closely at how the Zalman VF700 is mounted. If there is the slightest interference that is preventing the heatsink from fully contacting the GPU die, it might be the source of your overheating problems. Ditto on your CPU.

If you have a thermister, you can verify your temps against the readings from BIOS... Sometimes the BIOS temp readings can be off by quite a lot.

I would also check your fan orientations-- The two rear mounted fans should be blowing out of the case and the front-mounted fan should be blowing in.

HTH.
 

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
If it's a heat issue, I would:

Look closely at how the Zalman VF700 is mounted. If there is the slightest interference that is preventing the heatsink from fully contacting the GPU die, it might be the source of your overheating problems. Ditto on your CPU.

If you have a thermister, you can verify your temps against the readings from BIOS... Sometimes the BIOS temp readings can be off by quite a lot.

I would also check your fan orientations-- The two rear mounted fans should be blowing out of the case and the front-mounted fan should be blowing in.

HTH.

Well, my fans aren't like the picture; I have one blowing in and one blowing out.
 

wisdomtooth

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2004
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Front blowing in and back blowing out, right? Just making sure. :D

How are your case temps by the way?
 

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
Front blowing in and back blowing out, right? Just making sure. :D

How are your case temps by the way?

Haha...yes!

My case temps are pretty low...25C-32C
 

wisdomtooth

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2004
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Sounds to me like your fans and PSU are doing their jobs properly, keeping your case temps nice and low.

In that case (LOL, pun intended) it definitely sounds like a heatsink mounting issue. I would closely examine how the heatsink is mating with the dies, and try all the usual tricks to see if it can be improved (tightening the screws to make sure there is adequate mounting pressure, making sure there are no excessive paste, etc.).

And if those problems persist, maybe you can try a shim (a flat square piece of copper sandwiched between the heatsink and die, with arctic silver applied of course) to eliminate interferences.

HTH.
 

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
Sounds to me like your fans and PSU are doing their jobs properly, keeping your case temps nice and low.

In that case (LOL, pun intended) it definitely sounds like a heatsink mounting issue. I would closely examine how the heatsink is mating with the dies, and try all the usual tricks to see if it can be improved (tightening the screws to make sure there is adequate mounting pressure, making sure there are no excessive paste, etc.).

And if those problems persist, maybe you can try a shim (a flat square piece of copper sandwiched between the heatsink and die, with arctic silver applied of course) to eliminate interferences.

HTH.

Thanks.

If you would be so kind, can you tell me the proper way of applying the thermal paste? Last night, after I cleaned off the old paste, I put a drop (about a BB size) on the cpu, then put the heatsink on top. The heatsink slid around a little before I was able to secure it with the screws.

On my GPU, I put a thin film of the Zalman supplied stuff, can spread a thin layer on top.

I screwed down both heatsinks until I could turn them anymore.

Wisdom...thanks for your wisdom!
 

wisdomtooth

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2004
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Yea.. A small BB size drop, squish the heatsink on, move it around a bit to spread it thin then secure down the mounts is usually how I do it as well. Some guys also use the credit card trick to spread a thin even layer over the dies, maybe that might help. You can also try the Arctic-silver recommended method of putting on a grain size drop, then using your finger in a sandwich bag to rub it in (so that the silver particles gets into all the surface imperfections of the die and heatsink) before mounting.

Use AS5 on that GPU too. Can't hurt, might help.

And if shimming doesn't work, maybe it's time to consider other heatsinks..

HTH.
 

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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Thanks.

Well, I have the fan on the Zalman on the lowest settings. But if I turn it high, it kind of defeats the purpose of having a quiet heatsink. I'll give it another shot when I got some time. I'll keep you posted.

Thanks again.
 

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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I re-applied the paste and both have improved.

The CPU is in the upper 40s, but the fan is at the lowest settings. It's been at those temps in my system for the last 6 months at a middle setting, so I can live with that.

My GPU, however, has greatly improved when I figured out the problem. The heatsink wasn't flush with the core. There was this black paper/plastic thing around the frame of the core which prevented the heatsink from sitting flush on the core. That explained why my GPU was over-heating so quickly. After I tore that thing off, everything is good.

Thanks again, all.
 

wisdomtooth

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2004
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There you go. Good on ya for solving your heatsink mounting issues.

I hope you are enjoying your newly-quieted computer with its Seasonic PSU and quiet HSFs!

:thumbsup:
 

whattaguy

Senior member
Jun 3, 2004
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Originally posted by: wisdomtooth
There you go. Good on ya for solving your heatsink mounting issues.

I hope you are enjoying your newly-quieted computer with its Seasonic PSU and quiet HSFs!

:thumbsup:


Thanks!
It is a little quieter, but nothing close to a Dell or other systems I heard. I think it's my HDD's. Oh well...that's another problem for another day. Thanks again.
 

wisdomtooth

Golden Member
Dec 21, 2004
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Yeah, those Dulls are quiet because of three things:

1) plastic case. Absorbs sound.

2) single fan (in the PSU only).

3) Dull doesn't care if the damn thing runs hot. :laugh:


You can get your system pretty darn close to Dull-quiet though:

1) Use soft rubber washers to mount your fans to deaden their vibrations.

2) Use soft rubber grommets to isolate mount your HDs.

3) Use fan controllers to further drop your fan RPMs. Pick up several more Zalman fanmates like the one that came with your CPU heatsink, and put all your case fans on them.

My always-on FTP server is just such a machine. I'd put it up against a Dull any day.