Installed brand new Alpha PAL 8942, temps INCREASED!

[OneOfTheseDays]

Man I am kinda confused here. I installed my new alpha heatsink and coupled it with an antec 80mm fan and my temps have increased slightly. I idle at around 38 degrees C and load temps are up around 54 degrees C. My previous intel stock HSF would never go above 50 degrees C. I'm thinking I defintiely have installed the heatsink wrong but I cannot figure out what I did wrong.

I tightened the bolts until i heard them bottoming out, so it seems that its on tight enough. I'm not sure if the heatsink is making good enough contact with the CPU though because I can put my hand on the heatsink and it's barely warm. Also, which way should I point the fan, directly at the CPU or blowing away from the CPU. I would really like to have my load temps never go above 50 degrees C. I have an antec sonata case with a 120 MM fan in the back btw. No other fans are present besides the powersupply and the HSF fan. Oh yea mobo temps are around 30 -34 degrees C. I also ahve AS3 applied, just applied it today, so waiting to see if temps will drop a lot.

 

[Crism]

is the fan blowing toward or away from the processor?

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

away from the processor.

 

[anwar1337]

that right there ios your problem you need it to blow down so it dessipates the heat

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

well my understanding of this would be that the processor generates heat which is dissipated through the heatsink, which in turn is then funneled out by the fan on top. By blowing the fan on the processor you would block cool air onto the hot air coming off the processor which in turn leads to a bunch of warm air going nowhere?

 

[Goi]

Almost Alpha HSFs, if not all, are designed to work with exhaust oriented fans rather than intake, so you're doing it right.

Perhaps you put too much AS3?

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

well i put an extremely thing layer of as3. But i figured maybe i might not have enough airflow in my case so i changed my 120 mm fan from 7 volts to full speed. It reduced my temps to now only 50 C underload, when overclocked to 145 fsb and 47C underload when only at default 133 2.4 GHZ speed. However the noise is unacceptable. I do plan on eventually ocing my system to 3 ghz + and am wondering if i'll ever be able to do it considering i get such high temps even at default speeds.

 

[Goi]

Well, one thing you have to consider that the Alpha PAL8942 isn't an extremely high end hsf for the P4. Its Alpha's flagship P4 cooler, and its up there with the big boys, but it isn't the best. Besides, intel's stock P4 cooler does an extremely well job cooling the P4, so in actual fact, the 2 might be pretty much comparable. Personall I switched from intel's stock P4 cooler to a Swiftech MCX4000 and only saw a drop in temp of a few degrees C.

 

[Ketchup]

I have the same heatsink and am also disappointed with it's performance. I did a little tweaking so that the springs would tighten more before the bolts bottomed out, but I still am not getting temps that are more than a couple degrees lower than the stock Intel fan. I am going to buy a Thermalright SLK-900U pretty soon see if that doesn't lower my temps. I mean, with a huge copper base, all that surface area, and the ability to hold an 80mm fan, you would think the Alpha would cool better than it does.

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

yea, i believe that the airflow in the case has a large part to do with the performance. With a standard 80mm fan, the heatsink is pummeling out massive amounts of hot air, and if there is no airflow shoveling the hot air out of the case then the temps will continue to rise because the hot air will stay there.

That's why i saw such a drastic DECREASE in temps when i upped my rear fan back up to a full 12 volts. I believe that a solid 80mm fan at the front of the case and a 80mm fan at the back along with a decent 80 mm fan on the heatsink should provide decent performance.

 

[RalfHutter]

I've been running my P4 2.66 OCed to 3.0 Ghz with an 8942 + 7-volted Panaflo M1A for the last seven months. Case is an Antec SX10x0, case fans are a couple of 7-volted L1As. Prime95 load temps have never been over 51-52°C. From my point of view there's nothing wrong woth the Alpha 8942. I'm using pretty low-flow fans and have plenty of cooling.

I'd check your ASIII application and make sure the HS is bottomed-out. You say you "heard them bottom out". Does that mean you heard the springs start to make those "sproingy" sounds? If so, that starts happening way before they're actually bottomed out. I'd take the board out of the case and visually check your installation.


edit - Are you really in Bradbury? I'm in Monrovia. Howdy neighbor!

 

[OneOfTheseDays]

hey buddy, yah i'm in bradbury (finally someone that knows where bradbury actually is). Anyways good news.

Redid the whole thing and made sure the heatsink was tight enough and completely leveled. I lapped the heatsink as well. Now i reapplied the AS3 (which i think made the diff). New temps are now acceptable and getting better as the as3 settles in.

New temps : P4 2.4ghz @ 2.4GHZ
IDLE: 36 C PRIME LOAD: 50 C GAMING LOAD: 45 C
P4 2.4ghz @ 2.880 GHZ
IDLE: 38 C PRIMELOAD: 52 C GAMING LOAD: 47 C

now 3 ghz and beyond will be in reach when i get my it7 max back. By then, the as3 will have cured fully and my temps will be acceptable, if not i'll just put a higher fan on my cpu.

 

[Bad Dude]

What do you guys mean by bottomed out? Do you mean to turn the screws until it reach the end where you cannot turn any more?
The temps reporting is also different from board to board. My temps is around 36-39C idle and 45-49 load. The important thing is not so much idle temp but the at what temp does it stop rising when under heavy load? This tells you how well the heatsink work. I got my alpha sucking air out of the side blow hole but I also isolate using card board just so the heat from the alpha is blowing our of the case by the side blow hole. The noise is OK but still better than the delta 60mm screamer. I still would like it quieter but CA is getting hot so need the air movement until next winter.
Thanks.

 

[Krk3561]

Is there a difference in performance if the fan is set up for intake rather than exaust?

 

[Syborg1211]

Performance difference between sucking and blowing depends greatly on the case. I personally found temps to be better on my 8045 with the fan blowing onto my heatsink. Others find differently.

 

[Bad Dude]

Did you remove the shroud when you have the fan blowing onto the hs?

 

[jhites]

The Antec 80mm is most likely only about 32cfm which may not be pulling enough air through the heatsink. The 8942 is designed to have the airflow pulling air away from the core and not blowing air onto the core.

Check to insure that the heatsink without the screws tightened is on the die. The spring screws are for pressure.