New computer setup. Some questions with cooling.

[kenshin9]

Hey everybody. I always seem to end up here when I search for things, so I thought I'd ask a question here. I recently built a new system. I have an Antec P160 case, ASUS A8N-SLI Premium motherboard, 2GB PC3200 Corsair Value Select RAM, Sapphire x550 video card, two SATA Hitachi Deskstar drives, and an AMD X2 3800+. For exhaust, I have an Arctic Fan 12. I use the Zalman 7700 heatsink with Arctic Silver 5.

I've read reviews on heatsinks and such, but I always find it better to hear from other people about their experiences or suggestions. I was wondering if there was a better heatsink to use, other methods of cooling, or if my temperatures are normal. My idle is 41C and after running two instances of CPU Burn for thirty minutes, it doesn't go beyond 55C. Also, the motherboard is about 44C. My room temperature is about 27C. I don't use Cool n' Quiet. I tried using an intake fan, it was an Antec, but I didn't notice much difference besides the noise. I think it might have to do with the dust filter right in front of it, as it would appear to restrict airflow. I've read about people getting around 33C idle, but they don't mention if they use CnQ. They usually say that they got lucky. I do plan on overclocking this next week; I've read that I should let the processor settle in first. If anyone could give me some feedback about temps, that would be great. Thanks!

 

[RallyMaster]

I don't think it should go to 41C even at 27C room temp. Should be around 33C or so I think. The temps are a bit high I admit, even for people that already have it OCed. If you had more intake airflow, I'm sure you can get better temps. Also try an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro because those tend to cool more effectively due to the front to rear airflow.

 

[kenshin9]

I see. Thanks. I'll wait to see if other people have more feedback before buying anything. I forgot to also mention that even if I pulled the side of my case off, the lowest I've ever seen is 38C on idle.

 

[Operandi]

Your temps are perfectly fine, definitely not high. I would however turn on Cool n' Quiet; your system will run cooler, draw less power, and potentially make less noise.

 

[Painman]

Hmm. I have a P160, the setup is similar enough to yours. Antec fan undervolted as intake, dust filter in place, Panaflo L1A as exhaust, hooked up to temp controlled fan header, so it runs at a really lackadaisical speed most of the time. Room temp right now is about 25º C according to digital thermometer. Case temp according the the P160's built in sensors (they're just hanging in an open area) is 29º C. CPU is mostly idle and its temp according to MBM is 32º C, stock HSF/AS5 on it right now. PWMIC temp (MBM again) is 36º C.

Long story short, I think your motherboard is overreporting temps. Not uncommon, those sensor chips are often calibrated horribly. Get some temp readings from other sources, even just throwing a digital thermo inside the case for 10 minutes, and compare.

 

[kenshin9]

Oh yeah. That's right. I remember reading about overreporting temps. I haven't used the P160 sensors. Am I able to just stick it to the base of the heatsink?

 

[Painman]

Wow, that's a really cool heatpipe cooler on that board. Hadn't seen it before. Yeah, I'm looking at a JPG of it, cos I want to see where its sensor chip is. It's to the side of some SATA connectors, and it says "ITE" on it. If one of the P160 sensors will reach, tape it to the top of that chip. Most sensor chips take the "motherboard temp" reading from a diode inside of themselves. Leave the other P160 sensor in open air. Put a thermometer in the same area of the case as the sensor that's hanging loose. Compare the readings of the thermometer with the open air sensor. Compare the mobo temp reading from the sensor chip to what the sensor taped to the chip says.

So... the thermo's reading will tell you how far off, in either direction, the P160's sensors are. You can then use that information to get a more accurate calculation of how far off the mobo's sensor chip is, or isn't. But I'm pretty sure it is.

 

[kenshin9]

Thanks a lot! I'll try that tomorrow morning. Haha, I've gotten so far behind on learning things about computers in the last two years. I wasn't aware about all the new processors, heat issues, and depth of overclocking until I started building this second computer. I've got a lot to learn.

 

[Painman]

No problem. Report back tomorrow, and welcome to ATF :thumbsup:

 

[Operandi]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
I don't think it should go to 41C even at 27C room temp. Should be around 33C or so I think. The temps are a bit high I admit, even for people that already have it OCed. If you had more intake airflow, I'm sure you can get better temps. Also try an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro because those tend to cool more effectively due to the front to rear airflow.

The nForce4 is one of the hottest running chipsets there is and his board is passively cooled. 41C is a pretty low temp, 33C is wishful thinking. Also, Intake fans have almost no effect on system temps. If your looking for lower system and/or MB temps you need to increase your exhaust not your intake.

 

[zagood]

Originally posted by: Operandi
Also, Intake fans have almost no effect on system temps. If your looking for lower system and/or MB temps you need to increase your exhaust not your intake.

Wrong. Halfway.

To decrease system temps you need more air exchange. Whether you need more intake, exhaust, or both depends on existing cooling.

If you've only got one or the other, exhaust is the way to go. It's more efficient to remove hot air than push in cool air with a fan.

However, the ideal setup is to have fairly even intake and exhaust CFM. I prefer more intake with dust filters (creates positive pressure lowering dust accumulation inside case), but that's just me.

If you only have exhaust, you have to run that exhaust fan(s) at more than twice the CFM than you would if you had both exhaust and intake fans. With only exhaust you're depending on the negative pressure within the case to take care of sucking in cool air from holes in the case.

What it comes down to, any way you have your case fans set up, you need to exchange cool outside air for warm case air.

-z

 

[TrevorRC]

Originally posted by: RallyMaster
I don't think it should go to 41C even at 27C room temp. Should be around 33C or so I think. The temps are a bit high I admit, even for people that already have it OCed. If you had more intake airflow, I'm sure you can get better temps. Also try an Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro because those tend to cool more effectively due to the front to rear airflow.

Rally, I run water and I have idles around ~29-30. When my room heats up, I idle at 33.
Loads @ 37.

I don't believe that his temps are out of norm for air cooling.

Oh yeah. That's right. I remember reading about overreporting temps. I haven't used the P160 sensors. Am I able to just stick it to the base of the heatsink?

Do NOT do that. Serious risk of a spot on the CPU overheating o_o
Might not happen, but it really isn't worth risking it.

 

[kenshin9]

Alright. I tried doing what Painman told me to do. Here are my results. I taped one P160 sensor to the mothertboard sensor that says ITE on it. Then the other was suspended. The taped sensor has a reading of about 42C. According ASUS Probe, my motherboard temp is 41C. The suspended sensor has a reading of 31C. But the digital thermometer I used in the same area gave 26.6C.

So it looks like the Antec P160 sensors are close to what ASUS Probe tells me. The thermometer is the different one. So if I were to compare the P160 with the thermometer, there would be an overreport of a little over 4C.

What does anyone think about that? I'm not freaking out about this, but as they say, cooler is always better. Plus, if the temperatures are overreported, that means my fans would always be running higher than they need to because they think the temps are higher. My Arctic Fan 12 blows a lot of air out, I can really feel it from behind the computer. So I think I should be pretty good with the exhaust. I know that my motherboard is passively cooled which means that it'll run a little hotter. But does the temperature of it directly effect the CPU?

I was thinking about trying another heatsink, the Thermalright SI-120. I've read reviews and it looks to be a very good heatsink, if you use the right fan with it. But the Zalman 7700 also gets good reviews, so it's hard for me to compare the two. Just from what I've gained, I saw a review comparing the SI-120 to a Zalman 7000, and the Zalman was destroyed. And from other reviews, the 7700 is just a bit better than the 7000 by cooling and noise. So I would have assumed that the SI-120 is better.

 

[zagood]

Here's a good review at SPCR with the 7700 vs. the XP-120. SI-120 gets you about 4-5c cooler than the XP-120.

http://www.silentpcreview.com/article209-page1.html

Read jmke's new heatsink roundup for other heatsink possibilities
http://www.madshrimps.be/?action=getarticle&articID=406

My heatsink opinions/recommendations:

The best overall (if not worrying about price): Scythe Ninja.
Prettiest (IMO), and great performer: Zalman 9500.
Best price/performance ratio: AC Freezer 64 Pro.
Best mid-range: Big Typhoon and SI-120.

EDIT: If you're worried about overreporting on temps and how that affects fan speed, get a separate fan speed controller. Sunbeam Rheobus can be found for 10-15 bucks.

-z

 

[kenshin9]

Thanks for the links. I went ahead and bought the SI-120.