Thermaltake spark 7... is it supposed to suck, or blow?

[Paveslave]

I have had this thing running on my CPU since I built it about a month ago and my CPU temps always seem to stay around 40 degrees. To me this seems rather high since this thing has an all copper core and has a high speed adjustable fan on it than can go up to 6700 RPM. One thing I noticed about the Fan is that it pushes air downward onto the heatsink instead of pulling the air away from it. I have checked all the pin connectors on it and there's no way they can go on the headers any different. Was the fan accidently installed on the heatsink wrong, or is this how it is supposed to be.
All in all I am thinking I should go with some other kind of HSF that could better cool my CPU. I have a big case with the wires all neatly tied out of the way and 4 80mm case fans and a harddrive cooler fan, not to mention the chipset fan, and the 9700 pro fan. What's up with the high CPU temps? Any recommendations on "Great" CPU HSF for my 2.8?

 

[WhiteKnight77]

Everything I have read and seen says the fans need to blow onto the heatsink. Both fans I have had for any of my PCs have blown onto it. My ThermalTake Volcano 9 has an 80mm fan that blows onto it. It keeps my XP 2400+ at the same temps you have (which is even cooler than what the HSF for my old 1gHz Duron did by about 10 degrees.)

 

[RyanM]

As far as I know, the only heatsinks that require the air to be "sucked" through them are the ones with the round pins placed really close together. Can't remember off the top of my head which those are, but essentially, blowing does no good when there's so little room for airflow. On the other hand, when there's decent amounts of room for airflow, like on most extruded heatsinks, you always blow air onto 'em.

 

[Paveslave]

Well I'm glad I asked because I was actually thinking about taking the HSF apart and turning the fan over. I still am not that satisfied with the temps and wish I could go cooler. Under loads like playing UT2003 I can get as high as 48 degrees and that is playing the demo. I'm sure it will go even higher if I play a better game. I was even thinking about modding the my case by routing out a hole in the top for one, maybe two 120mm case fans to exhaust the hot air better. What do you think about that idea? Or, should I look for a better HSF?

 

[RyanM]

Hey man, log onto AIM. In order for me to figure this out, I need to ask you some more questions about your current cooling situation.

 

[WhiteKnight77]

Playing any of my games (Splinter Cell, NASCAR 2003, Ghost Recon, IL2) I have seen temps of 114/46. I would have to say, you are doing fine temp wise. We both have 4 80mm case fans and of course the 2 fans in the PS (Antec 480 TruePower here.) Those temps are what I saw this past week as it was almost 80F outside and 85F in my apt (I live in the Atlanta area) and I prefer it warm in my apt. If I am only getting those even at a room temp of 85, you should be fine too.

 

[Paveslave]

Originally posted by: MachFive
Hey man, log onto AIM. In order for me to figure this out, I need to ask you some more questions about your current cooling situation.

I'm on if you want to IM me

 

[Paveslave]

I let my computer sit overnight with the CPU fan on high (6500 RPM) and I wasn't running any software. I disconnected one exhaust fan in hopes that it would equal out the airflow between the air coming in and the air leaving the case. Before I did this little test my CPU temps at idle with nothing else running stayed around 38-40. When I woke this morning and checked the CPU temp it was at 43 degrees. I watched it for about 15 minutes and during that time it fluctuated between 41-43 with only the Easy Tune 4 monitor on. From the looks of it I would have to say that disconnecting the one exhaust fan did effect the CPU temp. I am sure it effected the Case temps too, but I don't have a sensor that tells me that.
All in all it was a good test, now I know how much good case fans help the cooling of the CPU as well as everything else. I am still going to take MachFive's advice and upgrade my CPU fan to a 92mm Panaflow and get rid of this high-whining 70mm I got now. I am also going to add another intake fan to the side of my case so I will better equal out the airflow. Thanks a lot MachFive for taking the time to help me troubleshoot this through instant messaging, I appreciate it. Hopefully I will get my temps down a few degrees in the long run.

 

[JeffCos]

OK, I'm new here and this may seem like a stupid question, but do you have your case fans sucking air into the case or exhausting out? I thought i read something in an above post about you "exhausting" the hot air out the top. I don't know if this is possible but why don't you flip your fans so they blow cooler air into the case. Or maybe you could flip the two rears to blow air in and the bottom from to exhaust out...I think that might give you some good airflow...Again, I'm new here so please don't laugh to hard if my suggestion is ridiculous.

 

[Paveslave]

Originally posted by: JeffCos
OK, I'm new here and this may seem like a stupid question, but do you have your case fans sucking air into the case or exhausting out? I thought i read something in an above post about you "exhausting" the hot air out the top. I don't know if this is possible but why don't you flip your fans so they blow cooler air into the case. Or maybe you could flip the two rears to blow air in and the bottom from to exhaust out...I think that might give you some good airflow...Again, I'm new here so please don't laugh to hard if my suggestion is ridiculous.

I was just talking about maybe modding two fans to exhaust hot air from the top. The two fans I have in the back are at the middle top therefore I have them exhausting hot air out. The two I have in the front are at the very bottom so I have them as intake fans. Heat rises so it would be pointless to have the ones at the bottom trying to exaust the hot air from the top of the case. This way the cold air is brought in from the front, over my motherboard and cpu, and then exhausted out of the back. Thanks for the input though.

 

[RyanM]

Kickass man. Based on those results, I'd say you may see a decrease in case temps by putting on that side fan and rigging up that cardboard like we talked about. With any luck, you'll be down to 35 degrees in no time. ;-)