Thinking of removing the heatspreader on my X2

[darkswordsman17]

First of all, its a 3800+ in an X-QPack system. It idles at right about 40C and load is up to 50C if not higher when I game. Also in the case will be an X1900XT and a Creative X-Fi with the Front connector (so that means another cable that will restrict airflow.

Right now I have a Zalman 7000-AlCu LED HSF on it, and when I took those temps it had a 7800GT in it, so I would expect them to be higher with the different video card and less airflow.

I bought a Zalman 7700-Cu in the FS/T forum, and will be checking to see how well it sits in the case (although the AT article states that a Zalman 7000 series HSF is about the largest, I believe a 7700 will fit, but I won't be able to slide out the motherboard tray which isn't a problem as I have routed cables and everything already and it woudlnt' slide out very well already).

So, I was reading up on it and it seems fairly simple and straightforward to do. I know I need to be careful and I realize and accept that I can damage my CPU, even kill it, and am willing to take full responsibility for it. I can't RMA it anyways as its just an OEM one, so thats not a big deal. Also, I will need to be careful when seating that massive copper HSF on it so that I don't chip the cores or anything. Then again I might not be using that after all, but even the smaller AlCu one will need attention when seating.

After reading up on it, it seems to be worthwhile, and could help me lower temps, and possibly improve overclocking. I'm aiming pretty conservatively though and would be content with 2.5Ghz which I know this CPU could do no problem now.

So, not really asking for help or anything, I was just curious what other people's thoughts on this are. Here's how I see it:

Pros:
Have the chip run cooler
Possibly boost overclock or get same OC at lower voltage
Might be able to run quieter fans due to lower temps

Cons:
Can damage/kill CPU

Some other things of note, not really pertinent to the CPU section, but will be for some added interest to some I'm sure.

I saw a thread where someone was able to put a NV5 Silencer on their X1900XT. I'm thinking of doing the same. I can't find the thread again, but I recall that there was an issue with one set of memory not making contact, but it was easily overcome. Two reasons I would like to do this is that it should help cooling, and the NV5 should be able to push more heat out than the stock cooler, and for quieter operation. It seemed to help the other person's temps quite a bit as well, but I'm not planning on overclocking anyway (but we'll see how it goes). Oddly enough, at least at idle, the sound of the stock cooler isn't that bad, and it didn't bother me too much when I was gaming and the fan speed increased, and I didn't have any audio to drown out the sound, and the X-QPack sits very close to me on the top of the desk.

The other thing concerns the X-Fi. I'm curious about the cable that connects the front panel to the card. Does anyone know if its just a standard IDE cable or if its some proprietary one? If I could replace it with a nice round IDE cable that'd help a lot as it would look better and help with airflow (as it is, it looks like the cable will be blocking the intake for the X1900XT, although I might have to get to routing it under the motherboard like I did with the floppy cable.

 

[Doctorweir]

What should I say...I was always a strong defender of IHS-removal. Just take care and it will work out. You can find pics of my last removal (current Opty 165) here. Includes naked processor, so you know what to avoid to damage (capacitors), a prepared razor blade, etc.
Regarding the X-Fi the cable is somewhat proprietary (missing pins), but I managed to not block the airflow with it...

 

[imported_ST]

See

http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=28&threadid=1828873&enterthread=y

On AT forums, it's a 50/50 yea/nay opinion. Go to XS, and it's a 80/20 yea/nay.

For me it helped things considerably with heat. I would suggest you run tcasemax, find you tcase and tdps and see if its in the upper spectrum of spec, thus prone to high current leakage (i.e. heat). if not, i wouldn't bother much as your gains will probably minimal (3C-5C or so). A better suggestion is for you to ditch the Zalman 7700 and get a BT TT, Scythe, or XP90c/120 if you're that concerned about heat or want to overclock more. Having a good HSF with no-IHS is imperative if you want the most out of hot running CPUs...as always, YMMV

 

[morkus64]

i would keep in mind that someone on these forums was selling a processor he had taken the IHS off of, and he seemed to be having trouble selling it.

 

[darkswordsman17]

Thanks for the responses.

Thats an interesting tool that definitely looks worth checking out (tcasemax). I'll give that a try.

I would be using a Scythe Ninja, but with the X-QPacks you don't really have much vertical room and so even an XP-120/90 won't fit once you put a fan on them, otherwise I would be using one of them. I thought about getting one of those small watercooling setups for just the CPU. If I was more handy and had the time/energy, I would make a special stand to sit the case on and setup 4 radiators and run water cooling up through the bottom of the case, but I'm not, so thats not an option. I also have another kink in my plan as I recieved a 7000-Cu and not the 7700-Cu that I thought I was purchasing.

Thanks for the added perspective morkus. I hadn't really thought of that. However, as it looks, I'm planning on keeping this setup for a good while and not changing too much, so selling it shouldn't be too much of an issue. Definitely something to think about though.

Any temp drops I can manage I think will be beneficial. Looks like this summer is going to be very hot, and coupling that with the small case and everything, any little bit should help to keep things stable.

I might put this on the back burner depending on how well the 7700 when I finally get one works with it. Might be a nice little summer project if I get some free time then or something. Then again, I'll have some downtime as I have to RMA my memory again. We shall see.

 

[Shimmishim]

i took off my IHS on my 144 and went from 3.0 stable to 3.1 stable.

it's risky but after doing it 4 times now, it becomes a very quick 5 minute operation for me. i have not damaged the chip in anyway in the process of removing the IHS.

 

[buzzsaw13]

If you're prepared to lose your 3800X2 in case something bad happens I say go for it!

 

[darkswordsman17]

Originally posted by: buzzsaw13
If you're prepared to lose your 3800X2 in case something bad happens I say go for it!

Now thats the attitude!

I'm happy to report that it went well. Definitely took me longer than it should have, but I wanted to be careful. I could do it a lot more quickly now.

I used one of those craft razor kits (the one where its like a pen with a triangle shaped razor on the end) and a swiss army knife. I have to say it worked quite well. The knife was a lot better for prying it up and if you're careful you won't be any worse off than with a razor. The razor worked well too. Wish I would've thought about using isopropyl alcohol earlier as it made things a lot faster and easier.

Not sure how temps are, but I believe they should be better. Won't have my system back up and running until this next week. I have a new HSF (replaced the Zalman 7000 AlCu with a Thermaltake Blue Orb II) and some other changes to boot, so I'm anxious to see how it all works. Unfortunately I don't have pics of it (but it looks the same as any other naked X2, so not a huge deal). I've got the temp sensor from my X-QPack placed nicely and should give me a good reading.

At least now I can turn the heatspreader into a nice keychain.

I've been spending some time routing cables and things to help with looks and airflow. Looking pretty nice so far. I'll have a 7900GT with an NV5 on it instead of the X1900XT, so that should help some. Also I changed the fan on the case as it was easily the noisiest part. Got a Scythe fan thats rated at about 20dba with 49cfm. The Aspire one was rated at 35 dba so it should be a good bit quieter.

I'll update once I get everything up and running. Maybe I'll still have my camera and can get pics of it all setup.

 

[RallyMaster]

Don't do it. Just get better cooling (bigger case would be best).

 

[darkswordsman17]

Ok, here's more info.

Replaced the Zalman 7000 with a Thermaltake Blue Orb II. Not sure if its necessarily better, but it does seem to be quieter. The only time I can hear it is if I turn it all the way up. Never needs to go to that speed though, as I haven't seen the CPU go higher than 40C (using the temp sensor on my X-QPack). Not bad. Would go just above 50 with the Zalman. Idles about 30C with the BOII, versus ~35 with the

Also, I replaced the stock 120mm fan on the case, as it was quite loud (although good at pushing air). Got a Scythe that does about 40cfm and rated at 21dba. Seems to work well too.

The only problem is the fan on my 7900GT. That thing is loud and has an annoying tone to it. Sounds like a hair dryer (only not quite as loud as a hair dryer). I find the noise it makes to be worse on the ears than the stock X1900 heatsinks. Already have an NV5 on the way to take care of that. Should help a lot, and I'll be able to tell how quiet those other two fans really are.

It doesn't appear that removing the heatspreader helped my overclocking any. If anything, it seems worse than before. I can only get 2.4 at stock voltage (well, stock by the BIOS which turns out to be lower in windows). For some reason if I try any other voltage or settings (so going to 250x10 versus 240x10) it won't load windows. Not sure if its the board or the CPU, or what, but I'm kinda disappointed. I might play with it some more and see how things work out, as I am fairly certain this chip could do more. It used to do 250x10 and get into windows and run fine. It would've been stable if my RAM hadn't gone out on me.