Trying to figure out what I screwed up...

[Spike]

Well, before this evening my CPU idled at 34-36c and went 42ish at full load (this is with my fans at ~ 8-9 volts). I received my shipment from FrozenCPU tonight and spent some time on my comp. First thing I did was replace my northbridge cooler with the blue Zalman passive one. Next I put rubber seals between my 120mm fans and my case (I know, probably does nothing but for $3 I thought I would try it).

Anyway, the last thing I did was remove my 80mm YS-Tech fan (48CFM @ 36dB) from my Alpha PAL8045, add a 80mm to 92mm duct and put a 92mm Panaflo M1A on the end in 'suck' (80mm was in 'suck' as well).

Turned on my comp, noticed the quieter noise (mostly from the Panaflo) and promptly watched my temps shoot sky high. After 20 min I was idleing at 49c (8-9v fans). When I put my fans at the full 12v I only dropped to 46c idle (before my idle with fans at 12v was 32c). I shut down the comp, reversered the fan to 'blow' on the alpha, then restarted. After 20 min I was at 48.5c idle (8-9 volt fans). So I said screw this and put my ys-tech back in the normal configuration.

Now I am running as I was before, but my idle temps are at 45.5c!!! One thing I have not done recently and am now going to do is to update my BIOS. What I am curious about is what could I have done to my setup. Certainly the passive Zalman could not make a 10+c change in idle temps. The only thing I can think of is that all my wiggleing might have messed up the AS 3 under the Alpha and it is not seated properly, though this seems unlikely to me.

Anyone have any ideas here?

-spike

 

[Spike]

No one has any ideas? Can wiggling a heatsink cause the artic silver to shift and need to take time to re-settle again? Could that be causing the higher temps?

-spike

 

[Jeff7]

The only thing I can think of is that all my wiggleing might have messed up the AS 3 under the Alpha and it is not seated properly, though this seems unlikely to me.

Might be it - it happened on my system. I did some work on the hard drives; never even touched my 8045. Temps were up to 58C under load. Redid the AS, and temps are back to normal - 47C. Still a tad toasty, but the AS takes a little bit to even out.
Little tip for the Alpha 8045 - sure, bolt-through heatsinks are nice and sturdy, but too often they'd catch, and I'd wind up unscrewing the nut from the back of the motherboard before the heatsink would detatch, thus requiring the removal of the entire motherboard.
I finally got some nylon-insert locking nuts for it. They seem to have helped with that problem, though I'm also careful of how tightly I turn the topside screws now too.
I believe they are 6/32 sized, but I can't remember for sure. And I'm not taking the thing apart to find out! 😛

 

[Spike]

Man, I was hoping someone would have a different idea... I REALLY don't want to remove my Alpha (thus the entire mobo) and reseat it again. This is the ONE time in my life I could use a case with a removable motherboad tray...

I may try that this weekend if my temps don't settle down again on their own. Just over the course of last night my idle temps dropped to 41c from 44c with no change in house temp. When I recently moved to my new case the temps took a while to reduce so the AS might have been resettling. If by Sunday my temps have not settled lower (or my under load temps are above 48 which is unacceptable) then I will remount...

Thanks for the input

-Spike

 

[Zucarita9000]

Originally posted by: Spike
No one has any ideas? Can wiggling a heatsink cause the artic silver to shift and need to take time to re-settle again? Could that be causing the higher temps?

-spike

Is your room temperature steady? In my case, CPU temp will be 4-6º higher during a hot day. I can see the impact of room temperature very easily. Right now, it's rather hot outside and I don't have the air conditioner turned on. My CPU is at 49º. However, with air conditioning and room temperature at 20ºC, my CPU drops like 6º in a matter of minutes.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: Zucarita9000

Originally posted by: Spike
No one has any ideas? Can wiggling a heatsink cause the artic silver to shift and need to take time to re-settle again? Could that be causing the higher temps?

-spike

Is your room temperature steady? In my case, CPU temp will be 4-6º higher during a hot day. I can see the impact of room temperature very easily. Right now, it's rather hot outside and I don't have the air conditioner turned on. My CPU is at 49º. However, with air conditioning and room temperature at 20ºC, my CPU drops like 6º in a matter of minutes.

My computer is affected alot by the room temp, at least it was in my old case so I assume it will be pretty close to the same with this newer case. That being said, my house temps have not changed much in the last few weeks due to just leaving the thermostat at the same spot. Plus, I can garuntee that my house temps did not change enough in the 30 min my computer was down to increase my idle temps by almost 10c.

As of right now it is about 30-35 F outside, so I my comp temps have been nice and low. Due to a lack of AC, my temps usually jump as much as 10c during summer over winter operation, thus why I can now jack up my fans for summertime gaming.

Thanks for your input, I am looking for any idea people have and that was a good one.

-spike

 

[Spike]

Hmmm, so right now there are no other ideas... I will check my temps again when I get home to see if they have settled down any more.

-spike

 

[shimsham]

mobo temp sensors are so unreliable. i reformatted last night, temps were 41 idle, 49 load. i realized i hadnt installed the mobo drivers yet, and after i did that, my temps jumped to 51idle, 63load. thats the second time thats happened. i refuse to believe that drivers caused an almost 15c jump.

 

[Spike]

Originally posted by: shimsham
mobo temp sensors are so unreliable. i reformatted last night, temps were 41 idle, 49 load. i realized i hadnt installed the mobo drivers yet, and after i did that, my temps jumped to 51idle, 63load. thats the second time thats happened. i refuse to believe that drivers caused an almost 15c jump.

Lol, 15c jump, thats pretty nice! If these readings had changed after a reinstall or reformatt then I could understand, but all I did was change the fan, then change it back so software was never touched. Thats what makes it very confusing... I hope that when I get home the temps have settled down again...

-spike