What high performing heatsink/fan works with a8n-sli?

[olternat]

Yeah so what would u guys recommend?

For some reason my athlon 4000+ in the a8n-sli mobo is idling at bout 54c with stock cooling. What gives?
I am hoping a hsf replacement will help. So now which ones gonna fit?
All the high performing heatsink/fan products seem to be huge. I have my eye on the thermalright xp-90. What you guys think?

 

[CheesePoofs]

Temp sensors are always wrong on the motherboards, so you shouldn't be worried about your proc running too hot. Feel the base of the heatsink when its on, it probably won't be hot, which means that the proc is not idling at 54c.

If you still want a good hsf, the xp-90 and xp-120 are the best ones available, they both will fit your motherboard. Both have about the same surface area, but the xp-90 takes a 90mm fan and the xp-120 takes a 120mm fan. Either one is great.

 

[olternat]

oops I forgot to mention I have the A8N-SLI DELUXE version.

Would that make a difference when it comes time to install?

 

[CheesePoofs]

That is the only nforce 4 sli motherboard asus makes, the xp-120 will fit, the others will too.

 

[olternat]

Well, I just went ahead and ordered the thermalright xp-90. The model came out AFTER the xp-120 and its smaller. In fact, people wished the xp-120 was smaller so they came out with the xp90 just cause of that.

Ordered it with a 92mm fan and some arctic silver 5 thermal paste. Installation hopefully won't be too dificult. I will let u guys know when I get it installed and what the new idle temperature of the cpu would be.

:thumbsup:

 

[DVad3r]

I got a cooler master hyper 48 heatsink on my 3200 64 (90 nm) in my SLI asus board.

 

[olternat]

cooler master 48?

Never heard of that one. Lemme research. Too late for me though cause I already ordered the xp-90 :
How is that one working for you and what was your stock cpu idle/load temps before and after the new heatsink/fan.

 

[olternat]

Hey, here is a new question.......

Which way should I mount the fan on the heatsink? Up or down? is it true if the fan is pointing downward on the heatsink that you would get better temperatures?

 

[CheesePoofs]

you should mount it blowing air down on the fins, you will get slightly better temps that way.

 

[olternat]

I just called amd customer support to see what they say before I actually do something. The amd guy didn't help much and he said 54C idle temp was "normal" for this cpu. And at around 70 its programmed to shudown.
Now would any of you guys feel comfortable if customer support told you that? And I believe that I installed the stock hsf properly. At least I hope so.

The guy also said using a 3rd party heatsink fan would void the warranty. I got the feeling from talking to him that he was just telling me what he was programmed to say. How can he tell me that 54c was normal for idle temp and at 70 plus it will shutdown?

What happens when I start to put a load on the pc? Its certainly gonna jump beyond 70c I can guarantee that! I dunno. Maybe it is the bios on mobo.

I'm about to call asus mobo support and will tell you what they say........

 

[CheesePoofs]

As i said, temps sensors are off. Don't be worried about the temps. And under load, the temp will probably only rise to 60c, it will not hit 70. But remember, that is only the temp that your motherboard is showing you, its NOT your true temp. Your true temp is much lower, touch the base of your heatsink when the computer is on if you need proof.

 

[olternat]

Well ya I do touch it and it feels hot. But not so much it burns. Even so I can feel the heat against the clear pane of the right side window cover. Is that normal? :

What would be the easiest way to find out the true current idle cpu temperature? Software? Some device?

 

[CheesePoofs]

If you don't have to take your hand off of the heatsink because its too hot, then its probably ok. 54 C is 129.2 degree Fahrenheit, and that is very hot.

The only way to get the true temp is to actually buy a sensor and put it on the actual CPU, or right above it by drilling a hole in the heatsink and putting it in it. Neither is worth doing, they will take a lot of time and could still not give you the proper temps, because its impossible to fit a temp sensor on the cpu, and very hard to keep one next to it.

 

[olternat]

How about speedfan? Is that a good program to use?

 

[CheesePoofs]

speedfan, and all other programs like it, read the temperature that the motherboard gives them. If the motherboard is wrong, speedfan will be wrong, because they all use the same sensor.

 

[olternat]

Allrighty then.....

I loaded speedfan and its reporting same thing bios is reporting as well as the asus probe window app:

idle cpu temp: *holding stable at 52c*

arghhhhh :|

I decided then to unplug the 2 case 120mm fans from the front and back of the case from the power supply *fans only* power plugs. I then plugged the fans in two regular device power supply molex plugs.

Before with the fans only plugs the 120mm fans was running at a variable rate of speed along with the power supply fans. They were running slower cause I guess the power supply *knows* when to go full speed or not.

Now without the fan only plugs the case fans run at full speed.

So at this moment the current cpu temp at idle is holding steady at: *drum roll please*
50c !!
*glances over at screen* Correction: Now its 49c!
Not a dramatic difference but enough to prove that the higher case fan speeds has caused an effect.

Even so at a higher load its gonna easily top 70C which will tempt the cpu to shut down. I'm guessing a good load will raise cpu temp 20 degrees or more? Or would a load just raise it 10 degrees or more in the 60's?
I just hope the thermalright xp-90 doesn't have any complications while installing. I heard that some of the clamps needs alot of pressure?

 

[CheesePoofs]

It won't top 70C under load, athlon 64's just don't go that high, and there is normally a 10c MAX difference between their idle temps and their load temps.

If you are using an Antec power supply, then the fan only thing runs the fans soooooooo slow there is almost no airflow. I know because i have one. When i had the fans plugged into the fan only connecter, i could put my hand right behind the fan and feel nothing, now that they are running full speed i can feel air.

You really don't need to worry about your temps. What you should do is download Prime95 and run it overnight. If you don't get any errors, you know your temps are fine, because if they were as high as your mobo/speedfan/etc is showing them, the CPU would become unstable.

 

[olternat]

Well tell me if prime95 can detect the nforce4 chipset then would that be fine?
Does it have to know about the A8N-SLI deluxe mobo specifically?

 

[CheesePoofs]

It doesn't need to detect the chipset, or have a compatable motherboard. It works like anyother program, it just runs using windows. The only difference is that it has a mode that is designed to push the CPU as hard as it can, which is very good for making sure your CPU is stable.

 

[boatillo]

Yea the temp sensors on some motherboards seem pretty bad, which is a shame because when you invest in a nice hsf you want to actually know how well its doing its job!

My zalman gives me like 41C on the first boot of the day, with case open in a cold room....my finger says har har.

 

[CheesePoofs]

You have one very cool, and unusual, finger.

It is a shame that they are all off, my friend's mobo says his prescott is running at 33C....... my mind says har har to that.

 

[DVad3r]

3200 winchester with hyper 48 in SLI mobo and tsunami case = 30-35 C.

 

[Zebo]

Thermalright XP-90

 

[Vee]

Originally posted by: CheesePoofs
Feel the base of the heatsink when its on, it probably won't be hot, which means that the proc is not idling at 54c.

This suggestion, often seen here in this forum, is not reliable. If the reason for the cpu running hot is that the interface layer doesn't work properly, the heatsink won't be warm, but the cpu will be, still.