Just finished my new computer and installed the Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme heatsink with a scythe S-flex fan. I used arctic silver 5 (which was smeared a bit over the faces - as this heatsink was fiddly to put on and the heatsink was sliding around), and i installed the fan blowing into the heatsink. I've overclocked my cpu very very slightly, FSB is 350 on my £8500 with 9.5X multiplier. I'm getting a temp of about 35-40C idle right now! Seems pretty hot with that massive heatsink on it! Anyone got any ideas why that might be??? I've got 2 8800GT's in raid underneath running at about 60C each - maybe theyre forcing hot air into the CPU area?
is there a chance you could post a picture of your system with the side panel off? either there is very poor airflow through the case from front to back, over something else at fault. And until then i cant say much. How are you powering the fan, is it off the motherboard header, if so how is it setup in the bios, as the fan could be idling until load is applied.
That temp isn't so bad. Remember temps can vary 10-15 degrees in software format to what they actually are.
I know the temps arent too bad. At 100% load i get 57C maximum. However i want to overclock and with this huge heatsink I've got, I think i should have better temps. I just cleaned out the inside of my comp a bit, and the CPU fan area is a bit more clear, and the top exhaust fan has nothing obstructing it, however i now get slightly worse temps! Same at load, but worse idle temps (about 40-42C). Inside of comp: The cables are a bit tidier now though, managed to get rid of 3 cables coming out of the modular PSU wth molex-sata adapters and using the PCI-E cables fixed to the psu. The case has 2 front intake fans, a rear exhaust, a top exhaust. Also i have the cpu fan, psu fan, 2 gpu fans and the eVGA NB fan. I've heard some people with this motherboard had better board temps by taking off the northbridge heatsink and heat pipes and replacing the thermal grease with arctic silver, but im not sure how much difference that would make to the CPU temp
As in, the temperature in my room? I'd say about 20C. I'm using everest, but the BIOS, and speedfan, all say same thing. My GPUs are over 70C now just surfing the web..........hmm...might rearrange cables again. Would it be wise to move the fan to the other side of the heatsink? It'd mean the air would get pushed out quickly by the back exhaust but the PSU fan would be pretty obstructed.
Is that just one 80mm fan at the rear... Quite frankly that's not enough for a modern system, unless it's running at high flow speed. You have a top exhaust fan? Try turning the cooler 90 degrees so it blows towards that, it might be more effective at removing the hear. Another thing you could try is removing the heatsink, then checking the bottom is flat. When I got my TRU120E, the bottom was warped, so there was only a small area in contact with the chip. See this thread - http://forums.bit-tech.net/showthread.php?t=150005
Cheers, i'll take off the heatsink later and check it out, and turn it 90 degrees. If i take the heatsink off I should remove and replace the thermal paste right? these heatsinks are so awkward to fit!
I just took the heatsink off and put the fan on the otherside, so the air should literally be getting chucked out of the exhaust, and im getting about 40C... I also reapplied the thermal paste and made sure the heatsink was sat on fully. The bottom of it was flat. With the thermal paste i applied it from left to right with the cpu facing forward.. is this correct for my E8500 core 2 duo? How it is now: As you can see it is obstructing the psu fan - is this a problem? My graphics cards are slightly cooler at the moment - 60C. I'll do some benchmarks and see how the temps go. My top exhaust fan is pretty weak compared to the one at the back which blasts air out, might change that and see if it makes any difference. I cant afford to buy a new case so I think its prob the best i can do.
Your case is way to small, way to little airflow going on in there. Seriously for good results buy a new case, the Antec range P182,900 and the awesome 1200 are excellent cases.
As above, but the new CM Sniper will be out soon so everyone will be getting rid of their old Stacker 831's... or if sales flop they'll get rid of their Snipers at clearance prices Win/Win for the consumer
I'll keep checking out ebay to see if I can get a bargain. Those antec cases do look pretty swish, bet theyre quiet aswell.
i had a feeling it was air flow in the case, then you showed an 80mm on the back and the answer appeared. If you dont want a new case Mod it! could squeeze a 120mm fan in the back and mod the top to take a 120mm aswell, so cool air flows from the top gets pulled through the heatsink and then out the back. The 8800GT's could do with some more airflow aswell.
my cpu idles at 40C with an ambiant temp of about 25 and load temps have hit 70c. Yes it may burn out. but when it does I will buy another one. Oh and its a q6600 3.0ghz and an antec 900 case. Thermaltake maxorb cooler. airflow is not an issue.
I was thinking i'd mod it - a 120 wont fit on the back but i could put another 80mm fan underneath that one, and a 120 on the top. Could always drill out the side and put a fan on there aswell for the graphics cards.
If you add the extra 80mm, it'll help remove more hot air from the case, meaning the temp of the air in the case drops, and the heatsinks will be able to cool more effectively. I'd also recommend adding a side fan - without my one, my 8800GT runs about 10 degrees hotter. Because there is no rear exhaust on the single-slot cooler, the hot air tends to form a pocket underneath the card, and can be sucked back through, increasing temps. A side fan would keep flow moving in the area, and move the hot air away, as well as adding more cool air. Both great ideas,
I went with your advice and got a new case - Antec 900. Now got the cpu overclocked to 4GHz with idle cpu at ~30C and load less than 50C. GPUs now idle at 50 and get up to about 70. So that was the problem, I like the layout of this antec case aswell, and its quieter. Thanks for the help guys.
