Welp, just finished installing my new Alpha PAL8045 heatsink and thermaltake smart fan.. I replaced a Zalman CNPS-5001 running at full power.. heres the temps from my 1.33ghz tbird stock clock and overclocked.. zalman: idle: 101-103 full load 113mhz fsb: 108-110 full load 146mhz fsb: 116-117 alpha: idle: 89-92 full load 113mhz fsb: 100-102 full load 146mhz fsb: 106-107 Load was acheived by running folding@home and stability test for 30minutes. I think the results are pretty conclusive.. plus, the alpha is quieter.. and i know how you guys like pics, so here ya go..
See, we always said the Alpha was excellent! By the way, many of us in the UK measures temps in degrees celsius, so maybe next time you could also give them on that scale (If you've got them, or can work them out that is). Nice pics though!
what is the conversion anyway? Ive always tried to figure it out, but failed misrably.. i found numorus java calculators to go from C to F, but not vice versa.. -scoob8000
its either multiply by nine divide by 5 and add 32 or the other way around, multiply by five divide by nine and add 32 Just checked, multiply by 5 divide by 9 and subtract 32!
this is how i remember F is bigger than C, so FIRST you have to make it smaller by subtracting 32, then make it even smaller by multiplying by 5/9 if i forget i do this easy example using the boiling temp of water in my head to make sure. 212F - 32F = 180F 180F / 9 = 20 20 * 5 = 100C yep thats right
Oh heck! I think I started something serious here with all this discussion about converting temps! And he only posted about his own personal Alpha review! LOL
Conversion from C to K is very easy. Add 273. Yup, it's that simple. 1K increase is the same as 1C increase. The difference is where 0 is set (0K is absolute zero, 0C is freezing point of water).
Wish my alpha worked that well It has a Sunon 80mm on it, AS2, and I get 41C idle, 43-44C o/c (1.4 @ 1.554 w/ 148fsb.) And I can only o/c it to that if the side of the case is off...grr...any suggestions? Is the heatsink not close enough to the t-bird? I'm thinking the readings are off since I'm using the normal temp reader on an abit kt7a-raid mobo. Either that or it's too warm in my room (most likely...)
I found my Alpha was not on the cpu tightly enough to begin with , so I used the shouldered washers on the springs instead of multiple (2-3) thinner ones). This places a lot more pressure on the cpu mind, so I would only do it if your temps are poor already and can be careful enough not to overtighten it (more pressure by default makes overtightening easier). Now I get 39 max load at 1.87vcore as opposed to 55 load........ I use the Mechatronics 53cfm fan btw.......its sucking off the heatsink. Some people found blowing to be better, but its noisier (due to the air being blasted down onto the fins at high pressure). With a good exhaust to take the hot air blown off the heatsink straight out, sucking is better than blowing...... That last bit sounds iffy does it now?
I think it's working okay...I remember tightening it well and I just took a look inside and it seems level and what not. It's probably just my warm room and steel (yet clean and pretty empty) case causing it. I should mention I have one crappy fan (with a plastic housing at the front, and an okay 80mm fan right behind the heatsink.
Case cooling sounds like your problem jiffrey. For a start, lets kill this Alu case vs. Steel case rubbish. Since, in a properly ventilated case, the case should never get warm in the first place, its heatsinking properties are neither here nor there. I get better temps than most people here, and I use a steel case. The reason is that my steel case (a chieftec dragon) has 2x 80mm intakes on the front, 1x 80mm intake on the side, and 2x 80mm out take on the back by the CPU, plus the PSU outlet. This means that there is proper airflow through the case, and the case temp remains at room temp. It is not possible to ask more than that. No matter how many fans you put in, the temperature of your intake air is the lowest possible temperature of the system. The CPU will ALWAYS be hotter than that, since it is always dissipating energy (even at idle). Even the best heatsink in the world (and the alpha is close) can not cool anything to a lower temperature than the air around it. This is stated in the laws of thermodynamics (second law: Heat cannot of itself pass from one body to a hotter body (to quote a song)). Generally, you should find that as case temp varies, the CPU (for a given load level) will remain X degrees hotter than the case temp (although X will likely decrease at higher temps). 41-43C idle is a little hot, but almost certainly due to your lack of case ventilation. I tend to get load temps of 41-42C with a Tbird at 1633 in the same motherboard, with the mentioned case fans and a 53CFM mechatronics on my PAL8045. I have 3 standard washers per screw, and used my standard nut/standoff tightening as well, so the heatsink provides a great deal of pressure to the CPU (the secret of good performance as discovered by Globalwin, with the FOP). I'm only using AS1. The fan draws air out of the heatsink, and that air is ducted out of the machine in order to prevent the warm air "going around again".
without prior testing, i opted to use two washers atop the springs, just to be safe.. also what kinda of HSF compound are you using.. im usin the new arctic silver 3 on this puppy, also i got a shim in there, not sure if that really makes a diff though.. however i have to second Isaac's thought of circulation, i only have 2 generic 80mm's in the rear suckin, plus the power supply, but the front of my case, is practaclly wide open..
