Athlon XP and heat 1

[edemiere]

Hello everyone.

Usually I can find a solution to just about anything that I work on in my basement on my 13 PC LAN. However, I recently completed building a new system from pieces and parts that people have given me and I got a serious heat problem that I just cannot seem to fix. Let me lay out the details and scenarios.

SYSTEM:
Asus A7V8X-X Motherboard
Athlon XP 2700+ (Thorobred B){Retail Boxed}
GeForce4 Ti4600
1GB Kingston DDR333 Memory (2 x 512MB)
WD 80GB UDMA100 HDD
SB Live! X-Gamer 5.1
Note: Nothing is overclocked


I have the system installed and working fine except for a heat problem. I use the standard heatsink that comes with the CPU and the system runs around 60C (sitting at desktop running something like seti@home), I put in a better heatsink with little change, got it down to 57C. I put in a 3rd heatsink with no change. The system used to lockup a lot until I put a fan on the southbridge heatsink and then most of the lockups went away. However, under heavy load (i.e. 3D gaming) the system runs fine, but gets to 67C.

Now, the 67C is with the side of the case off, whereas with the case side on I get over 75C and start to experience random lockups or a system shutdown from the temperature setting in the BIOS.

This PC has 10 Fans installed. Fans are as follows:

2 in powersupply
1 in back of case
2 blowing in front of case (which speed up as case temp gets hotter)
1 CPU fan
1 PCI slot fan
1 Southbridge fan
2 on hard drive

There is great airflow with the side on the case, however heat on the CPU seems to still be a problem.

I have used thermal paste on the heatsink/CPU each time I have changed out heatsinks. (yes, I clean the CPU off each time so as if not to get buildup).

Anyone have any suggestions on a better heatsink/fan combo for the CPU? I am fairly certain that it'll melt down a lot faster than I want if I don't get that load temperature down.

Thanks for any and all suggestions guys, I need to find a better heatsink solution.

Cheers!

 

[JasonYip]

edemiere, have you ever thought about modding your case with a blowhole? (that's a giant sucker of a fan mounted so it blows the air out the top of the case). Heat rises and will dissipate with cool, free moving air and a place to vent to (see diagram).

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[euston]

That's a good idea. Pull as much air through the case as you are able. I don't like intake fans though. They induce turbulence within the case which is inimical to good gas flow.

 

[euston]

OBSERVATION OF RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CASE AIR TEMPERATURE AND CPU TEMPERATURE

NO MATTER WHAT THE CPU FAN SPEED, the temperature delta (difference between case air and CPU) is ALWAYS: -
15°C at low CPU load
18°C at high CPU load

This is why I place such importance on the quality (and quantity) of case air flow.

 

[paparazi]

I don't agree at all with the above statement.
What you are saying, is given the same case air temperature, the fitment of a more powerful fan &quot;wouldn't&quot; lower the differance between case air and CPU temps.
I beg to differ, try fitting a Black lable Delta 60 7,200rpm fan (high CFM rating) and you will see a significant drop in your figures (with a lot more noise of course)
The important temperature comparrison is Ambient (out side case temp) compared to Internal case temp, if you have a well sorted AIR COOLED solution, this differential should be minimal which indicates good air flow through the case and the lowest possible temperature of air supply to the CPU fan and heatsink, which in turn will give you the lowest possible CPU temp for any given heatsink/fan combination.
Martin

Replying helps further our knowledge, without comment leaves us wondering.

 

[Tarwn]

I have to say I disagree as well. At this moment my motherboard is reporting 25C from two seperate locations in my case and 34C from the CPU (delta of 9). I haven't seen the CPU get over 43C, while the motherboard (ambient) has yet to break 26C (delta of 17C), and at night it gets to 31C at 25C case ambient, 33C @ 25C for daytime idle
that gives me deltas of:
Idle: 8C
Load: 16C

http://www.tiernok.com/hscripts/systemp.asp

Here's the remote historical data gathering system. Receives new values every 5 seconds so long as my home machine is running with an internet connection.

 

[euston]

Hi Paparazi,

I hate noise so fans must rotate at slightly less than 7,200rpm (phew! must sound like Concorde with afterburners on).

I simply meant that I like to get as much ambient air through the case as quiet fans will allow but I didn't express myself as clearly as I should (it's the effects of drinking too much gin you know).

Not all fans are created equal and some blade designs are more efficient than others. I believe that a fan that takes gulps of smooth air is more efficient than one receiving turbulent air at intake. I agree that high velocity air over the cooling fins of the heat sink is beneficial to cooling performance because the heat transfer coefficients will be appreciably higher when turbulent air is passing over them. Just as long as I can have some ear muffs please.

The answer overall is either to have air conditioning or open the window (opening the window is much the preferred option in Manchester, UK).

 

[euston]

AMD has some information on the subject: -

http://www.amd.com/us-en/assets/content_type/white_papers_and_tech_docs/cooling_guide.pdf

 

[euston]

A revised view on the importance of good thermal conductivity between CPU and heatsink: -

I may have underestimated the value of this in expressing my opinions about the importance of good case airflow. I recently put decent thermal paste in place and the temperature difference between case air and the CPU reduced by 3°C to 12°C at processor low load.