What to do?

GHoosdum

I've got my 2 rigs running OC'd right now at respectable speeds. Here's the deal:

I've got the Barton 2500+ running at 2.2GHz in the Primary right now. But to be stable at 2.2GHz, I have to run it at 1.8 VCore, and I'm starting to worry about the heat. It runs with the CPU at about 55C full load, 50C idle (it never idles). This is too hot!

I've got an SLK-800 on there with 53CFM mechatronics fan. I think the case temp is too high; I can feel the top of the case get warm when it's running.

The case is a Chieftec mid-tower. There's not enough room for a blowhole and there are 2 intake 80MM fans, 1 exhaust 80MM and the power supply 80MM and 1 slot blower below the video card. I really can't change the HSF either. What can I do?


I'm also considering putting the XP1700 TBred-B from my girlfriend's PC into my secondary rig, or (if I find one) a Thorton chip, and sticking the XP2100+ in her PC. Opinions? And if you say Thorton, please help me find one!

Geeky1

New case or another exhaust fan. Which chieftec case? That same one that everyone has (Antec SX10X0, in other words)? Why isn't there room for a blowhole? You got 4 optical drives or something?

GHoosdum

It's the Chieftec version of this case:

http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=11-129-118-10.jpg/11-129-118-02.JPG/11-129-118-03.JPG/11-129-118-04.JPG/11-129-118-05.JPG/11-129-118-06.JPG/11-129-118-07.JPG/11-129-118-08.JPG/11-129-118-09.JPG

This case is smaller than the 10X0 series. There is only about 50MM between the optical drive and the PSU. I bought the case because I needed something more portable than the 10X0 case to take to LANWAR.

So... no more room for another fan, unless I get a dual fan PSU, but I don't have money to spend on a really good PSU. The one that's in there is a good value with stable voltages, but it only has one fan...

Geeky1

Oh ya... that thing. I've got my dad's comp in one. Same thing as Antec SX63x case. Why not move the optical drive down a bay or two? Then you can use the top one for fans. Actually, what I'D do, is put the drive in the second or bottom bay, and cut a blowhole. You can even mount the fans OUTSIDE the top of the case to get some more space if you need to.

Also, try punching out the fan holes to 92mm. I KNOW the back one can be made bigger, and the front ones should be able to, too. Just take out the fan mounts, and you can screw the 92mm fans to the case.

You're not going to be able to do much better than that without a new case tho. These small mid-towers are fine for non-overclocked and low-end systems, but for an overclocked axp or p4, you really NEED a full tower to get decent cooling.

GHoosdum

I've actually got all three bays filled... the CD-RW is in the bottom. The top has the FrontX connector panel on it, and the middle has the primary HDD (2 more HDDs in the HDD cage)... Not really much hope for a blowhole, as the gap is small as is. And the carrying case strap would prevent me from mounting the thing externally.

I can see about mounting bigger fans.

Any leads on a dual-fan PSU with the inside fan on the bottom of the PSU for a good price?

Geeky1

Actually, from my experience with my Antec SLK-3700AMB (1x120mm in, 1x120mm out, basically the same size and configuration as the SX63x series), dual-fan PSes are basically useless. I'll bet that if you stick your hand in under the PS, near the exhaust fan, that the air is relatively cool. These small mid-tower cases have major problems with air being trapped up at the top of the case. If you can't get a blowhole in there, you may want to get a fan that has the intake on the front, and upgrade the fan, or, even better, a dual-fan PS with one fan mounted on the front, the other on the back. I think that'll fit (I'd have to measure it to be sure, tho...). I'll see what I can find with a bottom fan and a front fan, tho. How much you want to spend, tops?

Geeky1

Ok, just out of curiosity, how could you not have space for a blowhole? I just went downstairs and took these pix, and you can see that my dad's comp. (which is in the same case) has space for 2 80mm blowholes, even with the optical drive in the top bay. Are your drives that deep? I'm not presuming to say that I know your computer better than you do, but it seems to me that you must have room for a blowhole up there... but maybe I'm wrong...

GHoosdum

Thanks for the photos, Geeky... you're right, there is room for a blowhole, I was thinking of a slightly smaller case that I have that doesn't have the room.

OK, so I can put a blowhole in it, that should decrease the case temp a few... how many you think? And then the CPU temp should lower...

I'm still looking for a dual-fan PSU, with the fan on the bottom. I put one in my secondary rig, and the processor temp dropped 3C because the fan is right next to the HSF, so I anticipate similar results with my primary PC.

Hmm... any takers on my second part of the first post that actually has to do with overclocking?

Mt_Goat

Since I see you are running 2 sticks of 512, have you upped the DIMM volt? You may be able to drop vcore if the mem is upped as you do have a lot of demand there for serious OC'ing.

GHoosdum

I think I did up the DIMM volt, because I OC'd my 2 sticks of Sammy PC2700 to 400FSB... I think it's one notch below max (2.7V //edit, um, yeah, I really meant 2.7, but I said 1.7 the first time)... you think I should up it more?

I can't check for certain right now because I brought the rig over to a bud's place and parked it for the time being, since we plan LAN games all the time there and we were always 1 notebook short... now I can loan my notebook to somebody else by having my Primary sitting there...

Geeky1

Well, how much did you want to spend on the PSU?

As for the temp. drop, it depends on how hot the air the CPU fan is taking in is. If it's really high (say 100*F/38*C), you could drop, oh... 25*C or more. I think realistically, somewhere between 10 and 20*C.

As for the CPU, I'd wait until the Thorton has been around for a while, and more people have gotten their hands on them before upgrading. The first Athlon XPs didn't overclock all that well, if you'll recall, but the latest chips generally do. So, I'd give it a few months at least before upgrading.

Finally, here's a pic of the blowholes I put in my case (Antec SLK-3700AMB). The computer in it now is my print server (MSI Pro266TD-LR Dual P3/DDR, 1.3GHz Celeron, R128, 512MB PC2100, 52/32/52 CD-RW, 80GB/8MB/7200RPM Maxtor, 350w Antec) and while they don't do all that much now, when I had an AMD system in the case, the blowholes dropped the CPU temp by around 20*F. I'd suggest the same thing for your case- 2 80mm blowholes. I'd use a 3" holesaw over a dremel, and you'll want some rubber molding, or some fan grills that'll cover the edge of the cut, because those holesaws tend to make a mess out of the paint...

GHoosdum

Yeah... I bought a cheap holesaw, but it isn't really rated for metal. I'm hoping if I put it in a corded drill, it'll cut metal.

I'm looking to spend no more than 50 bucks on this PSU. Sorry, I forgot to answer that question earlier!

Nice case ya got there.

And I think for the time being, I'll swith the XP1700+ into the Secondary and OC the bad boy, and put the XP2100+ at stock speed to beef up her PC a little.

Mt_Goat

I forgot you were using the 2700 sam dimms. Then more volts are certainly needed.

I highly recomend stripping the case clean prior to any modding. Then use slow to medium speed and some stoddard solvent with the hole saw and it will work fine. If it starts heating up or you notice that it slowed down on going through then stop to lrt it cool.

These are always an old favorite.

GHoosdum

Thanks for the hole saw info.

I doubt that 350W PSU would keep the 9800 Pro (which you tipped me off to; thanks again!) juiced though...

Geeky1

for <$50, you could look at these PSes:

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-103-913&depa=1
-Antec SL350 (mine ran a 2.3GHz 2500+ just fine)

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-103-408&depa=1
-Enermax 350w

http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-154-010&depa=1
-Allied 450w

Oh, and then there are a couple single-fan PSes you may be interested in, due to the fans they use:
400w:
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-163-102&depa=1"&gt;</a>
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-163-101&depa=1">360w version of above</a>

350w:
<a href="http://www.newegg.com/app/viewProduct.asp?description=17-104-966&depa=1"&gt;</a>

You put a decent 120x25mm fan on it, or even better, a 120x38mm fan (you'd have to mount it outside of the case tho; depending on the board/cpu hsf you have, that may not work). and you can push 75cfm+ thru it (190cfm for a 120x38mm). THAT will keep your CPU cool

GHoosdum

Anybody run any of those to recommend them? Stable voltages?

a2jfreak

Too bad the sigs are down, because Omega65's sig shows a PSU for I think $16 shipped. I don't know if it's a good PSU, but he claims it is in his sig so I'm sure it's fine.

Geeky1

I've run the 350w Antec and Enermax, and both are excellent. I've had people use the 450w Allied, and it's supposed to be good. The other ones I don't know about, but FSP is supposedly decent I think.

seversphere

why not just duct from an intake fan to the heatsink with one of those 15 dollar duct kits?

GHoosdum

a2jfreak had this to say
Too bad the sigs are down, because Omega65's sig shows a PSU for I think $16 shipped. I don't know if it's a good PSU, but he claims it is in his sig so I'm sure it's fine.

Umm... yeah, but that's the PSU that's in there now. It's good with stable voltages, but it's a single fan PSU.

I've been considering ducting as an option as well, but I'll just see what the blowhole does for me for now... and a dual-fan PSU if ah can find one. It couldn't hurt to put this good PSU back in the Girl's rig and use the OK one from that rig as a backup.

edcentric

Or a hole in hte side of the case right above the hsf with an intake fan delivering fresh air to the hsf??
It worked real well for my oc'ed tbird rig.

GHoosdum

That's what I planned on ducting from; cutting a hole and making a side intake. But I'd like to see what I can do with the other methods first, since I've got the intake fans filtered and I want to try to keep as much air-in filtered as I can.

Geeky1

You'd be better off ducting it from a front intake fan than a side intake fan, if the computer is under a desk or backed up against a wall. If the computer is on top of the desk, it's fine, but heat tends to get trapped under desks, and side fans just re-circulate hot air.