Need cooling tips

AlphaTrinity

Hey guys,
I'm running a socket 939 system (opteron 165 overclocked to 2.25ghz), and the cpu is running at 50-51*C whenever I play a game right now. My airflow is pretty good: 80mm fans on side and top, 120mm fan at the back. I'm using the stock heatsink, which looks, engineering-wise, pretty good (mix of copper pipes and aluminum).

Before I got my 7800gt video card this week, my cpu temps were around 46*C at 100% load or when playing a game, which I was okay with. I think that because my 7800gt takes a lot of power from the power supply (it's one of those two molex connector things), my power supply is heating up more, and somehow that is making my cpu temp go up.

I think I read somewhere that 939 cpus begin to become unstable around 54*C, but that could be my imagination. If that is true, then I would really like to get my cpu temp below 48 or so. Any information/help on this would be much appreciated. If someone thinks that an after-market heatsink would help, then I was wondering if this is a good heatsink (with a fan of course).

Thanks for your time to whoever actually read this whole thing

Thrax

You need a new heatsink. Thermalright Ultra-120, Scythe Ninja, and Tuniq Tower are all good.

The 7x00 series is a powerful card; it runs warm. Your CPU cooler can no longer keep up with the heat of the case.

AlphaTrinity

Wow..all three of those are huge. They look like they would barely fit in a full tower let alone my mid tower
Tonight I'm going to lower the clock to see if I can get anywhere. If I have to sacrifice performance to avoid getting a new case and one of those monsters, I'll do it. :sad2:

mirage

A couple of tips:

- You need intake and exhaust fans. If all of the fans are exhaust, make at least the side fan intake and/or add a front intake fan.
- If possible remove the next slot cover to your graphics card.
- I am using the stock Opty-165 fan at 2.6 GHz fine. You might want to reseat your fan with right amount of (single rice grain of AS5) thermal paste.
- Check vcore of CPU, you might be able to undervolt a little since Opteron-165's usually go higher than 2.25 at default vcore.
- If you have fan management in BIOS, disable it and optimize with Speedfan.
Good luck!

Leonardo

Good advice so far, but one thing not mentioned: if your computer is stable and you can do everything you want, why do you think you need better cooling?

AlphaTrinity

Mirage:
I'm looking into trying to get a fan in the front of the case. I'm not experienced with that kind of modding, so I don't have a clue if I'll be able to do it. The fan blowing from the side is blowing in (right into the cpu), the other two fans are blowing out. I put my own as5 on the cpu when I installed it, so that is good to go. I'll have to look into the vcore and Speedfan things.

Leo:
Isn't it true that if a cpu is running hotter and at a higher speed than it is meant to be at the life of the cpu goes down? I can't afford this cpu to die any time soon, even within like 3-5 years. If I can't do anything about the temps, I'll deal with it, but it would be nice to be able to lower the temps.

Thanks for the help so far guys, I can always depend on SM

Thrax

CPUs are rated for 8-10 years. Running hot might shave 2 years off of that. At most. Are you really going to have that Opteron in 2013?

Leonardo

CPUs are rated for 8-10 years. Running hot might shave 2 years off of that. At most. Are you really going to have that Opteron in 2013?

Exactly. Additionally, if you aren't interested in modifying your case, let sleeping dogs lie! Many of us here enjoy hardware and case modifications for the sheer fun of home engineering and working with our hands. If I've had a stressful work week and the weekend has no home maintenance chores and there's no fishing or skiing, I can get a lot of satisfaction and relaxation from tearing open one of my computers and modifying it...often merely for sake of modifying.

If you think you'd like to break into the world of hardware/case 'mods,' we'll be glad to help you.

Concerning your specific computer case configuration, you are not likely to experience improved cooling unless you install a front intake fan. Airflow patterns in a case are just as important as air flow volume. You did not give us the make and model of your case. If you would do that and also give a link to a picture, we'd be better able to understand it's cooling potential.

AlphaTrinity

There's my case.

There's a diagram I made to show where my optical drives, hard drives, and power supply are.

Side view of my actual computer. These pictures are kind of old, but it's basically the same now.

Back-ish view.

Front-ish View

On a side note, I lowered the clock to ~2ghz, and my max temp seems to be ~48*C right now, which is much better..but hey..I might as well see what the potential of my case is right?
To learn how to mod hxc-like would be an amazing thing.

mmonnin

Dremel + Wire Fan Grill - The opening for the 120mm fan is way too constricting. If the CPU temp went up just because you got a new video card then your case cannot get rid of the heat added from the new video card

A power supply will not neccessarily add heat to a computer no matter the power draw.

All exhaust is ok.

Leonardo

I would also cut out the stamped steel grill on the back of the case. That is probably highly restrictive on the exhaust venting of the case. That's almost standard procedure for me with new cases - cut out the stamped grills in the front and back and install wire grills, or no grills if the intake is behind the bezel.

AlphaTrinity

Okay, like I said I'm completely new at this.

What is 'Dremel'? And by "all exhaust is okay" do you mean that how I have my fans configured right now is okay, or setting them all to exhaust would be okay?

I did not plan to cut out anything that is visible (like the back stamped grill thing) since I try to keep my case looking decent (I am in love with my case..what can I say).

So is it or is it not feasible to put a fan in the front where the hard drives are? It looks like it would take some tinkering on my part in order to do that, but you experts will be there to help out.

Leonardo

Dremel is the brand name for hand-held, lightweight, high RPM, multipurpose electric tool that can be used for cutting, grinding, polishing, and anything else which can utilize a bit driver. In other words, it's like a very high speed hand drill.

If you don't want to cut your case, that's fine, we understand. But there are limits to your case's cooling ability due to it's design limitations.

"All exhaust is OK" Hmm, not sure I know what he meant either! Looks like you are at about the cooling limit of your case the way it is currently configured. If it does everything you want it to and is stable, just leave it be. If you want to improve cooling, I don't see any way around doing some case mods. You could try a more powerful CPU heatsink, but that might not help much if the air that is sucked into the heatsink is not fresh and cool enough.

AlphaTrinity

Then I guess I'll just live with what I got. I would like to be able to oc to 2.25 (or higher), but I guess it's just not going to happen. Thanks for all of the suggestions guys, I'll be sure to use them in the future. :smiles:

mmonnin

I meant having only exhaust fans can still cool a case. I've had exhaust only on my Cheiftec case for years (the old Antec/Cheiftec kind). Having a balance between exhaust and intake is not a must.

Living with what you have is ok. If its stable then there is not really anything to worry about.

You could also try a 100mm hole driller to cut the metal in a perfect circle and file the edges, no one would probably tell, esp since its the back of the case. Most people will be looking at all the perty lights. I do believe a new fan grill to be the cheapest/best way to lower your temps.

Leonardo

If you want to improve cooling, I don't see any way around doing some case mods. You could try a more powerful CPU heatsink, but that might not help much if the air that is sucked into the heatsink is not fresh and cool enough.

You could also try more powerful intake and exhaust fans.

I meant having only exhaust fans can still cool a case. I've had exhaust only on my Cheiftec case for years (the old Antec/Cheiftec kind). Having a balance between exhaust and intake is not a must.

Yes, an intake fan is not necessarily required, as long as the case interior is fairly unobstructed and as long as the intake port has little or no air flow resistance. AlphaTrinity's case though, appears to be constricted in intake volume.

AlphaTrinity

Well I got the xp-90c and two high power thermaltake fans (which sound like freaking jet engines..I'm glad they came with fan controllers). My temp at 100% on both cores is 49*C, which is what is was with just one core at 100% load before the mods. So I'm happy about that. The xp-90c was very easy to install..unfortunetly my mobo had a nice big capacitor right where one of the clips were..but I managed not to destroy it. Once my thermal paste solidifies..I think my temps will be 45* or so when I'm doing my routine stuff very nice. Guess I won't be going for 2.25ghz though. Thanks for all of the help guys.

Leonardo

I haven't overclocked an AMD processor in years, but as long as everything is stable there shouldn't be any concerns if your CPU core temperature climbs up to the mid-50's*C at full load. Someone check me if I'm wrong.

mmonnin

Mid 50s is fine.