My PC was silent until i bought a 3500+

BenW · Post by **BenW** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 10:56 am

First off here are my specs:

AMD 3500+ Venice E6 (stock 2.2Ghz) running at 2.59Ghz with a small undervolt
ASRock 939DUAL SATA2
2*512MB Crucial RAM
Samsung Spinpoint 160GB (JVC)
Radeon 9800Pro
SilentX 300W PSU
Silverstone TJ-04

Cooling:
XP-120 fanless
2*120mm nexus fans with DIY 5/12v switch
Thermaltake Schooner fanless graphics cooler

Mods:
Duct from XP-120 to rear fan
Suspended Hard Drive
Removed fan guards
Raised case feet due to the air inlet position

Think thats the important stuff, anyway i'm having to run the fans at 12V and still getting high temps.

Not exactly sure which temp it is in speedfan, got 2 that go up with cpu load the highest being about 38C. Load its nearing 50C

Basically i need to get the CPU heat out of the case more efficiently. Hard drive temp has also raised about 10C with the new processor

Thanks
Ben

Sizzle · Post by **Sizzle** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:09 am

I don't think you can run the 3500+ fanless with the XP-120. Maybe the Ninja.

I have a 3500+ with a XP-120 and I run a Scythe 800 rpm fan at around 6.5 volts on it.

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:10 am

Couple of questions: what CPU were you running before this one? What is the TDP that AMD TCaseMax gives you? Have you tried running it with a Nexus on the XP-120, just to see what the difference is?

The fact that your hard drive is getting very hot suggests air build-up (as you've noted yourself). Does your case have decent intake openings? I'm assuming the Nexus fans are running push-pull, one in front of the case and one in the rear, so it might be that your fans are simply maintaining a pressure difference without actually creating more airflow.

EDIT: cool, 3 replies in 2 minutes! How's that for community performance?!?

qviri · Post by **qviri** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:10 am

That's not a terrible temperature for an overclocked CPU with a fanless cooler, and well within manufacturer specs. A tower heatsink like the Ninja (:P) would indeed run better in a "passive" environment...

BenW · Post by **BenW** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 11:51 am

Thanks for the speedy replies

I was running a 2.26Ghz P4 Northwood with 533FSB, ran much cooler, about 35 load IIRC

Just Checked TCaseMax and it says TDP is 50 Watts. Also, can see my vcore in there....its 1.35V

I thought about putting the nexus on the xp-120 then ducting it to the rear fan hole....would it give some benefits?

My case has poor intakes, its a smallish hole on the bottom which is why i've raised the case up about 1cm (DVD cases under the feet)

Nexus are push pull, one pulling in the front with the hard drive suspended in front of it then the fanless radeon behind it with some removed pci slot covers. Then the silentx has a slow 80mm fan on the rear

I was thinking about the ninja, maybe with a fan on the inside and duct to the rear fan hole?

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:04 pm

That's pretty weird, since that Northwood has about the same TDP... or so I think, at least. IMHO, getting a Ninja to replace an XP-120 is a bit of waste of money if you ask me unless you are dead set on running your CPU heatsink "fanless".

I'm guessing the limited intake area is the source of your raised case temps. You could try running without a few PCI covers and/or 5.25" drive bay covers to test that theory. With no cool air entering the case, the back fan is fighting a pressure difference and not producing the optimal amount of airflow. This is all theory of course, but it might be worth checking out. If this helps you can always devise a more permanent setup, such as cutting a hole here or there... in the case bottom below your hard disk(s) for example.

BenW · Post by **BenW** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:34 pm

All the pci covers are removed IIRC, got my sound card in one, radeon in another, graphics cooler in another one.

Can't find a decent pic to show the inlet but here:

I removed the black grill so the intake is full width bottom of the front bezel then the 120mm fan is in front of the hard drive cage (I dont have the cage as my hard drive is suspended)

So would you suggest putting the nexus on the heatsink with a duct to the rear? Don't really want to buy another one

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:15 pm

Yeah, a fan right on top of the XP-120 could work... although in theory, as long as your duct is sealed properly, having the fan at the back of the case or on the XP should not matter a whole lot. But I would definitely try it... your CPU temps don't really bother me (my OC'd 3000+ gets to around the same level under load in a similar setup with a Ninja). It's more the fact that your harddisk temps went up by 10C... that's just not good.

BenW · Post by **BenW** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 1:56 pm

Well, the hard drive was running very cool before. It was about 23C idle with fans on 12v (Room was probably about 21C). Now its 33C ish

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 9:32 am

I dont konw your case, but I was thinking of removing the front bezel. Will that open up the fron intake? Just as an experiment, of course, to clarify whats the root to the problem.

teejay · Post by **teejay** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 12:34 pm

So basically the harddisk gets very little outside/fresh airflow to begin with. Is it 33C with the Nexus at 12V in front of it? What happens to temps if you lower the intake fan speed? 33C and 50C are pretty acceptable temps in my book.

For permanent measures: if the front bezel is very restrictive I'd cut a hole somewhere around the harddisk and ditch the front fan altogether. Have you tried without the bezel or case side?

BenW · Post by **BenW** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 1:28 pm

Hmmm...just put the fans on 5v and the hard drive temp appears to be staying put. I must admit that it doesn't even feel warm if i touch the top of it whilst its spinning

I want lower temps because i want to be able to run it at 5V when not gaming/using CAD etc

I'm not that comfortable with a 50C processor IDLE at 5V

I'll remove the side pannel now

EDIT:Removing the pannel did nothing. I did actually get a replacement hard drive as my old one broke but its an identical model

Thomas · Post by **Thomas** » Tue Apr 25, 2006 11:04 pm

BenW wrote:EDIT:Removing the pannel did nothing. I did actually get a replacement hard drive as my old one broke but its an identical model

Removing the side panel doesnt help in all cases, since the control over the airflow usually is lost - there's nothing left to guide air over the HDD's... Try removing the front bezel. Then the air resistance will be lowered,a and the air is still forced to pass the HDD.

BenW · Post by **BenW** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 1:14 pm

Its a nightmare removing the front bezal on this case. Need to remove the top and other side (Thats about 6-8 screws) then about 8 more to remove the front! Its a 30 minute job

Isn't there an easier way?

jaganath · Post by **jaganath** » Wed Apr 26, 2006 11:02 pm

I'm not that comfortable with a 50C processor IDLE

Your CPU temp is 50C at idle?!

Have you got Cool'nQuiet enabled? That is just an insane temp for an E6 Athlon 64 at idle.

BenW · Post by **BenW** » Sun Apr 30, 2006 12:27 pm

Oops, think i got that a bit wrong. Its about 40C idle

~El~Jefe~ · Post by **~El~Jefe~** » Mon May 01, 2006 9:42 pm

it may not be silent, but it doesnt suck anymore !