XP-90 install question.

[Reid]

Hello everyone

I just installed my xp-90 onto Intel cpu/Abit motherboard (new build, first heatsink), and I am having heat problems. I just wanted to make sure I installed it the correct way since ThermalRights instructions suck ass. On my motherboard there is only 2 ways for it to go, one with the curved pipe ends going up, the other with the curved ends pointing down. Right now I have the curved pipes pointing up. I was looking over the review of the xp-90 on this site and noticed that on the review it was mounted side to side, I didn't noticed if it was a Intel or AMD motherboard.

Any help on the matter would be appreciated.

[Reid]

Here is the response I received from ThermalRight themselves, lol...wtf.

"Hi,

There is no correct way, whichever way works best with your particular system.

For Thermalright,

Bob "

I would assume there would be a bennefit one way or the other, but I guess not.

[BigDu21]

hey reid,
Thermalright's directions are definitely not the best; when i installed my si97, i installed it so that pipes are pointed up (towards the powersupply). I think on thermalright's site someplace i saw a bit of documentation that noted that having the pipes out to the side was best, and pointing up was OK, and pointing down was bad.....

what kind of heat problems are you seeing?? how much hotter is it running than it was before, and what heatsink were you running before? are the temps at idle or load? also, did you move to a new case, or install some foam/dampening material of any type? those are the next questions i would start asking in regards to your problem.

*Edit*
I couldn't find that little picture/blurb that I saw before however I did find this under the SP94 FAQ--one would assume that the heat pipes used on the xp90 are as good or better than the sp94

Question 3:
Does how heat pipes are oriented truly affect performance?
Answer:
Due to the multiple heatpipes we use on the design to minimize the gravitation effect on Heatpipe performance, we at Thermalright tested only 0.05celeius/W on an open case environment for best/worst scenario with Panaflo FBA09A12H.

How true this is/how much it makes sense, I'll leave to someone of a more technical background; but I installed my si-97, and the temps didn't rise any more than I expected (due to case mods)[/quote]

[Reid]

hey reid,

what kind of heat problems are you seeing?? how much hotter is it running than it was before, and what heatsink were you running before? are the temps at idle or load? also, did you move to a new case, or install some foam/dampening material of any type? those are the next questions i would start asking in regards to your problem.

At idle I'm around 45c....consistant idle. With a load I get over 70c quick. This is a new build pc, my specs are in my sig. 3 fans, 1 exhaust, 1 cpu, and 1 in the front/middle of the pc. The way the Sonata is layed out you can't really put one in front. I also used rounded cables for good airflow, all fans are blowing to the rear.

[frankgehry]

R,

The orientation doesn't really matter, but if you have more than one choice you could consider the way the air flows through the fins and if you want this flow to be up toward the power supply or side to side. Oh, in your case it doesn't matter (pipes up or down from your post.)

Did you follow arctic silver's instructions for applying the thermal stuff. Are you using arctic silver 5? You really just want a very small amount applied to the center.

You probably should check the heat sink base with a straight edge of some kind to see if it is flat.

What kind of fan are you using and what speed? Did you twist the heat sink just a little bit after you set the clips? I had an xp-90 on a p4 3.4 so it should work really good. - FG

I'm not sure what the best sonata mods are but making sure enough air is coming through the front seems important.

[ckolivas]

Sounds to me like you're suffering from the base not being flat which appears to be a rather frequent problem with the XP90 Apparently they solder the heatpipes onto the heatsink after it is constructed and this occasionally warps the base. According to their information if they were to do more lapping to flatten the base after this process it would make them much more expensive. Search the forums for lapping and XP90. Most people here seem quite happy to do lapping, but I'm less than impressed by this being a problem (I don't have one but I was seriously considering it). I guess I don't understand the manufacturing process enough but to me it would make sense for them to do the lapping after the soldering instead of before. Beats me

[Reid]

Thanks guys for the feedback. I will definitely look into the lapping process. I also just reseated the HS, still same results. I only used a small drop (grain of rice size) of AS5 in the middle of the cpu, and twisted HS a little after attached. The cpu fan is a Mad Dog brand running 3000 rpm right now.

[frankgehry]

I'm not so sure about lapping even though I did it on my xp-90. I didn't check for flatness, I just assumed lapping would make it flatter. On my xp-120 I used a drafting triangle to check flatness and didn't bother to lap. If I can visually determine that the base is flat, I won't bother to lap. - FG

[Reid]

To the eye it looks flat. I just installed the default cpu cooler from Intel out of curiosity and my temps jumped from 45c idle to 55c idle, so the xp-90 is helping some, but I need to figure out what to do to keep the temps down under load.

[Tibors]

The first thing to do is making sure the problem is not bad airflow in the case. What happens to the temps when you run the PC without the side panel? If you get better temps that way, then look in the Cases & Damping forum for ways to mod the Sonata.

45°C idle is not really strange with a 3.4GHz Prescott. But just to be sure, try to calibrate your mobo's temp sensor. There is an article on the main site how to do that.

Run Throttlewatch and two instances of CPUburn at the same time. If your system is stable and you see no thermal throttling, then I doubt the temps are really over 70°C even if the mobo reports that.


These are just some ideas to point out that it is not necesarrily your cooler that is the problem, but YMMV.

[TheWesson]

I've seen quite a few people having high case temps with the Sonata. (No intake?)

And quite a few people having problems with non-flat XP-90 XP-120 (not so much with SI-97, maybe warpage is more of a problem with the integrated heat spreader setup.)

No, the heatsink orientation is not an issue. It used to be an issue with the SP-97 - it had a preferred orientation, though it wasn't critical - but not with the SI or XP models. I suppose they're now using heatpipes which have better wicks than the older style.

Also another note: The XP-90 and SI-97 can use 80mm fans, but 92mm fans work substantially better.