Passively cooling an Intel Wolfdale?

KuniD · Post by **KuniD** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:36 am

This topic is in relation to this thread.

Is it possible to cool an Intel Wolfdale chip (E8400) passively, i.e. just with an TR Ultra 120 Extreme? I won't be overclocking it in any way and I don't expect the system to be stressed.

A 1350rpm Yate Loon 120mm exhaust fan set to 5-7v and the front of the case will have 3 more fans of the same spec (although they'll have drives in front of them!).

The motherboard will also be passive and a very basic graphics card - besides that no additional cards.

I'm just concerned if there will be enough airflow

KuniD · Post by **KuniD** » Sun May 04, 2008 5:52 am

Hmmm a bit more digging revealed this :

http://forums.hexus.net/chassis-system- ... q6600.html

Seems to work well for the Q6600....

The thread raises an interesting question regarding the U120E vs a Ninja - what would be the best HS to for in a passive configurations?

Atmosper · Post by **Atmosper** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:19 am

Either one will be fine. I cooled my E6600 passively with a Ninja. The E6600 generates more heat than a Wolfdale but the Ninja handled it just fine. The Ninja is cheaper but the current selling revision apparently has issues with the mounting on the socket 775.

KuniD · Post by **KuniD** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:40 am

After reading the SPCR review on the Ninja Copper I'm leaning back towards the U120E.

The lack of fitting security on such a heavy HS is a concern.

I suppose there's no better answer than to just test the setup I'm planning in terms of not using a fan on the HS and hopefully leaving the exhaust fan running 5-7v.

rpsgc · Post by **rpsgc** » Sun May 04, 2008 6:47 am

My E8400 is cooled passively with a Ninja

amyhughes · Post by **amyhughes** » Sun May 04, 2008 7:07 am

KuniD wrote:After reading the SPCR review on the Ninja Copper I'm leaning back towards the U120E.

The lack of fitting security on such a heavy HS is a concern.

A Thermalright bolt-thru kit fixes that.

Is it not still accepted that the Ninja's wide fin spacing makes it better suited for fanless operation than the U120?

My E8400 is cooled passively with a Ninja.

bgavin · Post by **bgavin** » Sun May 04, 2008 7:08 am

What are you going to use to cool your VRM components? The Intel design requires a cooling air stream for the capacitors, MOSFETs, etc.

Elvellon · Post by **Elvellon** » Sun May 04, 2008 7:12 am

It certainly can be cooled passively, but what I've learned here is that many slow fans are better. Good fans are inaudible up to at least 500 rpm, and even that would make big difference, so you won't need to make your other fans spin faster.

(I currently have 2x 800rpm exhausts in an Antec P182, wanted to run a E8200 passively, but while testing found out that the Scythe Ninja's stock fan doesn't make the computer sound any louder up to about the same speed).

ST · Post by ST » Tue May 06, 2008 9:42 pm

KuniD wrote:After reading the SPCR review on the Ninja Copper I'm leaning back towards the U120E.

The lack of fitting security on such a heavy HS is a concern.

I suppose there's no better answer than to just test the setup I'm planning in terms of not using a fan on the HS and hopefully leaving the exhaust fan running 5-7v.

This is my setup cooling a Q9300 passively via 2 symmetrical exhaust setups:

I've had both a Wolfie Xeon E3110 (E8400 equivalent) as well as a hotter Q9450 cooled this way, with no temp issues (note: I undervolt down to 1.08V on all my setups).

Plekto · Post by **Plekto** » Wed May 07, 2008 10:59 am

amyhughes wrote:
KuniD wrote:After reading the SPCR review on the Ninja Copper I'm leaning back towards the U120E.

The lack of fitting security on such a heavy HS is a concern.
A Thermalright bolt-thru kit fixes that.

I second this. The bolt-thru kit solves every problem. I don;t understand why Scythe doesn't offer something like this, but oh well - it's not hard to get in installed.

falcon26 · Post by **falcon26** » Wed May 07, 2008 7:17 pm

I wonder if I could try cooling my e8400 passively. I have one out take fan at 800 rpm's and 35 cfm. my temps now are about 30 idle and about 45-50 load....I don't overclock I run stock. My 8800 GTS is passive with its artic cooling s1 on it. So that would only leave me the rear scythe 120mm 800 rpm fan, the the corsair psu fan. My system would be dam silent if I could do this....

andyb · Post by **andyb** » Thu May 08, 2008 5:05 am

A 1350rpm Yate Loon 120mm exhaust fan set to 5-7v and the front of the case will have 3 more fans of the same spec (although they'll have drives in front of them!).

I have to question the point of this excersise, you have 4 fans already, another wont make any difference to the overall noise of your system, and you then wont even have to worry about whether you CPU will be cool enough.

Andy

KuniD · Post by **KuniD** » Thu May 08, 2008 10:17 am

andyb wrote:
A 1350rpm Yate Loon 120mm exhaust fan set to 5-7v and the front of the case will have 3 more fans of the same spec (although they'll have drives in front of them!).
I have to question the point of this excersise, you have 4 fans already, another wont make any difference to the overall noise of your system, and you then wont even have to worry about whether you CPU will be cool enough.

Andy

True. I was tempted to play with an Mcubed Tban controller I have sitting around, maybe have the intake fans turn off if the drives are off/drive temp probe falls beneath a certain temp.

I need to dig the tban out and see how many sensors I have, in theory I could let it control which fans are active depending on which components are in use.

Regarding the Scythe and the TR bolt thru system, where can I purchase those parts seperately?