Antec SLK3700BQE (Post mods)

Sardaan · Post by **Sardaan** » Mon May 10, 2004 12:40 pm

Keitaro wrote:those temps are seriously wrong.

Ive tried configurations involving both a front fan and no front fan, and it did not change System temperatures at all. Do you have a rear exauhst fan? Or did you install the one that came with the BQE? Because ive never had a PC run that hot unless it was in high ambient, or there was no fan. Even if it was a really high ambient, 55 C ambient seems too hot.

Well I finally got around to getting the screen shots I promised.

First pictures is a screen shot showing the CPU temperature (red) and the ambient temperature (black).

As you can see the cpu temp is 52C and the ambient temp is 54C. These temp's were also confirmed in the bios (within one degree)

Now for an internal case photo:

Here is a list of components:

Gygabyte 7vrxp motherboard
AMD 2100+
1GB of Corsair PC2700 (I think its 2700)
Linksys 10/100 NIC
Adaptec 29160 SCSI card
Leadtek ti4400
Maxtor 120 GB IDE ATA 133 7200RPM
SeaGate SCSI U160 10k
Quantum SCSI U160 10k
Enermax Quiet PSU (fan speed user adjustable on back side)
Plextor 708A DVD+/-RW

Using the Zalman FanMate I have the fan running at about 5v. The 120mm fan is the one that came with the case, it is unmodded running at 12v kicking air out the back side.

With the case closed up I can feel alot of air being brought in through the front of the case. Room temps average 22-26C.

My guess is that the hard drives are seriously contributing to the system temp. Although I still think its strange for the ambient temps to be higher than the CPU.

Your insight is appreciated.

Keitaro · Post by **Keitaro** » Mon May 10, 2004 1:24 pm

your computer breaks the laws of physics. Ambient is the lowest possible due to thermaldynamics. Heat transfers from hot to cold until equilibrium. If anything, they could be equal, but never CPU below ambient, nothing can be below ambient since if it was cooler, it would gain heat from ambient until both were the same. Even CPU equaling system temps are impossible, at least i have never seen that situation.

Try taking out everything but one hard drive see if tempreatures drop, however i doubt that ist he problem. If anything, try updating your bios, could be misreading. If push comes to shove, get a fan and blow it in with the case off, and if it still doesnt drop below that, something is wrong with your motherboard senser.

AndrewC · Post by **AndrewC** » Mon May 10, 2004 1:29 pm

Built in temp sensors are known to have horrible accuracy. The cpu temp sensor is probably reporting temps 5-10°C lower than real and the case sensor is probably in a area next to the video card so it is alot hotter than the air the cpu heatsink receives. He quoted his ambient temp to be 22-26°C so theoretically his cpu temp could be correct.

Andrew

Sardaan · Post by **Sardaan** » Mon May 10, 2004 2:30 pm

Yeah, some friend and I were having a discussion about how its impossible for the CPU to be cooler than ambient. I guess the only real way to find out will be place a thermo inside and see how it reads after an hour or so...

The experiment continues.

Earlier someone posted that adding a fan to the front mount made little to no difference in temperatures. Anyone agree or disagree?

dasman · Post by **dasman** » Mon May 10, 2004 3:12 pm

A front fan will help HD temps (spot cooling), but won't really help with total airflow -- fans acting serially aren't additive (ie., 30cfm blowking out and 25 blowing in is 30cfm of air through the system).

Fans acting in parallel are additive (ie., two 25cfm fans blowing out are additive to 50cfm through the system).

Dave

frootip · Post by **frootip** » Tue May 11, 2004 3:23 am

Sardaan:
Hi, it's a little OT but seeing that you use ga-7vrxp with Zalman 7000a Hs and I just ordered it I couldn't resist to ask you.. Anyways, Zalman site states that 7vrxp is only partially compatible with 7000a and that I'll need to cut one of the 'legs' of the HS, did you have to do it, and if yes how?

Thanks.

Sardaan · Post by **Sardaan** » Tue May 11, 2004 4:47 am

frootip,

The Zalman heat sink has two mounting holes on each side of the heat sink. You will have to amputate the mounting arm between the holes on one side. If you have a Dremmel this will take all of 5 seconds. If you take my avenue I used a small hacksaw (very small, I use it to cut PVC pipes for my irrigation system) and it took about 5 minutes.

You can prolly take the heat sink apart and place the mounting arm in a vice. I was lazy; I put a towel over the copper areas of the heat sink with just the mounting arm protruding. I then placed the heat sink into the original packaging upside down. With my left hand I held the mounting arm in place and proceeded to carefully cut between the two mounting holes.

Once completed I hosed the heat sink down with some compressed air to make sure all the metal shavings were disposed of properly. The process was harder than I first planned, but all in all it went very smooth. The key is to take your time.

frootip · Post by **frootip** » Tue May 11, 2004 11:08 am

Yes, I was afraid I'll have to do it... oh well such is life. Thanks for the answer.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Tue May 11, 2004 1:35 pm

have you tried undervolting it?

fluxu8 · Post by **fluxu8** » Wed May 12, 2004 7:54 am

Hey guys...thought I'd throw my first post in here....reading up on cutting out the fan grills on my case with aviaton snips....I spent 6 yrs at Home Depot, so I'm skilled in the art of cutting banding with em. I'll post some pics when the job's done.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Wed May 12, 2004 1:47 pm

welcome to SPCR, fluxu8!!

looking forward to seeing your work

Nebor · Post by **Nebor** » Wed May 12, 2004 2:47 pm

Maxamus wrote:ye i tried, its still more noiser than the antec stock fan

That's difficult to believe.

fluxu8 · Post by **fluxu8** » Wed May 12, 2004 5:37 pm

chylld wrote:welcome to SPCR, fluxu8!!

looking forward to seeing your work

Thanks chylld! I'm either gonna pick up some nibblers from CompUsa....the ones Ralf used for his 3700AMB.....or some aviation snips from Home Depot.

I think I'm also gonna pair the 2 120's on one switch & put the panaflo on it's own. The 120's should be able to run @ 5v...while the panaflo atop the HS woud benefit from running @ 7v.....supposedly the 900 needs more cfm's to really shine. Results to follow.

fluxu8 · Post by **fluxu8** » Fri May 14, 2004 8:06 am

I put a gutted 92mm fan as a spacer between the panaflo & the hs. The fan seemed a little far away from the hs, but I wanted to alleviate the deadspot, so I marked the edges of the hs on the spacer & notched it about half way up. The spacer now sits down onto the hs......it's probably about a 10-12 mm spacer now.

Jan Kivar · Post by **Jan Kivar** » Sat May 15, 2004 2:04 pm

fluxu8, please re-size your pics to 800x600 or less. They're too big and cause the widening of the thread, which makes it hard to read the posts. Or, change the img-tags to url-tags, or link the smaller images to the bigger images with url-tag.

Thank You!

Cheers,

Jan

fluxu8 · Post by **fluxu8** » Sat May 15, 2004 8:22 pm

Done.......sorry about that. Hope they're good pics tho.

Sardaan · Post by **Sardaan** » Sun May 16, 2004 4:33 pm

Update:

I have no clue how or why, but me temperature problems have worked themselves out. While still running a little hotter than I would like my CPU is currently running at about 52C and the ambient temps at 45C. Keep in mind these are the bios readings so things are prolly off. But atleast my case is no longer breaking the laws of physics

rp · Post by rp » Mon May 17, 2004 1:59 am

What about using a zip or twist-tie to connect the "duct" to the panaflo instead of screws? This ought to make a little more room for the SLK clips to grab the duct. (First picture)

Also, grab those pliers and open up the back of the PSU

fluxu8 · Post by **fluxu8** » Mon May 17, 2004 2:24 am

rp wrote:What about using a zip or twist-tie to connect the "duct" to the panaflo instead of screws? This ought to make a little more room for the SLK clips to grab the duct. (First picture)

Also, grab those pliers and open up the back of the PSU

It seems to be on there pretty solid....the clips are on tight. As for the psu, I thought about cutting those slats off all together.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon May 17, 2004 5:35 am

fluxu8 wrote:As for the psu, I thought about cutting those slats off all together.

that would be a huge mistake. it is extremely dangerous and if you don't kill yourself, a future maintainer of the system will.

fluxu8 · Post by **fluxu8** » Mon May 17, 2004 6:02 am

chylld wrote:
fluxu8 wrote:As for the psu, I thought about cutting those slats off all together.
that would be a huge mistake. it is extremely dangerous and if you don't kill yourself, a future maintainer of the system will.

?

I've been in way more dangerous situations than that! Besides, it would be unplugged & nothing is close to the powersupply. The case is mine till it dies.

chylld · Post by **chylld** » Mon May 17, 2004 2:12 pm

the danger is that people might try to copy you and not know the risks. it may well be all fine and dandy for you, but what if someone else gets hurt or even killed by following your example?

nick705 · Post by **nick705** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:22 pm

fluxu8 wrote:It seems to be on there pretty solid....the clips are on tight. As for the psu, I thought about cutting those slats off all together.

OMG, this sort of thing just makes me cringe....

Please, please, don't do it. However small you think the risks are, or may actually be, the benefits just don't justify it. One day, someone may just be a bit careless....

*shudder*

fluxu8 · Post by **fluxu8** » Mon May 17, 2004 4:39 pm

well...they don't look like they "bend towards the air flow" but that's just what I see. I'm not messing with it anyways.....this thing runs cool enough for me.

Kemokim · Post by **Kemokim** » Wed May 19, 2004 12:56 am

I put a gutted 92mm fan as a spacer between the panaflo & the hs. The fan seemed a little far away from the hs, but I wanted to alleviate the deadspot, so I marked the edges of the hs on the spacer & notched it about half way up. The spacer now sits down onto the hs......it's probably about a 10-12 mm spacer now.

Have you tested both with and wihtout this?? did i help reduce temps??

fluxu8 · Post by **fluxu8** » Wed May 19, 2004 6:17 am

Have you tested both with and wihtout this?? did i help reduce temps??

With the spacer on, it idles at 38-40 with case temps at 30-32. Load puts it at 47-50....this is with all fans running at 7v. I'm gonna pull the spacer off tonight & check the temps. I'll post the results.

Antec SLK3700BQE (Post mods)

System Running Hot