Dissapointed in SI-97

Ub3r-L33ch · Nov 5, 2004

Just recieved it today and tried installing it twice with little success. So far my SP-97 is kicking this things ***. While the SI-97 still seems to be a good Heatsink... it seems to me the SP-97 out performs it.

With the SP-97 I could run 245x11@2695 with 1.9vcore and I'd hit about 48-49C on idle and about 55C on a full load with Prime95 Large FFT test.

With the SI-97 the idle temps are pretty much exactly the same but when I try running Prime95 Large FFT test it will either crash in less than 1 minute or windows will give me a nice BSOD.

I'm using the exact same fan with the exact same RPM's on both heatsinks and I used AS5 on both. I've tried installing this thing twice with no luck.

Has anyone else out there found a review comparing the 2 or has anyone else used both of these personally?

I think while the SI-97 is probably a very good Heatsink I think the SP-97 outperforms it ... unless I'm just doing something wrong.

Electron Chaser · Nov 5, 2004

Well that sucks, There will be a lot of disappointed people here on the forums to hear that. I had my doubts when I first looked at the design. Feel up to re-installing the old trusty SP-97 one more time to verify.

mattspalace · Nov 5, 2004

Maybe you need to give your AS5 some time to settle in??

Como · Nov 5, 2004

if he switched to the si and the sp and back the as5 diddnt settle on iether. Although many people would be dissapointed by this, i will be relieved...i paid $55 for my sp-97 when it came out and i dont even USE it anymore...but i should sell it before its worthless. (which i thought was now because the si)

mattspalace · Nov 5, 2004

Oh, I wasn't sure if he switched back and forth or not.

Hexnan · Nov 6, 2004

I love mine to death, of course i went from global win 60mm to this thing and i dropped from 55c load to 42c load and i have my fan partially blocked for now until i get my case done (theres only probably 1/4 of an inch between my PSU heat vent and my SI fan)

Trent · Nov 6, 2004

my si-97 was a great upgrade from my sk6, but I dont know if I would have bought it if I were running an sp97, then again Im not one to upgrade heatsinks often.

Falkentyne · Nov 6, 2004

Ub3r-L33ch said:
Just recieved it today and tried installing it twice with little success. So far my SP-97 is kicking this things ***. While the SI-97 still seems to be a good Heatsink... it seems to me the SP-97 out performs it.

With the SP-97 I could run 245x11@2695 with 1.9vcore and I'd hit about 48-49C on idle and about 55C on a full load with Prime95 Large FFT test.

With the SI-97 the idle temps are pretty much exactly the same but when I try running Prime95 Large FFT test it will either crash in less than 1 minute or windows will give me a nice BSOD.

I'm using the exact same fan with the exact same RPM's on both heatsinks and I used AS5 on both. I've tried installing this thing twice with no luck.

Has anyone else out there found a review comparing the 2 or has anyone else used both of these personally?

I think while the SI-97 is probably a very good Heatsink I think the SP-97 outperforms it ... unless I'm just doing something wrong.

That's a nice post and all.....
But what are the LOAD temps?

It's really hard to go further if you just say "prime95 BSOD's and the idle temps were the same"... that tells us absolutely nothing, you know~ (except there is a serious problem and I doubt it's the heatsink).

I would think you would post the load temps before the idle temps.. :-/

Gotta know the load temp ur getting.

It also seems VERY strange that the Prime95 FET Test would crash in LESS than 1 minute...it takes awhile for a CPU to reach full load temps.. I've never seen Prime95 crash that fast, and have it been caused by a (similar power) heatsink change..it most definitely should, and could NOT be caused by the heatsink at all, unless there were a 10C+ load difference.

Perhaps the CPU somehow got jarred a bit in the socket? Perhaps the voltages were changed? Something feels wrong here.....
anyway, post back with your temps, please.

If you are crashing fast, post the temps it gives before you crash.
You can also try running something less intensive than prime95, and post the temps that way

Ub3r-L33ch · Nov 6, 2004

Well now I'm confused... I shut the PC down for the night and woke up this morning to see what its doing... I havent changed anything.

Right now with the SI-97 its idle at 40C and System Temperature is 24C ... its a little cold in here this morning too... but that shouldnt account for a 8-10C change.

With the SP-97 after the AS5 set in (I had it in computer several weeks) my idle temperatures at this speed and vcore was 48-49C and a full load was right at 55C.

Yesterday when trying the SI-97 the idle temps were pretty much the same 48-49C but when I ran Prime95 Large FFT test the temps would sky rocket and Prime95 would either crash or cause a windows BSOD... the temps were reaching above 55C like around 57-58. (Edit: after the Prime95 crash or a Windows BSOD it would take several minutes longer to cool down the CPU to idle temps again than the SP-97 would take)

As I am finishing typing this and given a little time for everything to warm up system temp is 25C and CPU is only at 42C... I havent changed anything since last night.

Maybe there is hope after all.

archilochus · Nov 6, 2004

When posting temps its best to include all temps...That way we can get a better idea of whats happening...Thanks..

Ambient room temp
System temp = mobo/case
CPU temp..Idle & load

Ub3r-L33ch · Nov 6, 2004

Well I'm even more confused now ... it may have been idle at 42C but trying to run Prime the temps sky rocketed again and it crashed... they reach up to like 52C this time before it crashed. I tried running UT2004 and it didnt even make it to the logo screen before it locked up the system.

After giving it a few minutes to cool down System Temp is still 25C but CPU wont cool down below 48C now.

Edit: I got UT2004 to run... CPU reached 59C and then the game crashed to desktop with an error.

archilochus · Nov 6, 2004

When it crashes, can you touch the HS's base to see if its hot...

Also you might try turning the fan around to suck, instead of blow...leave the side panel off for this test..

52C shouldn't cause a heat related crash, IMHO..

Whats the rooms tempature?????????????

Ub3r-L33ch · Nov 6, 2004

God this sucks... I took the heatsink off again and checked everything out... I dont see anything wrong with the way im putting it on... it looks the exact same as in the instructions on the website.

I dont see how ambient or system temperatures should matter as they were the same when I was using my SP-97 and it performed perfectly.... but room temperature is like 68 degrees ... w/e that is in Celsius im not sure.

After re-installing this 3rd time I tried Prime95 again. Started out idle at 45C ... every time Motherboard Monitor refreshed (every 10 seconds I think?) the temp would rise 1C ... never went that fast on my SP-97 ... after it reached 55C Prime crashed.... and after about 5 minutes of sitting here it only cooled back down to 54C.

Ub3r-L33ch · Nov 6, 2004

Reinstalled my SP-97 and for testing purposes I left the shim on the socket that came with the SI-97.

System idle temperature: 24C
Prime 5 minutes System Temperature: 25C
Idle CPU Temperature: 46C
5 Minutes Prime95 CPU Temperature: 53C

So now that I know the socket/cpu are ok and that the shim isnt having any adverse affects on the heatsinks my conclusion is that the SI-97 is a good heatsink but the SP-97 out performs it by a large margin.

Update: Just wanted to come back and say that the load temperatures listed above have not changed after 20 minutes of Prime95. Just for reference this is [email protected] - 1.9Vcore - 92mm Vantec Tornado@2200 RPM.

austinbmxnig · Nov 6, 2004

do you have good case air flow? organized wires? you could try having negative case pressure (more powerful exhaust fans) to move all of that hot air out because you said it was taking a long time to remove heat and return to idle temp

Ub3r-L33ch · Nov 6, 2004

Nah case airflow isnt a problem. My SP-97 works perfectly fine with the exact same airflow. After 30 minutes now of Prime95 System temperature is only 26C. I havent yet turned Prime off but last time I had it installed it would cool down more than twice as fast as the SI-97 does.

Remember also that Copper holds more heat than aluminum so it should cool down slower but this doesnt seem to be the case for me.

Note: I have 7 case fans (1 top, 2 front, 2 side, 2 rear) ... all 80mm that can push upwards of about 70CFM on full. 2 PSU fans. NV Silencer 5 blowing heat out the back. A PCI card cooler blowing heat out the back.... exhaust is not a problem.

HemoPhilic · Nov 6, 2004

copper moves heat quicker and can probably deal with the large changes in load better than the aluminum and heat pipes.

anyone want to sell me their si-97?

Airbornederekc · Nov 6, 2004

im just wondering why u have a 1.9 vcore on air cooling? are u insane?

Ub3r-L33ch · Nov 6, 2004

I have 1.9Vcore because I want 2.7ghz

... I might try some testing later to see if I can lower it some but I dont think I can without losing stability.

I'm not the only one that uses 1.9Vcore on air though ya know... some people go even higher

Turd Furguson · Nov 6, 2004

I have ran over 2v on aircooling and nothing bad happened. You have to monitor temps like crazy.

Dissapointed in SI-97

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