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Custom TEC Cooling Setup - Advice

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Zmonk

New Member
Joined
May 10, 2008
I need some advice from the experienced and/or comments on if I should keep this cooling setup.

My question is I have a custom TEC cooling setup but I'm wondering if I should just scrap it and go all air? I want to avoid water cooling if at all possible. If you recommend to scrap it, what air cooler do you recommend?

What do you think? Scrap or keep?

The cooler is based off an Ultra Chilltec with an upgraded 168 watt pelt. The pelt runs at 12v. The temperatures are well (see below), but I'm wondering if a nice air setup will be just as effective. The IDLE temps are ok but the load temps aren't that great. Below are some pics... Any comments/suggestions appreciated! Keep in mind that I have to pump at least 1.6v into the CPU to keep things 100% stable.

The cooler:

2 80MM Antec intake fans (front CPU and right side TEC+CPU) + 1 120mm Antec Exhaust fan (TEC side). All fans set to high.

Zmonk_TEC_Cooler.jpg


Idle Temps

3666_Idle.jpg


Load Temps

3666_Load.jpg
 
Should resize that image a bit.

Hmmm, Im not positive but 1.6v core on that chip seems really high. Not sure how well air cooling will work with that high a core voltage.

Even with the best cooler being the TRUE, it may not do well with that high a core.
 
If you load (with something like Prime / IBT) at 62/63c with 1.6Vcore on a Q6700, leave well enough alone. Excellent water would probably match where you're at. Air will be in the mid-to-upper 70's easily, potentially throttling.

Of course, another thing to consider is that water will use a heck of a lot less than 168W, likely paying for itself in the long run.
 
You would be better off going out and getting a E8400, because the volts your pumping into that are gonna kill the one you have. By using your current cooler you could easily run your E8400 with more cache above 4.0ghz

In addition the cooling your trying to achieve looks a little cramped in your case, and with temperatures as high as they are obviously nothing is gonna help (provided you have your current set up installed right).

I use a Q6600 65nm and have it O'ced to 3.6 and don't have temperatures like yours and I am only pumping 1.45V to mine. You might want to recheck your set up.

After doing another double take on your picture, doesn't that even physically look wrong to you? Your HSFsX2 are staggered on each other with the fins overlapping (Blocking air flow), you have 3 fans on each side of the HSF and a fourth not 2 inches away on the opposing side, essentially you are getting no air flow because everything is working against itself. For starters I would take out the second HSF, Turn the one thats left towards the back of the case, leave 1 fan on it. And then go from there. If your CPU won't run at 1.5 then lower the clock. If the last couple Mhz you just HAVE to have, then go out and get yourself a e8XXX.
 
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If you load (with something like Prime / IBT) at 62/63c with 1.6Vcore on a Q6700, leave well enough alone. Excellent water would probably match where you're at. Air will be in the mid-to-upper 70's easily, potentially throttling.

Of course, another thing to consider is that water will use a heck of a lot less than 168W, likely paying for itself in the long run.

He is using an E6700 not a Q6700
 
He is using an E6700 not a Q6700
Err...sorry, mis-read that. Those temps on a dualie with 1.6v & expending 168W 24/7 seems like a waste of power IMO. You probably won't do any better with regular air, but I still like water for the reasons mentioned above. Not what you want to hear, but it is what it is. :beer:
 
After doing another double take on your picture, doesn't that even physically look wrong to you? Your HSFsX2 are staggered on each other with the fins overlapping (Blocking air flow), you have 3 fans on each side of the HSF and a fourth not 2 inches away on the opposing side, essentially you are getting no air flow because everything is working against itself. For starters I would take out the second HSF, Turn the one thats left towards the back of the case, leave 1 fan on it. And then go from there. If your CPU won't run at 1.5 then lower the clock. If the last couple Mhz you just HAVE to have, then go out and get yourself a e8XXX.

3.6 @ 1.55 is 4-5 degrees cooler vs 3.66 @ 1.60. This particular chip can do 3.6 @ 1.5 or even 1.45 but it will not run 100% stable.

I know the temps are kinda high at 3.66 but I didn't think it was a cause for concern. So you're saying to definitely drop the voltage a bit?

Also about the fans - I'm not sure what you mean. The 80MM fan toward the right is blowing into both heatsinks helping (I think) the 120mm case mounted fan blowing out of the case. The 80MM fan on the bottom of the HS is blowing up toward the 120MM (on top of HS) fan blowing out of the case.

(BTW, I removed the 200MM top Antec 900 case fan because it was blocking air flow causing a rise in temps.)

Let me know about the fan placement... I'm unsure of what you recommended. I tried several different combinations and this so far is the best I could come up with. Keep in mind there are 2 120MM front mounted fans blowing into the case.
 
I would think, with that processor, 1 HSF would be plenty. Voltages being that high will definitely heat up, but you shouldn't need that high of voltages for a Dual Core.

Your instability may not be due to voltage to your cpu but rather to your ram, or NB.

Based off of this link, http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=17&pPath=571&productID=571


Giving this picture directions up being north, The fans are supposed to be pushing in one direction towards the exhaust of the case. Push/Pull. Since I can't tell the flow direction of your current fans, I am assuming one is the side case fan(120) N , one is the exhaust fan (120) W and there are two fans (80s) S/E. (So I guess they are crisscrossing?) are the N/S ones blowing out? I would just say your case is way to small for that cooler. There is no real air flow. Dunno though without knowing directions from all the fans.
 
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I would think, with that processor, 1 HSF would be plenty. Voltages being that high will definitely heat up, but you shouldn't need that high of voltages for a Dual Core.

Your instability may not be due to voltage to your cpu but rather to your ram, or NB.

Based off of this link, http://www.ultraproducts.com/product_details.php?cPath=17&pPath=571&productID=571


Giving this picture directions up being north, The fans are supposed to be pushing in one direction towards the exhaust of the case. Push/Pull. Since I can't tell the flow direction of your current fans, I am assuming one is the side case fan(120) N , one is the exhaust fan (120) W and there are two fans (80s) S/E. (So I guess they are crisscrossing?) are the N/S ones blowing out? I would just say your case is way to small for that cooler. There is no real air flow. Dunno though without knowing directions from all the fans.

This is what I'll do... Let me edit the cooler pic to include air direction and I'll label the fans so we both know what fan we're talking about :). I'll post it once I get it completed. But to answer your question... Yes, the fans are indeed in a push/pull configuration pointing towards the exhaust of the case. There is an exaust port on top of the case and an exaust port in the back. All fans point to these ports... And yes the air flow does crisscross within the heat sync itself.

Also about the voltage.... Unfortunately, this chip is volt :mad:. I tried adjusting the NB volts, FSB volts, lowering the memory freq, etc and nothing seems to work. :bang head This chip seems to require 1.60v @ 3.66 or it's just not 100% stable. Maybe it's because it's a B2? I have no idea. But I'll try more experimenting later on but so far no dice on getting that voltage lower...

Also, let me know what you think about enabling Enhanced Halt State? This seems to have dropped my idle temps by a large degree (6-8 degrees!). Check out the pic below. This should give this chip a bit of a relief when it's not busy...

3666_Idle_Enhanced_Halt_State_Off2.jpg
 
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