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Temp problems

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matt2364

Member
Joined
Jun 3, 2002
Location
OHIO
Hello -

I am having some problems keeping my computer cool and I was wondering what everyone thought. I have a ZALMAN CNPS9500 heatsink and fan and the rest of my system is in my signature. I will post a picture of my computer and a screen shot of CPUID below so everyone can get a better idea of the temperatures and everything. Basically, what are some good options to cool this down without spending a lot of money. I thought I had a good heatsink and fan and am surprised at how hot this is running. Temps below are taken at idle.

Let me know what you think, thanks in advance.



temp.jpg

_DSC0170.jpg
 
Yeah, it is a little dusty. I actually took it outside about a week ago and used just about a whole can of duster on it and cleaner it out real good. Here is another picture without the side on, there honestly is not much dust in there at all.

_DSC0173.jpg
 
From the looks of things, you have a whole mess of wires in the way of any front intake fans you may have. That could easily contribute to your high system temps. As for your processor, the Zalman 9500 is one of the smaller heatsinks. I don't have any experience with it, but I'm not sure how well it cools a high TDP processor like the Phenom II 955. It's also possible that it's incorrectly mounted or you used too much thermal paste.
 
What would be a more appropriate heat sink to get for this processor? I do not have any front intake fans right now. I am just about to order one off of newegg.com. I might as well order a new heat sink if anyone has any good recommendations for the X4 955
 
Okay, then you're cheapest and most effective solution will be to purchase an intake fan or two. Do that, and your temps should improve quite a bit with the greater airflow. Since that's the case, I wouldn't worry about anything else until you see what your new temps are like - for all I know, that cooler could be just fine for use with the Phenom.
 
Alright, but do you think it is possible to lower the temp by 20C or so with just an intake fan? I see most people idle around 30C with this processor.
 
Don't be fooled by what "other" people see. Its highly dependant on a bunch of factors, including your ambient temp (and overclock, and heatsink etc etc).

Also, it seems like the heatsink fan is pointing up? Ideally it should be pointed towards the rear exhaust (I have no knowledge of this heatsink, just guessing).

Does your CPU temp drop when the side panel is off your case? If so, it indicates poor case air flow. Fix that to start with by tidying your cables, and adding some case fans.
 
Yeah, I just took the side off of the case and put a small desk fan pointing into the case. It dropped the core temp to 41-43C right now. That still seems to be pretty hot for idle temperature though, but definitely a big improvement. Definitely going to order another case fan or two tonight.

The case fan is pointing the right way I think. I cannot move the fan so that it faces the exhaust due to the mounting bracket on the heatsink.
 
As mentioned, manty factors go into your temps. Getting the best CPU temps possible with air cooling requires low ambient temps, lots of airflow, good cable management, and a large heatink.

First and foremost, you need some intake fans. Once that's taken care of, you can try cleaning up your wiring by routing some cables behind the motherboard tray, bundling them together with zip-ties, and/or tucking away what you can into unused drive bays. It doesn't have to look like it's professionally done; the idea is just to keep your case's airflow as smooth and unobstructed as possible. It's also a good idea to mount your heatsink so that the fan blows air toward your exhaust (this will require remounting it as you can't simply rotate it). If you really want to get temps down further, you may have no choice but to invest in a larger CPU cooler.
 
I dont see how I could mount the fan to face the exhaust. The mounting brackets for the motherboard are only on the one side and the metal piece that holds down the heatsink cannot fit throught the copper tubes coming out of the heatsink. Any ideas?
 
The AMD setups only allow for the HSF to be mounted in that particular orientation, or 180 degrees of the direction he has it. Does your case still have the original fan grilles? If it does and they just look like pre-punched holes about the size of a Q-Tip stick (maybe a little bigger), it would be a good idea to take everything out of the case and cut them out. They tend to restrict airflow and create turbulence which causes noise. Also, I agree about having an intake at the front of the case.
 
Why would I not be able to alternate the clip through the pipes like in the video? Seems like it should work regardless of whether it is an AMD or Pentium.
 
Never personally worked with zalman, so I haven't seen what the heatpipes look like. Everything I have used is ThermalRight and one Xigmatek. Everything I have been running as of late has been Intel, which has given me 360 degrees of easy mounting options. If you can squeeze the clip between the heatpipes and rotate the HSF 90 degrees so that the fan in it is pushing towards the exhaust fan, I think you may see some improvement. I think the biggest improvement will come from better case airflow though. Have you already cut the stock fan grilles out? If not, what do they look like?
 
Here is what I think would solve some issues. The fan is 64CFM for intake and the cooler is just plain great.
 

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Alright, I was able to switch the fan around. It did not do anything to the temperatures but once I get the intake fan maybe it will make a little extra difference.
 
Oh, I just noticed that my PSU fan is not working...any way to fix this? Do you think this is also contributing to the high temperatures?
 
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