Venomous X Loose on Sandy Bridge - LGA1155 Issue?

Hey folks; could use a little community guidance here. My Google-foo isn't accomplishing much, so I come to you.

In order to test the upcoming 990X / Bulldozer platform, I had to swap my AMD stuff to the (water cooled) test bench and put the Sandy Bridge stuff in my 24/7 use system. As cool as they run, air cooling is quite fine so I put the VenomousX on it. Great heatsink, would buy another one in a heartbeat if I had a need. I've used it on SKT 1156 and AM3.

Unfortunately, it seems the pressure mounting system doesn't give very much pressure. I can move it back and forth with very little effort. This is compared to the AM3 and 1156 mounts that took considerable effort to move once fully tightened. It doesn't make much sense considering 1156 and 1155 are pretty much the same, but that's what's happening.

Temps seem ok, but the system is at stock right now. Idle temps jump around from 25°-31°C (small loads tick it up) and loaded temps are around 47°-49°C. I'll be testing to see what happens when I overclock it. Until then, any ideas on why the mount wouldn't be as tight on a socket with the same specifications as 1156? Anyone else have this happen?

It needs to be able to handle overclocked loads. This is my video card review platform, so I have to be able to crank to 5.3-5.4 GHz for short sessions to test cards' limits. The CPU has been benched as much as it needs to, it just needs to get through GPU testing occasionally, but I fear the HS mount isn't good enough.

could you post a pic of how the hardware mounts? i had a cooler that the thumb nuts that went on were too short and didnt have an open top for the screws to go through which didnt let it tighten down so well, so i had to go grab some 6/32 nuts and some nice firm 1" springs from Ace hardware tighten it down that way

My Venomous X can be twisted easily when tightened all the way. This is a combination of the convex base and the heatsink being separated from the hold down bracket when the pressure knob is turned. This happened on LGA775/1156/1366 in my experiences. I remember mentioning that in my review a while back. Is that what you're experiencing?

wagex said:

could you post a pic of how the hardware mounts? i had a cooler that the thumb nuts that went on were too short and didnt have an open top for the screws to go through which didnt let it tighten down so well, so i had to go grab some 6/32 nuts and some nice firm 1" springs from Ace hardware tighten it down that way

Click to expand...

The VX hold-down has thumb screws that mount into thumb screws. The backplate has threaded screws that go through the board, then thumbscrews are installed on it. You then place the hold-down bracket on those (which have threads out the top) and put thumbscrews to hold that down. All of those are flush with the board and bracket, respectively. Then there is a cross-piece that screws down onto the heatsink, its screws tighten flush as well. Here's a pic of the system from thermalright:

MattNo5ss said:

My Venomous X can be twisted easily when tightened all the way. This is a combination of the convex base and the heatsink being separated from the hold down bracket when the pressure knob is turned. This happened on LGA775/1156/1366 in my experiences. I remember mentioning that in my review a while back. Is that what you're experiencing?

Click to expand...

Huh, I bet that's it then. So there very well may be enough pressure. Let me check overclocked temps when I'm at that PC and I'll report back. Excellent observation on the separation via pressure knob!

hokiealumnus said:

Huh, I bet that's it then. So there very well may be enough pressure. Let me check overclocked temps when I'm at that PC and I'll report back. Excellent observation on the separation via pressure knob!

Click to expand...

The way the hold down plate wraps around the top of the base prevents twisting (see below), but once the knob is turned, the plate is no longer snug against the top of the base. Then, the only thing holding the VX down is the circular shaft of the knob going into the hole in the top of the base. Since it's circular, it allows twisting.

Hmm...getting 69-70°C at 4.5GHz / 1.384Vcore . Seem normal to you guys?

Yep, Matt is exactly right. I also encountered this problem with my Ven-X when I had it too. And looking at your pics, both of you have the earlier revision of the mount too. Later revisions do away with the springs on the crossbar nuts, which are mounted loosely instead and use the crossbar's stiffness as a torsion bar for mounting tightness. The HR-02 I tested came with the later revision, which I have also seen posted in here as coming with new Ven-X heatsink. As for the rotation issue, you can help stop this by putting a couple of pieces of duct tape across the top of the heatsink base (with a suitable cutout fo the adjustment screw). That should give some friction between the crossbar and heatsink base, making it harder for the heatsink to twist.

And if you want to stop the twisting problem, simply by a TRUE Rev B 1156 mount. I have found that mount to be equal to the mount that came with your Ven-X and is much more resistant to twisting.

I'm not sure with SB, but my E8400 at 4GHz and 1.38x vcore was in the upper 60's. You're 500MHz higher, but around the same temps; which shows SB is cooler running, so my guess without any SB experience would be you are sitting about right.

I haven't run any SB procs on air yet, but that doesn't sound too unreasonable. You are cranking some volts to it and are at 4.5.

What a second...that's entirely too much Vcore for that speed. Hmm. Must have done something wrong in BIOS. I'll get it dialed in with a real OC tonight when I have more time than at lunch and see what happens.

Thanks for the mounting hardware tip mudd!

If I weren't on the rig at present I would loan you mine and save you some money, hokie. I have rev B mounts for 1156 and 1366 and I think 775 too somewhere in my computer desk drawer. And it probably wouldn't hurt to get in touch with Thermalright and see if they could send you the updated crossbar without the springs on the screws. I found it much easier to mount the crossbar with the newer rev because you don't have spring tension making the crossbar try to twist when starting the screws on it. I don't know how well they respond to reviewers though, since I've never gotten any kickback from inquiries from them.

No worries; if you get back and have an extra I won't turn it down, but despite the annoying pivot I think it has ample pressure for decent temps. They're right where they should be hovering from 59° to 63°C (hottest core) with reasonable voltages. For some reason it was on auto from my preset before.



So anyway...all is well. Thanks guys!