AM3+ FX processor too hot

Hey everyone,

I recently upgraded my motherboard and CPU, and it seems my board + cpu are getting too hot now.
When playing League of Legends, the fans kick in full gear (They are set to automatic in bios) and are really loud. The processor goes anywhere from 55c to 60c. This startled me, so I went and got another heatsink for it, more specifically a contact 21. I applied some arctic silver 5 this time (Previously used whatever was on the stock heatsink) and attached the heatsink. Temperature looked good in the bios, but I STILL get pretty high heat. I've checked that the heatsink is on to the best of my ability, and have put the fan from the stock heatsink on the other side of the new one. Can anyone help me get my CPU temperature down?

Fans in my case are: Gpu fan, case fan on the side, back 120 mm fan, stock fan with contact 21, and stock heatsink fan.
Case fan on the side blows air out of the case, as does the 120 mm. The two fans on the heatsink blow at eachother, pushing the air out the sides of the heatsink.

Do I just need to jump to watercooling here? What's the deal?

Thanks for reading,
Jesuscon

You need an aftermarket CPU cooler.

Possibly some fans in the front of the case should be added. The side fan should blow in. Your case might not fit a good aftermarket cooler.

I have one, as I said in the post.

Thermaltake Contact 21 is NOT recommended for hot running CPUs.
92mm fan, did you need a low cooler?

No signature so we do not know the case, motherboard, GPU, or power supply.
Or if you are overclocking.

Basic start with cooler: $32
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103099

$26
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master...F8&qid=1351995072&sr=8-1&keywords=cpu+coolers

FWIW I believe the Xigmatek LOKI is a much better 92mm fan Cooler than Contac 21

BETTER $40 before $10 rebate
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106187

prefer MX-2 to Arctic Silver
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186020

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835181016

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835288001

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835709013

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835103176

Thermalright True Spirit
http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-...8&qid=1351997642&sr=8-1&keywords=thermalright

CPU Coolers are heat exchangers, generally the size and weight (and airflow) determine functionality.
The Contact 21 is better than the cooler shipped with AMD CPUs. Not by much.

Liquid cooling moves the heat exchanger (radiator) away from motherboard, liquid can transfer more heat more quickly if you have enough "radiator" size and airflow to handle it.

For heatsinks cases can "block" or reduce needed airflow. Note too much is as bad as too little.

Woboy,

Thanks for your reply =).

What's wrong with the Contac 21? It looks fairly similar to a lot of the cpu heatsinks you linked to, so what's the major difference?

Thanks,
JesusCon

I could not find a professioal review. I do remember one.
Contac 21 did less well than Cooler Master TX3.
The Contac 21 is a 92mm fan cooler, this limits the size and performance.
IE Thermaltake Contac 21 size 100x88.4x139.5mm, 17-45 CFM (unlikely), 425g weight.
CM TX3 is 90x76x135mm, 15-54 CFM rated (also unlikely), 470g weight

http://www.overclock3d.net/reviews/cases_cooling/cooler_master_hyper_212_plus_tx3_heatsinks/6

I purchased a couple Thermaltake Contac 21 on sale, $14 each, they do not match TX3 Performance which is marginal at load on a 90 watt TDP processor

A CM 212+ is 120x90x160mm 21-77 CFM rated, 1.38 lb/626 g weight.

Thermaltake Frio Advanced is 131x122x160, 89 CFM rated, 954g weight.
At $40 before $10 MIR (even if rebate never appears) rated 230 watts cooling.

The smaller the heatsink, the more the fan reduces cooling area/volume.

CM does make a respctable 92mm fan cooler 115x63x141mm, 44CFM rated, 688g weight, 263g more than Contac 21. CM 520n.

Contac 21 is a good cooler for lower watt CPUs. For a cpu like an FX that runs hot, particularly if overclocked, it is not great.
There are larger Contac models than work better.
Simply a 425 g cooler, with the fan about 85 g heat sink is 360 g. It is also an older design and I do not believe the heatpipes are as efficent as newer ones.
It is possible the base finish/condition or the paste (Tuniq tx-2) I used did not function as they should, but both were consistent and
unimpressive compared to other coolers, especially larger ones.

FWIW
Heatsinks depend on their "heat pipes" to transfer heat to fins.
There is a fuild in the heat pipes that vaporizes absorbing heat and condenses "up" the heat pipe then "wicks" down (usually some type of porous) inner wall to repeat.
The quality of the joints between the heat pipes and base and the heat pipes and fins dettermine the efficency of the heat transfer.
Soldered joins are best, but expensive.
Fin area and density (space between fins) and turbulence determine fin efficency. Close spacing requires stronger (sometimes louder) airflow.
Fans must force air between the fins at optimal rates (variable speeds are intended to minimize noise when max cooling is not required).
CFM is a measure of the fan's ability to move a volume of air in open space/
IE Cubic Feet per Minuteis a rating that if you mounted a fan on the side of a large box with appropriate hole fan would move that CFM. These figures can be unreliable.
Like some power supplies lie about ratings and quality.
The important number for Cooler fans is Static Pressure, more or less a measure of the ability of the fan to move air thru an obstuction like fins or filters. This is not allways listed and may be inaccurate.
Generally if a heat sink works well assume the fan is doing its job. You can pick up a good quality fan on sale and swap it to see if it makes a difference, usually easier to find a reccommended heatsink to start with.

The reviews and guides on this forum should help if you interested.

Woboy,

Thank you so much for your reply. I really appreciate getting help, as this is my fist time buying brand new parts and having to deal with really high temperatures.

I understand what you mean now, but have two more questions.
First, some info.
I'm going to spend about 50-75$ on this cooling solution, and I don't want to go much over that.
Here are some of the newer specs on my machine:
CORSAIR Builder Series CX600 V2 600W ATX12V v2.3 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Power Supply
AMD FX-8150 Zambezi 3.6GHz Socket AM3+ 125W
Team Xtreem Dark 16GB (4 x 4GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
ASRock 970DE3/U3S3 AM3+ AMD 770 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX AMD Motherboard
PowerColor AX6870 1GBD5-2DH Radeon HD 6870 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card with Eyefinity
I also searched Newegg a bunch to find my case.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811148029

As is obvious from all these parts, they generate quite a bit of heat. The ram's timing is CL9-9-9-24, not sure if I should change my ram timing or not, and the CPU of course is made to be overclocked.

My question is, should I just go to water cooling here? If overclocking is going to be possible AT ALL, I'm going to need to drop the temperature here by a lot, which could be done with water cooling.

Question two is, is there any decent water cooling options available for under 75$? You can check the specs on my case to see if it would work well.

Let me know please.

Thank you so much!
JesusCon

First issue is "is this case set up for a watercooling loop"?
Entry level closed loop water cooling can usually replace the rear 120mm case fan. A two fan solution is easiest (I think, I am not a water cooler) with a case set up for a 240mm radiator on top. Custom loops can use 360mm radiators.

Looking over the case specifications you can fit any single 120mm radiator closed loop cooler in your case. Probably.Not sure if power supply would interfere.
This is an old school case, not well suited to a high temperature rig.
Newer designs tend to put the power supply on the bottom, out of the thermal environment, use front mounted filtered one or two intake fans, besides the rear one.
80mm fans moving useful air tend to be noisy. Very.

Good news, sorta, is the PowerColor 6870 is, I think, a reference design. Reference designs blow the heat out the back of the case, which is good. bad is they can get noisy when hot.

First pick (if you are in USA, and can order from amazon).
http://www.amazon.com/Thermalright-...8&qid=1352063777&sr=8-1&keywords=thermalright
There are better coolers but this one is very good and you are unlikely to find anything better at this price. I think it will clear yout RAM heatsinks.
Check this carefully.
Thermalright uses good static pressure fan which can help move air thru the back of case and out.
There are a couple of case modifications that would help, if you are comfortable using and have access to appropriate tools.

There are all kinds of guides on case modding.
Anyway to keep it simple and increase airflow and heat removal.
Intake would involve raising the case on rubber feet
http://www.amazon.com/Penn-Elcom-F1...8&sr=8-1&keywords=rubber+speaker+cabinet+feet
shipping makes these expensive.
With the case raised a little you can mount an air intake fan in the bottom of the case, I like to use this to secure fan to bottom
http://www.amazon.com/SilverStone-1...352064533&sr=8-1&keywords=computer+fan+filter
Or possinly two fans.

You can use a quality metal cutting holesaw or aviation snips (good quality) to cut a fan hole. Find a case or two someone is scrapping to practice on, or find a body shop willing to help you out.
Use another fan filter or grill on the inside to keep wires out or fan. You can have them cut the mesh from the rear fan hole and replace it with a grill to inncrease air flow.

Basically you want as much air drawn in as is being blown out. There are variations.

You could, with great difficulty, rotate your powersupply 180 degrees so it draws cool air from outside the case and does not move air across your airflow.
The CX600 is efficient enough it should not be a problem so it is a fancy frill, especially because new mounting holes are needed.
In the old days inefficient power supplies moved enough air to help cool the case.


Anyway with a better heatsink and better case air flow you should be fine.
Make certain any heatsink you choose blows out the back of case on your AMD motherboard.

Intell mounting holes form a square, up or back is possible.
AMD holes and clips are rectangular, some multimount coolers only mount fan up.

The case has to sit on its side because I am in a dorm room, and I don't have enough room to have it vertical. There are rubber feet on the bottom, though. about 1 1/16 of an inch, but enough to allow air in the bottom. Some other good news, there's more spots for fans than the description says. There's a place for one on the bottom of the case, as well as one near the same place facing the front of the case. I could likely use either of these or both for air intake.

That being said, would you just advise water cooling or a new fan?

Thanks!
JesusCon

There is some good advice. Something you need to remember is those FX 8150 cpu's generate allot of heat your temps will be dictated by how well you can deal with that heat.

First thing first you need to deal with the heat in your case. You can put the best cooling in your case but if it just blows hot air through your cooler it will just get hotter. From looking at some pics your case has room for a 120 or 140 mm fan on the back and on the bottom front, the specs on newegg doesn't specify. Get yourself some good case fans that move allot of air, sucking in at the bottom and out at the top adn it doesn't look like there is any room for fans on the top of your case. I bet if you do this you should notice a bit of an impovment. If you want to test this theory just take off the side of your case and blow some cool air into your case with a house fan and watch your temps.

Once you are able to get some airflow through your case then you can look for a better cooler.

I don't get paid until the 13th, and I need to use my setup until then, so what's the best configuration for the fans I have?
Here are some pictures of my current case setup:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxAi6WClBJvtUmxrSlVZeE9IYWc
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxAi6WClBJvtY21HdEVzZTVRZFU
Diagrammed:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BxAi6WClBJvtR2VxN2hrQjloUlU
Two CPU fans blow air inside the heatsink and air blows out the sides.
Back 120 MM fan blows air out of the case.
The Graphics card(1) and the powersupply(2) both have fans. Not sure about graphics card, but PSU blows air out(Found this out after picture).
Not shown, there is a fan in the side of the case. This fan is set to blow air out of the case.

This was the old setup. I thought about what you said about getting hot air out and cold air in, so I changed the setup.
Removed the back fan from heatsink so that air is not pulled from two directions by back 120 MM fan and heatsink fan. Not sure what to do with the old(stock) heatsink fan now.
Suggestions on how to make this better?
Additional photo's can be taken if required. Please let me know.

Thanks for all the help =).

JesusCon, I would do the following, first do some wire management. Judging from your pics they need to be cleaned up. Change the fans on the CPU heatsink to push pull. I tried doing the push push on my coolermaster 212 and it increased my temps. Make the rear 120 an exhaust fan if it isn't already. You said you have a front fan, make sure it's in-taking not exhausting. Make the side an intake as-well.

Wait, yuo have one fan push and the other push?

WH heck? I see your first problem.

OMG, both should push to the case exhaust.

You'll see a 5C drop right away. I'm amazed, leave it at that.

Jesuscon try this setup and you should see a better set of temps.