7n400Pro2 and XP2800+ heat issues

[ppcrusa]

Well, please join me in my insanity here with this system of mine.
I'm running the following stuff:

AMD Athlon XP 2800+ not o/c'd
512MB PC2700 Crucial
Gigabyte 7n400Pro2 bios rev. F8
eVGA Nvidia FX5500 256mb AGP
Western Digicrap 80GB w/8mb buffer IDE PATA
Lite-on 52X CDROM and LDW451S CD/DVD +R/RW -R/RW
Teac Floppy Drive
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz PCI Audio(Creative can kiss it)
Antec SLK-3700AMB Case
Evercool Aluminum 120mm rear exhaust fan
Thermaltake TR-M2 Heatsink (also tried Volcano 11 with that loud fan)
Thermaltake 480w Butterfly PSU

The problem is my CPU temp. I just can not get it down to a level I am comfortable with. I've already sank too much into this system as is.. So water cooling is out. I've heard that the Gigabyte boards read a little higher on the CPU temp than what they really are. Right now it says the Core temp is 52C. Case temp is reported at 34C. I've done things to this system that just should have cooled it down. Keep in mind that in this room the temp during the day on hot days can reach in excess of 84 degrees. Right now it is about 75 in here. I've had so much stuff in here making noise it made my ears ring.. hehe. Still did not help. Is this an acceptable temp for the XP 2800+ to run? I had a XP 2100+ prior to this, and it never got this hot. NEVER. Most I seen with it was around 43 or so.
Oh yeah.. I can put my hand up to the front of the case and feel the air being pulled in. It's not a huge suction, but it is noticeable. So getting decent airflow. All my cables are tucked away nice too.
Any help is appreciated. Thanks

 

[ppcrusa]

Forgot one thing.. I am using Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal compound. Used it on other systems with excellent results.

 

[archilochus]

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS

Have you removed the fan grids from the case yet? You might look into a TR HS.. www.thermalright.com

 

[Andy82]

hmm i notice the same things that you are having, i also have heard that gigabyte boards tell the temp higher not sure that it is true but i think it is because everyone eles temps are a lot lower than what are's our. my temps are around the same as yours. I got the newest bios update also. The temps in the room are about the same seeing that i dont have the air on all the time because it cost a lot of money to run.

 

[ppcrusa]

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS

Have you removed the fan grids from the case yet? You might look into a TR HS.. www.thermalright.com

Thanks for the welcome. This is a good forum to be a part of. Lot of knowledgeable people here not afraid to push the envelope and test out new ideas and try theory out.. My kind of people!

Remove the fan grids? Are you talking about the pieces that seem to obstruct air in the fan holders in front and back? (the middle pieces)... Thought about that but was afraid it would make the holders less stable or prone to make more noise. I even thought about cutting the little honeycomb grid off the front and back too. But ewww that is gonna be rough..

 

[ppcrusa]

hmm i notice the same things that you are having, i also have heard that gigabyte boards tell the temp higher not sure that it is true but i think it is because everyone eles temps are a lot lower than what are's our. my temps are around the same as yours. I got the newest bios update also. The temps in the room are about the same seeing that i dont have the air on all the time because it cost a lot of money to run.

Thanks for the reply. I remember seeing on other forums that in the earlier BIOS revisions supposedly the 7n400Pro2 and the Pro both read high. But was also led to believe that the problem was fixed in later revisions. I'd much rather see a TRUE reading than some bloated "safe" reading. I want the truth, know what I mean?

 

[Reefa_Madness]

I have the same board with an XP 3000+ (@ 2340) and the TR ALX 800 (Aluminum H/S with copper core) and a 92mm Tornado and using same TIM and mine still runs at 48-49C. My case temps are a little cooler than yours, but I can't get my temps down any lower, either. I just figured that it was still within a tolerable level, and since this is a "work" rig and will not be OC'ed any more, I would just live with it.

 

[archilochus]

Remove the fan grids? Are you talking about the pieces that seem to obstruct air in the fan holders in front and back? (the middle pieces)... Thought about that but was afraid it would make the holders less stable or prone to make more noise. I even thought about cutting the little honeycomb grid off the front and back too. But ewww that is gonna be rough..

See the modding Xaser III thread in cooling..On page 4 there are details to the usage of tin snips to remove the grids or cut holes in your case. Below is a link to MOBY's home, view all 3 pages of pics to get ideas of the changes I've made to my case for better cooling..

http://groups.msn.com/MOBYSHOME/mobyscasemodding.msnw?albumlist=2

Keep your flow up & temps down...