Air Cooling Results With Thermaltake Armor Side Panel w/250mm Blower

[Awake77]

Ive been researching all kinds of air cooling solutions, trying to get the best combination of low noise excellent cooling for my new system. There doesnt seem to be a general consensus on the validity of the large side intake fan, so I thought I'd perform a real test, hoping it might help give some insight.

Case is a steel Thermaltake Armor with the stock fans, except the Vantec in the top:

• 1 120mm 'Thunderblade' and 1 TT 90mm for rear exhaust.
• 1 90mm Vantec Stealth in the top blowhole
• 1 120mm Thunderblade in the front.
• 250mm blower in the side panel.

CPU Heatsink is a Thermaltake BigTyphoon that I lapped over the weekend. This was my first attempt at lapping, using a very nice kit from EasyPC:

Pre-polishing, you can see the huge low spot in the middle:

After lapping:

Zalman Aluminum Chipset Cooler:

With 40mm Scythe MiniKaze:

Here's the HR-03 mounted on the X1900XT, note how close it is to the CPU - too close for a standard 25mm thick 92mm fan:

For load testing, I ran Prime95 Torture Test, the ATI Tool 'Rotating 3D Cube', and a full system scan with AVG AntiVirus. I was trying to build up in-case temps as high as possible.

Idle Temps:

Stock Side Panel w/o 250mm Fan:

Side Panel w/250mm Blower:

Load Temps (Apps run until temps leveled off, about 30min)

Stock Side Panel w/o 250mm Fan:

Look at the temp on the GPU!! Running any passive cooler on that X1900XT is just unrealistic

Side Panel w/250mm Blower:

So there it is, the big fan on the side does make a difference, about -5C which is pretty significant. Having the X1900XT's radiator right next to the CPU adds some heat, about 3C to the CPU temps. After allowing the X1900XT to cool down some, CPU load temps dropped to 40C.

Even during intensive gaming, the GPU doesnt get near that hot. An hour of walking through the woods in Oblivion at 1680x1050 with HDR&AA enabled only brought it up ~75C, better than the stock cooler by 10C, - the ATI Tool test really seems to cook it. Im working on a custom shroud to help pull all that heat out of the case.

Also, the 120mm TT fans that came with the case dont seem to push that much air at all, I plan on upgrading them very soon.

Awake77

 

[enz660]

thats a weird wallpaper

oh yeah..uh, nice OC

 

[Awake77]

 

[Sir. BOBSONATOR]

nice, do you have a case pic?

 

[freakdiablo]

yay 400 fps. nice clocks. look at the bright side, atleast it went down slightly.

 

[Awake77]

yay 400 fps. nice clocks. look at the bright side, atleast it went down slightly.

The X1900XT? She's a beast of a card...The best GPU I had before it was an MX440. I ordered a 15mm thick 80mm Delta for it, should help out a bit.

 

[freakdiablo]

ya, all i have is an x1600pro, havent updated my sig yet, AND IT DOESNT EVEN WORK. o ya, and someone said its ddr3 a while ago. its not. ddr2.

 

[redrumy3]

Very Nice,

but is it just me or is his x1900xt really hot? i mean its passive and all but still way to hot?

 

[Awake77]

I dont know redrumy, she's definitely hot. Ive heard of people's X1900XT's running stable over 100C on various forums and whatnot - but I definitely don't want my card hitting those temps.

Then again, it hit those temperatures with the ATI Tool test, which seems to really heat it up something fierce. Playing Oblivion with everything maxed out for hours, it doesnt go above 75C with the HR-03. I just mounted the heatsink the day before this test too, so the AS5 may not have set up completely - still though that shouldnt make more than a 5C difference. I definitely need to find a solution before I do any serious overclocking on it.

Hoping the 80mm delta fan I just ordered will do the trick. This one:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de80ef2.html

This is on its way too, for good measure:

http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de12ff.html

Wondering if the 120mm should go over the BigTyphoon, to force more cold air into the case, or as an exahust fan?

 

[darkcow]

wow. 20c idle?

thats rediculouse, my conroe can barely do 40c idle.


i think it needs a re-seat or something... whats your ambient?

 

[Awake77]

wow. 20c idle?

thats rediculouse, my conroe can barely do 40c idle.

The 19C is off the ASUS PCProbe - check out the CoreTemp readings, Im idling at ~33C.

i think it needs a re-seat or something...

The HR-03? I dont think it does, I did reseat it twice - it was much better when I mounted it on the other side of the card, but then I lost my 3rd PCI slot. I think I just need to help move air around the fins, because its mounted so tight next to the BigTyphoon.

whats your ambient?

Sorry should have mentioned that - during these tests Ambient temp was 22C (~72f)

 

[Awake77]

Here's something interesting:

I got to thinking that the X1900XT is so long, and my front and rear 120mm fans arent all that powerfull...perhaps Im seeing such high temps because I have a 'dead spot' in the case underneath the card.

I took a 90mm TT9025A (moves quite a bit of air and isnt too loud at all), and rigged it up on the bottom of the case, angled up so its blowing right on the video card, like this:

This was the result:

A -4C drop on the GPU core, which certainly helps - but look at the change in the Voltage Regulator temperature - -31C!!!

This was running Prime95, AVG, and the ATI Tool 3D cube for about 20 minutes longer than I ran the tests for last night, too.

I think Im going to fabricate a mount for this fan,and get it up a little closer to the card. This, combined with more powerful intake and exhaust and the fan for the HR-03, and I think I can shoot for GPU load temps of 75C, and still have nice quiet case with all my PCI slots

 

[Awake77]

Here is the case pic SirBobsonator:

 

[kayson]

umm why do you have an elephant on your wallpaper? (or maybe a rhino?)

 

[Awake77]

It's a Rhino. This is the pic:

http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/~sedwards/photos/taiwan200508/20050828-2091 Rhino Leofoo Village.jpg

I like Rhinos. Rhinos are precious representatives of the glorious past of the megafauna, living relics from aeons gone by. Many do not know that the Wooly Rhino, or Coelodonta antiquitatis, were sentient superbeings that were poised to be the dominant life forms on this planet. However, realizing the the upcoming primate lifeforms had nowhere else to call their home, they left Earth in a giant starcruiser, promising to return sometime around the year 2012. I, for one, will welcome my Rhinoceros overlords with open arms and an open heart. You would be wise to do the same. For the Wooly Rhino, and all Rhinos for that matter, surely aint no joke.

Awake77

 

[freakdiablo]

no, rhinos arent going to rule us. according to a film in my honors bio class, humanity will be raped by squids in about 20 million years.

 

[nvidiaOCmaster]

no, rhinos arent going to rule us. according to a film in my honors bio class, humanity will be raped by squids in about 20 million years.

Thank god, we will all be dead.

Awesome lap-job! Get that CPU lapped too, you will get supurb results, trust me.

 

[Awake77]

no, rhinos arent going to rule us. according to a film in my honors bio class, humanity will be raped by squids in about 20 million years.

Ive seen that show (The Future is Wild), and trust me lad it is just conjecture.

Thank god, we will all be dead.

Awesome lap-job! Get that CPU lapped too, you will get supurb results, trust me.

Thanks!! Hmmm I thought about lapping the heat spreader too but was a little nervous about it. Do you still need to use thermal grease when the heat spreader and the heatsink are lapped? Or just use a lot less?

Lapping did make a big difference with the BigTyphoon, about -3 to -4C.

 

[Chaos_Being]

How much noise does that big 250mm fan put out?

 

[Awake77]

Its actually really quiet. It moves ~85cfm but only spins at 600RPM. Its a very quiet, lower frequency 'whooosh' sound.