CPU Cooling Trouble

[AI13]

This is my first post and I do hope that I have made it in the right section.

I have a problem with my CPU getting dangerously (as far as I know at least, 56 degrees celsius) hot. First things first, my specs:

CPU: AMD Phenom II X6 1100T
CPU Heatsink: ZALMAN CNPS9900MAX-R 135mm
RAM: 16GB G.SKILL Ripjaws X Series 240-Pin DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Model F3-12800CL9D-8GBXL
Motherboard: ASUS Crosshair IV Extreme Extended
Video Card: XFX Radeon 6970 2GB
HDD: 1x Western Digital Green 1TB
4x Segate 1TB
PSU: Silverstone 1000 watt
Case: Silverstone Raven 01
Monitoring Software: ROG AI Suite II

The problem started when I went from my old Radeon 6570 to my new 6970. Almost immediately after installing it I noticed that my cpu temps had risen ~10 Celsius putting my temperatures into the high 50 while playing any game at all. To fix this I moved my gfx card as far away from my cpu as possible and increased the fan speed from 20% to 50%. These settings have worked until I recently started playing Battlefield 3. Within 20 minutes of starting the game I got a warning saying my CPU temps had hit 56 degrees, so I popped off the side of my case and they dropped to 50 degrees. This led me to believe that I had an airflow problem of some sort. I decided to test this by running Prime 95 x64 bit with my computer chassis closed. After 20 minutes, I was holding steady at 53 degrees. So... the CPU gets pretty warm maxed, and if my GFX card is pumping out heat too, things get a little too hot inside my computer. What I want to know, is how, if at all, I can improve my current setup so that I do not have to crank my GPU fan up to 100% and make my computer sound like a small jet.

Here are pics of my setup:
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/38/img0043gd.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/859/img0042kh.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/641/img0041rf.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/696/img0049qg.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/190/img0046ci.jpg/

I am in the process of swapping my Zalman CNPS heatsink for a Corsair H60 in a push pull setup on the top fan.

Thoughts?

 

[Deltafan909]

Can you mod your case by cutting a hole for a 120mm fan to the left of the 6970 in your second picture? If I'm not mistaken, that's where the GPU fan is, and you could expel your 6970's heat out there. With the H60, I'm guess you would mount the rad of the H60 right where you seem to have a 120mm case fan just next to your current Zalman. That would help tremendously by getting your CPU heat straight out of the case instead of releasing it into your case and the rest of your compenents. Put that H60 in and lets see what happens. Honestly, you probably won't need to mod, but it could help.

 

[AI13]

I wont be able to install the H60 for a couple of days, I am waiting for my original AMD mounting bracket to arrive from home.

All of my fans are blowing up at the moment and I am wondering if because my CPU fan is blowing so much more air than the top case fan, some of the hot air could be trapped inside?

The video below shows how the airflow in the case is supposed to work.

 

[Deltafan909]

Can you control that top case fan to run at a faster rpm?

 

[Soverntear]

Kinda obvious but have you tried to re thermal paste the CPU? Might be getting a bit old and not preforming as expected.

 

[AI13]

Alright, Delta, I cannot run the fans any faster, the 120 is running at 100% at ~1000 rpm. The 2x 180s in the bottom are also running at max at ~ 740 rpm.

Soventear I re-applied everything about 3 months ago so I doubt that the paste (arctic silver 5) is getting old, it is possible that the weight of the heat sink is causing poor contact with the CPU.

The Chassies fans are very very quite all running together at max. I am thinking of getting some new fans in addition to installing the H60. Right now my computer idles at ~41 and I want to see if I can cool it down to ~30-35 idle. I read somewhere that using 2x 120 Delta fans pushing 200+ CFM each and a H60 in a push/pull setup, a person managed to get temps down to 15 Celsius idle, and possibly woke up the whole neighborhood doing it. While I do not hope to achieve anything that low, I think that by getting a little bit more airflow, I should be able to drop the temps some more. Besides, I want to have lights in my fans, call me vain.

 

[Deltafan909]

Delta Fans are redic! I would try re-seating just to see if it fixes it, and it won't take long. Set up push/pull on that H60 if you want to. Keep in mind, I am an Intel guy, so I don't know much about AMD at all and their thermal limits

New case fans with leds that push more air is what I think you need.

 

[AI13]

I have been looking at a pair of AEROCOOL Sharks for the top, thoughts?

Any replacement solution will take a few days at least to get delivered, what about cleaning up the cable routing in the mean time? 2 new pictures below.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/607/img0056ao.jpg/
http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/171/img0055at.jpg/

 

[Deltafan909]

Those fans look great and quiet imo!

 

[AI13]

OK, I just installed the H60 and its single fan and have been looking at my temp readings idle. The resultant temperatures are.... higher? I realize that I have only had the H60 on for about 20 minutes, but even then I should be getting a little better temps right? Having never used one before, is ~42 idle to be expected on an AMD 1100t?

Update, I attempted to get a test using Prime 95, and my computer failed. I was unable to reach a stable temp before overheating. I think this may be because the air in my computer is staying still/slow too long and warming up before being blown through the exit vent where the radiator is located. I think I need much more airflow. Sound about right?

 

[AI13]

Well, I removed the H60 and put my old Zalman back in and....Temps have dropped by about 15C. I have been running Prime 95 for 30 minutes while playing crysis 2 and temps have not even come close to 50 yet. I changed my thermal paste from Arctic Silver 5 to Zalman ZM-STG2 and put an exhaust fan with double the cfm from what came stock in the case and the end result is astonishing. 32C idle, 46C maxed. looks like I just needed to get more of the hot air out. The research I did lists the Zalman 9900 Max as one of the best air coolers out there preforming almost identically to the Noctura NH-D14. The Thermal compound is also excellent.

Here are the relating articles:

For the thermal compound:
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.p...sk=view&id=150&Itemid=62&limit=1&limitstart=1

Zalman 9900 Max preformance results:
http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1958&pageID=9829
http://www.guru3d.com/article/zalman-cnps-9900-max-review/1

What to take from all of this? If you have an excellent air cooler, it will be hard to beat without spending a lot of money. Also, do your research.

 

[Deltafan909]

Hmmm, I thought the H60 would help quite a bit. I guess not!

 

[lemerex]

I am having a bit of an issue too. But with my i7 2700k. Idle around 34C average on all 4 cores. But when I run intel burn test, it makes the cpu go way way too high. I got it to 90+C, and i had to cut the burn test short. Only after 1 Minute! I am using a zalman 7000 so i need a suggestion please. I did recheck and see if it was seated properly and it was. I re-applied thermal paste. Build dozens of machines but never had a machine where the CPU went up to that level of temp before. I have a thermaltake lanbox lite so space will be an issue too. I did look at one, the silverstone NT06-E, and was planning to put a fan on it too. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[GoD_tattoo]

Lemerex, welcome to the forums. Please make your own thread highlighting your issue as this is AI13's thread. Im sure someone will try to help you as well.

 

[lemerex]

Lemerex, welcome to the forums. Please make your own thread highlighting your issue as this is AI13's thread. Im sure someone will try to help you as well.

Ok, will do
And thanks for the welcome!