I used to have an Althon 939 setup. This saw a number of Athlons, most notable some nice X2s. I de-lidded all of my X2 processors, which made the Storm a very effective block.
However, I moved to a C2D setup recently, and I was not happy with the temps. Browsing here and at XS, the Storm just doesn't have the cooling/surface area ratio to effectively cool a CPU with the IHS on. On top of that, I added my GPU and another rad to the loop, and even with a D5 pump at the highest setting temperatures were suffering (lots of pressure drop in a Storm - those nozzles are tiny!).
I picked up an Apogee - just a plain one, not a GT or GTX - and installed it last night. I made another change, and moved from AS5 to Ceramique (Ceramique, incidentally, is applied a bit different than AS5 on a dual-core). My loop still has some trapped air, and the ceramique hasn't even started to cure, but temps are much improved. Granted, I changed two variables here (block and thermal paste), and while I did multiple mounts I only took temps on my final mount.
Here are the (decidedly non-scientific) numbers. Idle is at the desktop, load is a 100% load with S&M running for 10 minutes (temps are the average of both cores in CoreTemp, ambient is ~19.5C):
Before (StormG4 Rev 2):
After (Apogee):
However, I moved to a C2D setup recently, and I was not happy with the temps. Browsing here and at XS, the Storm just doesn't have the cooling/surface area ratio to effectively cool a CPU with the IHS on. On top of that, I added my GPU and another rad to the loop, and even with a D5 pump at the highest setting temperatures were suffering (lots of pressure drop in a Storm - those nozzles are tiny!).
I picked up an Apogee - just a plain one, not a GT or GTX - and installed it last night. I made another change, and moved from AS5 to Ceramique (Ceramique, incidentally, is applied a bit different than AS5 on a dual-core). My loop still has some trapped air, and the ceramique hasn't even started to cure, but temps are much improved. Granted, I changed two variables here (block and thermal paste), and while I did multiple mounts I only took temps on my final mount.
Here are the (decidedly non-scientific) numbers. Idle is at the desktop, load is a 100% load with S&M running for 10 minutes (temps are the average of both cores in CoreTemp, ambient is ~19.5C):
Before (StormG4 Rev 2):
- Idle: 35
- Load: 56
After (Apogee):
- Idle: 29
- Load: 52