Pathetic VOLCANO 6Cu Temps

[jkos]

Hello,
I can't totally figure out why my temps are so high. Here is my setup:

Asus A7V333
AMD Athlon XP 1800+ (stock voltage and clocking)
Thermaltake VOLCANO 6Cu
Matrox G450
Maxtor 7200 rpm 60 GB hard drive
Windows XP Pro
80 mm front intake fan
80 mm rear exhaust fan (plus PSU 80 mm fan)

Here are my current temps at IDLE in Celsius:
CPU: 58 (!!!) (on-die thermal diode)
Case: 31 (according to MB sensor)
Ambient: 27.0 (1" from front intake fan)
PSU Exhaust: 37.5

What I have done:
- Airflow through case seems decent, no ribbon cables blocking airflow
- Lapped the 6Cu to 600 grit
- Applied AS2 per Arctic Silver's directions
- Remounted HSF a few times with no change

I have noticed that the Vcore reads around 1.79 V rather than the 1.75 V it should be. This is according to the MB sensors. Where should I measure it to get an accurate reading? I have a really good Fluke DMM so it should be much more accurate than the onboard sensors.

What I'm looking for is for someone to say "you've got a problem" or "the 6Cu is just that bad". And any other advice, of course. If the Vcore is about 0.04 V higher than it should be, how many degrees increase could this be causing?

Oh, and I want my computer to remain relatively quite, so no "put a Delta on it" please.

Thanks,
John

P.S. I have all the parts for water cooling, but I feel a challenge to get the temps under control with air cooling first.

 

[Rezman5]

Asus temp probes read 10-14C higher than actual temps from what I have heard

 

[packratbob]

woah those temps must hurt!!!
Hmmm no deltas??? well try geting a higher cfm fan and see if that helps. Ur case temps dont seem to bad so u should be able to knock a couple degs of ur cpu but higher air flow alone

 

[jkos]

Rezman5,
Yeah, but even if they are, say, 14 C high, that still 44 C at IDLE which still seems too high. Also, the heat sink does feel rather warm similar to my overclocked Duron which tends to run around 55 C at full load.

packratbob,
"Hmmm no deltas???" Yeah, this machine is for DAW work, so being relatively quite is a must.


I there anything about the motherboard I should check? I'm still on BIOS v1005. I seem to remember some jumper that people would move and it would drop there temps quite a bit. But I also seem to remember that was with earlier BIOS versions.

Thanks,
John

 

[Mizzery]

My cpu is pretty warm too.

Ok, my processor fan isn't the greatest. I'll admit, on my last upgrade 'bout a month ago i skimped a little on the hs/fan to get a better mobo for future oc'ing. It didn't look like a bad fan, although its not all copper its still got a 5K rpm fan on it. As far as case cooling goes, i've got the power supply fan, two 60mm exhaust fans on back and a huge a$$ fan on the front that pumps in 84cfm. Its been about a month now, and the heat and humidity are coming into swing where I live (Near Albany, NY), and without A/C i've noticed my cpu temps getting a little high for my liking. Right now 9:14pm my cpu is at 47.5C and the case temp is at 27 and room temp is about 24 (guestimate). I think that there should be less than a 20degree differential. I'm going to try reapplying the grease, but i mean, can the grease make that much of a difference? Also its only radio shack grease not artic silver.

Thanks!

** My system

AthlonXP 1800 (1610 Mhz 140*11.5 default voltages)
ABIT KR7A (no raid)
256MB pc2400 micron
maxtor 80GB 7200 RPM
Geforce2MX PCI Twin Out + TV Out
Hercules Game Theater Xp

 

[adamtekh]

i think reading my sig would help answer your question that the HSF is indeed crap

 

[masitti]

LOL. I have had no good experiences with Thermaltake. They look very good; but they are pieces. Well, with watercooling around the corner, I can live with 57c full load.

 

[Mizzery]

adamtekh

With xp 1600's going for $75 why don't you upgrade?

 

[adamtekh]

who me ? , ill have a job soon

 

[jkos]

I'm getting somewhere...

Hello,
Well, as an experiment I constructed a 6" long 92 mm to 60 mm adapter and mounted a Zalman 92 mm fan on it. That fan is rated at 52 CFM. The stock fan on the 6Cu is rated at 32 CFM.

Putting the 52 CFM fan on it dropped my temps by 6 C. And, the fan is quiter to boot.

Now I will try it at the 38 CFM setting and what I get with that.

According to Radiate II, the extra 0.04 V on my Vcore (if real) is raising my temp by 3 C.

- John

 

[jkos]

This should work...

I've ordered a Thermalright AX-7 and Panaflo fan from HeatsinkFactory . That should solve my air cooling problems.

Now, why go to water cooling. It seems that it would only drop my temps by about 3 C over the AX-7 without some kind of extra cooling for the water.

- John

 

[OKCFUNKY]

yeah, those volcano6's are fantastic for vid card cooling though, take it and mount on a card, very nice for the gpu. But for your voltages, the the asus doesnt read them correctly, they are reported .05 typically over what is actually going through.