TRUE and Megahalems: Performance with different fan configurations

[muddocktor]

I think part of the problem with this case and 38 mm thick fans in a push-pull setup is that it just runs out of room on the back side of the heatsink for good airflow from the pull fan. It's not nearly as bad with the 25 mm thick fans with either heatsink. And with the Mega being a little thicker in cross section than the TRUE, I think it affects the airflow even more than the TRUE. Here are some pics of both heatsinks with 38 mm thick fans in push-pull in this old case.

This is the Megahalems in push-pull with the Panaflo fans:

This is the TRUE with those fans:

And here is thr TRUE with the S-Flex fans mounted:

I didn't take a pic of the Megahalems with 25 mm thick fans in push-pull, but it's much like the TRUE except with about 1/8" less clearance to the back of the case.

I do plan to do some mods to this case in the near future. I plan to replace those 80 mm exhaust fans with 92 mm Panaflo M1BX fans and to give more room for a push-pull config. I plan to mount the fans externally to the back of the case instead of internally.

 

[NS13Stinger]

Hey guys. I've been reading up on this Forums for the past few hours trying to decide on a heatsink/fan config for my newest build. I posted a topic "Zalman 9900LED vs. Noctua NH-U12P-SE2" earlier before reading up on this topic. Seems I've made up my mind on a heatsink/fan config.....Megahalems Mega Shadow with 2 S-Flex SFF21F in push-pull. I'm building an all black PC btw.

Now, my biggest concern at this moment is will this heatsink fit in my case. I have a Lian Li Lancool PC-K62B case which is 214mm x 496mm x 498 mm (W, H, D)...roughly 8.42in x 19.5in x 19.6in

Any help will be appreciated.....and sorry if I highjacked this thread.

 

[muddocktor]

Just looking at some pics of that case at Sundial Micro, it looks to me like it should fit in. I think it should be plenty wide for either a Megahalems or a TRUE.

 

[Zonnza]

Hey guys. I've been reading up on this Forums for the past few hours trying to decide on a heatsink/fan config for my newest build. I posted a topic "Zalman 9900LED vs. Noctua NH-U12P-SE2" earlier before reading up on this topic. Seems I've made up my mind on a heatsink/fan config.....Megahalems Mega Shadow with 2 S-Flex SFF21F in push-pull. I'm building an all black PC btw.

Now, my biggest concern at this moment is will this heatsink fit in my case. I have a Lian Li Lancool PC-K62B case which is 214mm x 496mm x 498 mm (W, H, D)...roughly 8.42in x 19.5in x 19.6in

Any help will be appreciated.....and sorry if I highjacked this thread.

This cooler is almost 6 inches tall, so it would use 6inches out of the 8.42 u have, I assume the mobo+cpu height isnt higher then 2 inches so this should fix into the case so that both side panels will go on. Now the real question should be if you will have enough room to mount the cooler with 2 fans on both sides, you may be stuck with choosing an orientation based on what's already in the case. But after looking at picture, you should be fine.

I just bought my megahalem from sidewinder.com today with 2 of the same fans you are getting and arctic cooling MX-3 thermal paste. I bought the revision B one, didnt want a megashadow, it may be black and my case may be black too but I like the look of silver metal

 

[Zonnza]

lol, Mudd beat me to it; oh well. I would position you megashadow to make the airflow go upwards since you have 2 fans on top and only one on back. But test the orientation out both ways with testing if you feel like it (i know i will).

 

[NS13Stinger]

Thanks, muddocktor and Zonnza. May go with the Rev B Megahalems....2 favorite colors for Harley-Davidson riders....black and chrome...;-)

 

[CualvezAsteria]

Hey guys. I've been reading up on this Forums for the past few hours trying to decide on a heatsink/fan config for my newest build. I posted a topic "Zalman 9900LED vs. Noctua NH-U12P-SE2" earlier before reading up on this topic. Seems I've made up my mind on a heatsink/fan config.....Megahalems Mega Shadow with 2 S-Flex SFF21F in push-pull. I'm building an all black PC btw.

Now, my biggest concern at this moment is will this heatsink fit in my case. I have a Lian Li Lancool PC-K62B case which is 214mm x 496mm x 498 mm (W, H, D)...roughly 8.42in x 19.5in x 19.6in

Any help will be appreciated.....and sorry if I highjacked this thread.

Get a couple Panaflos instead (available at Sidewinder). I like the L1BX but you can get a faster speed if you have a fan controller (there is Ultra High speed) -- edit: actually I read that some of the faster Panaflos have problems undervolting, I know for sure the L1BX can undervolt to practically silent levels. They perform better than S-Flex fans and also sound WAY better imo, S-Flex fans have a high pitched motor noise to them. Very fatiguing to my ears at least. If you mount them with shrouds (a fan casing with the center actual fan pulled out), they will perform even better. The shroud reduces the deadspot in the center. A shroud on a pull fan is actually beneficial too, not exactly sure why though. So a good setup would be, Panaflo / Shroud (2 is better than 1 if you can fit it) / Heatsink / Shroud / Panaflo.

Good place to get shrouds is jab-tech, buy some $3.50 Yates and sacrifice them to the shroud gods. Make sure to get open-corner versions. To mount them, use fan clips that attach to the inside open corner, these Scythe Type B clips will work: http://www.anartik.com/scfancltyb.html (good reseller, I've successfully bought from there before).

Easy way to attach shrouds is to use 4 tip zies for each corner hole.

Good luck! The setup I've recommended for you will provide close to the optimum air cooling and it will be very pleasant noise wise.

 

[muddocktor]

I just updated round 2 of fan testing with the TRUE numbers. And posting that got me to thinking that I want to rerun some Megahalems runs again and recheck the numbers I posted yesterday. So I will pull that system back apart and remount the Mega and do some check runs. If there is significant difference between the original run and the check runs I will redo the round 2 series on the Mega.

 

[bing]

Mudd, could you please write down your ambient/room temperature when doing the test ? Or better, if you have any, thermal probe at air the intake.









.

 

[Zonnza]

Wow these latest results contradict the other tests done on the first page. Did you change anything on the TRUE this time around?

 

[muddocktor]

Mudd, could you please write down your ambient/room temperature when doing the test ? Or better, if you have any, thermal probe at air the intake.
.

It's in my first post, bing.

20.55-21.11 degrees C (69-70 F)

I am measuring with a digital thermometer set in the same place by this system and I have a box fan blowing at the system running at the same speed for each test. The box fan keeps any hot spots from forming by the system being tested.

Wow these latest results contradict the other tests done on the first page. Did you change anything on the TRUE this time around?

The only change between the tests with the megahalems and the TRUE this second time around is that I ran out of one tube of the Thermalright paste and switched to another identically marked tube that was procured at the same time. But when I saw those results, I decided to rerun the tests with the Megahalems again using this other tube of thermal goop. And yes, it is making a big difference in reported temps, so I'm thinking of rerunning the whole series of fans one more time with both heatsinks. That is if I have time to do this before I have to go back offshore, since I'm not sure how or when I will have to go back out. I might have to leave tomorrow evening if that's the way this works out (which I hope doesn't happen).

 

[Zonnza]

Good to know cause I was really confused when these results came up. For newer thermal paste then thats big!

 

[bing]

Sorry, my mistake on missing that important spot.

 

[muddocktor]

OK, found out (finally) that I will be in for the rest of the week. So I decided that I would run all the tests over again instead of just adding on here. And since I decided to rerun all the fan tests, I decided to do something about the case with the crowded back side with 80 mm fans there. I had bought some 92mm fans to mod into that spot last week when I ordered the second batch of fans, so I decided to mount them on the outside of the case instead of the inside like those 80mm fans were mounted. That would give me another inch (25 mm) of room for the 38 mm thick fans. Here are a couple of pics I took with my phone before putting the mobo back in the case along with a pic of how tight it was before doing this mod to the case.

Before modding the 92 mm fans externally:

Case after modding and mounting the 92 mm fans externally:

You can laugh if you want, but I forgot to order some 92 mm wire grills for the fans when I ordered them. So to keep my big fumble-butt fingers out of spinning fans, I took some 80 mm fan grilles and unraveled the eyes on them enough to stretch across a 92 mm fan, then used some washers to help hold them there. It's not pretty but it does get the job done. And it will do until I make another order with a store that sells 92 mm fan grills.

 

[bing]

Mudd, any chance you do another run with your copper True ? (..wishful thinking)

 

[muddocktor]

Yeah, I just might give it a whirl after I get these 2 rerun. The mods I made on the case with moving the exhaust fans external and going from 80 mm fans to 92 mm fans there seems to have helped quite a bit with the cooling on this old case design.

I plan to eventually close this thread out and start a brand new thread with all the latest runs and temps when I finish retesting them. I am almost finished rerunning the Megahalems with all the fans at present. I'm presently doing my Noctua/Slipstream push-pull config run right now. After that run is finished, I will make a run with just the Noctua and then after that one I decided to make a run with the single Slipstream. Then it will be time to examine all the runs and pick the temps out of the graphs.

 

[Zonnza]

Seems like a ton of work! But keep at it, looking forward to seeing what kind of results will be put in and comparing them to your old ones haha. Do know by chance know how old your last tube of thermal paste was and how old this one your using is? BTW, what was the thermal paste called that you used? You only mentioned it was the stuff that came in the thermalright products, maybe your got a different thermal paste from the old one.

I also agree on a new thread, just make sure you name it similar to this one or mention in that one why you created the new one so others know whats going on. Even including a link to this thread in ur original post in the new thread will be cool incase this current thread gets pushed back to another page on the forums.

 

[muddocktor]

Nope, no fancy name on them or anything, just labeled with "Thermalright" and "Thermal Paste" on the label on the syringe. They were bought within a couple of months of each other when I bought 2 XP90 heatsinks a few months apart 3-4 years ago. The thermal goop still looks good coming out of the tubes, but maybe the stuff in the first tube I was using settled out or something in the last little bit before the tube ran out, which gave me such poor results. When I switch out heatsinks today I will be sure to make a test run right away to see if everything looks good. If it looks like the TIM is compromised I have yet another tube of this Thermalright generic goop that came with an XP90-C I can use also.

And I will be sure to link this thread in the new one too.

 

[CualvezAsteria]

Noctua NH-D14 is the one I want to see next. It's got a lot of interesting buzz, but I haven't seen many credible forum poster reviews yet. Supposedly, ~5C better than a Megahalems... if true, wow.

With different fan configurations too would be amazing. Not sure if your case can fit it though doc, it's a monster... to me it looks about 2x a TRUE.

 

[muddocktor]

It's also pretty expensive too. Sidewinder Computers has it listed but out of stock and the price is $84.