Cooling Help with Tbird 1.3 @ 70°C

[JackaL]

I can`t say that i know much about cooling but I am positive that 70°C is just nuts and I`ll end up burning it or something. (It took me 3 minutes to find out what key was ° cause I live up here in Canada eh and got stuck with a french keyboard )

Anyway, I am just want to know what the best way would be to cool off my system. My Geforce 2 is also running around 70C. Would a big side fan do or a couple rears near the PS? I`ve read most of the cooling tips but I can`t really figure out which would be best or cheapest. Anyway, any help would be great.

Thanks a lot guys
JackaL

 

[Thelemac]

Tell us a bit more about your system and we will be able to help you...

Items to include would be:
All components
Size/Type of case
Processor Type/Speed
Current heatsink fan on your processor
Any cooling you have now
What your ambient(room and case) temps you have.
How you're getting your temps would be helpful, too.
Oh, don't forget about the motherboard.

I don't see a ° key anywhere on my keyboard...why does yours have one and mine doesn't? Are French keyboards just that special?

 

[Thelemac]

Oh yeah, almost forgot:

Welcome to the forums! Hope you enjoy your time here!

 

[jeff_harrison_344]

Well you are prolly using a stock heatsink right now (The Heatsink that came with the computer). What you will need to do is get a better one, I suggest the Millennium Glaciator, it is a bit pricey, but the performance is great. Also get some Arctic Silver2.

 

[Thelemac]

HA, HAHAHA, haha. Just noticed that you DID, in fact, mention the processor in the subject. My bad.

I don't know that I'd go with the Glaciator if you're not planning on overclocking...that's a tad overkill. Give us your specs and we'll be able to get a better idea of what you need to help bring your temps down.

 

[Anthrax]

70C is way too high even for a stock heatsink. Are you sure you plugged your fan in? Maybe the fan header is burnt out if you did. Also what is the ambient temperture?

 

[JackaL]

Thanks for the welcome.

Its an ASUS A7A266 MB with a stock heatsink + fan. I could put on a Golden Orb style heatsink if that would help. I don`t know exactly what style box this would be considered but its 15 in. by 17 in. I have a fan at the front about 4 in. I will cut a hole in my box to obtain better airflow from there. I also have 2 more 4in fans that i could cut holes into the side as close to my CPU and Gefore 2 as possible. As somebody said I I guess I could wrap all my wires tighter to ease airflow. Anyway, I don`t want to spend much money at all with this crappy canadian exchange and all so I just need some ideas or tips that would help, OR somebody to send me one of those huge Dayton fans from the case cooling section

Thanks
JackaL

 

[JackaL]

Ambient temp 25°c

BTW Ambient temp 25°c

 

[Derelict]

ARTIC SLIVER!! for heat sink, I highy recommend the Mighty Machine from www.1coolpc.com I got mine today in the mail and I threw some ASII on that baby and man Im hitting 33C Full load. Granted Im only running 1gig tbird @ 1.3 but hell its great. And the 80mm fan on top is an killer...little load tho! BUT EXCELLENT!!

 

[bdf24]

Well your cpu temps are most likely around 60c not 70c. The A7A is rumored to have a faulty cpu temp probe. It registers about 10c hotter then actuall temp. Again this is strictly hear say! My cpu temps are consistantly around 56c right now. Atleast thats what the probe shows. I don't think thats really the case. I'm running watercooling so even if it's not a very good cooling system, I'd have a hard time believing it's running that hot. 46c sound more accurate. When I get a little more cash I wanna get a DD cube and DD maze 2. And possibly a new pump. I believe thats actually holding me back right now. I think my flow is to restricted.

As far as some suggestions try taking off the stock HSF and cleaning it up as well as the chip. Then reapply the thermal paste and reset the HSF. That may drop your temps some.

 

[Colin]

70C with 25C ambient? The HS is not sitting flush with the CPU die.

 

[Thelemac]

Cheapest way would be to try lapping your hsf and reseating it. Put some thermal goop from RS on it and take off the pad (tape stuff that on the bottom of the heatsink...which you would do by lapping anyway).

That'll probably take your cpu temps down about ten degrees or so (very rough estimate). Then you should consider just how your air is flowing...I would suggest having a fan on the back of the case blowing into the case and having the fan in the front of the case blowing out of the case. That will put the coolest air across your cpu to keep it cool, and should get it out nicely.

That should bring your temps down to tolerable levels...if you're not going to overclock.

I'd say that, grand total, this would cost about fifteen to twenty bucks.

 

[JackaL]

Well here`s what I did. I scraped that pad from my HS and reaplied that thermal paste. I added a fan on my side panel so it is aimed around my CPU and Geforce 2 , it is sucking air out. I have another fan on the same panel in the bottom corner closest to the front blowing air in and the front fan is blowing air in. My Bios says CPU temp 74° and in windows the probe says 64°. (This is when I am browsing the Net). Um, right now I am using a HSF that looks circular from the top sorta like a Golden Orb style.

Do I block up the holes at the back or put a fan there? Which way should my fans be pointing ? What is the diff between ASII and thermal paste?

Anyway, Thanks for the help
JackaL

 

[Fink]

I am going to suggest that you replace your HSF unit, it sounds like your 'orb' style cooler is not doing the job it should.

ASII is a thermal compound that has better thermal transfer properties than the radioshack thermal compound. ASII is best used when you are doing a lot of overclocking and need every little bit of thermal transfer you can get.

BTW, what is your motherboard temp? It sounds like you have enough cooling fans in the system and they are well placed....

 

[JackaL]

Faulty HSF eh ? Thats the only thing I could think of too. I`ll go change that and get some AS2. Take a look at this sketch of my box and tell me if it could be improved. Thanks a million JackaL

 

[JackaL]

Faulty HSF eh ? Thats the only thing I could think of too. I`ll go change that and get some AS2. Take a look at this sketch of my box and tell me if it could be improved. Thanks a million JackaL

 

[JackaL]

What is a good HSF for my Tbird ? My last 2 didn`t work so well. I just want something cheap and to lower my temp near to at least 50° but 40°would be better. PS what could I do to the fans on my box to make airflow better ?

Thanks

 

[cool_hand_joe13]

Dude 70C is not good try to get some more cooling asap. Although I ran my bird for an hour or so and the temp was 132F before I noticed one of my twin hsf screwed up. Happy ending though no damage to the bird.

 

[Thelemac]

A decent enough one would probably be a WBK with an 80mm fan on it (assuming you want it to be fairly quiet)...

For better airflow, I would suggest that you have a fan in the back blowing air in, the one on the top back of the side panel blowing air in, and the two in the lower front sucking air out.

I say this for a couple of reasons.

First, you want the cooler air to go to your hsf, which is going to be from the closest fan.

Second, you don't want to be stealing the air from the hsf, which you are doing by having the fan sucking right above it.

You might try just switching the fans around before you go buying a new hsf or ASII.

Also, if you have some thermal compound, I wouldn't bother getting the ASII as unless you're probably not going to notice a whole lot of difference between the two. Sure there will be a bit, but not enough to be worth it if you're not looking to get the best cooling for the buck.

 

[Fink]

Spend the $ on a good cooler and not the AS - plain old radioshack thermal compound will work just fine.