Major cooling prollemz w/ Lian Li PC 70...

[fluxcapacitor]

...I suppose my thread title is a bit misleading because I do not have unsafe temps, but rather atrociously high temps for the equipment I'm running. As I mentioned, I'm using a Lian Li PC70 full tower all-alluminum server case. I have two U1-A, 47cfm, 80mm Panaflo's in the lower front as intakes. In front of those [also blowing in towards the mobo] is a H1-A, 103cfm, 120mm Panaflo. It is fastened to the internal 3 1/2" drive cage w/ heavy duty foam mounting tape. Also, behind the CPU area are two more U1-A 80mm Panaflo's, exhausting hot air out of the case. Directly in front of those is the mother of all HSF's, the MC-462, the rev1 HS w/ the original Delta 80x38mm fan.... In addition, up above the PSU [BTW is a 431 watt Enermax] are yet two more u1-A 80mm Panaflo's, also exhausting hot air out of the case. Now, Powerhungry [amdmb.com forums: C&C mod], and prolly some others here will notice that I've posted on this predicament of mine before. I don't remember what was said, I think PH, you told me to check airflow. Can I get a DETAILED explanation on how to do that? Also, If I remember correctly, you said you think my fans may be fighting each other. I don't see how this could be the case, given the directions I have them blowing in. If I had two 80mm's adjacent and one blowing and the other sucking, sure, I could see that. But this is just beyond me. I know the HS is flat, w/ a paper-thin layer of Artic Silver to boot. My cables are not the tricked out silver series, but homemade rounds w/ a vinyl "wrap" and electrical tape on the ends. They actually came out quite nice for a homemade job. And I think I've "re-cabled" the insides of my system a hundred times trying to maximize airflow. It sure seems to be pretty tidy in there. The proc I'm running at the moment is an 800 Bird @ 1Ghz @ 1.83v. I'm also using Daniel's [from braziliantech] 1005FXD a7v133 BIOS for the reg 52 idle cooling hack. Yet right now as I type this my board is at 27c, and the proc's at 39c!!! This is at a room ambient of 74/75f ish, around 21.5c. I'm far from being in danger of overheating or frying my system, but when I plucked out $250 for a goddamn computer case, I thought I'd get numbers like PH does in his reviews, under 35c LOAD!!! My load temps again aren't dangerously bad, they only go at most like 3c higher than where I idle. But its all about what I'm running. I've put alotta dinero in this system for fans, HS's, the CASE, etc., and its all for **** it seems. For what I've got, I'd expect to be running at like 31-32c right now, ESPECIALLY considering I'm using a cooling hacked BIOS.

The first thing you guys might mention in replying is the 120mm. But I've ran this setup w/o it, and it only makes the board run way hotter. Putting that in there had no effect on CPU temps. I've also got another one of those, and I've tried mounting it [w/ doublestick mounting tape] in front of the HSF, blowing down on it. That didn't do **** either. I'm going to get my 1.33 back on Tuesday, and if I run this hot w/ a freakin' 800, God only knows what it'll be like w/ that chip!!!

So, any and ALL ideas/help/suggestions are very welcome here. Also, lapping the HS is not an option for me. I read up quite a bit on the subject, and ended up ruining my first mc462 HS, and had to buy the rev 1 I'm now using. But please help if you all have any ideas...

 

[outhouse]

First if i could ask you to please watch your language we do get kids in here and the moderator will yank your post if he finds it or you'll get a warning.

To me it sounds like its your CPU not the rest of your cooling setup all CPU's will run at different temps with the same setup [i'm speaking generaly] If you read up on lapping it can be done very succesfully I'm not sure how you ruined your first one i think i would have relapped it [if possible] and reused it but i love to fabricate. Anyway my first AMD 1g tebird out of the box no overclocking ran at 129F at idle it was a little disapointing to say the least it took me about 2 days and i returned it and went to the 1Gp3 and out of the box it ran at 89F i know its hard to compare AMD and Intel but my point that the AMD was probably a bad CPU even though it ran OK i was not going to deal with temps that high i'm not sure this has anything to do with your setup but it may so i'll throw in my 2 cents it seem's to me you have more then enough airflow through your case.

 

[Thelemac]

How are you measuring your temps? With the on-mobo thermistors? I wouldn't use those for more than a *very* general idea about what your temps are. If you wanna find out what kind of case temps you're getting I would suggest a thermistor from RS or something...

 

[Colin]

If you don't have a bunch of hot drives mounted in the bays in the upper portion of the case, unplug the fans above the PSU. Many times in a full tower case these fans pull air away from the motherboard where the heat is, creating a dead spot. You want the airflow over the motherboard and out below and through the PSU, not out of the top of the case. If this helps, you may want to short circuit the thermistor in your your Enermax to help funnel heat away from the motherboard.