Solved Cooling

[pparks1]

Well, I still stand by my theory that too much airflow in a case, particularly too much exhaust can hinder cooling. While I'm not a retired pilot, nor a scientist, I'm a systems admin who works with computers, servers, network gear and the like on a daily basis. The easiest way to know if this is a possibility is to simply shut down at least 1 exhaust fan and see what happens. Like you said before, when you turned around your CPU fan it made the situation worse rather than better and this was confusing to you. So, perhaps it's not as logical as it would seem.

Links to support my theory;
http://www.iceteks.com/articles.php/casecooling/1
http://www.computing.net/answers/cpus/cpu-heating-up-too-fast/15880.html

 

[sygnus21]

I think you're doing seekermeister a disservice by knocking his credentials while boasting about yours. He doesn’t have to be an IT guy to understand aerodynamics.....just as you don't have to be a scientist to work with computers.

He stated his credentials and posed his reasoning for his position. Cool.

My two cents.

 

[pparks1]

I'm just offering advice to a problem that he seems to be having. It seems easy enough to just try out.

My theory actually comes more from my nitro radio control racing experience. With nitro cars, they are cooled by the fuel they burn as well as by air over the heatsink. Well, years ago, I replaced a pickup truck body where the engine cooling head was sticking outside of the body with a closed back-end SUV style body. Well since the engine was enclosed inside of the truck, common sense told me that I should probably cut some vent holes out of the upper back of the truck body so the hot engine air could escape. So, once I put in the holes and started running the truck, it started continuoulsy overheating. The problem was that cool air came in the front, and escaped too fast out the upper back and never got into the heatsink on the motor to pull away the hot air. Once I then used black electrical tape and covered up those rear upper vents, the air came in the front, went through the middle of the body, through the engine heatsink and out by the rear bumper. Low and behold, my engine temps immediately dropped and overheating was no longer a problem. So, in the case of my truck body, the excess exhausting of hot air, actually made the air hotter inside of the truck.

I'm not trying to impress anybody with my credentials, I'm just saying that I've worked with server racks in data centers and have a good idea about heat and airflow. I just think it's worth a try...seems easy enough to simply shut down a fan or two and see what happens. If it gets hotter, than I am an idiot and completely wrong. if it gets cooler, well perhaps I saved him from buying a new CPU cooler or water cooler for a problem that had an easier solution.

And I certainly didn't discount his profession. Stated another way, I'm a simpleton with no scientific experience or the experience of a pilot (who would undoubtedly know a ton about aerodynamics and thermal dynamics), but I do have some experience with cooling of computers and perhaps my less educated guess could hold some water.

I'll politely bow out of the discussion at this point. It's my simple 2 cents. I offered it as advice, take it or leave it....either way, it's fine by me.

 

[seekermeister]

sygnus21,

That's okay, a lot of people think of pilots as no more than airborne taxi or truck drivers. It doesn't bother me in the least what anyone thinks of me or my ex-profession. It only matters what I think of myself and it.

 

[sygnus21]

sygnus21,

That's okay, a lot of people think of pilots as no more than airborne taxi or truck drivers. It doesn't bother me in the least what anyone thinks of me or my ex-profession. It only matters what I think of myself and it.

I just think there are two guys trying to get their points across from different perspectives.

I was an aircraft mechanic in the United States Air Force and tend to apply a lot of stuff learnt in the field to my computer skills today. Not that one has to do with the other, other than saying you can deal with technical stuff.

Anyway I can all appreciate the knowledge and technical expertise it takes to become a pilot.

Peace

 

[seekermeister]

I did change the position of the fan, not only to blow, but putting it on the opposite side of the heatsink, which is on top, between the heatsink and the case's blowhole fan. I did not disable or reduce power to any of the fans, but I did get a 4 degree drop in temperature at idle. I have yet to test it on a loaded situation...that comes next.

 

[seekermeister]

It still ran right at the max while encoding a movie, but at least I did get to finish the encode this time. That means that the situation will hold, until I can decide on and order a new cooler.

 

[essenbe]

Seekmeister, I realize that the TX3 is not highly regarded. But, I had one attached to my X6 and had no heat issues. If you have the wire clips, you have the older version of the cooler. The new version has plastic clips. I bought 2 Antec 92mm fans set up in a push/pull exhausting out the top of the case. The fans ran 100% but were very quiet. I contend, you should be getting lower temps than you are, and with your case you should have plenty of airflow.

 

[seekermeister]

Yes, the version that I have is the older one, but outside of the clips (which I doubt would effect temperature), is there any other difference? I only have one fan on it, but oriented in the same direction as you did. I would have to buy another fan to add a second, because I don't have any more of that size, and if I did, it would be another Noctua, which would cost me ~$22 shipped, so I could apply that toward the purchase of a better cooler...which I'm likely to do. Even with just one fan, I would think that this cooler would do better than it does.

 

[essenbe]

I can't disagree with your logic. I'm still considering building another rig ( yes, I know I don't need one) or buying a new laptop as I don't have one. If I build a new rig, I'm probably going to buy a Noctua cooler. Yes they are vrery big and very ugly. But to the best of my knowledge there isn't a better air cooler on the market. I will probablt get the NH-D14 or the NH-u12p. Yes they are big and trouble to fit right, but once installed I won't have to worry about temps again. Ever. I have a Corsair H50 now with 2 Noctua P-120 fans on it. Don't worry about the length of the cables if you decide to go that route. They will fit any reasonable place. They are about 13-14". I had no trouble and I'm using a rather large case also. I would suggest the H70 or they are supposed to come out with an H100 in the next few months. Maybe it's just me, but I was expecting more. I;m OC to 4.0 right now and Idle at 36 tand top out about 59. Those temps are not that bad considering my tjmax is 98. But also my CPU is 95 watts and yours is 125. Sorry to ramble, just thinking out loud. But I think you hould get better temps than you are getting. As far as I know, and I read alot, The NH-D14 is probably the best air cooler you can buy.

 

[seekermeister]

Personally, I don't consider any component ugly, as long as they do the job. I have been considering a Noctua cooler, but their best one is not only double fan, it is also double heatsink, making it very thick, that wouldn't bother me, but I don't believe that there would be room for it next to the chipset HS/F. I also looked at a couple of models of Noctua coolers that had the heat sink laying horizontally, which looked as though they might clear my chipset, but I don't know how good that they are, because they are not on the comparison list that I've been using as a reference.

 

[A Guy]

Noctua NH-C14 Lower Noise Heatsink Review - FrostyTech.com

A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

Thanks, that is an interesting review, but even though they did say that it lags the front runner by 2.2 degrees, it is not listed in the top 10 coolers for AMD. It ranks second on the Intel front, so I wonder why it isn't listed for AMD? With that bottom fan, I'm still unsure that it would clear my chipset's HS/F though. I wish they gave more actual dimensions, so that I could measure the space available in my rig, and predetermine if it would fit or not.

 

[sygnus21]

This is the one I have - Noctua NH-C12P SE14 CPU Cooler :: TweakTown USA Edition - However if you're pushing your overclock speeds to 4+ gig I'd look elsewhere. One thing I will definitely give a big plus for is the fact that the thing is extremely quiet.

If you have tall RAM modules you may have to either re-orient the Cooler as seen here - http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware-devices/81169-experience-gigabyte-motherboards-3.html#post775794 - In this one I had the CPU cooler oriented with the heat pipes facing downward which doesn't require any fin removals.....

or remove a fin from one of your modules if possible - (Corsair Dominator RAM).....

I've later decided to use this configuration in which I've chosen to remove one of the module's fins and orient the cooler with the heat pipes facing the rear of the case since I've found this orientation provides the best cooling solution. It also doesn't hurt the RAM's cooling as air blows down on the module anyway, plus I don't overclock to the point that my RAM needs to worry about the fin being removed.

 

[seekermeister]

Thanks for the pictures, because that makes it certain for me that it will not fit my system. Since the chipset HS/F is about the same height as the ram, I do not believe that this would fit over it. It looks like that cooler doesn't have the lower fan, so one that does would be even more impossible to fit.

EDIT: I called it a chipset HS/F, but thinking about it, I believe that it is actually cooling the CPU mosfets.

 

[essenbe]

This may help. The NH-C14

​

 

[sygnus21]

This may help. The NH-C14

View attachment 163905​

That one was already posted by A Guy by link

Noctua NH-C14 Lower Noise Heatsink Review - FrostyTech.com

A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

essenbe,

That is the model that I was previously looking at, but with that lower fan, I don't know that it would fit either. In the image gallery at Noctua for that cooler, one of the photos show it without the lower fan, which appears to have sufficient height, but that is difficult to judge when the photo is not showing it installed like sygnus21's photos. Even if it did fit, I wonder how much it would suffer without the lower fan?

 

[sygnus21]

Thanks for the pictures, because that makes it certain for me that it will not fit my system. Since the chipset HS/F is about the same height as the ram, I do not believe that this would fit over it. It looks like that cooler doesn't have the lower fan, so one that does would be even more impossible to fit.

EDIT: I called it a chipset HS/F, but thinking about it, I believe that it is actually cooling the CPU mosfets.

If you look at the pictures closely, it'll clear the chipset/HS. You can also check out the FAQ's - Noctua.at - sound-optimised premium components "Designed in Austria"!

 

[seekermeister]

This may help. The NH-C14

View attachment 163905​

That one was already posted by A Guy by link

Noctua NH-C14 Lower Noise Heatsink Review - FrostyTech.com

A Guy

Maybe so, but for those of us that are "senile", it doesn't hurt to repeat things.