Solved Cooling

[essenbe]

And, even though the FAQ say it cannot be rotated, the link above yours posted by p5bdkw, says it can.

 

[A Guy]

If it fits, then you are in great shape because if clearance wasn't an issue, this cooler would be top of the list anyway I looked at many people asking the best way to orient, and there was never any mention that it couldn't be done.

A Guy

 

[essenbe]

Well, I didn't make it up.

 

[seekermeister]

Well, I finally made a decision and ordered the NH-D14. I appreciate all of the input from each of you, for without it I don't know how long it would have taken to decide.

 

[essenbe]

Good decision I think. Glad we could help.

 

[sygnus21]

Excellent choice, I nearly got one myself.

Peace

 

[seekermeister]

Noctua NH-D14 CPU Cooler Review - Page 8

I noted that article mentioned using 120mm fans, instead of 140mm, for clearance, but they didn't seem to have paid any attention to Noctua FAQ regarding moving the fan upward for clearance. I can't be positive until I work with it, but moving the fan sounds like a better idea than reducing the size of them.

EDIT: If for some reason I do need to use a smaller fan on the outside, I already have a Noctua 120mm fan that I have installed at the bottom of the case which I could use. I assume that I could leave the 140mm fan at the center as it is.

 

[seekermeister]

And, even though the FAQ say it cannot be rotated, the link above yours posted by p5bdkw, says it can.

I finally got the cooler installed, and it definitely makes it run a lot cooler. Core = 24 degrees & CPU = 33 degrees @ idle. Core = 33 degrees & CPU = 45 degrees loaded.

With the standard mounting kit that comes with the cooler, it cannot be rotated, but Noctua has an optional mounting kit that rotates it 90 degrees. However that optional kit would not work for me, because it would not then clear the RAM and mosfet HS/F, ergo the heat spreader would not reach the CPU.

In any case, I can now encode without any fear of overtempting anything, and that is exactly what I wanted.

 

[essenbe]

Seekmeister, congratulations, that is good news. I'm glad you got it fixed. That is with the NH-D14 right?

 

[seekermeister]

Correct.

 

[LiquidSnak]

Looks good to me

 

[A Guy]

Great that it worked out for you

A Guy

 

[seekermeister]

I've noticed that in the short time that this cooler has been installed, that the idle temp has risen ~5 degrees. It seems as though I recall getting a smaller increase when I used AS5, but this time I used the Noctua paste that came with the cooler. I know that there is a curing time involved with all thermal paste, but never gave it much thought before. Exactly how does curing effect temps...do they rise or fall?

 

[essenbe]

When the paste cures the temps usually fall 3-5°. Their paste is very highly recommended and if you put it on by their directions, everyone I have talked to that usus it, raves about how good it is.

 

[LiquidSnak]

My temps usually seem to rise, then fall again

 

[Coke Robot]

They should fall. With Arctic Silver 5 paste, the cure time is about 8 straight days of use with cooling and heating of the paste.

If the temp hasn't fallen yet after the cure time, that probably does mean that either the heatsink isn't on right, or that there may be too much or too little paste.

 

[A Guy]

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5
conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to
achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink
to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in
a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the
heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the
CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over
this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the
computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the
interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is
complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

A Guy

 

[Coke Robot]

Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5
conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to
achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink
to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in
a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the
heatsink.) On systems measuring actual internal core temperatures via the
CPU's internal diode, the measured temperature will often drop 2C to 5C over
this "break-in" period. This break-in will occur during the normal use of the
computer as long as the computer is turned off from time to time and the
interface is allowed to cool to room temperature. Once the break-in is
complete, the computer can be left on if desired.

A Guy

Exactly!

 

[seekermeister]

According to a couple of articles that I found, Noctua NT-H1 has no cure time, so I guess that any change in temp would not be due to that, as I had thought. Whether I applied the thermal paste properly would be a question of amount and method. The only instructions were on general instructions tract that came with the cooler. The only thing that it said was to put a 4-5mm dot of it at the center of the spreader...nothing more, except to say that using too much or too little might cause it to run hotter. I really don't know if I used the right amount or not, because I do not think in metric terms. I simply put ~ the amount that I would have used of AS5, and then spread it evenly across the heat spreader.

According to the instructions, it is not necessary to spread the paste, however that goes against the grain for me. I would have thought that any temperature issue would have been apparent at the very beginning, since there is no cure time. The number of degrees that it has risen is not as much as I originally stated, because I checked again, after the computer had been idle for several hours, and it is only ~ 1 degree hotter at idle for the core temp, and ~ 3 degrees hotter for the CPU. Still, any rise without some reason bothers me. For it to take so long to fall back to it's lowest temp doesn't seem quite right either.

 

[A Guy]

As you mentioned, the suggested method for this Thermal Compound is just a drop, then attach heatsink.

Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound Review - Page 3/5 | techPowerUp

A Guy