Good cooler for I7-920 OC

[TanyaC]

Stepping? CPU-Z can tell you, or you can look it up if you have the CPU's Intel S-Spec (on the box, or on the CPU itself):

Your electric bill averages 325AUD? And I thought that power was expensive here in Connecticut, USA.

Yes, Electricity here, and gas, have gone completely out of control the last two years.. But we have 3 plasma TVs, 2 PS3's and 10 PCs in the house, so I guess it's to be expected.

This is what CPUz says..

 

[smarteyeball]

Yes, Electricity here, and gas, have gone completely out of control the last two years..

This is what CPUz says..

And it's only going to get worse


That's a D0 stepping - although the stepping at this stage is moot.




When it comes to the push push/pull - did you correctly align the fans (both blowing in the same direction? - the first fan blows through the cooler, the second draws it out)

ie

This is how I had it set up in my 775 socket rig



This is the NH-D14 on my 920 in the orientation you have yours at:




Again, the similarities are that the first fan blows into the cooler, the second draws it out towards an exhaust fan.


But even with high ambient temps, (obviously higher inside the case) - even running that cooler passively, those temps are simply too hot.

To me, this suggests that the bracket/mount isn't quite on properly fixed or that you are using either too little or far too much thermal compound.



EDIT:

Adding spot cooling fans isn't likely to help much in this situation. Also, that the smaller the fan - the higher the noise level.

The airflow direction you are looking for is similar to the pic Golden posted. Sans the top exhaust option (I don't know which case you are using)

 

[TanyaC]

This is the NH-D14 on my 920 in the orientation you have yours at:

View attachment 130814

Again, the similarities are that the first fan blows into the cooler, the second draws it out towards an exhaust fan.

To me, this suggests that the bracket/mount isn't quite on properly fixed or that you are using either too little or far too much thermal compound.

My config is similar to the second of your images; pushing out the back. I have checked the fans are all facing the same way, and cleaned and re-pasted my HS. I'm reasonably confident I'm getting the paste side of things right.

I'm about to install a front fan When done, I'll have 4 x 120mm fans and 1 x 80mm fan. (2 x 120mm are the noctua fans). This will take me a while, so I'll post the results tomorrow after monitoring the system.

I believe the HS is mounted properly, but I'll check it all again.

 

[Golden]

Hi Tanyam,

This hasn't been asked before, and I'm sure you've checked this, but just be sure....have you cross-checked the reported temperatures with different software? Do they give the same temperature readings?

Regards,
Golden

 

[Dave76]

Stepping? CPU-Z can tell you, or you can look it up if you have the CPU's Intel S-Spec (on the box, or on the CPU itself):

Your electric bill averages 325AUD? And I thought that power was expensive here in Connecticut, USA.

Yes, Electricity here, and gas, have gone completely out of control the last two years.. But we have 3 plasma TVs, 2 PS3's and 10 PCs in the house, so I guess it's to be expected.

This is what CPUz says..

Is your system at idle, not running a lot of heavy programs?

If you are just viewing this forum or several forums, your frequency should be much lower.

Check your BIOS, make sure the EIST is enabled.
MB Intelligent Tweaker(M.I.T.) > Advanced CPU Features > CPU EIST Function

"Enables or disables Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology (EIST). Depending on CPU loading, Intel EIST technology can dynamically and effectively lower the CPU voltage and core frequency to decrease average power consumption and heat production."


With 10 computers, you'll see that electric bill drop a little.

For comparison, at 28°C ambient, mine idles at 30°C, with a lower end CM Hyper 212+ cooler, my OC'ed i5-750 is at 160 bus speed X 9 = 1440 MHz, when pushed with 1-2 cores it goes to X24 = 3.84 MHz with temps at 58°C.
Yours should be able to get in the same range with an aftermarket cooler, and +5-10°C for the stock cooler.

Which case do you have?
You might need to replace the case fans.

Like seb says, check the CPU coolers are tight, move wires and any obstructions out of the way of the air flow.
Use Speed Fan to check how fast your fans are going.

That temp at idle is just too hot.

Edit: Good point Golden, SpeedFan will tell you temps also check with RealTemp.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Actually the spot fan can help but not so much with the CPU as it can help with case dead air zones and also to direct flow to GPU or GPU's and or onto the North or South chips and or Ram cards. Note: that the neck is a little floppy so it needs to be supported or reinforced to stay put.

Here I used the Antec to direct cool air to my GPU from the front case fans. In my new set up I'll be using it to direct cool air over my Ram and N/S bridges. Oh and it's two speed setting allow for low noise and it glows blue.

 

[TanyaC]

All,
I am verey grateful for all the time and effort you have all gone to in trying to help me with this problem. It is very much appreciated.

I'm going to pull the cover off the computer and post a picture or two so you can see how the computer is now set up. But I thought I'd just update where I'm at.

Last night I installed a 120mm front fan. It did not make a single degree of difference to the idle temperature.

I checked the air flow direction of all fans again. I removed and reseated the heat sink, with clean arctic silver paste. I moved cables around to try and clear some space for air flow. The only thing I did achieve was to increase the noise level.

Re EIST: I'll give it a go.. All the computers are set to sleep ater 15 minutes, with monitors turning off after 5 minutes. I've set this in the policy so the kids can't change it. Though I have found Steam sends keepalives so the damn things don;t sleep when the steam client is running.

I'll get some more programs to measure temp, and post the results.

I did notice however, that all 5 fans have different speeds. One that I though might be a problem is the fan closest to the case fan is spinning at 2400 rpm (according to bios), but the case fan is inly spinning at 770 rpm, so some of the air would be bouncing back???

Anyway, stay tuned.
Thanks
Tanya

 

[TanyaC]

All,
I'm going to pull the cover off the computer and post a picture or two so you can see how the computer is now set up.

Ok, this is how things look...
The labels on the fans corrspond to the connectors on the motherboard; CPU_FAN, PWR_FAN, SYS_FAN1,2,3.

It's hard to see, but the bottom half of the front of the case is a grill through which air can flow.

On my youngest son's PC I installed two new fans. One at the front the other replacing the stock rear case fan. The temperaature actually increased at idel from 46 degrees to 50 degrees. Checked the air flow direction was correct, so we put the stock rear fan back in and temp dropped back to 46. The stock fan spins at about 800rpm, whereas the new fans spin significantly faster.

 

[TanyaC]

These are the temps from 3 different programs...

Ambient temp in the room is 22 degrees.

This is really starting to get on my nerves. I've been at this for 4 days. No matter how many fans I throw at this system, it just won't cool. And now my son's PC is running at 56 degrees on idle, with the stock fan back in there, whereas it was 46 before I put the faster fan in the front & Rear. Also when he tries to compile a Source SDK map his CPU shoots up to 90 degrees in about 5 seconds, CPU hits 100%, PC locks up and alarms startring going off.. We've even got a 40cm personal fan blowing across his system trying to keep it cool.

 

[smarteyeball]

The front 120mm wouldn't be in-taking too much 'cool' air due to the blocked airflow because of the cable management.

The video card is a 'dump heat into the case' style of cooler. The side 80mm intake would help cool the card, but would also interrupt the front to back intake>exhaust airflow.

Basically, with the airflow as it is (plenty of hot spots), coupled with the high ambient temps - a different type of cooler may not make that much of a difference.

Actually, those idle temps look all right.



Hitting 90c and locking up - that;s a different story :huh:

 

[Dave76]

I can see two concerns,

1. keeping your computer case in a small confined space with no air flow will make things worse, it will just circulate hot air.
Move it to somewhere with no airflow restrictions, in the open is better. Minimum of 10cm from any wall or desk for the back and sides.
Better to not set it on carpet as this restricts the air flow as well. Depending on your case.
Still can't see what case it is, can you tell us the brand and model?

2. There are a lot of cables between the HDD cage and the motherboard, try and re-route these cables out of the air flow path, this will help.
Get some cable ties (zip ties) and secure them out of the way.

Did you check the EIST settings?
This will allow it to run cooler when at an idle, even on a medium load it won't run at full speed, when full power is needed it will speed up very fast.
The EIST allows my computer to run at 2-3°C above room tempurature when at idle, it's quite, cool and uses less power.

I would check that the CPU paste (TIM) is evenly spread and a thin layer.
Too much paste can be as bad or worse than none, it should be almost transparent. You are just filling micro imperfections in the metal surface.

If your Son's computer is not OC'ed and hitting 90°C at 100% CPU usage, that indicates a CPU cooler problem.
If it is OC'ed, then I would lower the OC until the heat problem is taken care of.

EDIT:
Those Temp apps are showing 133 X 12 = 1596 MHz, so the EIST is enabled.

 

[linnemeyerhere]

Tanya,
Lets try something. Take the side off and re-install the system and lets see how the temps do? Yes the wiring is routed less than ideal for air flow. Yes the fact the whole shebang is in a cubbie hole makes hot air recirculation a concern. If it was me I would have gone with a Noctua fan in front and even for the CPU as the Noctua's model is for pushing air against a load......something most fans just don't do well. Then lastly pull the computer as far forward as you possibly can even if it overhangs a little.
Noctua.at - sound-optimised premium components "Designed in Austria"!

 

[TanyaC]

I can see two concerns,

1. keeping your computer case in a small confined space with no air flow will make things worse, it will just circulate hot air.
...
Still can't see what case it is, can you tell us the brand and model?

2. There are a lot of cables between the HDD cage and the motherboard, try and re-route these cables out of the air flow path, this will help.
Get some cable ties (zip ties) and secure them out of the way.
...
If your Son's computer is not OC'ed and hitting 90°C at 100% CPU usage, that indicates a CPU cooler problem.
If it is OC'ed, then I would lower the OC until the heat problem is taken care of.

Ok, I've pulled the system apart again. Reinstalled everything. I now have all the cables tucked neatly out of the way with cable ties. Only the cables going to the graphics card are in the path of the front fan.

I ran several tests over today. These are the results.

Ambient Room temp = 24 degrees celcius.
Side Fan PC Location HS Push Rear Case HS Pull Front Idle Temp Fan 1 Fan 2 Fan 3 Fan4 OFF OUT45142177213801819OFFIN45140389213951854INOUT45140989213951854ININ45140389413921854OUTOUT45136689513951839OUTIN45138986813921844PC consistenly runs 20 - 22 degrees above room temp

----
EDIT: This was a table from Excel.. did't paste properly. What it says is that the temp remained at 45 degrees though out a series of 8 tests of 1 hour each. Fan speeds varied slightly, but otherwise nothing changed.
---

The side fan is 80mm, all others are 120mm. The side fan is noisiest so I wanted to see how temps went without it.

OFF means side fan not connected. OUT means it is pulling air out of the case, and IN means it is pushing it into the case.

Other than slight variation in fan speeds there was absolutely no change in CPU temperature.

I have cleaned and re-applied paste. I've done this now more than half a dozen times in the last few days.

I also raised the case; which is a Coolermaster Elite 330 (http://www.digiconcepts.com/coolermaster_cases_45.htm)

It had raised feet on the bottom which were 8mm of the ground. I've added and extra 20mm to put the case 28mm of the ground.

I tried the system in two locations; completely out of the desk in the open room, and in the PC-cubby hole. Neither made any difference.

Yes, EIST was enabled all along - as soon as I built the system 18 months ago. Bugger about the electricity bills, then.

For no particular reason I took the opportunity to reinstall windows too. I was rebuilding the system from scratch so I figured what the heck. So this is for all intents and purposes a new system :shock:

My youngest son's PC is even more pecualiar. His runs at 46 degrees most of the time (in open space), then without him doing anything different, it shoots up to 73 and stays there until we take the side off and point a big pedestal fan at it.

The 90 degree problem was related to Source SDK. He created a map, and when he tried to compile it the system freaked. He sent the map to another person who compiled it without problems. Go figure.

None of the systems are OC'd. The point of this thread initially was to get the temps down by 10 degrees so I could OC them.

It seems that short of running the PC from within my kitchen freezer, I am not going to get the temp down to what lots of people are saying they are running at. It's enough to make you cry

This is the system as it is now...

 

[Golden]

That is most bizarre.......right now its 25 degrees inside my hose and my CPU is idling at 32.

It must be very frustrating for you, as I cannot see what else you could possible try.

Does anyone else have any other ideas?

Regards,
Golden

 

[TanyaC]

Frustrating is putting it mildly. It has got me quite distressed.

The kids are compalining too. I've spent so much time on this that dinner has been late a few night in a row

I'm at my wits end. The general opinion is that I should not have such high temps, so I echo Golden's call... Can any one please help me solve this..

Not to be a smarty pants, but I enjoyed reading your post about the temperature of your HOSE... Thanks for brightening my day
thanks
Tanya

 

[TanyaC]

After spending several more hours reading and talking to people in computer stores it was suggested I play around with voltages :shock:

I have only changed CPU VCore, as people claim that lowering this to about 1.10000 from 1.25625v can help.

My computer is like a rebellious adolescent. It does exactly the opposite of what it should..

I lowered it and the idle temp actually increased from 45 to 47 with ambient at 22.

Anyone care to comment?

thanks
Tanya

 

[Golden]

Jeez.....I really don't know. How can something be so stubborn?!?!

I'm not suggesting you try this, but does anyone know what happens if the voltages go the other way?

 

[TanyaC]

Jeez.....I really don't know. How can something be so stubborn?!?!

I'm not suggesting you try this, but does anyone know what happens if the voltages go the other way?

From another site...

Increasing the CPU Vcore can help with stability when you are overclocking. It also increases your core temperature and power consumption so don't increase this if you are not having stability issues.

Although, with my luck, it would decrease the temp and make system less stable

 

[Golden]

Pfffttt..........man that is frustrating. I cant remember if you tried this, but if you leave the case open and stick a mains fan on full pointing at it, does it show cooler temps?

 

[Dave76]

When you try Golden's big fan test, it should tell you if it's your system fans problem or the case air flow.

seb mentioned airflow, and fan direction, maybe you should make sure the side fan isn't stopping the air flow.

Other than that, I'm running out of ideas.