Cooling Newbie

[Guest]

I recently put together a 1Ghz T-bird, Asus A7V (1.02 with 1.004b BIOS) system. I apparently have some cooling problems. Using the Asus Probe software, my CPU temp climbs from 46C to 60-63C and then stays in that range. Opening the case (Enlight w 300W PS) doesn't seem to help more than a few degrees--so I don't think it's ventilation. The case has two fans--an exhaust at the top of the rear panel by the power supply and an intake fan at the bottom of the front panel.

The HSF I have is a CoolerMaster 6h11. I figured it was the problem, but then in a recent "cooler shootout" article their CM 6h11 performed pretty well--keeping their cpu in the high 40s. So I don't know if it's the CM or not.

After reading the boards, there are a few places I think I may have gone wrong, and a couple of questions I would appreciate feedback on:

1) I didn't use any themal compound--just the default pink stuff that came with the CoolerMaster. I read that one can gently scrape it off with a razor and apply something else, so I have already ordered some Arctic Silver (the apparent compound-of-choice). Is there anything else I need to know to "switch" compounds? Is it really safe?

2) I may have just gone wrong with buying the CoolerMaster. I don't know how the guys in that article were able to use it so effectively. The fan on it is only 15 cfm (yes, 15, not 25) according to CM's website. Are there folks on this board that have more success with a CoolerMaster? I would love to hear your experiences.

3) I read an off-hand remark in another thread that ASUS's Probe Utility isn't very reliable in its reporting. I suppose it could be possible that that's part of the problem, but I would only suspect it would be "off" by a few degrees, whereas it would appear I should be able to knock 10-15 degrees off of my heat reading....

Thanks for the help!

owcoin

 

[Zenthar]

I am also a newbie in cooling, but I tried some stuff to cool down my PC as well and I thought you might be interested.

First of all I have the same kind of PC as you do T-Bird 1Ghz on Asus A7V (but with bios 1005B, I think the ATA-100 support is a lot better). I use Motherboard Monitor 5 to look at PC temperature and it used to be around 60C when I first bought it. I only had the CPU fan and the PS fan (300W too). The fan on my CPU is the generic one, but the HS looks in every way like the 6H11 HS and my fan seems to throw more than 15 CFM (it runs between 4500 and 4600 RPM). When I added a frontal intake, the temperatre dropped by 5C (to 55C). Now I am still waiting for my Arctic Silver thermal paste and I ill try keeping you informed on how well it worked.

As for casing vatilation, try that stupid test I did: open casing and put external fan beside it to realy make air move inside casing (if you have none, use the removed side panel as a fan). When I simply open the casing the temperature simply drops by 5-8C (depending on how cool is embiant air) but with proper ventilation the benefits double (it dropped at about 40C). What I will try is to put an intake fan on that side pannel juste besside CPU (I hope it will work since I don't want to damage the casing for nothing, but I do not expect results as great as when I opened my casing).

One thing I learned about cooling is that you should not expect temperature drops of more than 10C for a single modification unless the stuff you were starting from was real crap or you tried a Peltier element cooling device. And don't do the same mistake as I did: do not buy a Chrome Orb I only experience a temperature raise on my system ... now it makes a cool paperweight.

 

[Bubba]

What version of the Asus Probe are you using?
Version 2.12 is bad. Yes, bad.
It reports temps that are much higher than they really are.
Try using version 2.11.

 

[Guest]

Well, remember that socket-a temp comparisons done on socket-a mb's are highly suspect to error. see my sig for more details.

That being said, looking at the tomshardware guide and knowing that socket-thermsitor results are compressed, the coolermaster probably isn't performing hte 40s and is probably among the lesser performing socket-a heatsinks.


Mike

<A HREF="http://mikewarrior.freeservers.com" target="_new">Socket A MB Temp problems</A>

 

[Crashman]

Actually, it's the other way around. Version 2.11 reports LOWER temps than in reality-how else can you explain my CPU being 18C in a 23C room with version 2.11? Went to version 2.12 and BEHOLD-47C at boot (same as BIOS reads) and 35C within 1 minute after windows starts. My computer starts hot. But under full load (3DM2k) it reaches 47C again. And when I put my finger on the heatsink-room temp at no load, warm at boot and under full load-WHO'DA THUNK IT!

 

[Bubba]

I have had the opposite experience. Bersion 2.11 of the probe reports the same temp as the bios on my computer. 2.12 reports 10C higher than the bios.
My room temp is about 70F. My board temp is 29C or about 80F and my cpu is 42-44C at idle. All is as it should be.
My friends A7V came with probe 2.12 and it reported crazy temps in the 60s. We put on 2.11 and the temps went back down to the same as the bios.
I first heard of the 2.12 reporting higher temps from other NGs and Forums.
So it seems that you are the only one having this problem.
I don't know why and I wish I could help, sorry.

 

[Crashman]

It is possible that Probe 2.11 has a glitch on PIII systems and 2.12 has a problem in AMD/VIA systems, but I don't find that to be likely.

 

[toonces]

1. definitely take off the pink stuff. not only does it not work well, it can also lead to an improper mounting of your heatsink. i use generic radio shack thermal compound and a chrome orb and im getting 39c with a 800mhz duron. it is safe.
2. i really like my orb. it may not be the "best" but it's cost effective and does the job. it's less than 20$ everywhere you look. if you're going to overclock you may want to look elsewhere, maybe a superorb which was recommended by asus.
3. i have yet to hear the end of this debate about which is accurate.

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