Heat sink suggestions

[griffan2442]

I recently built my own comp and it is running hotter than my old pc (Compaq).

Here is my setup:

-Amd Athlon XP2000+ (1667mhz) Retail heat sink
-Asus A7V333
-Chief SVR DX-01BD 420W case
-eVGA GF4 Ti4600 128MB vid card s
-Kingston DDR333 PC-2700 512MB
-Maxtor 7200RPM 40GB hard drive
-Sony 1.44MB floppy
-Sony 52xCd Rom
-Sound Blaster Live! sound card

With this setup at idle I get around 46-50 degrees Celsius temps, but when I start using my computer the temps jump to 50-60 degrees Celsius. Yes, I understand that the temps will increase when I start using my computer but having to take off the sidewall and use a fan to bring in cool air for a new comp is when I think something is wrong.

I'm guessing it is the heat sink. Maybe I need a new one or did I put my retail heat sink on wrong? I would appreciate any suggestion on new heat sinks. I want to run my comp around 30-40 degrees Celsius at idle so when I start using it the temp jump will be bearable because 55 Celsius is too hot for my room.

I read in the FAQ that AMD suggest one intake and one outflowing fan. Where do I place these fans?

 

[jarsoffart]

I think 55 C is fine on all motherboards. My CPU runs at 55 C, but my motherboard is an Abit KR7A-Raid which is calibrated differently. Over 70C is when it starts getting dangerous, and that's a conservative estimate. I've heard some say 90 C. As for fan placement, the exhaust fan should be right under the power supply unit near the heatsink. The intake fan should be in front of the hard drives in either of the two spots that is provided on the DX-01BD. For a heatsink, the SK-7 and any fan should be fine. If you want silence, use this NMB fan. If you don't care about your ear drums, a 80mm Vantec Tornado would be excellent. Many people like the Y.S. Tech variable fans so they can control the airflow for times when they need the extra performance. The SK-7 can be found here for 19.99. If you want the very best and have plenty of money, get the SLK-800. It is currently the best air cooling for socket A. The same fan suggestions apply.

 

[griffan2442]

Thanks for your reply jarsoffart.

If I went with either the SK-7 or the SLK-800 which or what kind of fan do I use? The Vantec Tornado or a different one. I'm probably going with the better one since I want it to be cooler in my room. By the way, how loud does the Tornado fan get? Louder than a non computer fan set on high?

I really appreciate the help. I'm a new to all this information.

 

[griffan2442]

bump

 

[mjolnir2k]

Those temps are definitely high.
Are you sure that the HS/F is making proper contact with the core?
Did you use a good quality thermal paste (ASIII)?
Did you ONLY use a very thin layer of the paste?

If yes to all above, it may be worth it to try a new HS/F. The SLK-800 is awesome, but costly too. Try the SK-7 for a cheaper and almost as effective alternative.

for fans go with a Sunon. If you use a Vantec Tornado you will need these

 

[455Buick]

Hi Griffan,

Those temps would be about right for the stock heatsink and XP2000+. I like the others would suggest the SLK-800 as well. With my XP2000+ I started with the stocker, went to the Thermaltake Volcano 7 (not the plus) and finally the SLK-800. With the stocker my temps were like yours. The Volcano7 brought them down to the 40-44 degC range, but the SLK-800 is the best. Current temps run between 31-35 degC. What I have found over the past year, is that room temps "do" make a difference. I don't have A/C in the house and when the room temps went from 21degC to 30degC in the summer, the cpu temps also climbed. However, at no point did the cpu ever go above 48degC. Even after hours of NASCAR 2002, Need for Speed or MS Combat Flight Sims. I would also suggest good air flow through your case. One inlet and one exhaust is the minimum IMHO. You can find many types at www.directron.com or www.coolerguys.com or www.newegg.com to name but a few.

I hope this helped,

 

[bgeh]

By the way, how loud does the Tornado fan get?

very loud.sounds like a delta.
in short: vantec tornado=delta=hair dryer on max

 

[bullrake]

I'm running a couple of overclocked Athlons and the Evercool CUD725 & CUD715 that i'm chillin them with, keep them in the low 40s without excessive noise. You can check them out here, along with some other cool fans.

 

[muddocktor]

Stick with the SLK800 heatsink. If you look at my system rigs link, you will see that I've tried a bunch of premium hsf's and I just built my new rig using the SLK800 and I'm very impressed with it's performance. I find it's performance to be at least as good as my MCX462+ and probably a little better, plus it's a little cheaper than the MCX462+. As far as fans go, I recommend the 45 cfm Delta FFB0812HHE(which is pretty darn quiet) or if you want a choice that gives you adjustable fan speeds, you can use the Delta FFB0812SHE or FFB0812EHE or Vantec/Sunon Tornado with a 3 speed Thermaltake controller so that you can adjust the fan speed as need suits. Sidewindercomputers sells all the above fans and the Thermaltake controller and they are a very reliable vendor to deal with, unlike some other vendors out there (SVC:disgust::| ). IMHO, the retail hsf that comes with AMD processors is only good for warrantee purposes as they are barely adequate for cooling your proc. That is why I always buy the oem procs; why spend $15-20 more for a processor just to receive a $5 POS heatsink.

 

[PCMarine]

Yea Ive got an Athlon XP 2100+ and I get the exact same temps as you. I was also planning on buying the SLK-800, the YS-tech fan, and some AS3.

BTW thanks for the link to SVC, they've got a good prices there.

 

[PCMarine]

Right now with my comp being on for a few hours my case is at 18c, with the room temperature being 14c. Yes it's like a refridgerator down here in my basement

 

[muddocktor]

PCMarine, be very careful when ordering from those people and go read the comments at resellerratings.combefore you decide to buy from them. I bought some fans and stuff from them a few months ago and they sent me the wrong fans, along with the rest of my order. I just received the correct fans recently and they didn't send me any reimbursement for the shipping it cost me to send their mistake back, like they said they would. Their prices look good but when they fvck your order up, it's not worth the extra money and especially the hassle of going through their RMA process, as well as sitting around with a thumb up your @ss waiting for your correct parts from them. I wouldn't buy another thing from that vendor if they were the cheapest vendor on the entire internet.

 

[Davegod]

I take it this looks like your case? (ignore colour).

What fans do you have now? You definately should have at least one exhaust fan, positioned on the fan space that will be right under where the PSU is, I beleive there is a purple plastic fan bracket on that case (actually I think there's two there - put it in the top bracket first). This fan sucks the hot air coming from your heatsink plus the air that has risen to the top of your case (heat rises). If you add a second fan, make it an intake, positioned at the front of your case down low - there will also be a plastic fan bracket here. You may also want to add a third fan, and this one should join the first exhaust fan, stick it in the bracket right underneath. 4th one joins the intake (this time the bracket is in the lowest HDD rack).

If you want to go for quiet, I suggest 3 to 4 fans positioned as above, but get some quality low rpm ones. Panaflo and YS-tech's low-rpm fans seem rated pretty well around here. 4 Low rpm fans should be more than adequate cooling, especially if you try and tuck away cabling etc inside the case to allow free air movement (tie-rips and/or rounded IDE cables good for this, tie-rips [smaller versions of those things riot police sometimes use] in particular are easy to find and cost practically nothing).

Anyway, or assuming you already have some case-fannage, tbh 50-60 isnt all that terrible for the retail HSF. In short thats because it's not too good, but at 50-60C you should NOT need to be opening the case door to cool it! Is it misbehaving when you get near those temps? 60C is ok under load, although its nice to be cooler. If you want to swap for a new cooler, IMO the SK-7 or 800 is a great cooler but probably more than a tad excessive for you, unless youre overclocking or REALLY want those 30C temps (which are really unnecessary btw, your comp wont go any faster at 30 than it does at 50). Its a very heavy all copper cooler and its reflected in the price. OTOH, it is probably THE best conventional cooler you can get, plus supports large fans (which can be run at fairly low rpm due to the heatsink being v efficient) so if you really want quiet and are prepared to pay... A monster heatsink round up can be found at Dan's Data; more specific ones can be found at overclockers.com (and a thousand other cooling/overclocking enthusiast sites). Mind not to forget quality goop Go for Artic Silver or Alumina, good quality stuff that can be widely found.