SilverStone NT01 v2.0 Passive/Active CPU Cooler

Bicster · Post by **Bicster** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 3:08 pm

View of PC from top:

View of new the NT01:

Why I can't install the lid:

\

A few new observations:

1100 rpm is too fast. I need to slow the CPU fan down to ~ 600. Any suggestions? Speedfan doesn't seem to like this motherboard. I never cared for Speedfan anyway. Now that my other noise sources are turned off, this machine is still too noisy.

The other fan is spinning at 600 rpm and it's very quiet.

Bicster · Post by **Bicster** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 3:51 pm

I think this speaks for itself:

I reduced the CPU intake fan speed with a Zalman fan mate.

The above snapshot was taken while running 2 x CpuBurn and playing a 1080p WMVHD video...

sea2stars · Post by **sea2stars** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:03 pm

Yeah. This heat sink looks like a good compliment to the mobo and case! I hope the stuff surrounding the CPU still gets enough cooling though.

Hrmm... I wonder if you could run those two fans in serial?

Um.. yeah. That's a lot of video card for this case; kinda like putting a V8 in a VW Karmann Ghia. Heh.

Well.. time to order another heat sink!

sea2stars · Post by **sea2stars** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:38 pm

Sweet!

Hey.. I wonder if a riser card would help with your video card problem.

http://www.mycableshop.com/sku/PEXP16-RX2.htm

Without a huge CPU heatsink in the way, the GPU heatsink would be closer to the other exhaust fan and you could use the lid; you'd have to support that beast though.

sea2stars · Post by **sea2stars** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:47 pm

*chuckle* Of course pluging in cables would be... interesting.

Bicster · Post by **Bicster** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:52 pm

Interesting thought with the riser card, but I really don't mind having a hole on the top of the case. I'd have to modify the case one way or the other. My thought is that with the GPU fins sticking out the top of the case I have pretty much ideal airflow.

I still have CpuBurn running and the temps are holding steady... Yippee! The real test will be with the lid closed. But I can always crank up the fans a little without sacrificing much noise.

Bicster · Post by **Bicster** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 4:53 pm

Another thing - Antec installs their TriCool fans as exhaust fans. I mounted mine the other way, because I thought using them for intake made more sense with my configuration.

sea2stars · Post by **sea2stars** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:10 pm

Have you tried testing with the fans set in both configurations?

Bicster · Post by **Bicster** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:54 pm

sea2stars wrote:Have you tried testing with the fans set in both configurations?

No. Generally, CPUs cool somewhat better with the fans blowing rather than sucking. I think this way also makes sense for me because it won't fight convection for the video card.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:34 pm

Very very nice, this perhaps might be ideal heatsink for NSK2400...

One stupid question. You said that you adjusted the HSF so that it touches fan. Do you mean to say that you can adjust HSF position slightly or am I misreading something? The reason I'm asking is that normally I would prefer to softmount all fans and if currently the fan is touching the heatsink there won't be any room to softmount fan.

Of course one could always buy a different motherboard with slighly different socket positioning further down, but I'm curious if you have some room on how you mount heatsink.

Bicster · Post by **Bicster** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:53 pm

JazzJackRabbit wrote:Very very nice, this perhaps might be ideal heatsink for NSK2400...

One stupid question. You said that you adjusted the HSF so that it touches fan. Do you mean to say that you can adjust HSF position slightly or am I misreading something? The reason I'm asking is that normally I would prefer to softmount all fans and if currently the fan is touching the heatsink there won't be any room to softmount fan.

Of course one could always buy a different motherboard with slighly different socket positioning further down, but I'm curious if you have some room on how you mount heatsink.

Sorry, I was rushing to post and my choice of words was less than ideal

There really isn't much adjustment possible. Right now the fins are touching the fan. It may be possible to prevent that by carefully aligning the retension bracket screws against the far edges of the mounting holes on the motherboard.

I initially installed the heatsink before mounting the motherboard, and found I couldn't get the motherboard screwed down without first removing the heatsink.

I bought a nexus "isolation kit" and tried soft mounting one of these fans, but I was very unhappy with how sloppy the fit was, so I ended up using screws instead. Given how well it seems to cool at ~600 rpm, I'm not terribly disappointed.

If you're careful I'd imagine you can bend the heatpipes a little...

Obviously the simplest thing to do is use a motherboard that puts a little more space between the socket and the edge of the PCB.

Bicster · Post by **Bicster** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 6:55 pm

I suppose another possibilty would be to mount the heatsink 180 degrees around, and construct a duct for it.

JazzJackRabbit · Post by **JazzJackRabbit** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:19 am

What a coincidence. My dad had to upgrade one of his pcs today because one of them died. He bought 6300 and NT01 with it. He has 2x80mm exhaust fans and a 120mm fan in PSU. Unfortunately the HSF seats about 1.5" from the exhaust fans and in such configuration it's completely unusable. The temperature hits 80 degrees C in idle. So it would seem rotating heatsink 180 degrees (even if you might be able to construct a duct) doesn't seem like a very good idea.

It would seem if someone wanted to use this heatsink he would have to find a mobo like yours that puts heatsink right besides exhaust fans, in my case a little further because I firmly believe in softmounting everything.

Spare Tire · Post by **Spare Tire** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 1:09 pm

How much space do you have between the edge of the motherboard and the center of the socket? Processor temp at 52C seems pretty high, what was the ambient temperature, was this under load? I would have hoped at most 45C, ideal would be in the thirties, but i guess with core 2 duo that's not possible.

kike_1974 · Post by **kike_1974** » Sun Dec 10, 2006 3:30 pm

I'm thinking in this cooler for my nsk3300 and asus A8N-VM CSM motherboard. Anyone has any experience with these combination?

Spare Tire · Post by **Spare Tire** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 7:32 am

Can we know the temperature you got with stock intel heatsink? As of right now, your temp looks even hotter than the temp i get with stock heatsink (yeah, so it's passive) it's a bit worrying.

s_xero · Post by **s_xero** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 9:46 am

@ Bicster

Nice job, but can't you cut a piece or so out of the top?

klankymen · Post by **klankymen** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 12:57 pm

Spare Tire wrote:Can we know the temperature you got with stock intel heatsink? As of right now, your temp looks even hotter than the temp i get with stock heatsink (yeah, so it's passive) it's a bit worrying.

you realize this temp is 2x CPU-burn and 1080p playback? so far from idle...

Spare Tire · Post by **Spare Tire** » Sun Dec 17, 2006 10:25 pm

Ah humkay, sorry, i see that now. A difference from 55 stock to 52 with nitrogon underload.

esmadja · Post by **esmadja** » Tue Dec 19, 2006 9:28 pm

Bicster wrote:I think this speaks for itself:

I reduced the CPU intake fan speed with a Zalman fan mate.

The above snapshot was taken while running 2 x CpuBurn and playing a 1080p WMVHD video...

What CPU intake fan are you taking about? You mean the fans mounted on the side of the case?

I have the same mobo that I am mounting on an Antec Fusion case which has a very similar setup as yours and I am wondering if the NT01 is the way to go as a passive heatsink. If this is your setup then it sounds perfect.

Anyone know of a good fan that can be plugged into the CPU fan 4 pin header?

eitheta · Post by **eitheta** » Mon Jan 22, 2007 10:36 am

I basically copied Bicster's setup, but with an E6600, Asus P5B-VM, and an MSI passive 7600GS (not over-tall). Oh, and my fans blow out instead of in. A few...er...more than a few... notes on my experience, in case it's of any help to someone thinking of a build along these lines.

My temps are significantly higher than Bicster's, even though I'm running the rear Nexus at 1100rpm.

Load = 2x CPUburn (one high-priority, one normal-priority) (if 2x high-prio, the GUI goes non-responsive) + 1x rithdribl @ 1200x1000
Idle = WinXP

Code: Select all

                A-Load  A-Idle  B-Load  B-Idle       
CPU degC        64      41      74      55      
Mobo degC       49      35      52            
VGA degC        60      53      73      65      
HDD degC                27
CPU fan rpm     1140    1140    680     680    
Case fan rpm    875     875     680     680

A-columns are as I run it. B-columns are with fans wired serially (6V each). Numbers are from Speedfan 4.31, which gave identical numbers as the ASUS PCProbe-II.

Perhaps because E6600 vs E6400.
Perhaps because of the airflow direction.
Perhaps because Bicster couldn't put the lid on his case.
Or perhaps because I tweaked my heatpipes too much...
Everything as it came right out of the boxes, my NT01 & my rear fan conflicted. The heatpipes were not quite bent up to 90 degrees vertical. More like a 91 or 92 degree angle. If I mounted the NT01 flat and square on the cpu, then it left only space for a 23 mm thick fan. Since the fans are 25 thick, I had to bend the heatpipes a smidgeon so the NT01 fins wouldn't project so far rightward. "So," me thinks to me-self, "I have to bend the pipes by a couple mm just to fit, but if I bit them a little further still, then I'd have enough margin to let me soft-mount the fans." So I did. Bent them almost 10 mm. I carefully clamped the block of fins between cork-surfaced faces of a wood-working vise. And used a one-inch birch dowel to support the inside of the pipes' curve, while I bent them a couple degrees further. Further than I'd planned, really. But no kinks or such.

After all that, I looked about softmounting the fans. And realized it's not really *possible* to do so. There's only 120.5 mm vertically from the floor of the case up to the bottom of that curved-over lip of the sidewall. So if one *did* softmount the fans, they'd just vibrate up-and-down by 0.5mm and rattle against the top and bottom. So I bent the heatpipes *back* again, to just 2.5 mm from their original position. Now I have just under a mm between the NT01 fins and the hardmounted Nexus. Which is perfect.

The NT01 uses sintered powder capillary heatpipes. I don't know how well they like being tweaked, post-manufacture. One of these days, I'll get another NT01, and maybe it will be on the other end of the tolerance stackup, and will just fit right in without touching the fan. Or I'll bend it only once, and only as much as necessary for 0.5 mm clearance to the fan, and swap it in to see if it improves the cpu temps. And try in-vs-out airflows. Etc etc. For now, it's cool enough and a lot quieter than my tinnitis, and I have lots of work to do. It's been running solid and stable since October.

Oh, and another thing about using the NT01v2... The backing plate that goes on the bottom of the mobo has a thin layer of foam to insulate it from the PCB. My P5B-VM had numerous through-hole leads that stuck out by ~4mm from the bottom surface of the PCB. Some of them happen to be under the NT01 backing plate. They prevented it from sitting quite flat, and I was quite nervous about them someday poking through the foam and shorting against the metal plate. So I clipped them shorter -- only the ones that would be under or touching the NT01 mounting plate.

And the little knurled brass nuts that tighten the mounting screws to the mobo -- make sure they don't directly impact any top-layer PCB traces.

In general, I'm not super-keen on the thumbscrew mounting for the heatsink. Preloaded springs would produce more consistent mounting pressure. I felt that it was quite tricky to tighten the NT01 onto the cpu and get just the right mounting force and ensure the force was equal on all four corners. But I concede that this sort of mounting system is more flexible for use with different types of mobos and cpu sockets. Everything's a compromise.

dv8ed · Post by **dv8ed** » Sun Feb 04, 2007 7:38 pm

Bicster wrote:I just ordered one today. I will follow up.

Antec NSK2400 case
Intel DG965OT motherboard
Intel E6400 Core 2 Duo

I'm going to try to use the NT01 v2.0 without any fans, since the 120mm case fans are directed toward it.

i wonder if there is a way to mount a fan in front of the heatsink so it will blow the hot air out.

jd777 · Post by **jd777** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:36 am

Bicster,

Did you slice out a chunk of the lid then??

I've just upgraded my HTPC (Accent HT201) to a fanless MSI 7950GT which is also too high for the case, plus the cooling in that case is inadequate so I'm probably gonna plunge for a Fusion.

I won't have so much to chop out, but your case must look like a dragster/hot rod now! Post some pics!

Tempted to an NT01 v2 also, gotta check if my Abit IP-95 will be accommodating...

obvious · Post by **obvious** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:01 am

I wonder if the NT01 V2.0 would line up just as well using the i90HD motherboard. Hmm.

aristide1 · Post by **aristide1** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 6:38 am

Bicster wrote:I think this speaks for itself:

I reduced the CPU intake fan speed with a Zalman fan mate.

The above snapshot was taken while running 2 x CpuBurn and playing a 1080p WMVHD video...

I looked for this Intel utuility and can't find it.
Where did you get it? Interesting.

Follow up - May have found it, maybe not.

Thanks

derekva · Post by **derekva** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 3:03 pm

Hey, Bicster - any idea if the NT-01 could be modified orientation-wise (perhaps with two new metal mounting 'wings')? The 'wings' appear to be removable - the reason I'm asking is I'm changing out the system in my NSK2400 for an i945GTm-VHL based-system and the orientation is 90 degress off from what it would be in order to have an NT01 in front of the fans. I really need an offset CPU cooler in this case / setup due to the video card I plan on using (an HIS 2600PRO passive) so I can use HDMI for HDTV & HD-DVD playback. I need this particular video card so I can use an ATI hybrid tuner card in the PCIe x1 slot, BTW.

Any insight would be appreciated. Thanks!

-D

eitheta · Post by **eitheta** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 6:06 pm

derekva wrote:any idea if the NT-01 could be modified orientation-wise
...
The 'wings' appear to be removable

Yes, they are. It comes with a set of 'wings' for LGA775, and another set for AMD. But the wings can only mount on the ends, not the sides (i.e. you can't move the wings to the 90-degrees adjacent edges). For LGA775, the mounting holes form a perfect square, so this doesn't matter - you just rotate the whole cooler assembly, wings and all. It mounts in any of the four orientations.

derekva wrote:an i945GTm-VHL based-system

Um, I may well be wrong, but I thought the mounting hole/screw spacing pattern for those AOpen MoDT mobos was completely non-standard (i.e. I think that only the included AOpen cooler will fit the mounting holes). So you'd need to fabricate custom wings for the NT01 in this application. If I recall correctly, each wing mounts to the copper cooler-base with two short and smallish (M3 or M4, I think) countersink phillips-head machine screws. The wings are basically just flat sheet steel (2mm or less thickness) with holes drilled in (some countersunk). It wouldn't be hard to fab replacement mounting 'wings', for whatever hole spacing you want. But you'd also need to figure out a way of accounting for the z-height of the cpu top-surface, which is unlikely to be identical to that of any of the standard CPU form factors. You could use the preloaded-spring mounting screws that Silverstone includes for use on AMD, to solve that, I think.

If I were going to re-build my NSK2400 (built Sept 2006) now, I'd use the mini-Ninja, rather than the NT01. I strongly suspect it would provide better cooling. But perhaps on a i945GTm-VHL, the mini-Ninja would conflict with your add-in cards, so the NT01 might be your best option.

eitheta · Post by **eitheta** » Tue Jan 01, 2008 6:12 pm

eitheta wrote:a set of 'wings' for LGA775, and another set for AMD.

Ooops. I think maybe set #1 is for both 775 & athlon, and the 2nd set is for 478. But my understanding is still that the AOpen MoDT cooler mounting will not match any of these.

derekva · Post by **derekva** » Wed Jan 02, 2008 12:49 pm

The AOpen mATX MoDT boards use a standard S478 mounting system and bolt-holes. However, since those holes are rectangular rather than square in shape, you can't just rotate stuff 90 degrees.

However, I was able to pick up an NT01 on eBay for $25 so I'll see what I can whip up out of bar stock...

-D