AMD midtower temps - sanity check

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PretzelB
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AMD midtower temps - sanity check

Post by PretzelB » Tue May 20, 2003 5:23 am

I've been going crazy with this lately so I'd thought I'd get a sanity check. For those of you with midtower cases (no full tower please) and AMD processors, what temps are you getting? I recently upgraded from a loud mini-tower (lian-li pc31) to a somewhat quiet midtower (chenbro 611) and my temps seem the same. The airflow should be vastly superior in my midtower so I was very disappointed to not get a big jump in temps.

My theory now is that maybe I'm expecting too much. Here are the results for my current setup at 7 volts:

case temp delta from room - 7.5c
cpu temp delta from room - 26.5c

I was thinking that my cpu delta temps should be below 20 but I wanted to check to see what others are seeing before I give it all up and buy a Dell.

-edit-
Just realized that maybe this would be better suited for the cooling forum. My apologies.

GamingGod
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Post by GamingGod » Tue May 20, 2003 7:50 am

duct the rear fan to exhaust the cpu heat out the back. Thats all that dell does. You can make a duct out of cardboard, posterboard, or plastic, and use ducttape to reinforce it. I dont have an amd so i have no comment on your temps. I wouldnt buy a dell though, I already have one, and have had 2 others in the past, as well as knowing lots of other people with dells. Building one yourself is still the best option.

Tigr
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Post by Tigr » Tue May 20, 2003 8:05 am

During various stages of fighting my case I got temp differences of anywhere between 25 and 50 degrees C for the CPU at full load (CPUburn). The temp for the mobo as reported by the onboard sensors could be at the same time anywhere between 10 and 20 degrees C above the room temperature.

It all depends on the actual airflow and components. You will have to experiment to get the best for your particular combination. Try changing the fans, using only intake or exhaust, ducting... you know the game ;)

ez2remember
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Post by ez2remember » Tue May 20, 2003 9:01 am

What CPU and HS combination are you using? It does not sound too unreasonable if you have a fast processor.

So if your room temps is 25oC then 32.oC for case is not bad at all. Also your cpu temp would be 51.6oC, it sounds okay to me.

Don't worry its all good, I had higher than those temps with a midi case + XP2200 + Zalman CPNS6000cu.

miker
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Post by miker » Tue May 20, 2003 10:39 am

I use the rig in my sig, and my room temps are usually about 23C, case about 25, and CPU is 45 at stock speed when folding , and 50C when I overclock to 2800+. Still silent.

mdaniel
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Post by mdaniel » Wed May 21, 2003 2:03 pm

With the A/C set to around 70 -72 F, my case temps at idle are about 26 C and at full load, it eventually rises to 28 C. Since I jsut got home from work, and the room temp (A/C off during the day) was approx 76 F, my idle case temp is presently 28 C. CPU presently idling at 37 C.

Antec 3700 = great airflow.

Marvin
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Post by Marvin » Wed May 21, 2003 11:08 pm

I don't like my temps at all. I have four 80mm Papst fans in my chieftec midi case, one at CPU, two intakes and one exhaust, running at ~8-9V. And I have modded my 350W Enermax with 92mm Papst@5V.

Temps are:
Ambient: ~23C
CPU: ~51/60C Idle/load Palomino 1600@stockspeed
Case: 38-42C
HDD: 37-41C sandwiched behind lower intakefan.
PSU exhaust: 37-39C

As the CPU temp is something i can live with, I don't like the case/HDD temps at all. And if I turn the fans to ~5v, temps start to rise so high that I'm alfraid to leave it that way.

CPU is ducted to lower back fan opening, fan attached to Alpha 8045 HS. Thinking about building new duct, if it would be any better.

Only thing restricting airflow is my intake"filter", made out of my wifes old nylons. Don't want to take out filters as my 'puter is on the floor and it sucks all the dust inside my case otherwise no matter how often the house is cleaned (once a week)

I thikn that those two intakes should provide enough airflow to keep the case cool enough, but somehow I'm able to mess it up. And yes the cables inside are folded nicely out of airflows way, just like someone here made them. (better than rounded cables)

rpc180
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Post by rpc180 » Thu May 22, 2003 8:12 am

HDD: 37-41C sandwiched behind lower intakefan.
How tightly are those two HD's sandwiched together? If you can, space them at least a drive or two apart from each other, else you're cutting down a lot of surface cooling area.

My two Seagates are running 42-43C, spaced 2" apart and perpendicular to the case floor. They're passively cooled and there's no fan present.

Marvin
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Post by Marvin » Thu May 22, 2003 10:26 am

What I meant was that I have only one HDD, which temps are between 37 and 41C depending on how heavy is the CPU load and therefore case temps.

mudboy
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Post by mudboy » Fri May 23, 2003 3:42 am

The "Keeping an AMD processor cool dance" is something I've been doing for a while. It can be (at the same time) fun, frustrating, and expensive. But for those of us who like a good technical challenge, we stick with it :-)

All of the systems in my house are Athlons running in a fairly restrictive MicroATX case (the Palo Alto PA-450, to be exact). Stock, this case doesn't have ANY case fan mountings, it just uses the power supply to vent waste heat. Obviously, not an ideal cooling setup, but it's an otherwise great case, so I stick with them.

First, the original Athlon XP's (Tbird) run hot. Not QUITE as hot as the older Athlon's like the 1400, but pretty close. The first change I would make if you have an older CPU like that is to upgrade to a Thoroughbred "B" core CPU. I went from an 1800+ TBird to a 2400+ Tbred B and my core temps (read from the die) dropped nearly 10C. Second, take a look at the base of your heatsink. If it isn't mirror smooth, lap it. Personally, I have used anything from the stock AMD heatsink to a Thermalright SK7, and they all get the job done. I have seen my temps drop as much as 3C by lapping my heatsink base, properly reapplying thermal compound, and then properly installing the heatsink. Third, make sure your heatsink fan is blowing in the proper direction. Changing from "suck" to "blow" or vice versa can drop temps another couple of degrees, but it depends a bit on the fan and the sink, so play around with it. Fourth, look at other heat producers in your system, like the northbridge, your video card, your hard drives, and your optical drives. I had a Plextor 16/10/40 in my machine and it had this terrible little 40mm fan...was the drive creating that much heat that it needed an exhaust fan? I replaced the drive with a Samsung SM-348 and (a) ended up with a quieter, better drive and (b) my case temps dropped 1C. Fifth, look at your cable routing. Obviously, make sure nothing is blocking airflow; rounded cables help make it easier to keep the cables out of the way (IMO). I took the rather extreme step of cracking open my power supply and snipping/insulating all of the power leads that I didn't need (usual death warnings apply here). Not sure if it lowered temps, but I'm sure it didn't hurt. I replaced my waffle-style northbridge heatsink with a Zalman heatsink -- if you get rid of the heat faster/more efficiently, it should keep things cooler. And, as always, keep your case, heatsinks, fans, power supply, and filters dust-free.

There are lots of ways of decreasing case temps without increasing noise levels, but it does take time, patience, and sometimes money.

Pete

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