Heatsink mounting in NSK2400

extracheese · Post by **extracheese** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 11:55 am

I'm planning on buying an NSK2400 for my HTPC, but I'm worried about heatsinks. I want to go fanless on the CPU, letting the case's exhaust fans do the work. I'm considering the SI-120, XP-90, and XP-120. What I'm worried about is the fin orientation. To go without a CPU fan, it seems like I need to orient the heatsink with the fins perpendicular to the fan blade's face (so the air moves between the fins on its way to the fans).

So, my question is: are heatsinks in general (and specifically those I mentioned above) mountable at multiple angles? Can they be mounted facing either the rear fans or the power supply in a normal ATX case? I'd hate to buy all of this stuff and then find out that I can only mount the HS with the fins facing the wrong way.

I've searched this forum quite a bit and found nothing about this. My apologies if it's been answered before or it's something that everyone already knows.

RasmusseN · Post by **RasmusseN** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 12:04 pm

sounds alot like what I am going to do with my rig

check out the Thermalright HR-01 it can be mounted towards the fan and it comes with a duct.

check out my thread towards the bottom of my first shows some pictures.
viewtopic.php?t=35300

eugenius · Post by **eugenius** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 12:29 pm

Get the silverstone nitrogon nt01 v2.0, it's a match made in heaven for the nsk2400.

vaio · Post by **vaio** » Sat Oct 28, 2006 12:35 pm

Planning a build around the same chassis so I am also interested

Mr. Tinker · Post by **Mr. Tinker** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:38 am

I'm in the same place as you, but I've already purchased a SI-120 and 2 yate loons. I can't speak from firsthand experience, but it seems that with at least all (decent) s939matx boards, fin orientation DOES work well. The fins of the SI 120 run parallel to the 2 s939 mounting screws.

extracheese · Post by **extracheese** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 8:47 am

Mr. Tinker wrote:I'm in the same place as you, but I've already purchased a SI-120 and 2 yate loons. I can't speak from firsthand experience, but it seems that with at least all (decent) s939matx boards, fin orientation DOES work well. The fins of the SI 120 run parallel to the 2 s939 mounting screws.

After creating this thread, I also tried to piece this information together from pictures of the heatsink and board. The XP-90 and XP-120 also have their fins running parallel to the 939 mounting screws. So, for anyone who is looking for this info in the future: as long as your motherboard has the screws pointing toward the side of the case (not the rear ports), the fins should line up with the fans. I think that all motherboards have the screws pointing this way, but I'm not sure.

jeffinsf · Post by **jeffinsf** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 11:03 am

The XP-90C fits quite nicely and, for my AM2 motherboard, the fins are aligned parallel to the back of the case. BestByte was able to supply the sink and the appropriate AM2 adapter (though not shown on their site when I ordered).

However, with the stock case fans both running on their lowest setting, I found that more cooling was required to keep the CPU temperatures at a reasonable level, even with the copper version of the XP-90.

I'm presently using an 80mm Panaflo FBA08A12L1A on a Zalman FanMate-II controller with the knob set at "6 o'clock" (nearly at lowest) and find the noise level from the CPU fan to be swamped out by the disk drives. (The XP-90 will take either 80mm or 92mm fans, and I had the 80mm Panflow "left over" from my first power supply fan swap test.)

My notes have the core temp about 40 deg. C above ambient without a fan on the sink, and only about 25 deg. C above ambient with the Panaflo as described, both with 2x CPUBurn running on my Athlon 64 x2 3800+ (65W version, not the more common 89W version). For comparison, the stock AMD sink and fan on full, with both case fans on full, had a core temp about 23 deg. C above ambient for the same loading.

In retrospect, I'd probably buy the XP-90 rather than the XP-90C, as the copper version still needed a fan.

When you install the XP-90, I'd suggest setting the clips under the "overhang" of the sink first, as getting your fingers in there isn't easy after the sink is partially clipped down. Also, watch as you insert the black airflow baffles, as it is easy to bend the XP-90 fins if you aren't careful. I can't swear to it, but I think I dislodged the last one from its connection with one of the heat pipes when I was inserting the baffles.

I've swapped the PS fan, but note that the Panaflo wouldn't reliably start all the time. I'm using an 80mm Sunbeam Silent LED Chromed Case Fan - Blue (24.35 CFM/20.45 dBA) from Petra's Tech Shop at this time. The blue LEDs aren't terribly annoying (in contrast to the power switch on the NSK 2400), just casting a soft, faint, blue glow on the wall behind the case.

extracheese · Post by **extracheese** » Tue Oct 31, 2006 12:03 pm

Thanks, jeffinsf, that information is very useful! It sounds like I'll be underclocking/undervolting to get the CPU to run fanless at a reasonable temperature. It's a HTPC, though, so anything goes as long as it doesn't skip.