Serious case heating issue

C

cyberslag5k

Limp Gawd
Joined
Jun 29, 2004
Messages
277
I've got my 920 overclocked to 3.6GHz, and it's been running stable under a full load (Prime95) for two hours. The problem is, with the case side panel on, it got up to 87 degrees Celsius, and I'm not even sure it would have stopped there. As soon as I took the side panel off, it cooled down to a consistant 71 degrees. Here are the specs:

Intel i7 920 @ 3.6GHz (stock 2.66GHz)
ASUS P6T Deluxe V2
Xigmatech Dark Knight (with 120mm fan)
Arctic Silver 5
Apevia XCruiser-2 mid-ATX case
Corsair CMPSU-650TX 650W Power Supply

Two things to note:

1. The only thing I did to overclock it was to bump the BCLK up to 180 (20x multiplier, turbo mode off). I didn't play with voltage or anything, I just let the BCLK do all the work.

2. I had to take the fan on the side panel off, otherwise it wouldn't fit with the heat sink. That leaves one fan in the front (which I doubt does much with the front door closed), one blowing out the back, one on the PSU, and the one on the heatsink. They all appear to be 120mm fans.

My question is, is there anything I can do to get the CPU temperature down without having to leave the side panel off? A 17+ degree difference seems a little crazy for just removing the side panel. I don't want to leave it off, mostly because I'm afraid I'll accidentally kick the heatsink or something, and I'd be afraid my dog would go sniffing around inside of there. I can move it if I must, but I'd rather not.

So what are my options here?
 
1. Apevia cases have quite poor stamped grills for the fans, and are quite restrictive, you can cut them out, which will help with air flow.

2. Pick up some Slipstream fans for intake and exhaust.

3. Get a better HS/fan.

4. Cable management.
 
You might want to consider adding a blow-hole (exhaust) at the top of your case as well as the good suggestions already offered.
 
How much of an increase can I expect by replacing the fans and/or cutting open the grills?
 
cyberslag5k said:
How much of an increase can I expect by replacing the fans and/or cutting open the grills?
Click to expand...

What RPM and kind of fans are in there now? And are they "loud" to you? Do you have a way of checking inside case temps?
 
Heat sink fan:
1000 - 2200 RPM
89.45 CFM (Max.)

I can't find any info on the case fans except that they're 120mm.

I can definitely hear it, but I'd say it's actually quite quiet.
 
Oh, and as far as the case temperatures, with the panel on they were really really hot. I took it off and put my hand near the front fan on the bottom and it was super hot. The case has a temperature probe, and after leaving the side panel on for about 5 minutes, it's reading about 53 degrees, while the CPU is at 81 and the motherboard is at 39. Those values will rise if I leave the panel on.

I"m actually wondering if there's a way to mount the side panel fan on the outside, rather than on the inside.

Another unfortunate thing about the case is that the front door really blocks the front air intake. I'll try and leave it open, of course, but it seems very poorly designed. you'd think it would have a vent or something.
 
cyberslag5k said:
Heat sink fan:
1000 - 2200 RPM
89.45 CFM (Max.)

I can't find any info on the case fans except that they're 120mm.

I can definitely hear it, but I'd say it's actually quite quiet.
Click to expand...

I am guessing they are stock fans that came with the case? They have model numbers on them? Or could you tell the amp rating of them? That will give an idea of RPM.
 
I'll check when I go home for lunch. We can assume they probably suck, though.

What do you think of my reverse outer fan idea? The big downside, if I can get it to fit, is that the fan will be blowing into the slanted "grill" on the panel, and then into the case.

I'm also considering doing some cable management, but I'm not too sure where to put the cables. I wish I'd bought a PSU with detachable cables, as I'm using like 2 of them, and the rest hang there like a big dead octopus.
 
I bought two Ultra Kraze's yesterday. I replaced the rear case fan with one of them, and that brought my temperatures down a ton. I was able to stay at 72 degrees under full load (still at 3.6GHz) with the side panel on. What a difference a single fan makes! It's every bit as loud as everyone said it would be, though. It doesn't fit well, either. I had to really work to get the side panel to fit properly. It does, but it makes me think twice about taking the panel off.

Interestingly, though, I dropped the fan down to like 60%, to see what that would do for the heat and the noise. It had a big impact on both, and after getting up to about 77, I put the fan back to 100% speed. However, the heat stayed at that point. I would have expected it to drop back down to about 72, but it never did, occasionally jumping up to 78 or so. It's not a big deal, though.

I'm not sure if I'm going to put the other fan in or not. If I stay at 3.6GHz, I don't really need it, especially since I can probably get some better cooling performance by cleaning my fables up, and maybe taking the rear grill off the back. I read somewhere that that can get you like 40-60% air flow increase for the fan behind it. Is it really that significant?

Thanks for the help, all!
 
You need to cut the grill out on the back of that case. I would not have gone with a UltraKaze as they are to loud. A 1200rpm Slipstream would have been plenty. You need to look that case over well and cut away all restrictions. That case has a poor airflow setup out of the box. Cutting away the rear grille will also help reduce fan noise.
 
cyberslag5k said:
How will that reduce the noise? I'd think it would increase it.
Click to expand...

Spend some time on SilentpcReview if you want to learn more about making your box quieter. The grill is restrictive which creates noise. It also blocks airflow. You can cut that grille away and put a fanmate or something on that fan to reduce the speed and make it easier to listen too.
 
Well there is associated turbulence with air going over the grills. On my old Chieftec case I cut out the grills and got a 2-3C drop in case temperatures at the same speed. But the emphasis is on running your fans slower than they were before and getting equal or better performance. Depending on how restrictive the grills are now...it could be a big difference.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811144157&cm_re=apevia-_-11-144-157-_-Product

Is that your case? Cuz then yes the grill is VERY restrictive.

To give you an example of a fan grill with little to no restrictions:
hxxp://images17.newegg.com/is/image/newegg/11-112-141-S06?$S640W$ (this is my case)
The lower fan grille is simply a finger guard (it's factory cut to be completely open). I leave it on for safety reasons, but otherwise it is not restrictive. I actually took that upper grill off since it was just screwed on and got a small drop in case temps. But if you don't want to mod your case, I'd consider investing in a good solid case - because you will be keeping that case for easily 5+ years.
 
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cyberslag5k said:
I think I'll put a wire grill on it, just because of how "krazy" the fan is.
Click to expand...

LOL.. do that and undervolt it some to make it quieter. I like the Zalman Fan Mates for fan control. Or you can get a Fan controller for your 5 1/4 bay.. crank them up when you need the speed and turn them down when you don't.
 
There's actually a fan control on my case, but I don't think I can get it to work for that fan. I can, though, control it in software using SpeedFan. Maybe I'll set it to throttle up at a certain temperature. That's probably the ideal situation. To be honest, though, I don't think I'll need the additional speed all that frequently. I don't see my CPU being taxed anywhere near the stress test.
 
cyberslag5k said:
There's actually a fan control on my case, but I don't think I can get it to work for that fan. I can, though, control it in software using SpeedFan. Maybe I'll set it to throttle up at a certain temperature. That's probably the ideal situation. To be honest, though, I don't think I'll need the additional speed all that frequently. I don't see my CPU being taxed anywhere near the stress test.
Click to expand...

Yup, sounds like a plan!
 
Thanks for all the help.

BTW, should I have done something different with my thermal compound? Is the line not the way to go?
 
Not sure if the line is the best method for a cooler with exposed heat pipes like that. Might get some different opinions though.
 
what voltages are you using??? also have you tried to re-seat your cpu cooler? perhaps making the screws a little tighter?
 
dont think someone has suggested it...but why not tone down your overclock a tad, that case has bad airflow to start with and you have a 1 GHz overclock on that chip........


also, it appears that you could mount the fan on the outside with a bit of moding for the screws and such, there appear to be holes that can be used to mount the fan on.


on a side note, wont 81 deg C be dangerous to the health of the CPU ? In my experiance all my CPU's have a max of 70 deg, thoguh im an AMD guy , Intel may have a higher heat tolerance.
 
I made 3 changes:

1. I installed an Ultra Kraze 120mm 3000rpm fan. It's very loud when it's running at full power, but I have speedfan auto regulate it, so usually it's completely silent. Doing this dropped me frim 87 to about 72 degrees with the case on under full load at 3.6GHz.
2. I cleaned up my cables so that there is almost no airflow obstruction from the front of the case to the back. I don't think this matters much because the case has really poor intake. I don't know what impact it has had.
3. Today I cut away the rear grill with a pair of tin snips (it was easy), and put in a $2 wire grill. This dropped me from 72 to 64 degrees Celsius. I cannot recommend that move enough. I also idle at about 28 degrees.

I also reseated my cooler twice, attempting to use the two line method described in one of the links in this thread. The first time I applied way too much thermal compound and my temperatures rose about 5 degrees, the second time I got it right, but it didn't seem to have any effect on my temperatures. They were pretty much the same (if not a degree or two hotter) as the single line method suggested on the Arctic Silver website.

All in all, I'm very pleased. Thank you for your help, everyone. Next time I shall focus on case quality, not aesthetics and price.
 
cyberslag5k said:
3. Today I cut away the rear grill with a pair of tin snips (it was easy), and put in a $2 wire grill. This dropped me from 72 to 64 degrees Celsius. I cannot recommend that move enough. I also idle at about 28 degrees.
Click to expand...

Told you they had really restrictive stamped grills, just think if the front had jut as good of air flow, and maybe a top exhaust as well. If I were you the next thing I would invest in is a better case.
 
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