do you remember a while ago this one kid posted here, claiming that this easy mod dropped his temperatures like 10 degrees? he cut a hole in his motherboard trey behind the CPU and cut in a fan right behind that to blow fresh air directly at the back of the CPU socket.
well, i was sceptical but took notice. next time i had the motherboard off, i cut a hole in the motherboard trey as well. i thought - if nothing else, this would make it easier to adjust the waterblock mounting screws on the back of the motherboard, withough having to pull the mobo.
ok, so now i'm getting ready to cut in an 80x80x10 zalman fan, but decided to test it out first. CPU idle temperature 33C, load 43C. reading from the on-CPU diode - idle 45, load 57.
ok, so i hung the fan where it would be - blowing at the back of the motherboard. idle temps dropped to 30C. cranked up prime95 - load temperatures at 35C. WTF?! the water temperature has not changed... unplug the fan - the temperature jumps back up to 43C.
decided to switch to the on-CPU diode. FAN MAKES NO DIFFERENCE THERE. so, i conclude that the cause for the temperature drop is not because the CPU is cooled, but because the thermal probe inside the CPU socket is cooled. i tested this a couple of times, and as a result - i won't be cutting another hole in my case after all. would've been nice, though...
well, i was sceptical but took notice. next time i had the motherboard off, i cut a hole in the motherboard trey as well. i thought - if nothing else, this would make it easier to adjust the waterblock mounting screws on the back of the motherboard, withough having to pull the mobo.
ok, so now i'm getting ready to cut in an 80x80x10 zalman fan, but decided to test it out first. CPU idle temperature 33C, load 43C. reading from the on-CPU diode - idle 45, load 57.
ok, so i hung the fan where it would be - blowing at the back of the motherboard. idle temps dropped to 30C. cranked up prime95 - load temperatures at 35C. WTF?! the water temperature has not changed... unplug the fan - the temperature jumps back up to 43C.
decided to switch to the on-CPU diode. FAN MAKES NO DIFFERENCE THERE. so, i conclude that the cause for the temperature drop is not because the CPU is cooled, but because the thermal probe inside the CPU socket is cooled. i tested this a couple of times, and as a result - i won't be cutting another hole in my case after all. would've been nice, though...