idle temp?

[barcop]

I’m just starting to get into this enthusiast stuff with cooling, airflow, etc. I just bought all my parts for a new rig.

What I’m curious about is my idle temp. Where should it be?


I have the following (nothing is overclocked yet):

AMD FX-60
ASUS A8N32-SLI
1x 7900GTX
2x 1gb OCZ Titanium 2-3-2-5 RAM
Raptor 150gb

I’m using a Zalman 7700B ALCu, and I used Arctic Silver 5 thermal compound.



Thanks in advance.

 

[ocbaud]

if it helps my cpu in my sig idles at 34degrees with the stock amd heatpipe cooler and that thermal pad

 

[truflip]

the AS5 needs to 'cook' to give u optimal heat transfer. with the big 7700B it would probably have ur CPU idling at about 32-35% depending on your airflow.

If you have good intake and good exhaust fans to remove the warm air.. then you have be looking at the low 30's

if you notice ur temp is high 30s or even 40 when idle.. (and you havent 'cooked' that AS5) then do this:

run prime95 click Options, Torture test and click In-place large FFTs and run that for about an hour or two.. or as long as you can.. go play some bball or soccer outside =D

then turn off the computer and you can prolly blow a fan into the HSF to 'cool' the HSF and the AS5 in it..

repeat a few times and your AS5 should be set and ready..

 

[barcop]

That's good to know about the incubation period for the thermal compound. This is my first experience with this stuff. I've always used stock HSF before.

I just turned it on for the first time today, and the BIOS was showing 42 degrees C before I left for work. I had just put the AC5 on a couple hours before I turned it on, so that might be the reason why. I'll check it when I get home.


I had the Zalman fan going at full speed too, and all 3 case fans going full speed as well.


Thanks for the tips, any more will be greatly appreciated.

 

[malicious]

dude ..... with that kinda swag for hardware you should have it under water if you have the flow(aftertaxincome) ... go for it .. no big deal .... very little risk ... and temps and overclock that you'd never get with air ...

mal

 

[dtess17]

temps seem a little high, but nothing too bad, once you start overclocking and adding volts those temps are gonna shoot up.

I think a better heaksink would be in your future. Scythe ninja is great, and the Zalman 9500 is also a top notch heatsink...

 

[barcop]

I’ve been saving for like 4 years for this rig. The last system I put together for myself was a P4 2.4Gh, pre HT CPU’s. The mobo I’m using is one of the first 8x AGP mobo’s made.

I wanted to take this enthusiast stuff one step at a time, and not (forgive the pun) drown myself.


The way I see it, liquid cooling is for major OC’ing, and I’m not ready to OC yet, epecially with blowing a grand on the FX-60.



OH yeah forgot to add, I have an Enermax Liberty 620W PSU.

 

[malicious]

but i could make a case that you should oc

like the fact that if you did, you could get say a $300 opteron 165 and clock it up to 2.8 easily

thus saving yourself 700 bones ..

you could get a killer .. and i mean killer... water setup used for around 200... including a gpu block

i understand if you not into overclocking though

mal

 

[barcop]

Call me silly, but I’d rather build high end today, learn how to overclock on my old system, and then use what I learn to overclock my new build in the future.

Heck, maybe I’ll even try out liquid cooling first on my old system too.

 

[malicious]

to each his own man

i just "dipped" into it myself and it's on an old socket a build

xp-m at 2.5+ghz and a 6200 unlocked to all 8 pipes

i prob wouldn't put water on that(your) rig either if it were my first time ... although i wouldn't buy 1000 dollar proc either ... that puts us back to the first line doesn't it...

cheers,

mal


don't mind the dust .. was a test fit for that new door

 

[gud4u]

How's your case ventilation? CPU heatsink/fan combinations, no matter how efficient they are, just dump the heat from the CPU into the case. Good case ventilation - replacing hot internal case air with cooler room-temp air - helps a great deal in reducing temps.

You should be able to run idle temps in the low 30s with a case providing good ventilation.

Suggested items to inspect/consider:
- Efficient rear case vent fan.
- Low-restriction front air intake path.
- Seal off side vents/ducts/fans for enhanced front-to-back airflow (keep your hard drives cool).

My case is modded as above. CPU/case idle temps are typically 30/30 to 32/32, depending on ambient room temp, with 3700 CPU running overclocked at 11X250. Case ventilation is a single rear vent Panaflo M1A under-volted at 7V - efficient and fairly quiet. Idle temps 2C to 3C cooler with the Panaflo at 12V, but I like the fan quieter at 7V (about 50CFM air flow at 7V).

Hope this helps!

 

[Arcygenical]

The first rule of watercooling is CONFIDENCE. Just like you'd never go towards a wild animal frightened (they can sense that, and will react poorly), you should never start a potentially damaging project fightened either. It's when you're unsure of yourself that you'll make mistakes.

I'm not saying to either be an idiot and rush into something, and I'm certainly not saying that you should not do it either. What I am saying is that you should learn *everything* about how your system works, and how it would need to work with watercooling, before you even think about doing it. Having said this, yes, your computer is a great candidate for water, and you'll realize this when you become sick of sitting beside a box producing 35-40db of noise.

To the poster that suggested you "bake" in your AS5 if your temperatures are idling at 40c, you should know that baking in the stuff usually shows less than a 3c drop in temperatures. Most times the drop is about 1c, which can easily be coughed up to temp sensor rounding (you may have started at 40.6c, displayed as 41... then dropped to 40.4 which would be displayed as 40). I would suggest that, when idling at 40c, running an instance of Prime would be a *BAD* Idea. Your temperatures could shoot up way past the safe limit of 60c. You don't want your 4 years of saving to go up in smoke (quite literally). Instead, try re-applying the paste as detailed in the instructions etc.

 

[barcop]

All great tips and advice everyone, thanks a bunch.


I really like this idea of "force feeding" the case with ambient temp air. I have an Antec P-180, which came with 3 adjustable speed 120mm fans, two for exhaust and one for intake.



I'll also try reapplying the AS5. Do I need to clean it off and start from scratch? Or can I just apply more?


I goofed on the HSF, it's the 7000B not the 7700B.



I should probably make a sig, eh?

 

[dtess17]

yeah you have to clean off the old AS5....

and if it is only the cnps7000 i'd really look into better cooling...