What do I trust?

K

Koko56

[H]ard|Gawd
Joined
Jan 8, 2007
Messages
1,342
I have probably done a few threads like this, now however I'm really out of ideas and I'm looking for suggestions on why the hell my CPU is so hot, well relatively.

My temps increase by about 5C-7C degrees for the CPU when I put my side on.

I once managed the cables when I had the stock cooler and now I have managed them even better and now I have an extra 92mm intake fan at the side of my case AND a Zalman 9700!

Yet my temperatures are the same as they were with the stock cooler without any cable management or extra fans.

Does anyone have any ideas on what the hell is wrong, because I'm pretty sure there is something wrong...

Oh and I use the Asus PC Probe II for monitoring my temps, however TAT shows them to be about 7C-8C degrees lower and Speedfan is about 18C degrees lower than PC Probe II?!?!?

Here is picture of my case to show the cables as they are now - and believe me it is a lot neater than it used to be! :D


Here are the temps under 100% load - and this is at stock!


Please please please - help me!
 
Your temps aren't that bad really. How's the airflow in the case? Is the side fan blowing into the system, or out? What about the rear case fan? You could have your airflow messed up, which could cause the increase in temps when you put the side on.

Otherwise, have you made sure the HSF is mounted correctly? You don't have it installed uneven or not contacting well enough? I'd imagine it's fine or your temps would be worse, but just thought I'd ask. 43C at load isn't really bad. My system @ 3.2Ghz is running around 48C at idle. Hit's around 55C or so at load. Been chugging along just fine with no heat related issues.
 
I don't think that TAT or Speedfan are correct - I think that PC Probe II is the most accurate as it's similar with my BIOS - and all of my fans are in the righ directions - I did not touch them at all, appart from the 92mm fan which is intake and is about the GTX.
 
Koko56 said:
I don't think that TAT or Speedfan are correct - I think that PC Probe II is the most accurate as it's similar with my BIOS - and all of my fans are in the righ directions - I did not touch them at all, appart from the 92mm fan which is intake and is about the GTX.
Click to expand...

WTF? PC Probe II is the WROST in reporting temperature. anyway, OP the one seems to be reasonable is TAT. Also, you can download CoreTemp and compare them.
 
My temps increase by about 5C-7C degrees for the CPU when I put my side on.
Click to expand...

There is the clue/evidence that case airflow is lacking.

Just take a look at your picture, 120mm out (good!) power supply fan out (but they tend to be weak) Video card fan out as it is exhausting through the rear port.

But on the intake side you have a 92mm blowing on the video card which is good but the video card is probally pulling in a lot of that cool air and blowing it out the back.

The (looks like) 40mm fan in front is blocked by the awful sideways drive bay (I have the same setup, yuck) and while it helps keep the drive cooler it also doe not manage to push much air into the case and notice also how the length of your video card makes a very effective air damn so what cool air from the front intake has difficulty getting up to your CPU fan.

A very good solution for this would be a bay cooler installed in the lower 5 1/4 bays that appear to be empty, line it up with your CPU cooler as well as you can.

http://www.ocmodshop.com/ocmodshop.aspx?a=379

One way to test before buying is to remove the bay covers and just set a 120 mm fan in there if you have one laying around, actually just removing 3 bay covers and watching the temps with the side panel on should also show a reduction, abet smaller, in temps. If you could find replacement bay covers that are made of mesh, it might be enough.

In summary I believe your video card is acting as an air dam and preemptive exhaust preventing the majority of cool ambient intake air from reaching your CPU fan. Removing some bay covers to allow air in the upper front of the case would be a simple test to confirm or discredit this theory.


I tend to agree with above and as your main concern is cpu idle temps I too would go with TAT for use in resolving this issue. It really does not matter what you use as long as you use it consistantly with regards to improving your airflow/temps but TAT or coretemp or speedfan have proven themselves accurate and reliable (repeatable results) in measuring the actual CPU temp from inside the cpu. They are also very responsive and quick acting so changes can be seen almost immedately. Speedfans built in graphing ability is nice if you dont want to sit and watch but most if not all of them have some log to a file ability.
 
I'd get another case!
The front air intakes are badly restricted by the hard drive bay. It hardly allows air to flow into the case so the fans will be operating sub optimally.

My drive bays mount the drives on the sides as normal but there are no metal plates blocking the flow of air from the fans so the drives are cooled better and air throughput into the case isnt a problem.

Alternatively, cut holes in the hard drive bay to allow better air flow. It might be good enough.
Or refit the drive bay at 90 degrees if you are up for it.
 
Well thanks for taking your time guys, appreciate that. :D

Once thing though - before I managed any cables and had a stock cooler I had the same temps for my CPU as I have now WITH the Zalman 9700 which is a lot better than the stock HSF and with better cable management... I just can't understand it...:confused:

Also about the Scythe Kama Bay cooler - I have been thinking about that for a while and once I get some money I will probably get it, though I'm concerned about it not fitting in as some people stated that it leaves some gaps unfilled. :confused:

Oh and there are some small holes in the HD cage - so the airflow is not completely blocked.

That suggestion about my GPU sucking all the air out may be valid, however it's been there when I've had the stock HSF and messier cables - so if it has been sucking the air out then it's been doing that all the time.

And the comment about getting a new case - I have been considering it for some time now, however I need to get some caching before that. :D

Here is a complete history of my cable 'management' jobs from the bit where I did nothing - just bulit it and to now.


nothing done, or maybe after the first cable rearrangement

Installed the 9700

Now
 
LOL you are not listening to yourself, you already have the answers.

Once thing though - before I managed any cables and had a stock cooler I had the same temps for my CPU as I have now WITH the Zalman 9700 which is a lot better than the stock HSF and with better cable management... I just can't understand it

That suggestion about my GPU sucking all the air out may be valid, however it's been there when I've had the stock HSF and messier cables - so if it has been sucking the air out then it's been doing that all the time.



Look, it doenst matter if the case looks like swiss cheese, hell the more holes the better, all over, as long as you get some fresh air to the Zalman Your video card is just destroying the old ATX "rule of thumb" of cool air in the bottom front and moving up past the cpu and out the back, it just is not happening. You dont have to spend money either, find a sharp rock and beat another hole in the side panel very close to the zalman and find an old power supply you can salvage the fan out of etc. or just leave the side off ;)

hmm this would be fun, get some posterboard and make a tube by rolling it and some scotch tape to hold its round shape and make a vent tube going from the zalman fan to the front panel and take out those drive bay covers and see what happens. Total cost $1 if it doenst cool it by 8C you may feel free to call me an idiot, you wouldnt be the first !
 
The last bit made me lol. :D

Well - yeah I have the answers, I just wanna hear any suggestion about why the hell my CPU is hotter with better airflow and a better HSF.

That cardboard thing is maybe a bit too 'ghetto' for me as I like my tech to look good, however I'm am very very tempted to get the Kama Bay cooler! :D
 
Koko56 said:
Well - yeah I have the answers, I just wanna hear any suggestion about why the hell my CPU is hotter with better airflow and a better HSF.
Click to expand...
I think the idea is that a better HSF doesn't matter if it's not getting enough cool air. While the direction the Zalman fan blows is better than the stock's "straight down" orientation, it may be that your case had cooler air in it from the direction that the stock HSF was pulling. We're also missing the big possibility of ambient temps going up, as that's a very large factor now that summer is coming.
Koko56 said:
That cardboard thing is maybe a bit too 'ghetto' for me as I like my tech to look good
Click to expand...
The cardboard thing can be just temporary. If it works, it'll prove to you that what Bill theorized about your airflow is correct before you go spending money on a Kama Bay (or going the cheaper route and zip-tying a 120mm fan into your drive bays, as I'm going to do soon).
 
SDraconis said:
I think the idea is that a better HSF doesn't matter if it's not getting enough cool air. While the direction the Zalman fan blows is better than the stock's "straight down" orientation, it may be that your case had cooler air in it from the direction that the stock HSF was pulling. We're also missing the big possibility of ambient temps going up, as that's a very large factor now that summer is coming.

The cardboard thing can be just temporary. If it works, it'll prove to you that what Bill theorized about your airflow is correct before you go spending money on a Kama Bay (or going the cheaper route and zip-tying a 120mm fan into your drive bays, as I'm going to do soon).
Click to expand...

Good points, good points.

Oh and the ambient temps have not changed much.

I may wanna strap a 120mm fan into the 5.25 bays, however I will need to get it to 'fit in' look wise. :D
 
is your zalman blowing out the back of the case? and if so, is that rear case fan blowing counter to the zalman? thats what it looks like to me i could be wrong though.
 
yeahthatsme said:
is your zalman blowing out the back of the case? and if so, is that rear case fan blowing counter to the zalman? thats what it looks like to me i could be wrong though.
Click to expand...

Nah - the Zalman and the case fan are both blowing out.

I think that I will just ge the Kama BAy cooler and see if it makes any difference...

Oh, and here is my CPU tem on 4 different programs.


But damn - I'm not sure which to trust - I looked in the BIOS a few times and the temps were correct with the PC Probe II... so I dono.
 
SDraconis said:
I think the idea is that a better HSF doesn't matter if it's not getting enough cool air. While the direction the Zalman fan blows is better than the stock's "straight down" orientation, it may be that your case had cooler air in it from the direction that the stock HSF was pulling. We're also missing the big possibility of ambient temps going up, as that's a very large factor now that summer is coming.

The cardboard thing can be just temporary. If it works, it'll prove to you that what Bill theorized about your airflow is correct before you go spending money on a Kama Bay (or going the cheaper route and zip-tying a 120mm fan into your drive bays, as I'm going to do soon).
Click to expand...

aye thats all I was trying to say, thanks !

Really check it out first, don't throw money away, I think I might be on to something but the effort to test it out is minimal and I will not be offended, its the smart thing to do. Besides if it proved not to be the problem you could instead spend the cash on women of dubious moral character.





BTW your copy of speedfan is old, the latest version will show you core temps and will agree with TAT and coretemp (which also agree within 1C and that minor difference is do the the time intervals and code programing more than any actual temp delta).
 
Yeah, sure I will try and do that, though still I'm pretty certain about getting thee Cama Bay cooler. :D

Oh and yeah I may wanna update the speedfan, however the coretemp is the newst one out, well I only got it a few days a go.


I'm not being rude now, but even though all of your suggestions gave me some good ideas I'm still clueless on why the temps went up, but I guess I will jsut have to live with it... :D

In time I might get a new case so it should be fine, or if not then the Cama bay cooler will help.
 
Koko56 said:
I'm not being rude now, but even though all of your suggestions gave me some good ideas I'm still clueless on why the temps went up, but I guess I will jsut have to live with it... :D
Click to expand...


i'm pretty sure they are saying the temps went up because your zalman is blowing hotter air across its heatpipes, cooling it less, all because of the ambient temperature in the case...

with the side of the case off, your zalman is taking air from outside the case (in the direction of your camera in the picture) which is say 75 degrees. with the case side on, it can't get air from outside the case, so it pulls from in front of the cooler (to the right), which the temp's of the air in that direction with the side of the case on might be, say, 95 degrees. all the air in the case has come from the front of the case, ran over the warm hard drive, and across the hot gpu. your drive bays right now are dead air, the cpu is forcing air from the small airflow its getting from just behind the video card and to the side of the video card (a very hot piece of equipment).

now if you added a fan to the front of the case, or on the side of the case, your cpu could then be receiving 75~ degree air again because its fresh air from the outside again, just like when the side was off
 
why would intel make a temp program that couldn't even read the temp. of their processors right?:p TAT is the most accurate
 
PiTHON said:
i'm pretty sure they are saying the temps went up because your zalman is blowing hotter air across its heatpipes, cooling it less, all because of the ambient temperature in the case...

with the side of the case off, your zalman is taking air from outside the case (in the direction of your camera in the picture) which is say 75 degrees. with the case side on, it can't get air from outside the case, so it pulls from in front of the cooler (to the right), which the temp's of the air in that direction with the side of the case on might be, say, 95 degrees. all the air in the case has come from the front of the case, ran over the warm hard drive, and across the hot gpu. your drive bays right now are dead air, the cpu is forcing air from the small airflow its getting from just behind the video card and to the side of the video card (a very hot piece of equipment).

now if you added a fan to the front of the case, or on the side of the case, your cpu could then be receiving 75~ degree air again because its fresh air from the outside again, just like when the side was off
Click to expand...

That's a very good explanation, appart that the temps rose after the first cable 'management' with the stock cooler, however your explanation about the hot air is pretty good, I mean yeah the GTX is very hot to the touch so it may radiate quite a bit of heat onto the fins of the Zalamn as it is pretty close to it... it also made me wanna put a few 120mm fans across my case, though how I do't know... Cama Bay, Kama Bay... :D

hstuehmeyer2000 said:
why would intel make a temp program that couldn't even read the temp. of their processors right?:p TAT is the most accurate
Click to expand...

A point you have, however my BIOS is showing temps correct with the PC Probe II so I really don't know.
 
the tat program reads the onboard temp sensor on the cpu, and the bios and pc probe reads the temp sensor in the socket, i would trust tat
 
hstuehmeyer2000 said:
the tat program reads the onboard temp sensor on the cpu, and the bios and pc probe reads the temp sensor in the socket, i would trust tat
Click to expand...

Oooh :D

So all this time I have been bothered about nothing?

Oh f**k!!!!

Well now I need some better RAM, and I still wanna get the Kama Bay cooler - after than hopefully 3Ghz should be done. :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top