Need Some Cooling Help

C

ChrisHarris

New Member
I've got a P4 3.0ghz CPU w/Prescott core.

I bought a ThermalTake Silet Tower heat sink and fan for it. This thing is GIGANTIC. The base is solid copper about 3/8" thick. It has 6 copper tubes that run up into the body where all the aluminum fins are. The fan is pretty big. 4"? but it only turns 2500RPM

This rig runs 46C at idle and gets up to 56C most of the time while playing CS. I've seen it up to 63C a few times.

My HD and MB run about 33C---35C all the time.

I have a 120mm case fan in the back that blows OUT. The ThermalTake is pushing air towards the back of the case--and the 120mm case fan should be pulling that hot air right out. I CAN feel hot air--so something is definetly working.

I have a 60mm case fan in the side door. It also blows hot air OUT.

So, I got 2 case fans blowing hot air out. And I got a HUGE CPU cooler.

WHY is this thing running so darn hot?

I took it apart today and cleaned all the fans. I took the fan off the front of the heat sink and cleaned the fins with a vacuum. Admittedly, the fins were a bit clogged with dust.

After all this cleaning--my temps haven't budged. Same as it always was.

Now you know the situation--what can I do?

I have downloaded a Hardware Manager that gives me the fan speeds and CPU temp, bus speed, etc.. I can't monitor the RPM on the 120mm case fan in the back, but I can monitor my CPU fan speed and my side door fan speed. Both are running approx. 2500RPM +/-

Is there a way to increase the RPM on the CPU fan? Would it do any good?

Is this ThermalTake Silent Tower cooler just a POS?

I put thermal paste on the CPU when I assembled it. Just a tiny spot. With the Silent Tower clamped down on top of the CPU--I can just barely see the white paste starting to squeeze out the sides on about 80% of what I can see. So, I don't think I got TOO much on it. I'm wondering if I didn't get enough. I was told that you need just a tiny spot--just a dot on top of the CPU. I put a dot on top of the CPU about 1/8" across. When I clamped it down to the cooler--I didn't have a bunch of it spooging out all over the place. Just a paper thin line around about 80% of the CPU that I can just barely see. Thats all that squezzed out.

Do I need to cut a blow hole in the top of the case? 80mm fan?

I really don't think it would do any good. I think my 2 existing case fans are pulling out the hot air. I think the ThermalTake Silet Tower is a POS or I didn't install it right.

Any Ideas?
 
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Well, it's probaby running hotter than it should because you don't have any fans taking in cool air. Because of the fans just blowing out air it prevents any cool air from entering your case and cooling anything down(the components can only become as cool as the air itself). Turn one of your fans into an intake and see if that helps your temps(preferably the 60mm). 2500RPM is pretty fast and that's most likely the max RPM of your fans, if it did go any higher your computer would become much louder.
 
Shouldn't side fans supposed to pull air in? Normally, that will get cold air towards the CPU fan. Mabe you should try putting a fan in the front to pull in cool air too. Hope that helps. :)
 
I can turn the side fan around and pull in fresh air.

The front of the case is vented, and I thought it would pull in enough fresh air from there, but I'll turn the side fan around and try it.
 
I turned the side cover fan around and it's blowing IN now.

Dropped my idle temp to 42C Thats better, but I'd like to see it below 40C at idle. With the Prescott core--don't know if thats possible. But it would make me feel better.
 
Any fan taking air in would help, but my last setup, it seemed to work better to have my rear fan running faster than my front fan...
 
I'm looking into a fan for the back that will move more air. This one is rated very low.

I'm also going to put a fan in the front. My case has vents and a mouting grill in the front for a fan to blow air over the HD.

I'm going to add up all the CFM on the side fan, and the front fan. Then get a rear fan that will pull MORE than that out the back.

I thought about a blow-hole in the top--but it's cool. Not any warmer than the rest of the case. No point in hacking holes in the top untill I put fans in all the places the case was designed to have them in the first place.

CPU is holding a steady idle at 42C

Wonder whats gonna happen when I cram that 7800GS in my AGP slot next week? :eek:
 
I got the Same cpu, 3.0E(Prescott) with stock h/s & fan. Idles at 28C.
Two rear intake fans(80mm)
One front intake fan(80mm)
One side exhaust fan(120mm)
Top exhaust(80mm)
Two psu fans
Empty front fan port
Large ATX case(X Navigaor)
 
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