KWSN Orbiting Fortress

[Lloyd M.]

I am vexed by a cooling problem I'm having with my main box.

The stock HSF (Opty 175) was adequate, but not stellar.

It was gradually running hotter and hotter, which turned out to be due to quite a large quantity of dust on all the intakes, PWM heat sinks, etc. I think we're OK there now.

In the quest for a better HSF, I had already acquired used Artic Cooling freezer 64 Pro. In my research of this HSF, I found that someone had tried Arctic Silver on it, and the HSF performed worse than the stock goop(one of those strips) that it came with (the block isn't particularly smooth).

So, after cleaning the dust out of everything, I installed the "new" HSF, using some cheapo paste, thinking it would be closer to the stock goop than Arctic Silver. It ran fine until I buttoned it up, then the CPU overheated in a matter of minutes.

So I put some arctic silver on it, and it seemed to work fine. I powered it down, buttoned it back up, set the case upright, and almost instant overheat (<2 minutes).

I thought maybe the heat pipes on the "new" HSF were bad, but it ran fine, overnight, with the case upright (but no cover on that side), on a 10+% overclock, shrubbing away merrily.

So, thinking that maybe I finally had narrowed this down, I put the side cover on the case while the box was still running, and Lo and Behold(!), it rapidly overheated again.

WTF? I had to take the snorkel gizmo off the side cover because it doesn't clear the HSF. I have ThermalTake (I think) 130mm fans (designed to fit in 120mm space) front (intake) and (rear) exhaust, with the fan on the HSF blowing towards the rear, per the directions.

The PWM and SYS temps seem fine (in fact the PWM is running a LOT cooler since I blew the dust out of the heat sinks). I know the Arctic 64 Pro picks up air from the side, but this is ridiculous, there's about 2 1/2" clearance between the side cover and the frame of the fan on the HSF. I'm sure everything is facing the right way, and I have my fan EQ on everything set fairly conservatively (e.g. the 130mm case fans WFO starting at 60C CPU temp).

It looks like I'm going to have to just clean the dust out of the stock HSF and put it back on there, and this has me perplexed, not to mention a bit annoyed.

I'm fresh out of ideas and open to suggestions.
_________________

[mohrorless]

You could try this:


_________________
Fetch me the Holy Hand Grenade!




Keeper of the Unending keg of PGGBs
Taunter in Training
Campaign Manager for Sir Shrubbery



Plus

[Sir Papa Smurph]

I use this case on 2 builds. I also use my box as a foot rest. My old case used to keep my feet warm, but this one makes me cold. It never heats up enough to make warm air come out.


I use 4 120mm fans and Yes that is a 200mm fan on top. I also use this



with a 120 mm fan
_________________
a.k.a. Licentious of Borg.........Resistance Really is Futile.......
and a Really Hoopy Frood who always knows where his Towel is...

[Lloyd M.]

[KWSN Im Not Dead]

I have that Antec Nine Hundred case myself and I have no heating issues.

Note - The case will suck up dust due to the air flow. So be ready to clean it out monthly.
_________________

KWSNImNotDead - "I don't want to go on the cart!". It is spelled LooNies.

[Lloyd M.]