intake or exhaust?

[Bud Light]

I will soon be purchasing 2 more system fans and I just need some advice. My case denies me the ability to put a fan in the front so I will have 1 on the side, 1 on top and 1 in the back. I know the top one will be exhaust but what about the others? What would be the best exhaust/intake configuration? I know this is a retarded question but im just want to get maximum cooling

Also what is a good lowcost hsf combo for a athlon xp 2700=

[Spaz06]

Originally Posted by Bud Light Also what is a good lowcost hsf combo for a athlon xp 2700=

Blow in on side, blow out on rear and top.

I'm not to familiar with the aftermarket HSF's. I've only used the stock HSF's that come with the retail cpu's. Be patient, someone will reply with some recommendations.

[Bud Light]

Originally Posted by Bud Light Also what is a good lowcost hsf combo for a athlon xp 2700+.........

.......

[Cricket]

Masscool FalconRock

Cricket

[Bud Light]

How much cooler can I expect that fan to make my processor? It says it spins at 2300rpm and my stock fan spins at 3800.

[Spaz06]

Originally Posted by Bud Light How much cooler can I expect that fan to make my processor? It says it spins at 2300rpm and my stock fan spins at 3800.

What are your cpu temps with the stock HSF?

[Bud Light]

about 54 to 59 c idle. I can't find a program that supports my motherboard to check it at load. Mobo is a m863g by pcchips. Know any that support it?

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Bud Light How much cooler can I expect that fan to make my processor? It says it spins at 2300rpm and my stock fan spins at 3800.

It's not only the fan speed that determines how well a heatsink works. The fan on your heatsink is probably a 60mm on a small all aluminum heatsink. The FalconRock uses a 80mm fan on a fairly large aluminum heatsink with a copper insert that makes contact with the CPU. The larger 80mm fan moves more air than the smaller 60mm fan (even if the 60mm fans spins faster) because the fan blades are bigger. And the FalconRock heatsink has much more surface area for heat to be released from. A friend of mine replaced the stock heatsink on his 1.33GHz AMD T-Bird CPU (a pretty hot running CPU) with a FalconRock a few years ago and the idle temps dropped from 50C to 42C after the Arctic Silver break in period. He was very happy with the results.

Cricket

[Spaz06]

Originally Posted by Bud Light about 54 to 59 c idle. I can't find a program that supports my motherboard to check it at load. Mobo is a m863g by pcchips. Know any that support it?

Everest Home Edition http://www.lavalys.com/

Are you sure your HSF is properly seated? The stock HSF is plenty good enough unless your going to overclock, I run a stock HSF with a 3000+ XP, temps are 38-40c at idle, 45-47c with a load.

[Bud Light]

Im almost positive but the temps are so high it makes me wonder. Right now I have know intake fans in my system but I just bought 2 more so im gonna see if that helps.

Also do you guys know if that comes with a thermal pad? I would use grease but I dont wanna mess anything up

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Bud Light Im almost positive but the temps are so high it makes me wonder.

If you're not really sure, maybe you should double check the installation. AMD heatsink installation instructions.

Originally Posted by Bud Light Also do you guys know if that comes with a thermal pad? I would use grease but I dont wanna mess anything up

Are you asking about the FalconRock? Yes, it comes with a thermal pad on it already.

Cricket

[Spaz06]

Originally Posted by Bud Light Im almost positive but the temps are so high it makes me wonder. Right now I have know intake fans in my system but I just bought 2 more so im gonna see if that helps. Also do you guys know if that comes with a thermal pad? I would use grease but I dont wanna mess anything up

Cricket beat me to the punch as usual.

I'm pretty sure the HSF that cricket suggested does come with a thernal pad, I am looking to cut down on some noise, and may get something like that for myself.

Double check all the clips of HSF, it is also possible that you put in on backwards, I know that sounds silly, but I've seen it before. Please don't take that the wrong way, just trying to help.

[Bud Light]

No offense taken, actually when I was installing it I wasn't sure which way was strait and which way was backwards. The pics of the clip were different than my clips or somethin like that

[Bud Light]

I downloaded everest and my cpu readings are all over the place. Any where from 4 - 52 c. Is it possible my sensor is broken. Temp sensor works fine in bios


Also if I take the HS and fan off to check it out do I have to apply a new pad or grease?

[Spaz06]

Originally Posted by Bud Light I downloaded everest and my cpu readings are all over the place. Any where from 4 - 52 c. Is it possible my sensor is broken. Temp sensor works fine in bios Also if I take the HS and fan off to check it out do I have to apply a new pad or grease?

If it reads fine in the BIOS, your sensors aren't broke. It may be a compatability issue with everest home edition and your mobo.

I would clean it off and apply new grease. I put an amount the size of a grain of rice on the die in the center of the cpu and spread it evenly on the die with a Q-tip. Thats what I have been doing for years with XP processors and haven't had any heat problems yet.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Bud Light No offense taken, actually when I was installing it I wasn't sure which way was strait and which way was backwards. The pics of the clip were different than my clips or somethin like that

The recessed part of the heatsink (on the bottom) should be over the raised part of the socket. The heatsink shouldn't touch any part of the socket or anything nearby (like a capacitor).

Cricket

[Spaz06]

Bud Light,

Did you get your heat issues sorted out? Any improvement?

[VERCETTI]

side intake and top/rear exhaust. I usually hav the side as axhaust to to drag the CPU fan air out, but thats because i have 2 fans front 2 fans back and 1 on the side. But in your case, you need an intake somewhere and that seems to be the best choice. I would locate it dead center or near the vid card. Not right over the CPU becaue that fan and the CPU fan will fight pushing air on each other.

[piasabird]

Side intake is best to blow right on top of the CPU because it brings cool air in from the outside of the case. The problem is you need to bring in as much air as you are exhausting. You might want an extra intake. If you can put an intake in a 5.5 Optical drive bay, like a drive cooler kit, that might help. An exhaust in both the back and the top is perfectly fine as long as there is an avenue for enough air to get inside the case. Theoretically if you exhaust the air and it has a path to get into the case it will find a way if there is one to get into the case, even if it has to sneak around your optical and floppy drives polluting them with dust.

An exhaust in the top is a good way for a case to be layed out.

Ideally you want air to flow over the top of or around the hard drive. A lot depends on the configuration of the drives and the possible air flow pattern. Even Optical drives heat up quite a bit. It might be better to have a Power supply that sucks air out from front to back more than from the bottom to get the hot air off of the optical drives.

I usually try to space out the optical drives when possible for better air flow.

[Bud Light]

Originally Posted by Spaz06 Bud Light, Did you get your heat issues sorted out? Any improvement?

My fans will arive tomorrow and im goin to put them in and see if the air circulation helps. If not Im going to order the HSF. Right now I only have 1 fan on the side blowing air out so that probably isnt good.

[cuog]

Also if you don't mind modding your case a little have the 2 fans that you have(the rear and top) and make them exhaust and then make a snorkel that connects the heat sink on the processor to the side intake fan,

this setup will be fairly noisy but it will drop your temperatures alot i did it on my old P1 and it cut the temps in half

[Bud Light]

Right now the side is blowing out and I was planning on making it blow in when I get the other fans. Are You saying I should have It blow air at or away from the heatsink? That would leave me with no intake.

What type of material should I use for the snorkel? Sounds good to me but I would probably have the snorkel attached to the rearfan with the side intake and top exhaust.

[Spaz06]

Originally Posted by Bud Light My fans will arive tomorrow and im goin to put them in and see if the air circulation helps. If not Im going to order the HSF. Right now I only have 1 fan on the side blowing air out so that probably isnt good.

I bet you would see an improvement if you simply turn that fan around and have it blowing in. Better to have a little cool air going in, then none at all. Some of the hot air will escape through the power supply and the vents on you case.

I know you have fans on the way, but thats a simple check you can do in the mean time.

[Bud Light]

Nice call spaz! Took the temp down to 48C after running my computer for about 2 hours. Before I have seen it as high as 61C in bios. Now im considering having the rearfan blowing in and just the top shooting out all the hot air. I have a microatx in a large atx case and I can have the rear fan about midway up.

[Spaz06]

Originally Posted by Bud Light Nice call spaz! Took the temp down to 48C after running my computer for about 2 hours. Before I have seen it as high as 61C in bios. Now im considering having the rearfan blowing in and just the top shooting out all the hot air. I have a microatx in a large atx case and I can have the rear fan about midway up.

I would put the rear fan blowing out. That may get you in the low-mid 40ish range.

[Cricket]

Originally Posted by Spaz06 I would put the rear fan blowing out.

Yeah, the rear fan should be set up to exhaust warm air from the case. Top should be exhaust too. Side fan...try it both ways once you have all the other fans installed to see which direction works best for your particular system.

Cricket

[cuog]

Originally Posted by Bud Light Right now the side is blowing out and I was planning on making it blow in when I get the other fans. Are You saying I should have It blow air at or away from the heatsink? That would leave me with no intake. What type of material should I use for the snorkel? Sounds good to me but I would probably have the snorkel attached to the rearfan with the side intake and top exhaust.

you can make the snorkel out of anything, mine was a papertowel roll, but basically what you do is you take the fan off of the heatsink for the processor, then you use the snorkel thingamjig to connect the heatsink to the case fan and haev air blow in so that your CPU gets colder outside air cooling it and it serves and an air intake, you could also use your small fan off the heat sink or use a larger and move the small fan to the top or back or something

If you realy want to see what i mean and you cant see what i am saying i will dray up what i mean and show you that in a pm or something

[Bud Light]

yea....if you get a chance send a dawing to zcradic@yahoo.com

Thanks

[HAL9000]

The biggest thing to do is to try and keep a natural airflow. Let physics help you. Heat rises, so bring in cool from the bottom front and get hot out the top and top rear. The side blowing in with a snorkle is a good idea as it gets cool outside air directly to the processor instead of taking heated internal air. Also, try to blow more out than in to maintain a constant flow. Blowing more in than out leaves stagnant air to collect more heat and it has nowhere to go.

[shadowbreaker513]

I personally have 2 intakes low in the front, a side intake close to my processor on the middle of the side window to pull air in. For exhaust, I have a slot fan below my video card to suck out that heated air, and then an 80mm fan and my power supply fans above and to the right of my processor to immediatly get that hot air out. I got bored one day and started working on fan directions and with this setup I get idle temps of about 28C