[Ryan]

I'm looking for some suggestions on my cooling setup, as I haven't been happy with my CPU temps lately. I've been running around 40°C on idle, and around 60°C on load.

My CPU is an i7 920 (Non OC) which is cooled by a Corsair H100. I have the radiator mounted in the top of my case with the two provided 120MM fans mounted above it as intakes. Theoretically those two fans should be exhausts since hot air rises, but I thought they would work best as intakes with the radiator right there. Aside from those fans, I have three others as intakes. A single 140MM fan in the front of my case, and dual 140MM fans on my right side panel blowing onto the motherboard and video card. For exhaust, I have a single 120MM in the rear of my case. My reasoning behind having more intakes than exhausts was to have positive air pressure and thus less dust. Also, I have all my case fans plugged into the motherboard.

Additionally, for what it is worth, my PSU is bottom mounted as an intake, and I'm only running a single video card, which is a reference card with the traditionally blower cooler. Only have one hard drive and an SSD.

I've seen plenty of reviews of the H100 with i7 920's at stock idle around 28-32°C and get up to around 40-44°C under load. I'm using Arctic Silver 5 TIM as well. Anyone have any suggestions on how to lower my temps?

Slammy, I'm sure you'll read this, so just let me say I'm fine without your irrelevant nonsense.

This post has been edited by Ryan on Friday, May 25 2012, 17:50

[illegal_luggage]

40°C idle sounds too hot but what is your room temperature? How did you apply your thermal paste because not doing the pea method can cause issues. For example spreading around the paste before mounting the cooler will create lots of air bubble that will trap heat.

[Ryan]

QUOTE (illegal_luggage @ Friday, May 25 2012, 15:24)

40°C idle sounds too hot but what is your room temperature? How did you apply your thermal paste because not doing the pea method can cause issues. For example spreading around the paste before mounting the cooler will create lots of air bubble that will trap heat.

My room temperature varies. Normally anywhere from 20°C to 25°C. As for applying the thermal paste, I put one pea sized drop in the middle, and then four tiny ones in the corners.

[illegal_luggage]

What temp monitoring software are you using? Run OCCT and post back with some screens.

[Ryan]

I've been using RealTemp.

I just had my PC apart and switched the radiator fans from intakes to exhaust. Made quite a difference for my idle temps. I'm now idling around 32°C, but under load I'm still up in the mid-50's.

Also moved one of the side panel fans to the bottom of the case as an intake.

http://i.imgur.com/PKuhf.png

This post has been edited by Ryan on Friday, May 25 2012, 21:50

[Jack.]

My uncle opened his case and had a normal size fan blowing in to it. But if you want a more suitable cooling system then why not by a new cpu fan?

[sivispacem]

QUOTE (Jack. @ Friday, May 25 2012, 22:27)

My uncle opened his case and had a normal size fan blowing in to it. But if you want a more suitable cooling system then why not by a new cpu fan?

...Because he's running a water cooler vastly superior to every air-based cooler on the market.

[illegal_luggage]

According to that screenshot you've overclocked from 2.66Ghz to 2.8Ghz which isn't a lot but Bloomfield's run a bit hot.

[leik oh em jeez!]

QUOTE (sivispacem @ Friday, May 25 2012, 16:46)

QUOTE (Jack. @ Friday, May 25 2012, 22:27) My uncle opened his case and had a normal size fan blowing in to it. But if you want a more suitable cooling system then why not by a new cpu fan? ...Because he's running a water cooler vastly superior to every air-based cooler on the market.

Try replacing that AS 5. Even Tuniq's old TX-2 was superior, so the much newer TX-4 should be much better. Past that, I can't think of much to improve on.
Fan placement all sounds correct.

Perhaps the motherboard isn't giving the pump enough power? See if you've got an option to control the fans in the BIOS. If so try cranking up the speed. I'm assuming you have the pump plugged into the CPU fan connector, and not a case fan connector, right?

Also, the water in your cooler will take some time to cool down after the CPU has been stressed. This is normal so keep in mind that after exiting a game or bench mark, it will take much longer for your CPU temp to go back down than it would with an air cooler.

[Ryan]

QUOTE (illegal_luggage @ Friday, May 25 2012, 18:58)

According to that screenshot you've overclocked from 2.66Ghz to 2.8Ghz which isn't a lot but Bloomfield's run a bit hot.

That screenshot I took was when I was running Prime95. I haven't overlocked it any either. Must be Turbo Boost kicking in or something.

[illegal_luggage]

QUOTE (Ryan @ Friday, May 25 2012, 22:59)

QUOTE (illegal_luggage @ Friday, May 25 2012, 18:58) According to that screenshot you've overclocked from 2.66Ghz to 2.8Ghz which isn't a lot but Bloomfield's run a bit hot. That screenshot I took was when I was running Prime95. I haven't overlocked it any either. Must be Turbo Boost kicking in or something.

Sorry about that. For sone reason I though the first gen i series didn't have Turbo Boost.

[Wolf68k]

QUOTE (Ryan @ Friday, May 25 2012, 14:25)

QUOTE (illegal_luggage @ Friday, May 25 2012, 15:24) 40°C idle sounds too hot but what is your room temperature? How did you apply your thermal paste because not doing the pea method can cause issues. For example spreading around the paste before mounting the cooler will create lots of air bubble that will trap heat. My room temperature varies. Normally anywhere from 20°C to 25°C. As for applying the thermal paste, I put one pea sized drop in the middle, and then four tiny ones in the corners.

For whatever it's worth that is not how Arctic Silver says to apply AS5 to that Intel CPU
http://www.arcticsilver.com/intel_application_method.html#

As to your fans. You said you have 2 that normally should be exhaust but you have them as intake because the "radiator right there" which means what exactly?
Isn't there a fan on the radiator that's meant to blow air threw it and to the outside of the case?


Side note: With OCCT there is no need to run Prime05 in the background. Just click that ON button to start it's stress test.

[leik oh em jeez!]

QUOTE

For whatever it's worth that is not how Arctic Silver says to apply AS5 to that Intel CPU

Not that that really matters though. As long as you've go the TIM spread evenly in a thin layer, it's going to do its job just as well regardless of the pattern or shape you used to put it on.

QUOTE

As to your fans. You said you have 2 that normally should be exhaust but you have them as intake because the "radiator right there" which means what exactly?

Just to clarify, his top fans were exhaust fans, then he flipped them when he mounted the radiator, so cool fresh air would be cooling the CPU rather than warm air from within the system.

QUOTE

Isn't there a fan on the radiator that's meant to blow air threw it and to the outside of the case?

Which way the fan is intended to blow depends on mounting location and your airflow setup, but the cooler will obviously perform better with cool air from outside of the case. And given the choice between high pressure within the case and low pressure, I'd take high pressure any day.

[Wolf68k]

My point to the AS5 is that if he thinks at all that that can be part of the problem then he should try following the method that AS5 says to use. The only time I see them say to use the pea/dot method with their products is with Intel Celerons. However with all of the Core i's, as well as others, they suggest using a completely different method.
Yes, I agree that as long as it's applied in a thin layer, etc, etc... But like I said, if it causes a problem later on then follow the manufacturer's suggested way. I have yet to see a reason to not follow the manufacturer's suggests. I've had some cases where I went a bit over boat with their suggestion, had nothing to with AS5 or anything like it, but I still followed it for the most part.

[Ryan]

Never would have thought there was a recommended way by Arctic Cooling to apply AS5. I'll give it a try and let you guys know how it turns out.

[Ryan]

QUOTE (Ryan @ Saturday, May 26 2012, 18:04)

I'll give it a try and let you guys know how it turns out.

Sorry about the double post.

Just reapplied the TIM in the way recommended by Arctic Cooling. Seems to work a bit better now. Now idling around 27-32°C and around 44-49°C under load.

[SyphonPayne]

Yeah, I always go by the AS5 instructions, even when I'm using other pastes/greases. Application really matters, especially when you OC. Placing the grease at random locations accomplishes nothing, as the heat from the die(s) has to travel through the integrated heatspreader in order to reach most of those random locations. Following the AS5 instructions puts the grease right on top of where the die(s) is located thus giving the cooler a better chance of pulling the heat straight from the die(s).

Positive pressure is better for getting cooler air in and it also reduces dust accumulation. Ideally air flow comes in from the front bottom, and out the back top (on most ATX cases.) Also, the larger the fan, the better, not only for airflow but for noise (bigger fan = slower rotation.) So ideally you want at least 2 intake fans on the font bottom, a good side intake, and you want all the heat being exhausted out of the PSU (top or bottom) and the top rear of the case. So have some exhaust fans in that location.

[Ryan]

QUOTE (SyphonPayne @ Sunday, May 27 2012, 19:02)

Positive pressure is better for getting cooler air in and it also reduces dust accumulation. Ideally air flow comes in from the front bottom, and out the back top (on most ATX cases.) Also, the larger the fan, the better, not only for airflow but for noise (bigger fan = slower rotation.) So ideally you want at least 2 intake fans on the font bottom, a good side intake, and you want all the heat being exhausted out of the PSU (top or bottom) and the top rear of the case. So have some exhaust fans in that location.

Yeah, I changed the case fan setup around slightly from what I mentioned in my first post. I didn't like having my fans hooked up to the motherboard (half the time they weren't even spinning), so I hooked them all up to the PSU. For intakes, I have: 140mm in the front, 140mm in the bottom, 140mm on the left side panel. For exhausts, I have: 120mm in the rear, dual 120mm in the top (These are the radiator fans - Powered and controlled by the H100 controller). PSU is bottom mounted as an intake still.

This post has been edited by Ryan on Sunday, May 27 2012, 22:14

[SyphonPayne]

PSUs actually exhaust air from the back, but yeah your setup sounds like very good airflow. What are your temps now?

[Wolf68k]

QUOTE (Ryan @ Sunday, May 27 2012, 12:22)

QUOTE (Ryan @ Saturday, May 26 2012, 18:04) I'll give it a try and let you guys know how it turns out. Sorry about the double post. Just reapplied the TIM in the way recommended by Arctic Cooling. Seems to work a bit better now. Now idling around 27-32°C and around 44-49°C under load.

Make sure you also follow the recommended burn-in process.
Use it like normal for a normal hours then let it cool to room temp then you can use it again. If you normally use it during the day then shut down at night, then you should be fine doing that.



Never count the PSU as either an intake or exhaust. The fans on the PSU is just to get air flowing through the PSU to cool it. In your case the PSU is mounted on the bottom and if it has a fan on the bottom of it, and the case has a vent at bottom then all the PSU's fans are doing are drawing air from the outside and through itself and out the back with little to no effect on the case cooling.
If you case was like mine with the PSU mounted on top and my PSU has a fan on the bottom it's just taking some air in the case and passing it through itself. Might have some effect on the case cooling but not as much as a direct exhaust case fan does.

This post has been edited by Wolf68k on Monday, May 28 2012, 05:17