Installed 60 to 80 mm funnel adpaters

[Jeff Mottle]

Thought some of you might be intersted in the results of my recent addition to my workstation.

 

I have dual 1900+ and used to run the 60mm fans that I'm sure all of you are familiar with. Today I installed the aluminum funnel adapters so that I could retrofit the heatsinks with an 80 mm hi velocity fans. The adapter I used is shown in the link below:

 

http://www.3dluvr.com/crossbow/photos/heatsink3.jpg

 

Before the retrofit I was running between 46-51C on both processors. After the retrofit I am running between 47-50C. While the box is a bit quieter and not such a harsh wine, it is by no means silent, but MUCH more bareable. I am running 9 fans overall so I guess some noise is to be expected.

I have also noticed that the CPU temps are MUCH more consistant and stable with less up and down swings. Normally with the 80 mm fans you do get an increase in temperature even though the fans are pushing more volume, because of the surface area of the fan and turbulance in the funnel, but I actually noticed a drop in overal average temperatures.

 

BTW, I am using the 80mm PanaFlow HI. As per Greg's suggestion at one time. Not sure if this is still the fan of choice.

 

Anyway there it is. If you are looking to quiet down your box a bit and keep your cooling more of less the same, give it a try.

 

The overall cost was about $20/fan + $4 for the tails. I had to spend about $6 on machine screws and nuts to secure everything togeter. I was able to do it with M3 screws for the sink and some M4s for securing the fans to the adpaters. The adapters were $14US a piece(The other prices are CDN dollars - exchage is 1.58 so you can do the math)

 

Hope that helps somebody.

[Ken Walton]

Jeff:

 

I'm curious about the fans now... Previously I owned an editing workstation, which had additional fans installed to compensate for the capture hardware. That hardware provided me with a heat sensor and thermometer, but I'm unaware of any standard features like this. I just recently purchased some new workstations, three for various tasks and rendering, but it's mainly my CG unit I'm concerned about. It's pretty stacked - a Dell Precision 530 w/dual 2.4 Xeons, 1GB RAM, nVidia Quadro4 900 XGl, and all the other little doodads. My question is: do these units typically ship with adequate cooling? (the case is a mini-tower)... If not, what would you recommend?

 

Thanks in advance,

Ken Walton

[Jeff Mottle]

Hey Ken,

 

How much stuff did you add after you bought you Dell workstation? Usually Intel Chips don't have over heating issues like the AMDs, so I'm not sure I'd worry about it unless you have added a lot of extra harddrives. Even then, do the Dells have room for extra cooling?

[Ken Walton]

Ok - so I guess I'm cool (no pun intended ...)

There's only 2 40GB IDE hard drives in this system, mainly for program files and temporary storage. I've added nothing so far, and I'm not really planning on it - If this thing isn't capable enough, I'm gonna have to find another line of work - not too willing to fork out 16K for an itanium... Anyway, I've only peeked inside the case once, and there appears to be plenty of room for expansion, but I'm not sure about additional cooling - I'm guessing no. This box shipped with what appears to be 6? fans (one day I'll get out of my chair and look at the specs) and it seems to be running alot cooler (the ever-accurate hand-to-the-back-of-the-machine thermometer) than my editing system does. Well, thanks for clearing this up for me, and I appreciate your help.

 

Thanks,

Ken Walton

[Greg Hess]

"Usually Intel Chips don't have over heating issues like the AMDs, so I'm not sure I'd worry about it unless you have added a lot of extra harddrives."

 

Some quick notes:

 

AMD760 MPX boards have heat protection (system shutoff via heat monitors) and Two KT333 boards (The asus a7v333 for example) have both heat protection, and a sort of warning/throttle system. So off from the bat, if its a new amd system, it shouldn't have the same threat from heat destroying the system as the older thunderbirds....

 

Off to P4's.

 

P4's can get pretty hot, the new chips are only at .13 micron, which is pretty damn dense. Running at over 2.4 Gigahertz, they'll easily hit 50C idle...however they differ by amd chips in that they have a built in throttling system, which will DOWNCLOCK the cpu if the heat gets past a certain level. This of course means, the hotter the system, the slower it gets. (Also means you can take the heatsink off and it keeps running).

 

I always recommend replacing stock HSF's with 3rd party retail ones. If you want recommendations just ask.

 

Current recommendation for AMD systems is as follows....

 

Top Tier: Thermalright SLK-800. 80mm, high density copper fins, 6 prong mounting system, significantly smaller then the AX7, minimum recommended 80mm fan rpm 3000-3500 (40-44 CFM). Expensive, medium noise level, unique base mounting system can cause rare issues.

 

Secondary: Thermalright AX7. 80mm, large alumnium/copper mix. Very efficent with slower spinning 80mm fans, quiet, 6 prong mounting system. Recommended 80 mm fan rpm 2500-3000 (30-36 CFM). Really Big (Doesn't fit some boards, including many dual boards without modification), but pretty inexpensive (under 30)

 

I don't recommend any other athlon coolers at this current time. Some are a bit more efficent, but they lack in mounting strength/durability/ease ,noise level, or cost.

 

Intel: AX-478 Thermalright. Unique mounting system (Doesn't bend the mboard like the intel stock cooler), quiet, efficent. (80mm fan) Simplistic to mount.

 

Fans: There are so many to choose from. The #1 upcoming choise....

 

The YS-TECH TMD

 

http://www.ystech.com.tw/Tmd/tmd-0.htm

 

Later this year it should be available as single 80mm fan types. Its an awesome design, moving the magnets to the exterior of the fan blades, reducing noise, turbulance and voltage, while increasing airflow....in the most important area of the fan...directly over the center point, as much as 40%. These fans are producing a phenomal amount of airflow at a tiny fraction of the noise level of its competition. I've seen a few test scores, and the 70mm TMD's are almost matching the 80mm Deltas at 1/4 the DB level. Should be available later this year, so watch for them.

 

Fans for now: Enermax 80mm RPM adjustable. Around 7 bucks at newegg. Comes with a gold fan grill, 8 fan screws, a 3 prong fan plug, and a 3 to 4 prong converter.

 

The most important aspect of this fan is its ability to tune sound and performance via a small adjustable nob which is turned by a phillips head screwdriver. Just plop in the system, and adjust the fans by ear. Getting the same hum level in the case really lessens the impact on the ears.

 

Vantec Stealth Fans: For those who don't want to mess around. These 80mm case fans are silent. I'm not kidding, by the time you hear them they've already starting clipping your ear off. I wouldn't recommend these for heatsink usage (unless you were downclocking or had a really good cpu), but they'd make great case/harddrive fans.

 

About the intel spec retail coolers....Following Intel's design, these coolers will WARP the motherboard overtime, that is, they will BEND THE BOARD. As you can imagine this can cause some issues, which is another reason why I recommend replacing the cooler.

 

Nobody ever seems to believe me on this, so here's some proof...

 

http://developer.intel.com/design/pentium4/guides/298590.htm

 

(Page 7 of the PDF, Board BOW after assembly)

 

Its also important to note, that AMD actually recommends you use a non retailer cooler, IN the retail packing manual.

 

Just some notes to add to the discussion.

 

[ August 20, 2002, 07:47 PM: Message edited by: Greg Hess ]

[Greg Hess]

I'm bumping this cause I typed a whole crapload.