Cooling Hints on a Prescott 3.2Ghz?

[Mtmartin71]

I've been doing a little research trying to find a good cooling
solution for my new P4 Prescott 3.2. Didn't realize these things ran
so hot. Today, I'm using the stock Intel cooler and no overclocking is
occuring. I'm using a Lian Li tower that has two intake fans in front,
an outtake fan on top, and an outtake fan in back. With this combo, my
idle CPU temp is 46C and my case temp varies from 28 to 32C. When
running a game or something taxing, I'm getting up to 70C but the case
never topped 33C. Trying to figure out the best way to attack this.
I've got a GeForce 6800, two hard drives, a DVD/CD Drive, and a
professional audio recording card. The case has a lot of cables, but
it supposed to be setup to move heat. Am I better off looking for a
case temp solution or is this a case of trying a better designed CPU
cooler?

Thanks in advance.

Matt

 

[kony]

I've been doing a little research trying to find a good cooling
solution for my new P4 Prescott 3.2. Didn't realize these things ran
so hot. Today, I'm using the stock Intel cooler and no overclocking is
occuring. I'm using a Lian Li tower that has two intake fans in front,
an outtake fan on top, and an outtake fan in back. With this combo, my
idle CPU temp is 46C and my case temp varies from 28 to 32C. When
running a game or something taxing, I'm getting up to 70C but the case
never topped 33C. Trying to figure out the best way to attack this.
I've got a GeForce 6800, two hard drives, a DVD/CD Drive, and a
professional audio recording card. The case has a lot of cables, but
it supposed to be setup to move heat. Am I better off looking for a
case temp solution or is this a case of trying a better designed CPU
cooler?

You didn't mention your ambient room temp but still 28-32C
with max of 33C isn't THAT much of a rise. It's possible an
improved airflow in/out of the case could get you a couple
degrees benefit, perhaps more benefit to the HDDs or video
card than CPU.

70C is borderline. CPU should still be stable but ideally
lower than that at extended full load. First I'd try
removing, cleaning off heatsink & CPU then appling a tiny
bit of high quality synthetic thermal compound only to the
middle of the CPU heat spreader and reinstalling the 'sink.
It might still take a couple days and thermal cycles of the
system to get the temp down the last 4 degrees or so before
it stabilizes, perhaps less if you're doing stress testing
in the interim.

If that isn't enough, try a better 'sink.

 

[ElJerid]

You didn't mention your ambient room temp but still 28-32C
with max of 33C isn't THAT much of a rise. It's possible an
improved airflow in/out of the case could get you a couple
degrees benefit, perhaps more benefit to the HDDs or video
card than CPU.

70C is borderline. CPU should still be stable but ideally
lower than that at extended full load. First I'd try
removing, cleaning off heatsink & CPU then appling a tiny
bit of high quality synthetic thermal compound only to the
middle of the CPU heat spreader and reinstalling the 'sink.
It might still take a couple days and thermal cycles of the
system to get the temp down the last 4 degrees or so before
it stabilizes, perhaps less if you're doing stress testing
in the interim.

If that isn't enough, try a better 'sink.

I encoutered the same issues, with the same CPU and case. On top of that,
the stock Intel cooler spins all the time at it's highest rpm, and generates
a lot of noise.
So, I decided to replace the Intel cooler with the huge Zalman 7000B Cu
cooler. It was a little bit difficult to adjust in the case and requires to
remove the motherboard, but the CPU temps dropped to 32 °C idle and 43°C in
full charge, with a room temp of 22 °C. All this with little or no noise.
Another advantage of the Zalman is that it blows on adjacent components
(chipset and RAM) and helps keeping thse cool.
If the Zalman doesn't fit in your case, another exellent solution is the
Coolermaster Hyper 48, which uses heat pipes and is very efficient, also
with low noise levels.
Of course, while changing your cooler, you should also check the case
airflow; try to install your cables behind the plates on the right side of
the case (when looking to front), and make sure the thermal paste is applied
correctly. Check also that all fans spin correctly (2 intake in front, one
out on the back ontop of the PSU fans).
In my opinion, it's a shame that Intel sells their top line cpu's with such
a bad stock cooler !

 

[kony]

I encoutered the same issues, with the same CPU and case. On top of that,
the stock Intel cooler spins all the time at it's highest rpm, and generates
a lot of noise.
So, I decided to replace the Intel cooler with the huge Zalman 7000B Cu
cooler. It was a little bit difficult to adjust in the case and requires to
remove the motherboard, but the CPU temps dropped to 32 °C idle and 43°C in
full charge, with a room temp of 22 °C. All this with little or no noise.

It's a nice 'sink and may easily help some, but there's no
reason to expect it to make a 27C difference if the Intel
retail 'sink is properly installed.

Another advantage of the Zalman is that it blows on adjacent components
(chipset and RAM) and helps keeping thse cool.
If the Zalman doesn't fit in your case, another exellent solution is the
Coolermaster Hyper 48, which uses heat pipes and is very efficient, also
with low noise levels.
Of course, while changing your cooler, you should also check the case
airflow; try to install your cables behind the plates on the right side of
the case (when looking to front), and make sure the thermal paste is applied
correctly. Check also that all fans spin correctly (2 intake in front, one
out on the back ontop of the PSU fans).
In my opinion, it's a shame that Intel sells their top line cpu's with such
a bad stock cooler !

They always did have crap heatsinks, particularly the fans.
Funny part is the same manufacturers that have made their
fans make some better ones as normal stock parts too but
apparently Intel went out of their way to spec these and has
some really bizarre ideas about fans to the detriment of the
user.

 

[Bob]

So, I decided to replace the Intel cooler with the huge Zalman 7000B Cu
cooler.

My son has a 3.2GHz P4 Prescott Retail Box and it ran too hot (over
68C) when he was using CPU intensive apps like DVD Shrink. For reasons
I do not understand that particular program heats up everything that
Everest reports.

He got the Zalman 7700 copper unit and it cooled things down. He did
not install the speed controller - just another worthless piece of
junk to go bad and cause the fan to stop.

It was a little bit difficult to adjust in the case and requires to
remove the motherboard,

He had the builders at Directron install it (to keep his warranty) and
they said there was no problem.

but the CPU temps dropped to 32 °C idle and 43°C in
full charge, with a room temp of 22 °C.

That's about right - a 10-15C difference with ambient.

All this with little or no noise.

The Zalman is amazingly quiet for such a large fan. His can be heard
but it is not loud.

 

[ElJerid]

It's a nice 'sink and may easily help some, but there's no
reason to expect it to make a 27C difference if the Intel
retail 'sink is properly installed.

You' re right, Kony. I didn't mention that before changing the fan, the
temps for my CPU were not 46 - 70°C like in Matt's case, but "only" 42 and
62°C.
I considered those temps as too high (my overclocked Northwood 3.2 Ghz never
exceeds 45 °C), but the main reason for changing was the noise.
And it was nice to see that the temps dropped 12°C in idle mode, and 19°C
(!!!) stressed (Seti).
But I agree with you that Matt's 70°C must have another reason, probably
wrong application of thermal paste, fan speed problem or even dust.

 

[DaveW]

Your case is fine. You need a more effective (heavy duty) CPU cooling
system.

 

[Mtmartin71]

Guys,

Just wanted to say thanks for all the feedback and advice. I think the
heatsink is the main culprit and I'm going to try and upgrade that. It
fell and the thermal pad was marred a little bit in one area before I
applied it. I'm also going to try to get the cabling worked out and
look at some thin IDE cables for my 2 HDs and CD-ROM. By the way,
someone asked what the room temp was and it's typically in the 23C(73F)
range in my basement year round.

Suggestions on the best way to clean off the old thermal pad from the
top of the CPU? I think I've used rubbing alcohol via a q-tip before.
Is there a better way?

Thanks,

Matt

 

[kony]

Guys,

Just wanted to say thanks for all the feedback and advice. I think the
heatsink is the main culprit and I'm going to try and upgrade that. It
fell and the thermal pad was marred a little bit in one area before I
applied it. I'm also going to try to get the cabling worked out and
look at some thin IDE cables for my 2 HDs and CD-ROM. By the way,
someone asked what the room temp was and it's typically in the 23C(73F)
range in my basement year round.

Suggestions on the best way to clean off the old thermal pad from the
top of the CPU? I think I've used rubbing alcohol via a q-tip before.
Is there a better way?

If/when rubbing alcohol will cut through it, that is the
best way. Some will not dissolve in alcohol though, in
which case you would use a mild petroleum solvent like
Goo-Gone or whatever you have handy that is safe used on
plastics (to avoid damage to the coating).

 

[Mtmartin71]

Just a quick update. I tried a CoolerMaster Hyper 48. Problem was the
setup and baseplate concept didn't really seem to work when I had to
reuse my heatsink holder form my MSI board. So, I tried a copper based
heatsink I had on a Northwood 2.2, cleaned it up, and threw some
compound on and I'll be darned if it doesn't work. I also got rounded
cables to help airflow. After doing these things, I now idle between
38-40C and when I ran a stress test for 7 minutes, I peaked at 58C.
Seems like I'll be fine as I'm not overclocking. Also, I thought it
was interesting that the lower my CPU temp went, the warmer the case
got. As my CPU temp rose, my case temp dropped.

Matt