What's this...another cooling thread, surely not....

[mycarsavw]

I have;

Coolermaster Cavalier 3 case with;

Front - Xilence XPF80R Red Wing 80mm Quiet Fan
Rear - Xilence XPF120R Red Wing 120mm Quiet Fan

E6300 using stock cooler
P5B Deluxe/WIFI

All running at factory settings

While playing Project Reality the other evening I started to get a warning siren type sound. I put this down to the fact that we were losing tickets very quickly. We then lost but the noise continued. After switching back to the desktop I found Asus Probe was showing the CPU temp as 45C and the Mobo temp as 51C.

The two case fans running at full speed (1200 rpm front 1500 rpm rear from memory) using a Scythe Kama-Meter and the CPU cooler is set to run in performance mode (2500 rpm) via AI Suite.

The system idles at around 40C for the CPU and 45C for the mobo. From lots of research this seems to be about average.

Is the warning siren set for too low a temp or is there an issue? It was a particularly warm evening and the machine is on the floor quite close to a wall.

Is it advisable/possible to add another fan to the side panel of the case? It currently has a plastic flute thingy and a drilled grille, but no fan. Would this be an exhaust or an inlet?

Should I upgrade the stock cooler to something more substantial?

Is there another way to cool the mobo? Maybe add cooling to the NB or SB? If so what is the recommenced method?

Sorry for the idiot questions, but I want to get this right first time.

[danroyle]

dont use asus probe use coretemp for your cpu as asus probe is a bout as accurate as pissing in the wind

secondly yes a fan over the northdridge would help

third your temps dont seem that high to me a little high on the mobo but cpu at 45c would be fine wah t about graphics temps

[Biscuit]

I have;

Coolermaster Cavalier 3 case with;

Front - Xilence XPF80R Red Wing 80mm Quiet Fan
Rear - Xilence XPF120R Red Wing 120mm Quiet Fan

E6300 using stock cooler
P5B Deluxe/WIFI

All running at factory settings

While playing Project Reality the other evening I started to get a warning siren type sound. I put this down to the fact that we were losing tickets very quickly. We then lost but the noise continued. After switching back to the desktop I found Asus Probe was showing the CPU temp as 45C and the Mobo temp as 51C.

The two case fans running at full speed (1200 rpm front 1500 rpm rear from memory) using a Scythe Kama-Meter and the CPU cooler is set to run in performance mode (2500 rpm) via AI Suite.

The system idles at around 40C for the CPU and 45C for the mobo. From lots of research this seems to be about average.

Is the warning siren set for too low a temp or is there an issue? It was a particularly warm evening and the machine is on the floor quite close to a wall.

Is it advisable/possible to add another fan to the side panel of the case? It currently has a plastic flute thingy and a drilled grille, but no fan. Would this be an exhaust or an inlet?

Should I upgrade the stock cooler to something more substantial?

Is there another way to cool the mobo? Maybe add cooling to the NB or SB? If so what is the recommenced method?

Sorry for the idiot questions, but I want to get this right first time.

I have the older cavalier case and i have very similar problems with my Asus A8N 32-SLI D. Goes up to temps of around 53 degrees. I have tried changing the heatpaste, drilling holes in the front of the case to allow fresh air in, fitting a 1000rpm sharkoon to the grille down the bottom above the nb chip and although it seemed to help a little its still not great. Im going to try a 2000RPM fan instead and if that doesnt work its new case time for me. Overall this case hasnt been amazing. Its fairly spacious and robust but it has proved slightly awkward to improve the cooling.

I personally think for me it might be because i have 3 hard-drives and an 8800gts (ie radiator) in the case. Dont think there was an issue with my old x1950 + zalman Vf900

[mycarsavw]

dont use asus probe use coretemp for your cpu as asus probe is a bout as accurate as pissing in the wind

secondly yes a fan over the northdridge would help

third your temps dont seem that high to me a little high on the mobo but cpu at 45c would be fine wah t about graphics temps

Coretemp doesn't seem to work for me.

Any recommendations for a NB cooling fan?

I've also just booted up again and it would appear I over estimated my idle temps;

45C CPU and about 40C mobo - I could use a temp probe but is there any other way to measure GPU temps?

I have the older cavalier case and i have very similar problems with my Asus A8N 32-SLI D. Goes up to temps of around 53 degrees. I have tried changing the heatpaste, drilling holes in the front of the case to allow fresh air in, fitting a 1000rpm sharkoon to the grille down the bottom above the nb chip and although it seemed to help a little its still not great. Im going to try a 2000RPM fan instead and if that doesnt work its new case time for me. Overall this case hasnt been amazing. Its fairly spacious and robust but it has proved slightly awkward to improve the cooling.

I personally think for me it might be because i have 3 hard-drives and an 8800gts (ie radiator) in the case. Dont think there was an issue with my old x1950 + zalman Vf900

That doesn't give me hope! Good to see I'm not alone though.

[mycarsavw]

Coretemp doesn't seem to work for me.

Any recommendations for a NB cooling fan?

I've also just booted up again and it would appear I over estimated my idle temps;

45C CPU and about 40C mobo - I could use a temp probe but is there any other way to measure GPU temps?

Shameless self bumping

[Clunk]

Are you on vista x64? click on the troubleshooting guide and see number 10 if you are

[mycarsavw]

Are you on vista x64? click on the troubleshooting guide and see number 10 if you are

Bah, and if I'm not?

[Clunk]

Dunno, it worked for me with P5B and xp32/vista32.

[mycarsavw]

Dunno, it worked for me with P5B and xp32/vista32.

http://forums.hexus.net/showpost.php...52&postcount=4 <- is the link in your sig for troubleshooting

Point 10 says - "10. On the P5K -
If you have a separate PCI RAID card, and are experiencing problems with drive detection, try disabling legacy USB."

I have 32bit Vista Home Premium and a P5B.

Think I may be confused :?

[Clunk]

I apologise for my number blindness and your tunnel vision

Its number 12 I meant, but as thats for vista 64 anyway, it doesnt matter

[mycarsavw]

Gotcha!

When Clunk tells you to look at 10, you look at 10 and only 10.

While you're here in my humble thread, you stressed the P5B wifi (I always type wife, then have to correct it). What cooler did you use or do you recommend?

I'm now starting to see the stock one is naff and should be replaced but at the time of buying I was a little too excited with getting a new rig to see past these sort of things.

[Pob255]

You can remove the heat duck from the side pannel and stick an 80mm fan on there, have it blowing as that should blow onto the stock cpu cooler (don't want it sucking air against the pull of the cpu cooler)

One quick check is look at the cpu cooler, the stock cooler can build up a mat of dust on the top of it (just below the fan) which greatly restricts the air flow across the heatsink.
Although 45 on the cpu under load should be fine

51 on the motherboard is more worring.
I sure Clunk or someone else with a P5B can tell you temps, but 51 at stock without overclocking seem to be far too high to me.

[Clunk]

Gotcha!

When Clunk tells you to look at 10, you look at 10 and only 10.

While you're here in my humble thread, you stressed the P5B wifi (I always type wife, then have to correct it). What cooler did you use or do you recommend?

I'm now starting to see the stock one is naff and should be replaced but at the time of buying I was a little too excited with getting a new rig to see past these sort of things.

I only used the stock cooler, water cooling and a Thermalright SI-120 on the P5B.

Depending on what you want to do, any of the big air coolers should do you fine, starting with the arctic cooling one, right up to the Thermalright Extreme 120.

I always recommend dumping the heatpipe cooler and grabbing a zalman passive heatsink for the NB and a set of ramsinks for the mosfets as well.

[mycarsavw]

I guess I have some clearance measuring to do and some lists to compile - thanks a lot so far, no doubt I'll be back to bug you later.

[Biscuit]

I always recommend dumping the heatpipe cooler and grabbing a zalman passive heatsink for the NB and a set of ramsinks for the mosfets as well.

Wish i cud do this aswell but the damn typhoon is in the way

[acrobat]

Coretemp doesn't seem to work for me.

Any recommendations for a NB cooling fan?

I've also just booted up again and it would appear I over estimated my idle temps;

45C CPU and about 40C mobo - I could use a temp probe but is there any other way to measure GPU temps?



That doesn't give me hope! Good to see I'm not alone though.

1)You might like to get "Intel Thermal Analysis Tool" (Intel TAT), which is very accurate at checking your CPU's temperature.
There are others, but that one is about the best for intel CPU's. Theres lots of other software to check the temperature of other components too, although its hard to say which one will work perfectly for you. The latest version of SpeedFan for example, works great for some people and not so great for others. But its free, so if you wanted to get that and then tell us the temps, it should be easy to tell if they are accurate or not. Mine are bang on.


2) I tried adding a fan to my northbridge, and it actually made the temps WORSE by about 2 degrees. The reasion for this (im assuming), is because it disrupted the air flow in the case. I think its more important to have a steady, smooth, flow of air, over all your components, that then gets sucked out of the case eventually. Rather than having a strong breeze on one specific part - which maybe causes a little tornado style loop in the air flow which disrupts the steady flow. So thats what I think happened to me, and my temperature went up by one or two degrees. So its important that the flow of air is steady and uninterrupted, and then its cruicial that it gets sucked out of the PC in the best place. (Usually the top rear of the case).

If there is a grille/gap in your case with no fan in, you could probably tell whether the air is sucking in, or blowing out of that hole, by resting a piece of tissue paper over the hole. If it flutters then its likely got air coming out of the hole. If it sucks against the side, then the air is sucking in. It all just depends on the pressure inside the case. If you have more air flow (from more, or better or faster fans) coming in, than going out, then the air pressure in the case will be high and air will be coming out of that extra hole. Its best to try to keep the pressure in the case, as even as possible. With an 80mm on the front, sucking air in, and a bigger 120 on the back, I would guess that the pressure is low, so bits of air is getting sucked in that side hole. But its impossible to say without knowing the cfm (cubic feet per minute) of the fans. One way you can check if your case is providing good air flow or not, is to just take the sides off. If the temperature goes up, then it was doing an ok job. If the temps go down... then it was doing a bad job because a case should be cooler inside when its all sealed up, than having no sides on at all. Sorting out the air flow in a case is easy though anyway.


3) You can actually get a heatsink for the NB with no fan at all. This might be beneficial because its silent, doesn't use any power, and like I said above, it won't disrupt air flow. If you had access to a spare fan, you could hang one in your case, pointing at the NB, and that would tell you if it helps or hinders the temps. And if not, you could consider buying one of the small NB heatsinks. They basically just stick onto the NB and absorb the heat and then dissipate the heat.


4) Really though, your temperatures sound ok to me. So unless they are being read wrong, I would guess they are ok, and if there are any warning alarms, its probably because the alarm warning is set too low, or the temp sensors aren't reading the temps properly. 51C for a motherboard under load, isn't too bad. They can usually cope with a lot more than that. I wouldn't LIKE them being more than that, but it should be stable at that point anyway. I think if your PC is stable, then your temps are probably fine. Usually if your temps get dangerously high, a PC will hang, or shut itself down, or slow itself down and games will start to stutter. So if its working fine, then that means its probably ok. Its worth testing the temps with more reliable software though, just to be completely sure that you have no temp problems.


5) That temp of your CPU looks ok too by the way. Although it depends on what part of the CPU is being tested, and in what circumstances. If thats the surface temp, then its about average or so. If that was the core temperature though (the hottest, middle part of the chip), then thats probably a decent temperature. Infact, if this is under heavy load, 45C is quite good.
By the way, that "intel TAT" program, will not only show you the temperature of each core, but it lets you push the CPU to its maximum load, and really stress it. Then you can see how hot it gets when its stressed to its peak of stressed-ness.


6) You can test your Nvidia graphics card temperature by using actual Nvidia software called nTune. You can get it from nvidia.com.

First make sure you have the latest drivers, and then get that nTune and install it. It basically just improves your Nvidia control panel and gives you more options. So when you go to your control panel --> display, or when you right click your desktop and do "nVidia Control Panel", it will open the control panel with many more options. One of them should be "Monitor Temperature Levels". The software is actually quite good and should show you the temp of your card, and then you can actually set little alarms at specific temperatures. So you can tell it to sound an alarm if it reaches 80C or whatever. It would be worth googling your video card to find out what temperatures are normal for it though.