Speeding up slow Sharkoon 1000s? And thermal paste question.

[acrobat]

So my temperature worries with my PC turn out to not be TOO bad. Its running at safe temperatures according to a bunch of people on other forums. But with this Arctic Cooling 7 Pro..... other people are running their chip - overclocked - at lower temperatures than I am running mine at stock speeds

I know its fitted properly, I just think something is letting me down.

So without spending money on stuff I have already just bought brand new.... I am thinking about my options. I want to overclock the CPU but its not going to work at the current temps. When my room is really cold, I am 5-10 degrees lower than normal. But I have to wear 10 pairs of socks. So I am thinking that maybe my case fans are an issue. Or is a hot room always going to create a hot case? So anyway, 2 questions:

1) My Sharkoon 1000's dont move much air at all - even at maximum speed. Is there any way to make them run faster than their usual maximum speed? I dont care about making them louder. I just want to know if they can be over volted or something to spin like nutters? If not, I will just have to put a pair of brand new Sharkoon 1000's in the bin, and buy another pair of case fans with bigger air flow

2) Would faster case fans really make a difference, if my room temperature is toasty warm? I know moving more air is better... but would faster fans just move more warm air? Or would that be likely to cool my PC down a bit? Even 5 degrees would make a big difference.

3) I am using Akasa ProGrade 5022 thermal compound. Does anyone know if I would be better off with something like Arctic Silver 5? If so, how many degrees difference am I likely to see? Just wondering if this was the wrong choice of compound.

Thanks all.

(My only other option is to buy a new heatsink+fan, incase I just made my current one too loose after fitting it a million times and one screw up where I bent the plastic pins. Its just that i took the motherboard out, and I could see the white pins all the way though the holes and it looked like its fitted pretty solidly to me)

[alexpollard]

Hi There.

What case do you have? I am using two Sharkoon 1000's (120mm) in my Antec P150 and the stock cooler and have my E6600 at 3Ghz with the temp at about 60 at full load. I believe this is acceptable...

I have a Freezer 7 which should be delivered today so I can let you know what it drops to.

I always use the Arctic Silver and seems to give good results. Replaced the crap stuff on my GPU with it and it really did lower the temps.

P.S. A hot room will always give you a toasty case and a fan will never lower the ambiant temperature, just move the hot air away from the internals. If you are blowing hot air over components they will never cool.

[amjedm]

1. I would recommend you sell the 1000 fans (ebay or forum) and get the 2000 fans (I don't have any experience of the 2000 ones though). Another option is the Yate Loon M (medium) speed fans.

2. Faster fans IMO won't make much difference as the intake will be pushing in hot/warm air and it will only get warmer before exiting.

3. I'm using the Arctic compound after seeing a comparison (it beat Arctic Ceramique) but I'm not too bothered by temps although I think my cpu runs slightly warm. Have you tried reapplying the compound to check if you'd put too much on?

[frosty15]

Acrobat,

With regards to thermal paste/compound, Pro Grade is actually rated 1°C better than AS5.

With regards to case cooling, 36.7cfm is by no way a large volume of air, but I guess when you originally bought them you favoured quietness over airflow. If you decide to replace your fans, here are some decent, not too expensive, options - http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=FG-000-XI
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=292216
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Produ...oductID=147111

What I would suggest first though, is a little cable management, quite often it isn't the fans which aren't doing their job right, it's the restriction in airflow due to cabling. By routing the cables to increase the dynamic of the airflow your temps can drop quite a bit.
Regular cleaning of the fans/filters can also be of benefit as they get clogged with gunk.
Finally, have a look at the proximity between the back of the case and its closest surface. Moving the case slightly away from the wall/back of desk, can not only improve the exhausting of warm air, but can actually lower the operating temp of the psu. Another benefit is that in the cases of temp controlled psu fans, it will reduce additional noise as they won't be active as much.

Hope this helps.

[amjedm]

frosty15, do you have any experience of the Xilence fans or are you relying on manufacturer figures?

acrobat - the last fan frosty15 has recommended is in the same league as the Sharkoon 1000 IMO, I had one of the Coolermasters and have put it in a psu.

The other advice from frosty is good.

[frazered]

the ac pro seems to have few duff reports of recent - may be worth a change? what arethe stock cooler temps with your cpu?

re fans - sounds like you should probably get shot of them if you feel they are not delivering the airflow you need

[frosty15]

do you have any experience of the Xilence fans or are you relying on manufacturer figures?

No I don't personally have experience of Xilence fans, it appears from browsing, that whenever they are suggested people knock them without any evidence.

It was a suggestion, not a recommendation.

Perhaps Hexus would be kind enough to review them!

[amjedm]

No I don't personally have experience of Xilence fans, it appears from browsing, that whenever they are suggested people knock them without any evidence.

It was a suggestion, not a recommendation.

Perhaps Hexus would be kind enough to review them!

The figures do look a bit suspect though (Xilence) - 68cfm at 22dba, when a Nexus does 37-41 at 22dba?

Xilence claimed they sent some fans to SPCR but these were not received. They were going to send some more but no sign of them AFAIK.

[fishboy25uk]

I'd have a look at the case first because this could well be an airflow problem. I've got an E6400 at 3.2Ghz cooler by a Freezer Pro 7 in an Akasa Zen case. Temps were getting to about 50 idle and 65+ at load, but as soon as I took out a couple of drive bay covers (leaving a large gaping hole in the front) the temps went down to about 44 idle and around 60 load, even with my fans at 65%.

Suffice to say, Akasa Zen going, Antec P180 coming in.

[Reapsy]

Acrobat so what case are you using? And what are your temps atm?

[Papa Lazarou]

Just as a side note I thought the Akasa Zen was pretty good temperature wise.

I built a system for someone recently with one, using a Pentium D 915 & retail cooler. At a mild overclock to 3.4ghz from 2.8, cpu temps were reaching 54 degrees while running Orthos, and idling in the mid 30s. Pretty good I though for the standard cooler considering the Pentium D's are notoriously hot. I had the ducting on the side port pulled right onto the cooler so it was effectively just drawing in air from outside the case.

[acrobat]

Sorry for the late reply all. Had a mad week.

Hi There.

What case do you have? I am using two Sharkoon 1000's (120mm) in my Antec P150 and the stock cooler and have my E6600 at 3Ghz with the temp at about 60 at full load. I believe this is acceptable...

Thats way better than mine. Although, it depends, what are you using to test the temperatures? My case by the way is the Akasa Eclipse 62.

I have a Freezer 7 which should be delivered today so I can let you know what it drops to.

Would love to know!

Have you tried reapplying the compound to check if you'd put too much on?

Yup. Reapplied and also reseated the heatsink and fan about 6 times now. Maybe 7.

Hope this helps.

That did help, thank you

what arethe stock cooler temps with your cpu?

They where almost identical really. Just a couple of degrees difference - which makes me wonder if this Arctic heatsink and fan isnt working properly. The fan is spinning at a good speed and its definitely fitted properly. If I set the fan to maximum speed, the temperatures arent too bad. Its about 5 degrees lower or so. But it sounds like a jumbo jet is taking off in my case

the ac pro seems to have few duff reports of recent - may be worth a change? what arethe stock cooler temps with your cpu?

That would probably be the sensible option for me I think. The stock cooler temps in INTEL-TAT where about 46C idle, and about 65 on load. With the Arctic Cooler, its about 45C idle and about 64 load. So basically 1 degree cooler.


------------edit------------

Do any of you have a Gigabyte DS4? If so, what are you motherboard/system temperatures? Mine is about 40 C and can go up to about 46 max I think, and I cant figure out if that is normal for this motherboard or not... From what I can see on the internet, it seems like it might be far too high But when I take the sides off my case and put my cold hand inside, it all feels cool inside... Theres some warmth coming from the GPU and everything else is frosty cold. Also, my temp drops by a few degrees when the side is on the case, so its making me think the fans are doing a decent job. But is the temperature being read from the northbridge directly or something? If so, is that a normal temperature?

Thanks!

[fishboy25uk]

Just as a side note I thought the Akasa Zen was pretty good temperature wise.

It's just the airflow - for some mad reason they put a front fan in but the only front intake is two small slits at the bottom of the front panel. It's fine if you're at stock but try overclocking and you run into issues quite quickly. Still, you pay £27...