The Official Cooling Thread!

ATI drivers are poor, nvidia drivers are poor. It's as simple as that, I would never rate a company on the standard of their drivers as they're both abysmal.
Oh and Russ? Last time I checked A/C Compressors for cars were run directly off the engine so they can only function when it's running. Only the heater and blowers are run electrically.
You are, however, right that A/C consumes a lot of power - when the A/C is engaged in a car the engine control ECU raises the engine speed to compensate for the increased drain.

 

theonejrs:
Thanks for the advice. I too live in SoCal, the average for my area is only ~100F, but I don't have AC because its too expensive to run so my room is another story.
This weekend I'll see what a negative static air pressure can do for my temps. My case is the NZXT Zero, though I almost got the cooler master and almost wish I did since it works so well for you.

Parker

 

sammorris,

I was speaking about the temperature environment that the Igloo cooler was running in, driving down the road with the AC on!

eparker89,
Fool around with the direction of the airflow. I know it's a pain but the only way you are going to find out is try. The only way that negative air pressure will help is if there's some static air vents on the case itself. One of these days someone will actually design a case that has some flexible ducting or baffles of some sort where you can direct some of that air drawn it through the static vents to help cool hot spots. Ideally, a case should be sort of a wind tunnel where air flows over everything or is designed to use the air drawn in through the static vents more effectively. It's taken me months to get my cooling to where I'm happy with both the cooling and the noise. I tried out a number of fans before I settled on the Silverstones for their relative quietness and cooling.

Here's my fan speeds and temperatures. It's exactly 80F in here right now!



The computer has been on since yesterday morning so it's thoroughly warmed up. The fans move about 100 cfm of air at those speeds and while not silent, it is quiet. I don't mind a little noise just as long as it's not annoying. You expect a computer to make a little noise!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

theonejrs:
From my understanding negative static air pressure should drop temps, even if just a little, on its own since its a partial vacuum. I have one static air vent on the bottom of the case though its position is not ideal for cooling the cpu. Though if I remove the top fan I can create a second static vent on the top which is in a slightly better position. Anyway, like you said, I'll never know what works until I try.

Parker

 

eparker89,

That's not quite true! The partial vacuum is so slight, that it does very little. It's all about the airflow. All the partial vacuum does is force air to be drawn in through any static air vents or openings in the case, which adds cooler air to the mix. It's slightly cooler than air that's compressed by a fan.

Best Regards,
Russ

 

would lapping a zalman 9500 at / led cooler help at all or does the cooler just s**k?
-thanks

 

It would help a lot if you lapped the Cooler AND the CPU so they both have a flat surface to use.

 

even if my q6600 and e6300 are already flat?
-thanks

 

Well not really. It's about as flat as your heatsink. This is a flat CPU.

 

You will certainly gain from doing this, but you'll also gain just as much by getting a more powerful cooler. The 9500 isn't that bad, but it's not wonderful.

 

Yeah but if he has a lapped CPU then that new powerful heatsink can be lapped for optimal performance.

I personally wouldn't risk it though. Lappped CPU= No warranty


So just try lapping your Zalman. It should help your temps a bit. Not too much but a little bit.

 

I will try that this weekend....tests this whole week.
Anyway, do you know where I can find 2500 grit and 3000 grit?
I know shiny doesn't help temps but I like shiny things, hehe.
The sandpaper I already have:
200 grit
400 grit
600 grit
800 grit
1000 grit
1500 grit
2000 grit
-thanks

 

i think 2000 grit would probably suffice.

 

Hell even 2000 grit is overkill. If you make it too fine then it will make your temps go up. The point is to make a flat surface, not a 100% mirror finish. If you make the surface extremely flat then the thermal paste particles wont really bond and efficiently transfer the heat.

 

wouldn't it be better if i lap them to 3000 grit (both the cpu and heatsink) and then use an extremely small amount of thermal paste?

 

No. Use up to a max of 1600 grit and then use the normal amount of paste.

 

Yeah, it doesn't matter if you use a small amount of thermal paste. The particles are still too big to fit the surface and wont transfer heat as well. Stick to your 1500 grit paper, MAYBE do 2000, but not any more.

 

ok, now i see what you mean
the particles of the thermal paste will be too large to fit in the non-existing "hills" on the copper
ok then, 1500 grit it is!
thanks guys!

 

Yeah kinda like that. Lapping just makes the scratches really small so your eye can't really see them. When the scratches are too small the particles don't fit inside of them.

 

so it gets squeased out the sides?