Quiet down the x7200

Anyone know of any mods for the CPU to make it more quiet at idle? The GPU fan is actually off at idle, which is awesome, but the CPU fan is a different story. Even when idle the fan is ramping up and down and I thought I would be able to live with it, but probably not It is such a beautiful machine! I guess I am too spoiled with my current desktop which is nearly silent. I code for a living and can't concentrate with the noise, sometimes I jam to music so its not a problem then, but most of the time I don't so I have a problem.

 

I have found some further info, the cpu fan isn't ramping as I thought, it turns out the GPU fan is coming on at 40C, cooling it down to 35C, then as the GPU warms up the cycle repeats. I have also found by cooling the CPU down to an average core temp of around 40C the cpu fan shuts off. I am not sure if this is attainable with a notebook cooler but it might be, with a cooler I should at least keep the GPU in check and remove the ramping sound.

Another test I did is I had the CPU down to 32C at idle, I then enabled prime95 on 8 threads and the temp instantly shot up to 53C, there was no delay at all, this is while 15C cooled air is being sent straight into the cpu fan at a high CFM. Do you think this may point out a problem between the CPU/heatsink interface?

 

What are the max load temps? IMHO, it's perfectly normal to see such jumps at lower temps, as long as the system doesn't reach 85C+ at full load.

 

my max load never went pass 72degrees when playing mass effect on high details..

 

During load my temps were going over 90C, at which point the system throttles the CPU from 3Ghz to 1.55Ghz to reduce the thermal load. I thought this was very odd as I'm running a 950 i7 at stock settings. So I opened the panel covering the CPU/GPU fan area, low and behold whoever configured it made a huge mistake of covering the fan intake on the second CPU fan, instead of the intake on the unused video card slot! The vents and cover are riveted to the plastic so its doesn't appear to be an easy swap of cover and vent. After testing without the CPU/GPU plastic plate on the bottom load temps never passed 80C, dropping load temps a massive 12C, and idle temps by over 6C. All temps are with an ambient temp of 75F or so.

What is your prime95 load temps and ambient temp? Load temp during a game is worthless as many games don't tax the CPU.

 

well i have dual gtx480 and the vent on the second CPU is blocked on all x7200, no matter single or dual GPUs.

i do not have prime installed yet, and you should try crysis on your system that should tax it up quite a notch

 

Turn it off" no serious re-paste the GPU-CPU the GPU's comes with some kind of aluminum foil and is not doing good contact with the core remove that and apply paste only

 

Thanks for the info, why in the world would that fan be covered? Test prime95 out, very easy.

I actually got the IC Diamond Thermal Compound - CPU + GPU upgrade, but perhaps it wasn't done or done incorrectly? Any way to tell?

 

The best indication for an improper thermal paste application is represented by the running temps of the CPU/GPU. You really cant tell much more short of pulling the cooling blocks off and looking at the spread pattern.

At that point you would be re-applying the thermal paste.

 

ok thanks, here are my idle temps with a 950 i7, ambient temp is 79F, CPU is idle at 1591mhz, all stock settings.

Temps for 4 cores 57,54,55,55C
GPU 36-41c

are these normal? i can post my prime95 load temps as well if needed.


fyi ave temps w/o cpu/gpu cover on 56,53,54,54

 

hmm, ambient 79c...are you cooked yet?

I assume you mean 79f (26c)

 

lol yeah 79f

 

A little high, IMHO. I'd repaste it.

 

my gpus are 47 degrees C and 42

my cpu idle temps are high 40's to low 50's.

no problems here

 

We still need the load temps to see if there's a problem.

 

I might repaste it over the weekends, since I had opt for stock thermal paste and it's hovering at 53 ~ 61 on idle.

 

i put as5 on mine when i put her together.

 

Sure thing, prime95 100% load all cores its hovering around 92,91,88,89C. Ambient temp 79F/26C.

 

That's hot. I'd surely repaste it and follow Speedy's advice. The cooling on this beast should be capable of keeping the temps below 80-85C in Prime95.

 

my 980X is good at 40~52

..............I have a X25M for OS but................
other 2 WD5000BEKT HDDs get 54~55C after booting up a while(just surf internet,without reading/writing on it,without RAID)= =|||
whats yours HDD temp???

 

i have some MX-3 Left from my previous re-paste on my old dell inspiron. will try it and see how it work.

 

85C is about the right max temp for Primes (that's what we see with MX3 on the CPU) but ambient temp does make a difference to the max load temps. I've see higher temps at 90C+ but that's with Primes and the 3D06 CPU tests running simultaneously so under more extreme load.

On the GPUs, again we apply MX3 and if you have the option from your supplier I would recommend getting this over the stock thermal solution. You'll see a good reduction in load temps but nothing that's necessary for the stability of the system. Also FYI check with your reseller before removing the stock paste because it might invalidate your warranty!

 

Thanks for the info.

 

Replacing the stock thermal paste will in most cases yield better results, provided a higher quality compound is used together with a better application method/less sloppy job. From my personal experience, MX-3 is a little bit messy and more difficult to apply/clean than, let's say, AS-5 or OCZ Freeze. In the end it's up to you, but most good quality solutions will help a few degrees.