FCPGA Heatsink/Fan Comparison

[ALBPM]

I got a P3-800, FCPGA last week and have been through a few different Heatsink/Fan combinations.

I started with a Retail(Intel) heatsink/fan and there wasn't much to it. It is small, the fan is small and the clips suck. I could not run above 115MHz FSB with it and the temp (ABIT Thermal Cable) was averaging 50-53 DegC.

I got lucky and found a Thermaltake GORB at a local shop. That brought the temp down to the 48-49 DegC range and I could run at 118MHz FSB for awhile before the system locked up. The clip is scary on the GORB. Even though it is fairly safe for a P3-FCPGA, it sounds and feels rough twisting it on.

Meanwhile, I had ordered an ALPHA PAL35t, a Delta 38 CFM fan and some Arctic Silver Thermal Compound.

Just to do a fair comparison between the GORB and PAL35t, I put some Arctic Silver on the GORB. It brought the Temp down to the 43-45 DegC range at 120 MHz.

I then installed the ALPHA PAL35t with the 26 CFM YS Tech fan and Arctic Silver. The Temp dropped to the 40-42 DegC range at 120 MHz. I was able to post at 133MHz for the first time. It also has a nice easy to use clip.

I then put the Delta 38 CFM fan on the PAL35t. The Temp dropped to the 35-38 DegC range at 120MHz. This fan does make a bit of noise but really gets the job done

I got the ALPHA PAL35t, Arctic Silver and Fans from:
http://www.coolerguys.com/ Very fast service and the only place with the PAL35t in stock at the time(back ordered till August 19) now.

Paul

[This message has been edited by ALBPM (edited 13 August 2000).]

[Jon P. Inghram]

In my case, the rough sound and feel while installing my GORB was the corner of the die breaking off and getting ground up in the thermal compound.

Does anyone know if the PEP66 will fit on a CUBX? If not I'm just going to get the PAL35t.

[ALBPM]

The PEP66 was made to use with a SLOKET only.
The fan sits on the side of the heatsink and not on top. It may not fit on your mobo unless you're using a slot adapter.

Look at the pictures at 2CoolTek.
http://www.2cooltek.com/index.html

Paul

[The PIT]

Whats your room/case temps out of interest.

[xortam]

I agree PIT. I wish people would get in the habit of always posting those ambient temperatures when mentioning their chip temperatures. This would make it easier to compare peoples experiences and help validate the above mentioned experiments. Can we assume, Paul, that the ambient temperatures were constant in all of your tests? Assuming so, its interesting to note the affect each of your changes have on CPU temperature. They really do seem to make a difference when you're pushing the limit. I'll have to play around with this myself some day soon. Paul, what MB are you using with this setup? I take it you didn't need to use a slocket (I would have to on my P2B-S 1.03). Did you have to do anything special to make room for the cooler? So you're running the CPU at 960 MHz? Why did you go with a P3 instead of a Celeron2? I'm trying to justify a new P3 myself.

[Jon P. Inghram]

Yep, I know the PEP66 is intended for Socklets, and I've seen the pictures of it. I was just curious if anyone had tried it on a CUBX, since it seems to cool even better than the PAL35t.

Ambient temp: 97.2f
Case temp: 98f
CPU temp: ~114f

That's after running Prime95 for a little while. Celeron 533A@600, 1.55v.



[This message has been edited by Jon P. Inghram (edited 14 August 2000).]

[ALBPM]

LOL......Guess I wasn't in an Analytical mood yesterday

Room Temp and Case Temp were measured with a Radio Shack Indoor/Outdoor Thermometer. The unit= Room Temp sits on top of the case and the outdoor probe= Case Temp is hanging between the DIMM slots and the CPU.

CPU Temp was measured with the Thermal Cable supplied by ABIT for the BX133-RAID mobo. It is taped with Kapton Film to the PCB on the P3-800 FCPGA and the tip is touching the processor.

The Test- Each consisted of ~1 hour duration. Three rounds of 3DMark2000, three rounds of 3DMark99, three Q2 TimeDemos at 1024X768 and a Pacifico beer for each Test

*I used Arctic Silver for the thermal compound for each test.
** All tests run at (120MHz X 1/3 FSB), P3-800 FCPGA, ABIT BX133-RAID mobo
*** Starting CPU Temp was ~34 DegC or 93.2 DegF by the time Windows loaded and I could see the Mother Board Monitor v4.12 CPU Temp.

Room Temp- ~78 DegF or ~25.5 DegC
Case Temp ~84 DegF or ~28.8 DegC

Results
*********************************************
1. Thermaltake GORB - CPU Temp Range= 43-45 DegC or 109.4-113 DegF
*********************************************
2. ALPHA PAL35t/YS Tech 28 CFM Fan - CPU Temp Range=40-42 DegC or 104-107.6 DegF
*********************************************
3. ALPHA PAL35t/Delta 38 CFM Fan - CPU Temp Range= 35-38 DegC or 95-100.4 DegF
*********************************************

Bottom Line-
The ALPHA PAL35t/Delta 38 CFM Fan stays in my system!!!!!

Anyone want a Thermaltake GORB Cheap!!???!!

email me, will mail to anyone in the US

Paul

------------------
P3-800 @ 980MHz, ABIT BX133, 256MB PC133, MILL G400 MAX-32MB on BNC,
Quantum3D Obsidian2 X-24 on D-sub,IBM Deskstars 18GB ATA/66 and 13.5GB ATA/66,
21"Trinitron,SCSI CDR/RW,SCSI ZIP,SB Live!Value,USR Voice Faxmodem Pro(USB Ext),
Epson 1520 printer,Umax1200S scanner,WN98 all in a Addtronics 7896A case
and a (Not so Messy Desk) ;-P

[This message has been edited by ALBPM (edited 14 August 2000).]

[xortam]

Better, but you forgot to mention the temperature of the Pacificos and their consumption time during each of the tests.

[The PIT]

Other things to take into account is how much the processor is being hit. If it's running at 100% it can really get hot. That's when progs like cpuidle are useless. It certainly looks like Alpha Delta 38 is the biscuit.

[ALBPM]

Room or ambient Temp does make a big difference when using air to cool your system. The afternoon I ran the tests was hot and humid so our swamp cooler wasn't very efficient. Normally our house is around 72-74 DegF.
With this processor I can run as high as 126MHz FSB in the morning when the Temp is closer to 70 DegF. By early afternoon I drop down to 122 MHz due to the lockups caused by the heat. That's with an increase of 6-8 DegF in ambient Temp during the course of the day.

Paul

[Greebe]

Blowhole time, Pauly! ;o)

[The PIT]

Global win tornado case fits the bill. Still if your good with a drill you can do it yourself.

[xortam]

If you really want to make sure you are always running at the max, you need a thermostatically controlled FSB.

So Paul, why the P3 vs. a cheaper Celeron2? You could get it to run at about the same clock speed. Did you see benchmark comparisons or just decide to spend the extra bucks knowing its a better architecture.

[ALBPM]

I wanted the better processor. My system is for work and play. I'm not in the Extreme Overclocker catagory so I stick to the heatsink/fan combo for cooling the processor. I'm happy if my system will run in the 120-124MHz FSB range.

Thermostatically Controlled FSB Sounds like a project for Greebe...

Paul

[The PIT]

Get one of those cases with loads of Fans in.
They keep your case cool and knock another few degrees of that processor as well.