Tag: CPU cooler

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CPU cooler upgrade

A couple months ago, the CPU cooler (one of those closed loop liquid cooling systems) started making weird noises intermittently. Being one of the few original parts left in my computer, I figured that meant it was time for a replacement. There’s not much of a selection for LGA1366 sockets left out there, but I managed to find a NZXT Kraken 120 that worked.

Replacing the cooler was also a good opportunity to give the computer a long overdue cleaning, so out came the air compressor and out went the dust bunnies.

Inside my computer after blowing out the dust. Visible is the power s upply at the bottom, video card, hard drives and the CPU cooler.
Inside my computer after blowing the dust out.

Undoing the four screws releases the retaining ring that clamps the cooler to the CPU, and out it comes. Pretty easy.

The removed CPU cooler and very dusty radiator
The removed CPU cooler and very dusty radiator
The uncovered CPU
The uncovered CPU

After removing the retaining ring, the old thermal paste got cleaned off and fresh thermal paste was applied. The cooling block went on and the radiator was attached.

New cooling block and radiator installed
New cooling block and radiator installed

(Yes, there are two fans on either side of the radiator in a push-pull configuration.)

Unlike the original cooler, the pump for the new one looks to be embedded in the radiator. The CPU cooling block has RGB lighting on it, but my motherboard doesn’t have any headers to plug it in to, so I just zip tied the wire to the hoses to keep them out of the way. Total installation time was about 30 minutes once I figured out which bits I needed to use.

The cooler works pretty well. Under load, the CPU temperatures are about 10°C cooler than they were with the old cooler. I’m quite pleased with the way the new cooler is working.

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CPU cooling

I decided to add a second fan to the radiator of the CPU’s liquid cooler (a pre-filled self contained unit that came with the system) to get a push-pull cooling configuration. The air being blown out the case seemed a little on the warm side, so I figured a second fan would help keep things cooler.

The fan is a Scythe S-FLEX 120 mm case fan (which seems to have been just deactivated on Newegg…maybe I bought their last one). The original radiator fan started buzzing so I purchased one to replace it. Now there are two of them blowing air through the radiator. Really nice fan, very quiet, which is why I bought another one.

Getting more air flow through the radiator now, and the exhausted air feels a little bit cooler.
Then I thought “I wonder what the motherboard thinks the CPU temperature is”. I had never bothered to monitor any of the motherboard sensors before. After a little bit of searching, I installed lm-sensors.

If the output of sensors is to be believed, then the CPU cores at idle are running around 45-47°C.

CoreTemp (°C)
Core 045
Core 146
Core 247
Core 345
CPU temperatures at idle

Seems pretty high to me. I’d have expected something in the 30s.

Starting up the distributed.net client drives up the detected temperature into the high 80s.

CoreTemp (°C)
Core 086
Core 189
Core 283
Core 385
CPU temperatures under load

Whoa. Way high, and much higher than I expected.

So now I’m starting wonder: is the motherboard temperature sensor accurate? Is there a problem with the cooling block? Should I take it off and inspect it? Maybe it’s time for another cooler?

The other thing I need to do is check the temperatures reported by the BIOS to see how it compares. I think a little investigation is in order.

Update: BIOS shows pretty much the same temperature (~47°C). Definitely time for some investigating. These temps just seem a little higher than they should be.

Update 2: A little bit of Google’ing shows that idle temps in the 40s aren’t unusual for the i7-930. My temps are still a little on the high end of the range that I’ve been seeing. Maybe a cooler upgrade is in my future soon. The Corsair H70 looks nice.

Update 3: The second fan seems to be helping. Under distributed.net load, the CPU is running in the low 70s now

CoreTemp (°C)
Core 073
Core 175
Core 271
Core 372
CPU temperatures under load with a second fan on the radiator