Help Picking Fans / Paste

Spacedeck

Spacedeck

Spacedeck

Soldato
Joined
14 Sep 2007
Posts
3,912
Location
West Yorkshire, England
So having my PC run at 100c while working in Lightroom really isn't good, so I'm going to try a couple of things to help out my situation. Add extra fans, change paste and possibly CPU cooler (using stock Intel cooler).

I've only ever run with stock fans, so only have two fans in the front and one at the back. However, it seems I can add either 2 x 140mm or 3 x 120mm fans to the top of the case (https://www.corsair.com/corsairmedia/sys_master/productcontent/obsidian-450D-install-guide.pdf - page 5).

Motherboard is Gigabyte Z97X-UD3H-BK.

I've been browsing OcUK looking for pottential fans to buy. So far I've come up with these;

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £177.96 (includes shipping: £0.00)​
​

Any thoughts on any of these? Or any others to look at? Try keep the price for the fans <£30. The more I save the better. I don't care how they look, I just need something that works.

Also for the paste, I was looking at either

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £11.48 (includes shipping: £0.00)​
​

Thoughts?

I haven't looked at CPU coolers just yet but that's something that may potentially have to wait another few weeks.

Hoping to get something ordered this weekend, so I can sort my PC next week.
 
DoneADougalOnSofa said:
I'm a big fan (groan...) of the Akasa Vipers. PWM control, great airflow and static pressure. The Piranha Air-rippers are great too- I have three of those on my rad and three Vipers on the front intakes- and a Spectre Pro 140mm on rear exhaust.
They're all pretty darn quiet once you get them set up in the Bios too.
Click to expand...

Thanks, the one part I am confused by with the Vipers is they say 3/4 pins? My MB has 4 pin headers.

tamzzy said:
what you need is a new CPU cooler. the stock intel cooler is ****ing ****.
this will give better cpu temps (~30-40c), compared to changing your case fans (0-10c depending on your current setup), or changing the thermal paste (0-3c)
Click to expand...

If you have any you recommend, please tell. I still may add more fans also as it can only improve performance. So lets say I keep the CPU cooler in the price range of 30/40 quid or less, I could potentially still get some extra fans to stick in the case.
 
tamzzy said:
how tall is your ram?
Click to expand...

My basket at Overclockers UK:
Total: £119.99 (includes shipping: £0.00)​
​

These are the ones and searching a little gives me "PCB: Height 1.180"(30.00mm), double sided component". Not sure if this is what you mean? I got this info from http://www.avexir.com/product/blitzspec-ddr3.html.

Should I replace the stock fans I got with the case though? They are 140mm AFL140L at the front and 120mm AF120L at the back.
 
Help. So new CPU cooler installed. Idling around 30c but as soon as I run Prime26.6 temps shoot to 100c.

What could be the issue? Should I reapply the paste again? :(
 
Yep, I took off the radiator but it looks as though the paste hasn't transfered to the radiator heat sink, so might it not be reaching down enough?
 
@DoneADougalOnSofa so I removed the paste and did a small blob as you suggested. So far it's good news, Prime 26.6 now running and currently hit max 81c. Now I'll just put sides back on and leave it running for a hour or so.

Fingers crossed all is now well, will update you later. Thank you.
 
LuckyBenski said:
Are you sure the heatsink base is touching the CPU? Hard to tell if there's thermal paste on both surfaces. Doesn't look right. The paste should be runny or sticky.
Click to expand...

Well this was somewhat thick to spread. The instructions say to spread with the provided plastic spatula. Or in a cross shape however as posted above. Just done it with a single blob.
 
tamzzy said:
81c is still a wee bit too high for a performance cooler. i'd hazard a guess that something isn't quite fitting right tbh (or your overclock/voltages are the issue).
but if it completes an hour of prime torture, then one could be tempted to leave it alone.
Click to expand...

So after running for 1 hour 45 minutes, temps hit a max of 82c but generally was around 78/79c. CPU-Z displays Core Speed as 4398.97 and Core Voltage at 1.154V. Temps idling around 30c.

So could fans improve this further? Or am I looking at CPU cooler which doesn't really fit?

Which I guess leads back to my first post, could it also be the stock fans that are an issue?
 
tamzzy said:
the core volts and speed look ok.

i suggest taking off the heatsink again and seeing if (and how much of) the thermal paste is now smudged on the cooler.
if it doesn't cover (most of) the whole base, then something's mounted not quite right. in which case, take it all off and reassemble...
Click to expand...

Wouldn't that mean I need to reapply the paste yet again?
 
@tamzzy is it safe to clean the CPU heater with the same thing I clean the CPU with? Currently got ArtiClean (from OcUK).

Sorry for noob questions but we all start somewhere.... :o
 
I give up :confused: I made sure to be more generous with the paste this time but temps haven't really budged. Some cores reporting a few degrees lower but I suppose it'll have to do for now until I can think of other solutions. Atleast it isn't hitting 100c anymore.

Could it be the air being fed through the system? As in the amount of air getting in to cool it down?

I think I've used up the Grizzly paste now but might redo it all tomorrow from scratch and use the paste provided with the cooler. See if it makes any changes. If not, I have zero idea what to do.
 
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tamzzy said:
i highly doubt it, but post a pic of the interior of the case with everything mounted as is please?
at least we can have a look to exclude it
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Sure, http://imgur.com/a/iZ22iVK collection of photos due to location but you should get the general idea. Front two fans bringing air in, fan on back pushing air out.

ETA: Fans are spinning at around 820 (I think might be front two fans) and 970 (back fan?). CPU fan running at 1040 which I believe is the max.
 
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tamzzy said:
that looks absolutely fine to me. you can try increasing the rpm of the front fans to see if it'll help with better airflow?

i highly doubt that spending more on extra case fans would help with the temps.
Click to expand...

Set them to run at full speed and pretty much zero difference. Both spinning at 1150 RPM. If the CPU cooler IS making contact with the CPU as shown previously, what does that leave? Trying different thermal pastes?
 
LuckyBenski said:
TBF the top of your IHS looks quite scratched and I'm not sure the chip or the heatsink were particularly clean from those photos. You're aiming for spotless, no previous paste, no finger grease, nothing at all on there.

But I doubt it would make more than a few degrees' difference really :confused:
Click to expand...

Is this bad?
 
@LuckyBenski ah okay. Running Prime is the worst case scenario isn't it? As in my PC would / should never get to the point where its stressed under the same pressure?

I really don't think I'll try to delid just yet as I just couldn't afford to replace if anything went wrong. Will keep an eye on temps though and hope they don't shoot up to 90/100c anymore.

After more money comes my way, I may just look at upgrading the system.
 
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