opteron cooling

patrick_f · 18 Feb 2006 at 19:08

Hi

Planning a new build based on a opteron 170, Asus A8N32-SLi Deluxe nForce4 SLi X16 Mother board, & an ATI x1900 graphics card (not sure which one yet).
Need a decent heatpipe cooler so as to optimize the 170. Any recomendations which to go for to give a reasonable balance of performance to noise, & room required to physically fit the motherboard.. I am a complete noob to AMD kit, all my previous builds being Intel, so any advice greatfully received.

cheers

Dreadi · 18 Feb 2006 at 19:12

i got the artctic freezer pro 64 and with the window open it keep my 144 at 2.65 at 35 degrees whilst running prime on a small for 2 hours so it gets my vote

mattup · 18 Feb 2006 at 20:05

I replaced a Zalman 9500 with an Si120 with Vantech stealth fan. My temps dropped from 41C-34C idle and 55c-44C load. A dual core cpu will run warmer than a single core cpu, so only take note of posts from people who quote temps when using a dual core cpu.

Matt

easyrider · 18 Feb 2006 at 22:19

mattup said:
I replaced a Zalman 9500 with an Si120 with Vantech stealth fan. My temps dropped from 41C-34C idle and 55c-44C load.

ummm....

thats a big drop.The zalman 9500 is a great cooler I think you didnt have it seated right.

The SI 120 is certailnly not 10 c cooler either

warnea1984 · 18 Feb 2006 at 22:35

I've got my 170 opteron, using a Akasa Evo 33, at 2.5Ghz and 1.3v, I get 39-41C at idle and 42-44 at load, it a great cooler but can be a little noisy at times, still excellent cooling

Explicit · 18 Feb 2006 at 22:54

I'd go for an SI-120 with an Akasa Ultra Quiet 120mm fan and a dab of Arctic Silver 5

mattup · 19 Feb 2006 at 00:41

easyrider said:
ummm....

thats a big drop.The zalman 9500 is a great cooler I think you didnt have it seated right.

The SI 120 is certailnly not 10 c cooler either

Having read your post. I put a straight edge across the contact area of the removed Zalman. To my disbelief I found the Zalman only flat in one direction that being the shortest length. Across the length of the contact area I found the surface to be slightly proud in the middle and roughly a 0.012" gap at each end.This I believe is the reason for my poor temps.

I read a review of the Zalman on another site and they found the same thing with the contact area.

The strange thing was it was fine on my old 3700 cpu. I can only think that any seating issues would be exagirated with a dual core cpu due to the extra heat generated.

I am far more comfortable now, than I was with my Zalman on my opti.

Matt

Minstadave · 19 Feb 2006 at 01:36

Yeah I remember when the 9500 came out there were a lot of problems with performance due to uneven bases.