zalman 9500 temps

daven1986 · 6 Jan 2006 at 17:50

UPDATE: zalman 9500 temps

Hi I have an opteron 146 currently at 2.5ghz and a zalman 9500 on full. I only have a few case fans but am getting more however temps do not change with the side panel off.

Temps:
Idle: 40-42
Load: 48-50 degrees celcius

Now to me these seem quite high, and so I touched the top of the heatsink base while my computer read 40 degrees and it didn't seem hot at all. It felt the same temp as the outside of my case. Do you guys think my motherboard temp diode is giving these an incorrect reading, and if so by how much? Im waiting on an infrared thermometer so I can see what temperature my cpu is actually at, but until that comes I just want to make sure it isn't actually running this hot.

I put some arctic silver on it, and lifted up the heatsink to make sure good contact was made, and it was. I have used enough arctic silver to create a shape slightly larger than a 10p in the middle of the IHS after the heatsink has been attached. Which is the amount suggested by the arctic silver application guide (about a grain of rice size).

Any input is greatly appreciated,

Thanks

Daven

Cyber-Mav · 6 Jan 2006 at 18:03

those temps are normal for the zalman, if you want lower temps then your gonna have to get a better cooler.

daven1986 · 6 Jan 2006 at 18:07

so many reviews say they aren't normal though. Normal seems to be around 30 stock, and mine was 35 idle stock and 46 idle load. Some of these are with pentiums which run hot - my temps really should be this high and also when touching the top of the base it isn't hot which it would be at 42 degrees!

Also my athlon 2600+ ran at about 34 degrees idle with an arctic cooling heatsink and fan.

http://techgage.com/review.php?id=3823&page=3
http://www.silentpcreview.com/article267-page4.html
"I got the 9500 about a month ago. It keeps my AMD 64 X2 4400 clocked to 2.4 at around 30-33C idle, and 41-44C under load."
http://www.ocia.net/reviews/cnps9500/page5.shtml
http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/52840/
http://www.insanetek.com/review.php?id=144&page=5
http://www.pro- clockers.com/article.php?id=73&page=4 (remove the space between the "-" and the "clockers")

tuckenator · 6 Jan 2006 at 18:47

They are not normal temps at all. Ive had my opty 146 at 2.8 and temps never broke 40 on load. U must live in an oven.

edit: That isnt even with arctic silver, with the stock stuff comes with the Zalman. And its on the low fan setting

Joebob · 6 Jan 2006 at 19:18

i was getting similar high temps to you but mine was down to running 2 x 6800 ultras in SLi though. So the hot air from these was rising up to the zalman. i knocked 8c off my cpu by adding a fan to the side of my case.

A.N.Other · 6 Jan 2006 at 21:03

Cyber-Mav said:
those temps are normal for the zalman, if you want lower temps then your gonna have to get a better cooler.

Sorry, but that's not true tbh.

I have an overlocked X2 3800+ with AS5 running at 29C idle and 39C loaded. That isn't even with the fan on full! In comparison with some cheap water cooling systems, the Zalman CNPS9000 is the same as if not better.

What case cooling do you have? I would think that it is probably some sensors playing up though tbh. Are these readings from the BIOS or from software? Just see what the thermometer says and go form there.

Joebob · 7 Jan 2006 at 10:12

daven1986 said:
I only have a few case fans but am getting more however temps do not change with the side panel off.

Taking the side panel off may lower your temps slightly but it's not the same as having a good airflow through the case. You need moving air to carry the warm air away from the CPU etc.

One quick fix I did on my PC at work, when it was overheating during the summer, was to open the side panel and sit an office fan pointing directly at the inside of the system - this proved to be most effective

daven1986 · 7 Jan 2006 at 18:07

well I have just taken delivery of a pci exhaust fan which I will put next to my graphics card (which idles at 50 degrees so maybe that is contributing a bit), also 2 vantec tornadoes to get some airflow

Im gonna put two behind the zalman - should speed things up in there a bit!

This is the reading off the bios (before I upgraded to easybios, msi bios was saying 43 degrees idle), and speedfan, and everest, and mbm5. They all say the same. Will try with an office fan pointing at the side - sounds like fun. But hopefully the extra case fans will make it nice and cool.

Cheers for the input

Daven

Squarehed · 8 Jan 2006 at 08:40

A.N.Other said:
Sorry, but that's not true tbh.

I have an overlocked X2 3800+ with AS5 running at 29C idle and 39C loaded. That isn't even with the fan on full! In comparison with some cheap water cooling systems, the Zalman CNPS9000 is the same as if not better.

My experience is the same. 27C idle and 39C on load with a nice overclock.

daven1986 · 8 Jan 2006 at 11:40

lol these tornadoes are LOUD however it has appeared to drop the temps slightly, 33 idle 46 load. This is obviously better however I want even cooler!! I now have a small exhaust fan removing hot air from my gfx card. Any other ideas?

Thanks

Daven

Logsi · 8 Jan 2006 at 12:10

Whats your case like?? Have you got a front fan?

Ive got one at the front 120mm(all akasa ultra quites, all ultra quite aswell) thats an intake, one on the side 80mm in the middle intake, one on the top outtake 80mm (hot air rises, in theory) and a 120mm at the back right behind my zalman. My enviroment temps at this second in time from just booting up are 25*C-26*C.

Also my temps on my zalman fluctuate quite a bit, it goes from 32 up to 39 idle, i dont no why but its fine. Never gets past 44 load however.

daven1986 · 8 Jan 2006 at 12:12

i have 3 akasa silent at the front, 1 on the side (over the zalman), 1 pci exhaust fan next to graphics card, hiper psu fans, and 2 vantec tornadoes at the back behind the zalman.

Logsi · 8 Jan 2006 at 12:20

Thats some major fans in there!!! What are you case temps like? And since you got those tornadoes in there what are the temps like now?

Also is the air flow good from the front to the back, wries in the way?

daven1986 · 8 Jan 2006 at 12:31

there are hardly any wires in the way, the air flow seems to be almost totally unobstructed (only my round ide cables in the way). With the tornadoes the temps are 33 idle, 46 load. Not sure what case temps are like as i don't have a thermometer or diode in there, however im cold and im next to my computer (bloody loud - had to order a fan controller!!) MSI mobo temp3 says 29 degrees - but i think that is the north/south bridge.

Logsi · 8 Jan 2006 at 12:32

Sounds better now then. Dont think theres much more you can do.

daven1986 · 8 Jan 2006 at 12:43

yep well thanks for all your help guys, I might try and redo the thermal paste one day, but for now it looks good and i'll start OCing a bit more.

Thanks again

Daven

daven1986 · 8 Jan 2006 at 13:50

doesn't the load temp seem a little high? compared to idle?

Joebob · 8 Jan 2006 at 16:19

daven1986 said:
doesn't the load temp seem a little high? compared to idle?

Not really... there are lots of peeps who run theirs much higher than that. Seems about the same as mine is now.

I know what you mean about the noise though, I have an Lian Li case which comes with supposedly silent fans + the Zalman one I fitted on the side and it's really noisey now. My original problem was down to airflow though (due to it being a supposedly noise reducing case) so I rewired all the fans to up them from 5v to 12v - get much much better airflow now but at the cost of noise.

One day soon I may have to make that leap into the world of water cooling!

daven1986 · 8 Jan 2006 at 17:03

yeah same!! the tornadoes are 50db each plus the 4 akasas and the zalman - damnnnnn - you can hear it from downstairs!!! I want my load temps to be lower

though, but we'll see how much they increase when I put this opteron up a few hundred mhz.
yeah i won't venture into water cooling until i can afford a good setup.

could my side intake fan over the zalman be messing up the airflow? ( see above posts for picture of my case) this intake blows onto the zalman intake - could be bad. i might try taking this off - you guys reckon i'd notice any difference?

daven

daven1986 · 8 Jan 2006 at 20:18

ok it raises the temp a little. So the side intake is doing its job, can't wait until i get my thermometer so i can check the actual chip temperature!!

i was thinking of measuring the base of the heatsink, will this give me a pretty good reading?

Thanks

Daven