Cooling FAQ
Author: Klondikekit
I'm not sure how much you are aware of cooling issues but I can list some things things here you can look into. You may already be aware of all of this, but if not here is a list of things you can do to help drop thoes temps...
1. Athlons run hot normally and the HSF needs to have a good lapped surface. Lapping is the process of making the surface of your heatsink that comes in contact with the processor die, perfectly flat and polished smooth. Also a dual fan heatsink setup can be helpful. 2 low speed, (4000rpm), high volume fans are much, much more efficent than 1 high speed (5900+rpm) and copper makes the best thermal transfer.
2. The thermal grease should be applied so thin you can see the text on the top of the processor die. Use a new, strait razor to remove the majority of the grease from both the die and the bottom of the heatsink. If the heatsink is lapped properly, it should really need almost none at all
3. The tower should have at least 3 fans.. intake in the bottom front, exhaust directly across (beside)the HSF in the rear of the tower and the power supply itself. The rear exhaust fan should be at least 38cfm minimum. The name of the game with the case fans is volume, not speed. A good deep pitch blade fan should be used directly across (or beside) the CPU and HSF mounted to the back of the tower. I recommend an AC powered fan, they are twice as strong with half the noise and pull no DC power from the power supply. Radio Shack has an good selection of high volume 3 inch AC fans. You can wire it to the rear power supply switch.
4. With the exception of the HSF, it is best not to connect any of the fans to the motherboard headers and instead use a completely free hard drive power cable for any remaining fans, including the video card. Power supply current draw is critical with the A7V and if the power supply is stressed, the CPU can actually run hotter, just from low current. It is not uncommon for a cpu to actually run hot from too many or to large of a fan system powered by the same supply as the motherboard.
5. With a standard ATX tower a vent can be added to the very bottom, rear side of the tower, on the side that covers the motherboard. A 3 inch tall by 12 inch long vent running across the bottom in this position will allow the high volume exhaust fax to draw fresh air in through the vent and pull it across the PCI cards cooling them as well.
6. If you plan on clocking out the video, the video card should have a small DC fan (radio shack) on the chipset heatsink and you can attach TO-220 transistor heatsinks to the memory chips.
7. The clock chip located beside the ATA66 IDE connector can have a 5 watt, TO-220 heatsink attached to it. If you run a very high FSB, putting a small heatsink and fan on this chip instead of the transisitor heatsink may net you some extra stability and a meg or two higher in overclock.
8. You can remove the green heatsink from the KT133 chipset and add a thin layer of thermal grease but I wouldnt put a fan on that chip, it really doesnt need fan cooling. The thermal grease should be enough.
9. Loom the power cables behind the motherboard or at least out of the front of the board and loom the excess IDE cables into a spare CDROM port. Keep the entire face of the motherboard as free of cables as possible, including the lower intake fan area and power supply air vent areas.
10. Make sure your fans can breath. If the tower has holes drilled in a pattern for the rear fan, cut or punch out the entire diameter of the fan throat and use an externally mounted thin wire grill instead... One of these items can net you a degree or two, all of them will net you a much cooler system. For the most part, it is better to get the hot air out of the case than it is to pump air in...
hope this helps
-Klondikekit
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