new hsf - high temps still

[FastGame]

Thor is correct you need to get the air flow right so the heat from GFX, Norhtbridge chip, capacitors & ram is exiting the case and not rising to the cpu. If your PS fan and case fan are higher than the HSF then they are sucking the hot air across the CPU sink

[phishhead]

plus gotta take into consideration the weather. because we just now got some sun for the first time in weeks and my cpu temp just jumped from 40 to 45c why not cut a hole in the side of the case and throw that ac tube in there. could even make a fan duct so it blows directly on the cpu itself

[lynchknot]

I removed the modem. I hope that's ok. I don't use it and it was right under the video card blocking the fan. I think i was in error. My temps before were around 54c - right now i'm seeing 48 - but it's nighttime now.

The air concitioning does not turn on unless it's nearly unbearable - like over 80 in the house.

[lynchknot]

Pic of my pc before new HSF and wire clean-up. Maybe i'll cut out the holes the rear fan is mounted to - for better air flow (i notice some backdraft). That Ti4400 sure throws alot of heat.

[phishhead]

I would put 2 intakes in the from and do you see in the picture where all your pci slots are you could cut that out and fit another exhaust there to suck out all the hot air from the vid card. give me some more pics of the case so I can see some more improvements that can be done.

[lynchknot]

I took the extra drive bay covers off and put an 80mm intake fan there. The cpu is at 116F right now - but it's only 79F in this room at the moment.

[Thor]

Here's what you need.



Introduction and Features
It's time for us at Littlewhitedog to have a look at something new. We recently got our paws on an Ahanix Iceberg 1 Water Cooling Kit from our good friends at MPCParts. This kit is currently selling in the $90-115 USD range making it a budget water-cooling kit. It comes with everything you need to have a functional water-cooled system, except the water of course. Before we look into this kit, let's look at the features as reported by the sponsor: Ahanix Iceberg 1 Water Cooling Kit Features:
Operates silently
Fits inside your existing PC case
Superior performance to air cooling systems
Fits AMD Socket A and Intel Socket 370/423/478
Takes only a few minutes to install, even for novices


The Concept
The concept of using water to cool your computer is not all that different from how the engine in your car is cooled. It is pretty simple to understand, there is a reservoir that holds the fluid to cool the cpu, it is pumped into a block that is attached to the cpu, the heat transfers from the cpu to the block and the water absorbs a fair amount of the heat that is produced. The heated water is then passed into a radiator where it is cooled down with the help of a fan. In theory water-cooling should provide more efficient cooling than a standard air-cooled solution with minimal noise. Water-Cooling is something that is routinely used by Over-Clockers for the benefits of a higher overclock when directly compared to traditional air-cooled systems. It can also be used in situations where low noise production is a priority. One such example of this is in a Home-Theater PC (HTPC), I will discuss this in detail further on.

The Kit
This is the box the way it was when it arrived at my door. Nothing fancy, It's just to hold what's inside. After opening the box and removing all the packaging materials, this is what you are left with. A bunch of parts that will first need to be assembled before you can put the kit into use. I will cover all the major parts seperately before I discuss the assembly of the kit. A quick glance of the instructions made me realize that they were not in english but in "Engrish", I threw them aside and ignored them. There is also some double sided tape and what appears to be a pad for the reservoir/pump to rest on to quiet some of the vibrations, I threw that aside as well as I wasn't interested in installing this permantly if it did not perform as I hoped.





The waterblock itself isn't overly impressive, it is made of an alloy that is about 95% aluminum and 5% copper. From the top you can see no visible method of attatching it to the CPU socket, more on this later. From the top you can see the two hose barbs where the input and the output lines will attatch to, they are for 3/8" lines. From the bottom the base appears to be relatively smooth, the riser where it sits over the socket being visible. A more detailed look at the bottom shows that the block has been beat up rather severly and there are several large dings in it. Fortunately none of the dings were at the location the die of the CPU would make contact with the block. I chose not to take the time to lap the block seeing as the die contact area seemed quite smooth.







The method for attatching the block in a Socket-A setup seemed to me at first to be very ineffective. This was because the clip is actually in two pieces and seems quite flimsy once you put it together. Once I installed the block on my CPU using the clip, I regained confidence in it. I found that it held to the socket very firmly and I would not need to worry about it. In fact the clip held so good, I had a difficult time removing it when I needed to. This clip is very similar to the one found on the Coolermaster HHC-001 heatsink, which is the heatsink I will be comparing this water-cooling kit to performance wise later on. It is similar in that you do not need any tools to attatch it. It manauvers the clip to attatch to the socket using a large thumb clip. It is very easy to attach and shouldn't even cause the most novice of users any problems. On the Intel side of things, the block attatches in a very unique way. The block sits on top of the cpu and then a plastic retention piece locks it in place using the standard P4 socket cooler locking mechanism. This could be a problem if you do not have the standard p4 socket locking mechanism, some custom heat sinks attatch in different methods and require the removal of the locking device. Something to consider If you are a P4 user interested in this product.







The radiator seemed to be solidly built with a plastic shroud on it for attatching an 80mm fan. Very few fins were bent out of shape during packing and shipment. It has a large surface area allowing air to pass thru it easily. The back has holes in multiple places for attaching a fan, but you can't line up a fan with the fan on the front. It's nothing major but does hinder the total amount of air you could have flowing thru the radiator. The front side of the radiator has the 3/8" inlet and outlet barbs for attatching the lines. One thing I quickly noticed about the radiator was the size of it, you shouldn't have a problem attatching it to one of the case fans on the back of your computer if you have a large enough case, but I was unable to do it in my mini-tower Antec case, the radiator would have to sit on the bottom of my case







The fan is a standard 80mm 7-blade 3-pin fan. Doing research on the model #, I was able to determine that it uses a sleeve bearing. I was unable to find any information on the amount of airflow it produces, but comparing it with one of my current fans that I know is rated for 32cfm, I would estimate that the included fan produces no more than 20cfm. This may not seem like much, but it should be more than enough to push enough air through the radiator.





The pump is submersible and is rated for a maximum output of 150gph (gallons per hour). While this is far from being the most powerful pump on the market, it should provide enough flow for effective cooling. One thing I noticed was that it was unable to pump water higher than 3 feet, the water would just stop moving in the lines. This is not really an issue, because I doubt few if any people have the CPU socket 3 feet above where the pump would be located, but it still does prove that this pump may have some issues if you have a full-tower case. The pump mounts inside the reservoir using 4 small suction-cup feet, to keep it from moving around. Another thing that drew my attention was that you had to wire your own electrical plug for the pump. The wires are not very secure in the plug and they are exposed a little bit. This could prove to be hazardous as it is a weak point and could cause problems if not properly handled or wired. It would be very easy to miss-wire it and possibly short out the pump or cause a fire hazard. In short, be careful with this part.







The resevoir is 3 main pieces, the tank itself where the pump and the water go, a lid with a screw-off cap to add water, and a rubber ring to seal it. The tank is large enough to contain the pump and still have room for a decent amount of water. The lid has a notch where the power cord for the pump comes out and is sealed by a gasket that screws in place. The lid is attaches to the bottom of the tank by the means of 4 screws, and to seal it up tight the rubber ring is used as a gasket. More on the resevior in the next section of this review.









Construction & Installation
Construction was fairly simple and only took about 15 minutes to set up. The basic steps are putting the pump in the tank, run a small section of tubing from the output of the pump to the connector on the lid, fasten the lid with the rubber gasket in place to the tank, run tubing from the output of the resevoir to the input on the waterblock, run another section of tubing from the output of the waterblock to the input of the radiator, and run a final section of tubing from the output of the radiator to the input on the resevoir. After all the lines have been run, secure them with the hose clamps. And finally, screw the fan onto the radiator. The reservoir gave me some concern when I was putting it together, I noticed that there was not a perfect seal between the lid and the tank. I thought if I tightened the screws more this problem would go away, but this was not the case. Every time it seemed like there was a good seal between the lid and the tank, the lid started to crack slightly from the pressure of the screws. Seeing as I was unable to get a good seal with the reservoir, I became concerned about evaporation issues. Aside from the issues with resevoir seals, and the possible saftey hazards with the eletrical plug, everything else turned out fine.




Lots of pics and the rest of the article

[lynchknot]

Perhaps if I had a better CPU, it might be worth it. I can't OC mine too much anyway. I've been reading alot and finding stock heatsink cpu temps to be in the 53-56c range. Right now i'm at 47c - so it's doing well I suppose. I just returned from a half hr of Live for Speed and the temp was at 50c. I think that is ok.

[phishhead]

lynch it looks fine dont stress. most likely it was your ambient room temp was high making the other temps high.

[lynchknot]

yeah, you're right - I think Fastgame may be correct in saying, "thermo paste needs a bit of time to set". I have not changed a thing and the temp has dropped down to 46c. I've got Photoshop open - i'm working on a Thunderbird Coffeecup theme.

I forgot, I need to get used to the temp differences between Intel and AMD. I'm used to seeing 40c or sub 40c much of the time.

[phishhead]

now put that damn case back on and see what it does.

[lynchknot]

you mean cover? It is on and it's 46c. Fan at 4218

[phishhead]

you said you have a front fan right it so do you have those air holes in the side and in the back...if so try duct taping those and see what the temp does.

[lynchknot]

well, there are slots along the bottom of the case cover and I removed the extra bay covers and put a fan in there. I'll take that out and put the covers back on to see what happens. temp is now 45c

*edit - i removed the bay fan and held a piece of paper up to the hole and it is sucking air.

[phishhead]

no leave the fan there I'm talking the side covers do you have little air holes and also in the back do you have little air holes cover those up and leave the front fans alone. and see how the temps are..this causes the air flow to be directed by the fans .