CPU question

[manchild]

Yep, oil is aggressive.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDJ_f7qOBLs

But I'm thinking to build passive thermosyphon system.

[Ray]

Manchild I would suggest a water cooling setup. They are cheap, easy to build, and almost leak proof. I, like Dave, have an Antec p180 case with a Danger Den watercooling setup smashed in side. It's a real tight fit, so I can only use one rad, but the advantages of low noise and great cooling is awesome. It was relatively cheap, except for the case. My temps rarely break 42-43C.

[IMG:600:800]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h173/ ... 0_1221.jpg[/img]
[IMG:800:600]http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h173/ ... 0_1220.jpg[/img]

Not real pretty, but she gets the job done.

[Carlos]

I have a Dell 2400/P4-2.8/512MB computer. I assumed the CPU fan was defective because, it seemed to be noisy and "whiniing" > This problem cause the computer to shut down completely after after about 5 minutes.
I called Dell Tech support and spoke with an extremely knowledgable technician at the Dell call centre. The representitive was a Ms. V. With her help - we went though a process of checking the CPU fan and motherboard
- this did not solve the problem - She asked if I was using an aftermarket video card - which I do - a low end XFX 5200 - ( which is a Dell approved video card) - at her prompting I removed it - rebooting - I could not hear any more fan noise - The video card's fan was the problem - I " blew out" the video cards fan - reinstalled it - retarted the Dell 2400 - and no more fan noise - and the computer did not shut down after 5 minutes. It has been running about an hour. Since then I took out the video card and flushed it out with a 100PSI compressor ( which I use for not only powering air tools - but for general housecleaning and dusting)

Perhaps if anyone should experience - what they assume is a CPU fan problem - and are not savy enough to know how to run a diagnostic on the CPU fan - and they have an aftermarket V-card - they might try this.
Probably I will end up lubricating the video cards fan or replacing the fan or buying a new card.

May I say that Ms. V was extremely intuitive and knowledgable to have identified the problem. This post may be of help to others with fan cooling problems. Dell Service Centre saves the day.

I have a friend that supplements his computer's cooling by taking off the side cover and using a 12 inch by 12 inch household box fan - probably about 12 CFM - a multiple of what a CPU fan's outputs - he's used this for several years.

I need a bit of advice - There's a lot of dust in my computer case - would you recommend that I clean it out with my compressor?

[Ray]

You can clean it with a compressor, but don't use 100 psi. Instead use 3 or 4. When you do clean it you should probably remove everything piece by piece. Depending on how dusty it is, of course you may not have to do this. If you take it apart completely, DON'T blow down into any slots that cards, memory etc. cam out of. Instead use a stiff plastic brush or something similar to get the dust bunnies out of those areas. You could also buy some generic fan filters at places like frozencpu.com or newegg.com They work wonders for keeping dust, dirt, small children from getting inside your pc. Hope that helps!

[DaveKillens]

I used to use a compressed air can and a shop vacuum. But be aware, a shop vac is a static generator, keep the nozzle at a respectful distance and ground everything (yourself, vac nozzle, computer). Looks dumb, but that vacuum MAKES static.
My new case has built in air filters.

[Ray]

I have the same case as you Dave. Question, does yours attract ALOT of dust? Mine does. I have some real stout fans though. I have to clean my radiator about once a month to keep it working good. And yes, I do dust my house in case any of you were going to crack a joke.

[Tom]

Manchild:- We could get to Glasgow on all that vegi oil, seems a shame to waste it on a PC.

[DaveKillens]

I'm extremely fortunate that where I live is very low in dust. But it just takes longer to build up, and this happens to all computers.
Sweet watercooling rig.

[manchild]

I'm vacuuming and using fine art brush to move the dust that has stiffened a bit so that vacuum cleaner can pic it up even from a distance.

When I said I'd like to get rid of fans I really meant it. If I'm to switch to water or oil cooling I'd cool everything that previously had fans on it PSU, CPU and graphic card.

Problem Carlos experienced is something I did on several occasions. All fans on my ATI died after some time because cooler is poorly designed (very little ribs) so fan gets overheated as it can't get enough of fresh air but sucks again (partially) hot air. So I've been changing several fans until two weeks ago fan died again. I got mad and left only cooler on ATI and instead of 35 mm fan I've made special PVC construction to fit 80 mm fan in PCI slot next to ATI. Now it cools not only cooler but also whole graphic card without any problem.

I'd like to build that thermosyphon passive system with mineral oil because it requires no pump which makes it most reliable and it is absolutely silent one.

One more thing regarding graphic card... I've read on few places that fitting large cooler instead original tiny one without any fan is sufficient (that would be passive air cooling).

[Ray]

Thanks for the kudos. I had a Koolance Exos 2 setup previously. I had to get rid of it though, sounded like a tornado because of the three external fans. Plus it wasn't that great a cooler. The design of the CPU cooler was decent, and I didn't have a video card cooler either. My temps now, with the Danger Den kit are cooler with an internal radiator. Unlike the Koolance kit I have An added plus is of course it not flopping around if I ever have to move my whole computer. Less stuff to go wrong. If I had two radiators it would cool even better.

As for your idea manchild. I would strongly recommend against using oil. The effort required to keeo it from leaking far surpasses the effort of having a water cooling rig. There are so many parts out there and custom parts too, that's it's almost too easy to do. The only thing you have to have is space, and the ability to tighten water line clamps. That's it. The passive cooling thing is true. But it depends on the speed of the card, faster ones are naturally hotter, and the amount of airflow through your specific case. Not enough flow through your case will over heat the card. I have water cooling blocks on my CPU and video card. They both run very cool this way, but I also have two fans in front on low, and two fans in the back also on low. They do a good job on cooling the rest of the computer that isn't water cooled.

I would suggest for parts for your rig, frozencpu.com for custom pieces you may need, or dangerden.com. Both are VERY good compaines to buy from. If you can't find what you need there, it doesn't exist. If you have any qeustions manchild, I'd be happy to help out.

[manchild]

Thanks for the tips. If it wasn't for Venom mentioning water cooling I wouldn't have gotten turned on for that idea. I knew about it for many years but never looked into it. Anyway, getting rid of the noise is what I'm aiming for - not overclocking.

BTW Ray, are you cooling northbridge somehow?

[Ray]

I wanted to use a northbridge cooler, but I don't have the room unfortunately. On my old Koolance setup I did, the tubing was 3/8". The tubing I have now is 5/8" so it doesn't flex as well. I only have the stock fan that came on my motherboard now. I took it off and put on artic silver 5 to help it out a little. It works fine for me, even with about a 10% OC. I quite embarrassed about my wiring job. Which is why next upgrade, on hold of course, is from my Athlon 64 4000 to a 4800 dual core. I've had it for about a year now, but haven't had the patience to undo everything and change it out. I have an Asus A8N-SLI deluxe, but no SLI. Too expensive for me. I only have one 7800gt, I'd like another because they are great performers for the price. Danger Den, IMO, is the best cooling block maker out there. It's all solid copper, not a coating of copper over aluminum like cheaper vendors. I highly recommend them if you haven't noticed yet.

[manchild]

Now that we're talking about cooling, here's Mr. Freeze

"My name is Freeze, Engine Freeze and I have a license to kill F1"