Folding heat problem & cooling thread

[DonaldG]

It is my intention to lap (flatten & polish) my QX6800 case and the Zalman heat sink as per the other threads in this section. I want to document each stage and write it all up so that other fool hardy folk can have ago!

Kit: as per 'My system' (a QX6800 quad core based unit)

Tasking: Folding using smp allowing the smp prog play with about 80% of the processor. Even at this setting I missed the time & dates for completed WUs and dare not give Folding any more than 80%
(my other primary applications are Actinic Ecommece, Dreamweaver, Photoshop)

Problem: over-heating in excess of 50 - 55c.

Short term solution: (a) open case side cover by about 30degrees and (b) add another fan to help shift air into the Zalman CPU heat sink area


General physical setup... Nice big 22" Dell screen





This set up helped to bring the temperatures down but not by much....

Regrettably I have stopped this machine from Folding until I can get the heat problem sorted.(am still folding with other machine)

As soon as I uninstalled the smp, during idle times where the CPU is less than 1%, the temperatures dropped down to 30/46c

Here is the rub!
I built the kit up from scratch. On switch on - It worked! I installed Vista Ultimate 32bit and went on and used it... I have done no tweaking of bios on the grounds that I know nothing about OC or messing with voltages et al. I accepted the defaults up to now.

I did read Glas' comments about letting the CPU fan run at 100% and explored my bios 'til I found it and set to manual 100%. It has made not one jot of difference!

I have downloaded & Installed Speedfan 4.33 and use without altering any configuration (it doesn't support Evga mobo) but use it for temperature monitoring. It frightens the hell out of me when I see the temperature icon change to a flame!

Here are the points I would like clarified BEFORE I grind a £650 component out of guarantee...

Knowing absolutely nothing about OCing, I wouldn't know if this machine is OCing and if it is, by how much? Bios just now said something about x11 clock speed...

I do not want to OC or otherwise 'push' the CPU beyond its safe recommended limits. So How do I check if OCing or not?

Once I am comfy about not OCing, I will make a record of temperature before and after under same CPU stressing conditions - would it be acceptable if that were to be 'idle' readings or should I be running something that is at a constant 'stress' level (below 80% please)

[JohnthePilot]

First, (and I'll stand correction from members of the Hardware Team if I'm wrong) I'd use Everest or SensorView to make my temperature recordings.
Temp measurements need to be made when the CPU is under stress as at idle you are unlikely to see any difference. Do it at 100% if you can unless you are really worried about frying your CPU. Check your mobo handbook to check the max temp for the CPU. You might find it's a lot higher than you think. Good luck and thanks for volunteering. We'll make sure your name is carved in stone, or, if things go wrong, on the remains of your CPU.

[grumpygit]

Max temp for qx6800 is about 60-65c.

[JohnthePilot]

As low as that? You do surprise me.

[kodi]

As JTP said use Everest, Sensorview or use Coretemp to record Temps.

[DonaldG]

Now I am really confused!

Looking into Everest, Sensorview & Coretemp to see which takes my fancy I can not find reference that my Nvidia nForce 680i SLI MCP chipset is supported by any of them. My Mobo is an Evga 122-CK-NF68-A1

Which would be the best to suit this project?

Also...what utility is there that I should run to make the cpu work say at 80% or more?

[kodi]

Originally Posted by DonaldG

Also...what utility is there that I should run to make the cpu work say at 80% or more?

I researched this and found that running TWO instances of the SMP Client gives the best results for a Quad Core

[DonaldG]

I dont know it the following helps in identifying the best temperature utility...This was taken from Speedfan4.33

Win9x:NO 64Bit:NO GiveIO:YES SpeedFan:YES
I/O properly initialized
Linked ISA BUS at $0290
Linked nVidia MCP55 SMBUS at $F400
Linked nVidia MCP55 SMBUS at $F000
Scanning ISA BUS at $0290...
Winbond W83627DHG (ID=$C1) found on ISA at $290
SuperIO Chip=Winbond W83627DHG
Scanning nForce2 SMBus at $F400...
Scanning nForce2 SMBus at $F000...
Winbond W83627DHG (ID=$C1) found on SMBus at $28
INFO : sensor already on ISA
End of detection

[kodi]

Download and run CORETEMP

It gets very good reviews

[JohnthePilot]

This is obviously intended for multicore processors. Would anyone who downloads this care to write an article on the installation?

[DonaldG]

Muggins will have a go!

BTW, I just remembered that when I put the QX6800 into the machine, I used the thermal paste that came with the Zalman heat sink on the grounds that I thought it was best to use the supplied, therefore recommended stuff.

Before I get down to doing the lapping, I will run an extra test and compare temperatures of Zalman versus Arctic Silver and try to quantify the difference....

Can anyone suggest any other notes/records/photos that would be useful?

I will not be doing the lapping for a couple of days or so because of current work-load.

--------------------

Hey, you youngsters who have not retired yet. Take note: enjoy the relaxation & ease of working life for when you retire, you will wonder how you found time to go to work!
DonaldG

[JohnthePilot]

Originally Posted by DonaldG

Muggins will have a go!

Good for you. Make a screenie of every box that pops up. Save it as a bmp and we'll sort it out from there.

Before I get down to doing the lapping, I will run an extra test and compare temperatures of Zalman versus Arctic Silver and try to quantify the difference....

That's a good idea

Can anyone suggest any other notes/records/photos that would be useful?

Nothing off-hand, but if you notice anything different from the original then please add it. For example, a different way of using the magic marker and the bucket of water to wash the wet and dry off etc.

I will not be doing the lapping for a couple of days or so because of current work-load.

I know the feeling. I wish I were back at work so that I had more free time.

[mattlock]

Originally Posted by JohnthePilot

This is obviously intended for multicore processors. Would anyone who downloads this care to write an article on the installation?

I've been using core temp since I was running and OCing my A64 3200+, works great.

Core Temp is a very simple program John. Simply download, unzip, and run. No installation, setup, or configuring. It reads directly from the senor built into the processor so it gives a much more accurate core temp.

One of the things I like about Core Temp is that it keeps a running log file that records the temps are couple of seconds.

It does not support P4 era CPUs, the support started with Single Core Athlon 64s, and Intel support came later.

I can do an article, if you thinks it's needed.

[mattlock]

Donald, the Max case temp for your CPU is about 65°c. That's the temp taken from the center of the heat shield, the core temp will actually be higher than that, but the tech docs don't specify the max core temp.

To SMP client would load you at 100%, another option is running 2 instances of Orthos, or 4 instances of Prime95. In both cases you would need to set the CPU affinity. Orthos is probably the easier of the three to setup and run.

The temps you want to record are before and after @ idle and 100% load (this will not hurt CPU. It will throttle down if it gets too hot)

I'll post instructions on running multiple instances of Orthos later tonight. In fact that would be another good article for the forum.