created new fan setup for Dual PII Xeons

[bonestonne]

Ok, so i've recently taken out the dual Pentium II Xeon server i have, and put my P4 in, little to no performance change sadly...it boots faster, loads Virtual PC faster, but isn't quite as good as the joy of two processors.

since i had a snow day today [and it wasn't even worth it in some senses] i worked on the server all day. i took it out to the garage, where its -3C, and had it running for about 3 hours, i was in and out, just checking on it. i have a picture of it, the CPUs made it to about 50C [from bios] and 60C [from Speedfan]

then i placed a 92mm fan on top of the processors blowing down onto them, and the temp dropped to an impressive 54C.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/bon...er/IMG_0749.jpg

^before the fan, actually, before i even turned it on...i had cable trouble...turns out my nice IDE cable was ripped.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/bon...er/IMG_0752.jpg

^with the fan on top. surprisingly effective...i was very cold, at least the garage door wasn't open.

now, having that one fan on top gave me a brilliant idea, which then took the next few hours of my time to pull off...i had all the supplies, i just wasn't sure how to do it. well, i eventually came up with this:

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g142/bon...er/IMG_0758.jpg

^basically thats a pair of fans that used to cool the CPU's, now mounted on top. its very sturdy, and i can pick up the entire board by grabbing the edges of the fans...i dont want to prove that too many times though.

well, with that idea done, and once i test it i'll know for sure [i'll test it tomorrow] i'll be half way to better cooling that computer. the next idea is a new case. I've been eyeing the Cooler Master Elite 330 lately, as the front panel is mesh, and will provide a generous amount of airflow. i plan on removing drive bay fillers, so that its only mesh, and theres no plastic obstructing it, and then when i have the money, attaining a Kama Bay for the case. for fans, i'm eyeing the Antec Tri-Cool fans, 120mm versions have seem to caught my eye. 3 speeds, lighted [i'm going for red with this case] and they'll move 70CFM on high. noise isn't a bother to me, it'll be under my desk or behind me. i can always wear headphones and play music over it...i don't care much about the rest of the room.

my apevia X-Dreamer is an ATX midtower, so i don't see why the board wouldn't fit in the Cooler Master.

my only question is how people think the Elite 330 case will do in terms of cooling. i want to have 3 120mm Antec Tri-Cool fans in it...they should do the trick with cooling right?

i got the idea of having a case with mesh front from the new server my school bought which has basically a wide mesh front...with a 120mm fan in the middle pulling air over everything.

this case wont have a window, although cables will still be very neat, and a work in progress as always. i'll be keeping the airflow over the processors by putting a piece of plastic about 1/2 - 3/4 of an inch below, and it'll stretch across the case to the rear fan, so that there will be a chamber for the processors to ensure excellent and hopefully max. airflow.

any ideas for fans, or other materials or customizations i should do are more than welcome. i plan on going to CompUSA on friday to get the case, however if i can't do it then, tuesday next week.

[Zxian]

Did you ever try to mount the fans on the side of the slots instead of on top? You might end up with better airflow.

As for a case - the Centurion 534 is an excellent case for your situation. It's relatively cheap and provides good cooling.

[bonestonne]

well, i don't think i can mount fans on the sides easily...there are mounting spots on the brackets for 40mm fans, but i only have one, and its on my graphics card.

i have the fans mounted like that because there will be a vent right above them, so fresh air will come right into the case, and the rear fan will push air out, and fans in the front will bring air in, so that all the air is brought in and then focused straight out the back.

there are two 50mm fans mounted on the sides, one is higher than the other..the higher one is by the ATX power supply, so it gives more room for that, and it pushes air towards the back. there is another 50mm fan on the other side mounted lower, pulling air out from between the CPUs and towards the rear fan of the case. its not like that yet, but hypothetically, that would be how it works. i found this article about a person with the same motherboard as me with newer processors, but its the same issue i have.

"So I bought two 300W PSU and modified them so that when I switch one on, the other one starts. One is giving power to the motherboard only, and the other to all the rest of my system. I also had three 80mm fans (two blowing across CPus and one sucking across them). That way, I could overclock them to 784 (7*112) and run Seti for hours without problem! So, in that case, the problem was power related.

But, 2 weeks ago, I moved my PC to my living room (which is a warmer room) and the reboots came back! I replaced the 3 80mmm fans with two 120mm (under powered) and it kept being unstable. I put some thermal compound between the heatsinks and the thermal plates but it didn't change anything."

it proves my dad wrong on a few things. 1) having a second PSU for peripherals will not do anything for cooling whatsoever. 2) the system needs to be in a cooler area, its not condusive to hot rooms. therefore, the system is not supposed to run warm. it also means that the graphics card problem wasn't even the graphics card...it was the overheat issue.

thats my proof on a couple things.

about the Centurion 534. i did look at it, but the way the HDD cage is placed turned me off. theres little breathing room for air to move around the case. basically, hot air from the HDDs is blown to the back of the case. since my CPUs already run very hot, the idea is to avoid adding to it. i think that the Elite 330 is only better than the Centurion 534 because it has the extra room for drive bays...i use anywhere from 1 to 3 HDDs in my system at any given time depending on what i'm doing, so the Centurion would limit me a little. i can use an idea from the Centurion that i like though, which is the fan on the side vent at the bottom. i have several fans and adapters and i have plenty of soldiering skills to be able to make a quick 80mm fan to attach there, probably with clear craft adhesive. also, the way the vent is on the side of the case above the fan on the Centurion, its the same way on the elite, i plan on removing that, and just putting a finger guard over it, so that the fans on top of the CPUs can freely draw in air...the most i may do is put a filter over it, but the filter would be black, so it wouldn't be noticable.

when i go to CompUSA i'll see what they have, and i'll basically go off that. i'd order from newegg, but my mom probably wouldn't like that because i don't have the money to eat shipping right now, and i want that system built asap again. i miss my dual CPU setup. tomorrow's a delayed opening for my school, so i'll be able to do a little before school, and hopefully friday afterschool [half day] i'll be able to get the case...if i'm lucky the presidents day sale will have started...however, i'll check that tomorrow...if the presidents day sale goes to tuesday, i'll wait for then, because i have about $58, and i want to try to get a tri-cool while i'm there. but, if the elite isn't in stock when i go, i'll definately get the Centurion, and find a way to mod the HDD cage.

thanks for the reply

[Zxian]

Have you ever removed the heatsinks on the CPUs you have and re-applied thermal paste to them? It's a bit tricky with Slot1 cards, but it's doable, and might help reduce temps a bit.

[nmX.Memnoch]

Those are Slot2 SECC. Five or six screws and it should pull off. The pains are the Slot1 and Slot2 SECC 2 variant. SECC2 is when they decided to take the metal plate off of the front so the heatsink attached directly to the chip. Fortunately, there weren't very many Slot2 SECC2 Xeons. The problem with SECC is that there was very poor heat transfer from the CPU to the heatsink, because of the metal plate that was supposed to be a heat spreader. That's why they eventually went to SECC2, and finally back to socketed CPUs.

One thing I noticed with your fan configuration is that you don't have any air flow going over CPU0 (the front one). All of the air flow is concentrated between the back of CPU0 and the front of CPU1...so you're only putting additional cooling on CPU1.

Also, as Zxian mentioned, those heatsinks are designed for air to be blown across from the side, not from the top. The fins are turned the wrong way for air to be blown down like that. Besides, all you're doing blowing from the top is pushing the hot air back down. Figure out a way to have it blow from the side and straight into the rear case exhaust fan. You'll get much better results.

Remember, it's not all about getting fresh air in...you gotta get the warm air out too or else you're just circulating it.

[Zxian]

Thanks mmX. I didn't really know about the different kinds of slots that there were. I had my hands on on Slot1 PIII a while ago, and I managed to remove the heatsink, but it was a major PITA.

[nmX.Memnoch]

Yeah, the Slot1 SECC2's are a major PITA. They usually have plastic clips that end up breaking when you try to get them out.

SECC stands for Single-Edge Cartridge Connector in case anyone was wondering.

[puntoMX]

Indeed, the airflow has to come from the sides, so, what I would do is to make a fan-duct or a windtunnel over the CPUs and use the 12cm fan on full speed in he back. Just use thick carboard-paper and tape and nock your self out .

[bonestonne]

yep, that was what i wanted the 330 case, the front is all mesh, giving great air intake...i also was eying the sythe Kama Bay for intake, but i'm not sure if its completely necessary, it might just constrict the system.

i only plan on having one ODD in it, so that gives more room. i kind of want to have a 120mm fan in the front by the HDD's, but i'm right in thinking that its not 100% important unless in brought in a massive amount of air. my budget is definately stretched a little, as the case is $50, and i have $48. my mom is spotting $15, and i might be able to squeeze in the Tri-Cool if i can scrounge up another few dollars..i think to get the case and the fan ill need about $75..i'm running a little short. i have one 120mm fan now, the case comes with one...that means i could have two in the case for a while and slowly upgrade. i'll have to count the dough after i do the homework.

this morning i had it all set up on the kitchen table for a few minutes, and something odd happened..i'm not quite sure how or why, but when i booted, a opened up speedfan to check the temps, and it only have me one CPU bar, as opposed to two, and the first local temp was 27C...that would be amazing for this. well, i saw this as an issue, as i have two CPUs, so i restarted my computer, and when i opened speedfan again, it showed me that i had two processors, and the temps were 60 and 75C...not surprising for the room, as the kitchen is probably the second warmest room in the house.

anyone have an idea on what caused that? i don't understand how it would not see my second processor. also, when i booted, it had some strange new hardware addition...i had no idea what it was, or what it could have been. thats a problem right?

anyway, i'm off to do some homework, i'll check back and maybe write more, or throw together an article for my dad to read on the heating issues of Pentium II and Pentium III slot2 type CPUs, and what does and does not work with cooling them.

on a last note, the standard cooling of the CPUs were 40mm fans mounted on the CPU brackets, and that doesn't have any effect in cooling the second CPU...how could that have been good cooling?