I have an AMD Athlon X2 4200 (socket 939 Manchester) Processor mounted in an EPoX EP 9NPA+ SLI motherboard. The stock (PiB) heat sink and fan didn't even come close to taking care of the heat dissipation. The cpu temp ran up to 150 degree F faster than a cat darting out of bath water. Warranties are nice, but don't do much for your idle system.
So I installed a Zalman CNPS9500 LED (bah LED not necessary but the price was right) since it got such raved reviews. I still experienced 130 to 140 degree F temperatures.
So I went old school and ordered a Swiftech solid copper heat sink MCX6400 and a Vantec Tornado fan (and a box of ear plugs! This fan moves tons of air and furniture and whatever else it can suck in but is L-O-U-D!).
This brought temps down to 116 to 120 depending on room temperature. These temps are all at 50% load and higher. A complete fan case fan change was also done..I have a small hurricane on my desktop now AND I modded the side panel with a vent.
While the Swiftech and the Tornado have indeed lowered temps permanently and signifcantly, the noise is horrid. This brings me to the meat of the post and my questions:
1) Is this normal for this type of processor and what is the actual operating temperature range? (I have been unable to locate this information as of yet)
2) Opinions on liquid cooling? If I spend the money on liquid cooling,I would of course want to OC. However, with my experience thus far, I am almost afraid to give that a try liquid cooling or not.
3) Liquid cooling system recommendations? Heat relief WITH noise reduction is the key here.
Thanks folks,
Questor
System information:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200 socket 939 Manchester
EPoX EP-9NPA+ SLI
EVGA 7900GS KO x2 (SLI)
2 GB Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR
Cooler Master RS600 ASAA PS
Cooler Master Praetorian Mid Tower
Seagate 120 GB 7200 RPM x2 SATA II RAID 0
So I installed a Zalman CNPS9500 LED (bah LED not necessary but the price was right) since it got such raved reviews. I still experienced 130 to 140 degree F temperatures.
So I went old school and ordered a Swiftech solid copper heat sink MCX6400 and a Vantec Tornado fan (and a box of ear plugs! This fan moves tons of air and furniture and whatever else it can suck in but is L-O-U-D!).
This brought temps down to 116 to 120 depending on room temperature. These temps are all at 50% load and higher. A complete fan case fan change was also done..I have a small hurricane on my desktop now AND I modded the side panel with a vent.
While the Swiftech and the Tornado have indeed lowered temps permanently and signifcantly, the noise is horrid. This brings me to the meat of the post and my questions:
1) Is this normal for this type of processor and what is the actual operating temperature range? (I have been unable to locate this information as of yet)
2) Opinions on liquid cooling? If I spend the money on liquid cooling,I would of course want to OC. However, with my experience thus far, I am almost afraid to give that a try liquid cooling or not.
3) Liquid cooling system recommendations? Heat relief WITH noise reduction is the key here.
Thanks folks,
Questor
System information:
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200 socket 939 Manchester
EPoX EP-9NPA+ SLI
EVGA 7900GS KO x2 (SLI)
2 GB Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR
Cooler Master RS600 ASAA PS
Cooler Master Praetorian Mid Tower
Seagate 120 GB 7200 RPM x2 SATA II RAID 0