Sprocket....dripping wet (again)

[clocker]

Hmmm....
Interesting phenomonon occurring here.
Temps have slowly but surely dropped as I cycle the AS5...Primed for 6 hours last night and only hit 34C.

I've had to wait till my next day off (Sunday) to begin the next round of construction as it will require a total stripdown of the case, and I'm just too lazy to work after I get home.

Still, I have given a lot of thought to the next stage (particularly the routing of the waterlines) and have a workable plan.
One of my primary goals is to quiet this thing down- the pump I have figured out (well, at least I have a plan to try...), but the horrible whine from the radiator fan was a stumper.

I thought it might be interesting to see what the system could sound like with a better fan installed, so I simply disconnected the fan as a test.

Temps did not change a bit.
With NO FAN running at all I'm still at 34C (100% CPU usage).
Granted, it's only been 1/2 hour and heat soak might eventually become a factor, but I'm still surprised at the performance running a passive system.
I may have to explore this option more fully as it would certainly simplify the whole configuration if I could eliminate the fan/shroud assembly.

[Virtualbody1234]

If that's the case with passive setup, then you could install an ultra slow fan. Hmmmm... Quiet.

[clocker]

True, I could, but I'm kinda thinking of no fan at all.
While still running Prime I just ran SpySweeper, Ad-aware, Spybot and then defragged followed by a run through Aquamark3.
The idea was to generate as much heat in the system as possible from the ancillary components and see what the CPU temp did.

Even with all the extra heat...the vid card hit 28c and my Raptor hit 30...the CPU maxxed out at 36C.
Granted, one sidepanel is not installed ( I need a place for the pump's cord to exit the case) so this is not an accurate relection of the final result, but even so I would guess that the fully buttoned up case would still leave me running below or right at 40C...an acceptable result given the silence.

[Virtualbody1234]

Now to isolate the pump.

Couldn't you run the power cord through an unused PCI slot at the back of the case?

[clocker]

Yes, I could, but that is hardly the most elegant solution.
I have all the necessary parts to wire in a proper receptical and on/off switch, thus eliminating the dangling cord.

[Virtualbody1234]

I was only offering a temporary solution.

[clocker]

Thanks, VB...I appreciate it.

I was only being a temporary wiseass.

[Virtualbody1234]

Thanks, VB...I appreciate it.

I was only being a temporary wiseass.

I enjoy your wiseass comments.

[clocker]

You should see the ones I don't post.....

[clocker]

The fun continues.

This morning I stripped the waterloop components out to make a better pump mount and fabricate mounting brackets for the radiator.
During a coffee/cigarette break, my eye fell upon the Aerocool DP-102 sitting idly on the shelf.

Hmmmm.....

Although not originally designed to fit a socket 754, t'was but a moment's work to make it do so.
To make the experiment even more extreme, I removed the brackets that enable the use of an 80mm fan and mounted the 70mm fan from the stock AMD HS.

Thus equipped, Sprocket was fired up and set to Priming.

After two hours the CPU temp had topped out at 39C.

How very interesting.
Needless to say, the desire to reinstall the water rig is fast waning....granted, I picked up 4-5 degrees from the temp while watercooled, but the silence and lack of complexity using air alone is a big plus.

Even worse, sitting on the same shelf from which the Aerocool came are my Zalman 7000cu and a TT Silent Tower, both of which ARE designed to fit the socket 754.
This could take a while....