AeroCool HT-101 experience?

[Sasage]

I'm looking at upgrading my heatsink so that I can overclock my PC.
Anyone have any experience with this one? http://www.aerocool.com.tw/aerocool-files-v3/cooler/ht101.htm

[lynx]

I've just ordered one, (actually, the -jr model), received dispatch confirmation about 10 mins ago. All the reports I've seen suggest this is an exceptional cooler.

I'll let you know how it goes.

BTW, the -jr model has aluminium fins instead of copper, but to make up for it it has more fins. It works out a good bit cheaper but is reckoned to have almost identical cooling properties. Quite a bit lighter too.

[Virtualbody1234]

The -jr model may even be better overall. Look at this article for the CoolerMaster Aero7 lite. It shows better performance than the 7+ (copper). http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=315

Aluminum vs copper: I think the copper is better for heat transfer from the CPU but not as good a material for heat dissipation.

[Sasage]

Kewl... I would really like to know how it works for you.

[lynx]

Ok, first the cooler itself, the build quality is superb. The base of the cooler is polished, and chromed I think (remember this is the -JR model). Even the aluminium fins appear to have been polished, which should hopefully prevent dust build-up. Comes with aerocool's own thermal compound, 25% silver (twice the content of AS5), only 1 gram, but if used carefully that should be enough for about 10 removals of the heatsink.

A quick word about the heatsink type fins at the base, I know they've been mentioned by VB or clocker in the past. There are 4 thick fins, I doubt whether they will do much in the way of heat dissipation (since there is no fan blowing on them), it seems more related to the fastening method than anything else. It has to be removed and replaced in order to change the fastening method for P4 or Athlon64 processors.

I'm still running it in, so the setup isn't final until I've checked things out, but here are the initial results, all readings via speedfan for consistency. I'm only going to quote 100% cpu. Who cares what idle temps are like, if it isn't ok at 100% cpu then it isn't ok.

Conditions before, water cooled with chilled water (approx 12C) Vcore 1.76V, speed 2.28GHz.
Cpu temp 32C, Motherboard temp 28C, fairly noisy when the water chiller kicks in. :(

Conditions now, Aerocool HT101-JR with 1 fan, Vcore 1.71V, speed 1.83MHz
Cpu temp 41C, Motherboard temp 26C, almost silent. :)

Hopefully the cpu temp will come down a little when the thermal compound has had chance to bed in. That's all for now, next thing is to raise Vcore back to 1.76V.

[lynx]

Hmmm, very interesting.

I recently installed the latest version of Speedfan. The old version did not control the cpu fan speed, but that didn't matter since I was using water cooling. The new version DOES control cpu fan speed (but unfortunately not system fan speed for some reason :( ).

The temps I reported earlier were with the fan running at about 85% of maximum (about 2300rpm instead of 2750 rpm). The fan is now running at full speed, Vcore is up at 1.76V, and the temps after 15 mins running are exactly as before.

Next - 200MHz base frequency (2.2GHz cpu speed).

[lynx]

That's pushed it up a little, but still acceptable.

Temps after about 15 mins at 2.2GHz, cpu 43C, mobo 26C.

Next - back to the original settings (base 207MHz, 2.28GHz cpu speed).

[lynx]

I was about to report that things seemed ok at 2.28GHz when I suddenly got a BSOD.

The temp had crept up to 44C (cpu) but still at 26C for the motherboard.

I think I'll leave it at 2.2GHz for a while, at least until the thermal compound has settled in.

I may try a second fan on the heatsink tomorrow. But that's enough for tonight, all this excitement has made me thirsty. :beerchug:

[Sasage]

How are the load temps @ 2.2 now?

[lynx]

All the above temps (including the original water cooled temps) were with the side panel removed. I've now added a second fan to the HT101. Unfortunately it isn't from Aerocool and it is quite a bit noisier.

New temps, with side panel fitted, cpu 45C, motherboard 29C.

Going by mobo reading I'd say the temp inside the case has risen by 4C by replacing the side panel, so I'd say the extra fan has probably cut the temps by about 3C. Not a lot, but it could be significant.

Speedfan can now change my system clock dynamically. Over the next week I'm going to try raising that 1MHz at a time (11MHz after multiplier) to see what happens.

[clocker]

Speedfan can now change my system clock dynamically. Over the next week I'm going to try raising that 1MHz at a time (11MHz after multiplier) to see what happens.
Huh?
SpeedFan can change your FSB on the fly?

BTW Lynx,
I have used SF on three different boards in the last year.
It performed flawlessly on the Asus a7n8x-deluxe. Even the system fans could be controlled.
It worked OK on the Abit NF-7S, but the fan speed control was way out of range- had to set it to between 15% and 25% to get any variation and only the CPU fan header appeared to offer any speed control.
It doesn't seem to do anything on the Chaintech board.

I suppose that different manufacturers offer different levels of access and control to 3rd party apps....

[lynx]

Which two fan connectors were controlled on the Asus board?

I can control the one marked CPU_FAN1 but not the one called CHA_FAN1. I haven't tried the one marked PWR_FAN1 since I've assumed that is for sensor connection only. Maybe I'm wrong. In the bios, I only get readings from two of these connectors, the other (chassis fan I think) always reads zero.

Also, the fan speeds shown in SF are double the actual speed; there's a config item which is supposed to correct that but it doesn't seem to work. BTW, this is an A7N8X-E, maybe that's the difference.

Nforce2 clock control was a new feature in release 4.16, and updated in 4.17. It had been available for a few boards/clock generators before that but Nforce2 was not one of them. You can even set it to increase/decrease clock speed when cpu usage goes up or down, but since mine usually runs flat out all the time it isn't much use to me.

[clocker]

Honestly, I don't recall.
That particular setup was long ago and many galaxies away.

Of late I have been modifying my fans by splitting off the yellow sensor wire and only plugging that into the board, pulling power direct from the PSU.
That way the "shutdown if cpu fan fail" function still works, but I don't stress the board by sucking too much juice throught it for the fans.

[tesco]

Honestly, I don't recall.
That particular setup was long ago and many galaxies away.

Of late I have been modifying my fans by splitting off the yellow sensor wire and only plugging that into the board, pulling power direct from the PSU.
That way the "shutdown if cpu fan fail" function still works, but I don't stress the board by sucking too much juice throught it for the fans.
Clock you have any new pictures to show us?

edit: lol i called you clock. :lol:

[clocker]

No, and you can thank Newegg for that.
I am now at day eight waiting for my order.

It seemed pointless to disassemble Sprocket until I have the board/HS in my clammy little hands.
Since I am also going to have to do a full reinstall of Windows/Mandrake after the hardware is in place, it could take a while.

Now, back to Lynx's Aerocool.....

[lynx]

It's been at 204MHz base for 24 hrs now, I've just pushed it to 205 and it's still running. I think I'll try setting 204 in the bios and mess about with those fans now.

[lynx]

No luck with fans, I can only control the Cpu fan, and then only one of them.

Been running stable for a couple of days at 205MHz, just pushed it to 206MHz and almost immediately got an error in Firefox, so I dropped it back down to 205MHz. I may try a Vcore tweak at the weekend when I've got more time to monitor the temps.

Cpu temp currently 45C but mobo temp has dropped back to 25C. I haven't been doing much in terms of graphics, that may have pushed the modo temp up earlier in the week.