Phenom II X2 555 Cold Air Fun

[Slappa]

What?!?

I ran my system out in the garage well below freezing several times recently(-5C last time in the garage) for many hours with an AMD Opteron heatpipe cooler and a Vantec Tornado super-fan. Heat transfer stayed very consistant throughout.

I actually got the dryer vent contraption about half built before I smartened up.

Okay maybe I was a bit off. When my heatpipes froze up, it was in -15C ambient. At a certain temperature, the materials in the heatpipes can actually freeze and cease transfer. It's happened many times. -15C ambient yet my CPU shoots up to 60+C. And thermal paste can be ruled out because I've tried it with ceramique. The reason you probably didn't experience this with -5C is because the chip is still putting out enough heat to keep the internals of the heatpipes above zero.

From wikipedia

At the hot interface within a heat pipe, which is typically at a very low pressure, a liquid in contact with a thermally conductive solid surface turns into a vapor by absorbing the heat of that surface. The vapor condenses back into a liquid at the cold interface, releasing the latent heat. The liquid then returns to the hot interface through either capillary action or gravity action where it evaporates once more and repeats the cycle. In addition, the internal pressure of the heat pipe can be set or adjusted to facilitate the phase change depending on the demands of the working conditions of the thermally managed system.

In addition, below a certain temperature, the working fluid will not undergo phase change, and the thermal conductivity will be reduced to that of the solid metal casing. One of the key criteria for the selection of a working fluid is the desired operational temperature range of the application. The lower temperature limit typically occurs a few degrees above the freezing point of the working fluid.

[ny_driver]

I don' think there is any fluid inside the heatpipes, just air. I sanded through one once lapping it.....................and I think they're talking about something else.

[Slappa]

I don' think there is any fluid inside the heatpipes, just air. I sanded through one once lapping it.....................and I think they're talking about something else.

What? Thats how a heatpipe works. Of course there is fluid in them. People have cracked them open before on a few different websites.

[cab]

I've tried this.

Using air below zero on a heatsink will eventually freeze the heatpipes, and heat transfer will cease.

ok I get it. Moisture from inside the house condenses on the heatsink and freezes. Also the liquid inside the heatpipes freezes and stops capillary action. THanks... alrighty then, so plumbing is better.

[ny_driver]

What? Thats how a heatpipe works. Of course there is fluid in them. People have cracked them open before on a few different websites.

Well there was none in the cheap ass HS I was lapping. It was a Sunbeamtech Core Contact Freezer or something like that. Sorry for my ignorance.

[Slappa]

Well there was none in the cheap ass HS I was lapping. It was a Sunbeamtech Core Contact Freezer or something like that. Sorry for my ignorance.

No worries

But it sucks having -15C outside and having these pipes freeze up. No fun at all :P

[ny_driver]

Give it more vcore
Or put a box over the cooler once in awhile and let it warm up. I strapped my HD to the exhaust end of my GPU and put a winter hat over it to keep it warm.

[Daveburt714]

Did you try unlocking cores at all?

My best overclocking cores on my 555 were the ones I unlocked (Core #2, Core#3)

I tried unlocking on 3 different boards with no luck Slappa.
I can only assume the other 2 cores are actually bad...
From my ambient water tests I really thought it would do a little better than 4.7 on cold. It'll do 4.4 stable on ambient (X2 of course).

Why do you need all that plumbing? Can't you just pipe cold air from outside directly to an air-cooling type heatsink... maybe with a dryer hose and a small fan to circulate the air.

...., sure you could suck cold air into your house all day but you won't gain much. I tried it.

Me too, plus I really don't like shivering while I overclock!

As for the heatpipes freezing, I would assume the tower type coolers are much more susceptible to that than the low slung box type coolers that it looked like ny_driver was using.

A little OT, but I went to MicroCenter Sunday and they had a bunch of 555's with a week code of 1049 GPM. One even had a serial# of 004!
I almost bought it, but I don't need one, don't really have the extra cash and need to go easy on my credit card this month...

[ny_driver]

Good to know someone that lives near a MicroCenter

[Grinder]

Thanks Chance, outside temp was ~ -4 c, inside temp ~21 c..
Socket temp was 1c at idle, and hit 7c max after a few runs of SPi...



I'm running an old Apogee GT for the block. The antifreeze didn't appear to be getting thick (visually), but the flow sure did slow down. Doesn't really make much sense to me either....

I actually considered some of those cheap pumps at Harbor Freight, but since it was more for play than anything else I decided to go with a 12v pump that could be powered off the mobo.

I may have to reconsider....

You have any pics of your chiller? I for one would like to see them...

Nice Dave, I see you went ahead with the patio door plan

I haven't done much since pushing my 5850's for Simon's 12 days 3d11 thread. I keep hoping he has a reason for that reserved post, but I'm losing hope

Are you still rocking the 6870? I realized I was a cpu and a vid card short of a complete second system, so I ordered a 6850 and a mugen 2 for it, and a 1090T (for the main rig, 1055T will go air). This thread makes me wish I didn't sell my 550 though. Also, I wish I had a local store with some selection like your microcenter. Most of the stuff I order literally comes from the Pacific (British Columbia) to the Atlantic (Nova Scotia). Only mom and pop stores and places like best buy here, so I don't get to touchie feelie.

Any condensation issues with the rad that cold?

[Daveburt714]

Sorry Slappa, I know this is getting a little OT but you seem like an understanding guy...

Hey Grinder! You've been awful quiet lately... Nice to see ya back hoser (it's a US/Canadian thing, no offense intended ).

Nice Dave, I see you went ahead with the patio door plan

It was $80 well spent in my opinion. I can OC with fairly low temps and I don't have to freeze to death while doing it...

Are you still rocking the 6870?

Yep... I'm not a huge gamer anyway. With the aftermarket cooler this puppy runs cool and quiet. I'm not gonna set any 3D records but it serves my needs quite well.

I realized I was a cpu and a vid card short of a complete second system, so I ordered a 6850 and a mugen 2 for it, and a 1090T (for the main rig, 1055T will go air). This thread makes me wish I didn't sell my 550 though. Also, I wish I had a local store with some selection like your microcenter. Most of the stuff I order literally comes from the Pacific (British Columbia) to the Atlantic (Nova Scotia). Only mom and pop stores and places like best buy here, so I don't get to touchie feelie.

Gratz on the 6850, I'm sure you'll like it. The 68xx series are really nice cards for non-hardcore gamers! To me personally, cutting edge video cards are a waste of money.
There's always something newer, faster and more expensive coming within the next few months...
I'm not an FPS gamer anyway, and this 6870 does just fine for the RTS and MMORPG games I play.

As for MicroCenter, It's definetly sweet having one a couple miles away!
I got my Tax Return back last night and that 3 letter 555 was driving me crazy...
I went there today and the one I wanted was gone, but I picked out another one (1049 BPM), and got a BioStar TA870+ (rev 5.2) mobo with it for $145.
I really didn't need this gear at all, but I've been wanting a 3 letter 555 and a BioStar board to play with... Yes, I'm a geek!

I'm testing it using the cold air gear right now. I'll post some results later, although it looks like ~4.6/2.7 is going to be the stable range...
I'd hoped for better, but it's still early and I haven't even cranked v's yet.

Any condensation issues with the rad that cold?

Nope, no condesation problems at all...
It's probably because the furnace is running and the humidity level in the house is so low to begin with.

[Grinder]

Sorry Slappa, I know this is getting a little OT but you seem like an understanding guy...

Hey Grinder! You've been awful quiet lately... Nice to see ya back hoser (it's a US/Canadian thing, no offense intended ).

None taken, eh? I'll look forward to your results. Honestly, my 5850's handle anything I want to play.

Thanks for putting up with the detour Slappa...

By the time it gets cold again, maybe my 1090T will be in