IFX-14 install quick notes

[lad]

I spent about an hour lapping. While the base wasn't perfectly flat, it was better than my TTBT and Infinity. The copper seems quite hard, took a long time with 600 grit, and just as long at 1000. 2000 polish was just a few minutes.

I managed to get the backside cooler in without removing my mobo (I've got a square section cut out of the backside of the case, so I can get at the back of the mobo). I slid it in the 5.25" bay, after unscrewing the top and front side mobo screws, and loosening the rear screws.

It was quite difficult to get the back bracket nuts thru the mobo holes, there was slight misalignment. Once the heatsink is installed, you cannot tighten the screws holding the back bracket on, so make sure they are seated all the way by looking at the screw's position in the nut, from the back of the mobo. I NEEDED to use a magnetized phillips driver to get the four screws started, as I was holding the back bracket with my left hand.

I cleaned the back heatsink with ArctiClean before applying the pads. The thick, squishy pad goes between the rear HS and the mobo. It feels like sponge rubber. I guess the thin pad conducts most heat, thru the bracket attachment posts...

I used a 1.5" round rubber washer between the front HS and the clamping bracket, to get more pressure. This made it difficult to get the two spring-covered screws started, and I had to use a needle-nose pliers to place the screws in the top bracket. That magnetic phillips will come in handy here, too.

I had to use four zip-ties to attach my two Noctuas push-pull on the outsides of the HS. I suppose you'd need to use the clips before attaching HS to mobo... :-).

After 1/2 hour of warm-up, my idle temps are maybe 1/2c cooler than the dual-fan Infinity. I'm not sure how long the IC Diamond paste will need to settle, I spread it with a single-edge razor. This method worked well on the Infinity I just took off, with a nice thin layer with no air bubbles.

Orthos temps to come, after my room temp stabilizes.

[lad]

Well, Orthos small fft's are 2 degrees cooler on each core, with ambient 0.2F cooler on the IFX. I was hoping for 5-7... Be interesting to see if the IC Diamond will settle in. Neither AS5 nor the IC D on my Infinity showed better temps after any amount of time, so I'm not expecting any here, but...

[lad]

Backside fan, Noctuas everywhere...

[Monkeywoman]

umm, i think u need a little cable management...just a little

[lad]

I love duct-tape.

Increased airflow in addition to the 2 800-rpm Noctuas, almost instant 4.5c drop:

[enz660]

Interesting...

are you the one who made the custom brackets for the Infinity?

[lad]

umm, i think u need a little cable management...just a little

I think you are confusing 'pretty' with 'performance'. If you look more carefully at the pic, you'll see that -airflow- is not impeded. My NB is currently at 38c, and the SB is at 41c. With no fans or aftermarket HS. My RAM is at 2.15v, and a whopping 30c - without extra HS or fan. Ambient is up to 76.5f.

[lad]

Interesting...

are you the one who made the custom brackets for the Infinity?

These beauties?

[ineedaname]

Woot nice results man. I'm glad ur finally getting ur e6600's temps down. I'm still in the same boat as u were b4 with high temps. I gotta relap my cpu/hsf.

[[cTx] Nooc]

thanks for sharing

looks like the HS is on par with TR 120 X, which is of course a very good thing. Thermalright is already making water cooling obsolete with their coolers, so improving temps at this point is proving to be a challenge

[Okda]

thanks for sharing ur results

[lad]

Went thru my stash of these, found a combination of fan and speed control that was silent at lowest speed.

In 73.9f ambient, Orthos was 58/57 at low speed. So NO improvement. At a very noisy high speed: 55/54.

I replaced the Silverstone with my Noctua 800 rpm from my 5.25" bay, and got ~58.5 on both cores, with 0.5 higher ambient.

One very interesting fact-the heatpipes are just barely warmer than skin temp at either the base or the tips. The air exiting the fins seems cool due to the airflow. (And the backside cooler fins & HP are cold.) Of course, this is the temp of the condensed, cooled water inside, but it just feels wrong!

[lad]

Well, I found out that the rear fan on the IFX was so close to the rear case fan, that I was getting heat buildup. I've mounted the case fan on the outside of the case, and am running without the side cover on for now...

I've ordered a few Panaflo 120 x 38, 1700 rpm fans, and will try those next week. I figure to mount three on the IFX, with the rear one blowing out the case without benefit of a case fan. I'm thinking of mounting another at the bottom of the case, between the HD's and the mobo, blowing out the PCI slots. I'm hoping I can control them via Speedfan, else I'll 7v them.

[lucas81]

was there a significant change after you placed the case fan outside the case? Or were you still seeing the same temps as before?

[lad]

was there a significant change after you placed the case fan outside the case? Or were you still seeing the same temps as before?

I didn't check...

[lad]

At the end of May, I was running a Scythe Infinity with 120x32 Silverstones in push/pull, along with the same fan in the case rear, and 5.25" bay (inlet). I had a 120 x 25 exhaust in front of the HDDs. These fans ran between 900-1100 and were noisy.
Stats: 405 fsb, 1.4375 vcore, Orthos: 64c @ 75.2f


I got the bright idea to switch to Noctuas, and do what I had to to get temps in line. (And was waiting for the IFX, with hopes it could cool a future quad.) All the above fans were replaced with 120 x 25, 800 rpm Noctuas. I added an 80mm exhaust outside the PCI slots.
405 @ 1.4375, 70c+! @ 75.6f

I dropped vcore and fsb:
395 @ 1.4125, 65c @ 75.2f

I took off the sidepanel:
395 @ 1.4125, 64c @ 75.6f

I put the IFX on, with 2 Noctuas, sidepanel back on:
395 @ 1.4125, 63c @ 75.2f

I put a Scythe 120 x 25, 1200 rpm in the middle of the IFX.
395 @ 1.4125, 58c @ 76.3f

I replaced the Scythe with a Silverstone 120 x 32 at 900 rpm.
395 @ 1.4125, 58c @ 76.3f

Silverstone at ~2300 rpm.
395 @ 1.4125, 55c @ 75.9f

I move the Noctua from the 5.25" bay, place it in center of IFX.
395 @ 1.4125, 58.5 @ 74.3f (jumps between 58 and 59)

I remove the side panel.
395 @ 1.4125, 58 @ 74.3
I can run TAT at 65c/64c at 75.6f

I spend all night using OCCT to find out how high I can go.
405 @ 1.4375, 60c @ 74.3 (This is 4c cooler than the Infinity with 900 rpm 32mm fans on it. And it's worlds quieter.)

406 @ 1.45, 63c @ 75.4

That's right, I gained 1MHz with an actual under-load vcore of 1.44v.

[lad]

I installed 4 FBA12G12L1BX Panaflos, 1700 rpm rated, ~1550 installed. Three on the IFX, and one fixed to the bottom of the case, blowing air past the video card, and out the PCI slots. The last IFX fan doubles as the rear case fan, blowing a VERY healthy blast out the case.

My temps dropped from 60c to 56c running Orthos at 1.4375v at 75.7f. That's 4c less than the 800 rpm Noctuas. Surprisingly, the Panaflos are not obnoxiously loud, altho I'll be installing a Vantec Nexus to slow them down. The sound quality is much nicer than my 120 x 32mm Silverstones.

I ended up pushing vcore to 1.50v, which is 1.47 under load.

Here's the stats from OCCT's logs:

[lad]

UPS sent my fan controller back to newegg!!!

So I 7-volt modded my 4 1700 rpm 120 x 38mm Panaflos.

Now they are just as quiet as my 800 rpm Noctuas, but flow maybe 50% more air.