XP-120 owners try this! (DFI related, but try on any board!)

[UnreaL]

Right,
Been testing with my xp-120 and *grumble* thermaltake 120mm tricolour fan.

With fan blowing down onto cpu I have 36-38 idle and 48 on northbridge according to the nice MBM settings posted on a thread here.

Now I simply switched my fan so it sucked, I then had 31-34 idle and 40-44 idle on northbridge!

Well, that was unexpected. I suppose it is helping to remove stale air around northbridge which lowers that temp which is nice!

Anyways give it a try please and post back!

Cheers!

Edit: I know its been written about a little here, but for the benefit of all might as well have a good thread on it!

[SDX]

yup, tested the diference awhile back with my set up

D2OL load blowing down with 25mm spacer fan: 43-44 (smartguardian)
D2OL Pulling: 42-43

Minor improvement over having a spacer

[UnreaL]

It seems wierd though because the general rule of thumb would be to blow air down onto CPU.

Looking for more results!

[JasonE4]

I would try it, but my ram really needs to be cooled by my xp-120. It's at 3.15V.

[exscape]

XP-120's seems to be quite good with the fan sucking the air away... Gonna try it tomorrow(?) with my big typhoon and see what happens

[JasonE4]

I don't think the big typhoon would be quite as good when the fan is pulling air out because of the large gap. By the way, does the big typhoon bolt down or does it clip? That's one thing I hate about the xp-120 - huge pita to install and uninstall.

[Major]

I've tried the fan blowing/sucking on the XP120, with a 68 cfm fan both cpu and mb temps improved significantly with the air being sucked up through the hs. With my YS Tech 128cfm fan I saw no noticable change in cpu temps, but my mb temps still improved. I think it will also vary based on your case config and air flow.

Bottom line is I've been using my XP120 with it sucking up throught the hs for some time now.

[DrJay]

I'll give it a try with the Typhoon as well.

[exscape]

I had some serious trouble to mount the typhoon, I had to use my own little method... I took the H-backplate and the H-foam-thingy, put them on the back of the MB, put the screws through (from the bottom), and used the bolts to hold it down towards the MB.

In other words, I might have to remove the whole thing from my case again to get it off the CPU, I'm not sure.

[JasonE4]

It wouldn't really bother me to take the motherboard out of the case if I just needed to unscrew a couple of screws to uninstall the typhoon. Even when I took my mobo out, it was a b1tch to take the xp-120 off.

[Rabidmoose171]

its not really that hard, you just push down on those 2 clips with a screwdriver... takes 10 seconds.

[n00b 0f l337]

This is just like watercooling and radiators, always suck. I always do it on my heatsinks, it works better.

[TMM]

I just have mine blowing. Tryed reversing the fan and i got 1-2*c higher. Plus having it blowing down cools my ram also

[STEvil]

an empty fan hub below the sucking fan will reduce noise and improve efficiency (same idea as ducts on water cooling rads).

[crodan85]

Gave it a try got temps 3*c better and a face full of dust

[Judaeus Apella]

If you want to add another -6 or more, lap off the nickel on the bottom of the XP-120, and have two fans stacked one on top of the other, both sucking off air. You'll get really good results.

You have to sand off the nickel to get to the copper. Afterwards, use a used up sanding sponge (used sanding sponges are very smooth and are great for fine polishing) to polish it after sanding off the nickel. After that, polish it with metal polisher, then wipe off the residue with any soap that also does not leave behind residue or wax. It is very important that there is no residue left on the copper, as it will interfear with temperature transfer. I've also heard you can polish it by letting tomato sauce sit on it for 15 or more minutes, then wiping it off. Buff it dry, then IMMEDIATLY mount it. Do not wait, because the brass will start to carrode in minutes. The copper underneith will transfer temperatures much better than the nickel, that layer only slows down the process. The only strengh that layer of nickel has, is that it doesn't corrode like copper.

[5-Clicks]

it doesn't make any sense. the NB isn't even close to the CPU socket on the DFIs... i'll have to try it when i get my XP-120.

[UnreaL]

it doesn't make any sense. the NB isn't even close to the CPU socket on the DFIs... i'll have to try it when i get my XP-120.

Yes it does, air going down to the board and spreads out along the whole of the board. It means air will be going back against the airflow of the case - creating a stale air around the NB.

[5-Clicks]

that'd make more sense if the NB were right next to the socket, but the NB is lower than the CPU and hot air travels up. i'm not saying that it's defying the laws of gravity, but ~4 or 5 degrees C is alot. maybe i'm overestimating the distance between the cpu and NB

[STEvil]

hot air (or any air actually) moves where the fans make it move. Its a common misconception that hot air only moves up. That is only true when you have no fans

[5-Clicks]

another point. if you have fans, they should dispose most of the hot air from the CPU away from the system so only a small fraction even gets to the NB. but again, i can't argue with fact and the fact is that sucking results in better temps on the NB.

[P_1]

does this do any good for a xp90c?

[Doctorcilantro]

Ummm..that's how the directions dictate you should put it on. Unless your using a K8. But IIRC the directions are still to put the baackplate on.
Be aware, the Big Typhoon does not fit on a DFI Infinity. You'll need a dremmel to modify your H Clip as it touches the parallel port. Also, the foam is supposed to have adhesive on both sides, mine had none! The H Clip also does not line up to the motherboard mount hole in the upper left corner of the mb. QC at Thernaltake is lacking.

Dr. C

I had some serious trouble to mount the typhoon, I had to use my own little method... I took the H-backplate and the H-foam-thingy, put them on the back of the MB, put the screws through (from the bottom), and used the bolts to hold it down towards the MB.



In other words, I might have to remove the whole thing from my case again to get it off the CPU, I'm not sure.

[exscape]

Well the Venice is K8 isn't it?
Thus it should be mounted using the motherboard backplate using screws from on top.

[Doctorcilantro]

Right, I wasn't sure if the K8 install was the same as the K7 is what I meant since I only installed on a DFI Infinity. My point was that the directions state to do what you said was "a trick". I just wanted people to know what Thermaltake specified on the install. I didn't like it overall. Mainly the tightening down of the bolts to secure the heatsink is a bit nerveracking. I mean, I felt I had a good feel for how tight to get it but you really have to "tune in" to what your doing and secure them evenly and focus on how much those pads are compressing. I guess I am just used to a clip doing all the thinking.

Dr. C