Heat problems on a dual xeon system

[Crucio]

Hey guys, ive got a dual 2.8 xeon system on a supermicro x5da8. the xeons are 2.8 ghz socket 604 533mhz fsb.
Theyre in the largest lian li aluminum case.


I was just wondering if anyone knew any good ways to cut down on the heat

i cant run them 100% without overheating

and the lowest the temp gets in my computer is like 130 degrees

and it gets up to 170 if i dont watch it.


i dont really know what i can do besides putting a freaking refrigerator next to it.


if anyone knows any good socket 604 heatsinks and fans, let me know

thanx

[Gerard V]

The CPU cooler fans can only cool the CPU to the temperature of the air inside the case, plus a few degrees. So it is really important to make sure that there is good airflow through the case. Get lots of cool air into the case for the CPU fans to use. For example, do your fans all suck air in at the front of the case and blow it out the back? One of the main ways to improve cooling is more/ better case fans properly set up.

Try this - take the top/side off the case, and run your PC with a house fan blowing air into the case. If that makes the temperature come down alot then you know the real problem is the there's not enough airflow through the case, in which case changing the CPU coolers wont help at all.

[Crucio]

well that does make quite a bit of sense, thankyou very much.

maybe i can dremel a hole in the side for a fan to help distribute air better

[UofC]

170c is very hot for these CPU's if indeed that is the temp. The max is to be 70cish (edit for Gehenna).

I have two servers in cases with 4 80mm blowers that make allot of noise but cool them properly. I think you should really step up the cooling on the case and leave the CPU. Put the most CFM air you can through it.

But 170c seems impossible but um duh yeah you mean 170F right? Even then that is way too high. 76c is almost death to these.

Intel’s clock down when they over heat so they may not burn out but you will loose out. You maybe loosing performance and greatly shortening the life span of them.

[Gehenna]

I think you will find the limit is around 71-75C for Xeon Proc`s (depending on Spec & Step)
You can look up the specs of your Proc`s here:
http://processorfinder.intel.com/List.aspx?ProcFam=528&sSpec=&OrdCode=

I run 2 x 3.06 @ 3.52Ghz (HT Disabled),my proc`s are watercooled and i rarely see them go over 65C @ 100% Usage over many hours,and i have some serious heat sources inside my case (2xRaptors / 3xPATA Drives),although having the radiator located outside my case helps temps as Gerard V noted.
A good source of Dual Proc info is http://2cpu.com

[Gerard V]

One thing that I have done before to improve air flow into a case, is to take two of the 5 3/4 blank panels off the front, glue them together to make what used to be a "full height" panel, and then make 2 x 60mm holes to which you can attach fans and grills. That way you don't damage the case itself.

Before doing all that - make sure that the fans at the back blow air out, and those at the front suck air in. I have seen fans installed backwards before. If they are all sucking or all blowing then they defeat each other.

Most cases will have facilities to install additional cooling fans without modifying the case.

[Soulhunter]

Most cases will have facilities to install additional cooling fans without modifying the case.
And if not, do it the MC Guyver way... (http://soulhunter.chronocrossdev.com/data/PC13.jpg) ;D


Bye

[UofC]

Don't forget you have to balance all this air modding if you are going ahead. 7 fans pushing air in and 1 pushing air out will not help much.

lian li Makes exceptional cases you might just have to buy beefier fans to push more air. Dual Xeons is not the run of the mill setup.

One of the reasons I do not like taking off the side of the case and blowing air in is it puts dust directly on the hardware and disrupts air flow thought the case. And if you have pets it could get expensive.

[Gerard V]

UofC makes a valid point. Taking the side off the case is not a long term solution. I suggested it only as a way for you to verify that with more case airflow that the CPU fans would indeed cope. If the CPUs still run hot with the side off the case and a house fan blowing in, then you would need to check other possibilities, such as inadequate bonding between the CPU fans and the chips.

[Pookie]

On a very similarly equipped system during an MPEG encode:

(Using AIDA32 to get sensor stats)

Motherboard 46C = 115F
CPU1 52C = 126F
CPU2 47C = 117F

This article is pretty good regarding airflow:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/142

This article covers quite a bit as far as thermal grease is concerned:

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/274

[Crucio]

alright i did some major work with cords to help the airflow, and my cpus are running at 42c idle now, the case i cannot get down below 50c for some reason

and yes before when i said 170 i did mean f, honestly tho i just looked at my thermal logs, and it never went above 70c, or 158f. My computer shut itself down or beeped angrily!

still i know, ridiculously high, but i dusted everything, realized (stupidly) that one of my cpu fans was sucking out of the heatsink instead of blowing into it, and the fins in the heatsink were the blow kind, and then i got 3 more fans for the back


under 20 minutes of 100% load, my cpus do get up to about 65, and the system 60

im thinking its maybe because i dont have enough cool air coming in

i only have 2 fans sucking in and like 5 blowing out, so i was thinking if im going to have some long term 100% going on, i should maybe drill 2 holes in the side of the case and sticking 2 fans there to suck in some air, (ofcourse with filters, dont wanna get my dog sucked in there)

the watercooling for the xeons sounds cool, but too much work, anyways, atleast my comp isnt blowing up or catching on fire now


thankyou much for the help


oh and does anyone know how big a circular drill to get for a 120 mm fan?

i was looking at the 120mm drills but they looked too big

[dloneranger]

just a though, but be careful where you place the fans
a friend of mine bought this all singing/dancing case for his pc - it has 9 fans and would reboot every half an hour

because of placement of the fans critical components weren't getting cooled properly
some of the fans were on the side of the case and blowing directly over the video card and cpu heatsink
you'd think this would be a good idea, but try sticking your head out of a fast moving car and looking sideways to the way your travelling - you can't breathe properly, the air's being blown by too fast
the same was happening to his coolers - the air was moving too fast for the fans to be able to suck it in
to fix it we simply removed the power supply to the fans that were in silly places
result - no more reboots and a pretty good cpu temperature

[UofC]

If you have two fans in and five out then adding another might not do the trick. You need better air flow or more. So either look for stronger fans or post what type of fans and the exact model of the case. I will try and help you out.

Seven fans should be enough. Also are you sure the temps in the case are right? If the CPU is 42 and the case is 50 something is not right.