CPU Heatsink Backwards.

[RUHere]

I have a cooler question, I just installed an Arctic Freezer 7 Pro, on a Q6600, and discovered much to my dismay that it blows air backwards, rather than forwards.

I still have good temps on it, but it is about an inch from a case fan running against it now, and any heat is being pushed back on the memory heat-spreaders..

Ideally I'd like to turn it around, but given I still have good temps I'm not inclined to do so.. Would anyone strongly recommend against leaving it as-is?

Also, if I do turn it (It's been installed all of 4 days at this point, and running for maybe 15-20 hours), can I get away with a quick-spin, without having to reapply thermal compound, or will I have to go through the cleaning, and applying fresh process.

Thanks,

~ Jon

[DMB2000uk]

You are going to have slightly higher case temps with it dumping heat back in the case, and the two fans working against each other are going to be creating a fair bit of air turbulence and noise. So if it were me, I'd take it off and turn it round.

You will be able to get away with not replacing the thermal paste and just spinning the cooler round, but for the best performance (as temps might be slightly higher just doing that), you should clean it off and start again.

Dan

PS. Welcome to the forums by the way

[ibleet]

If the fan is blowing towards the Ram, then you have the HS installed backwards. Turn it 180 so it blows the exhaust directly at your rear case fan.

It will make a big difference if you install it correctly. So, just suck it up and reinstall it. The most it will cost is a few minutes and a dab of thermal compound to get peace of mind and pride in a job done right.

[RUHere]

Thanks for the welcome, and the advice!

My main reluctance is I dislike working with thermal compound.. Mainly out of ignorance.

I have some "silver thermal compound" Ultra Brand I believe.. 10% Silver, < 0.06 thermal resistance, >7.5W thermal transfer
I also have some Fanner 420 thermal compound which came with a heatsink once.. <0.06 thermal resistance also, but only >2.0W on the transfer.

So the Ultra Silver would seem to be the way to go, but it always seemed too pasty to spread well

I also never really quite got how to apply it right, some say spread a thin layer, some say put a grain of rice in the middle of the heat-spreader and let pressure do the work for you.. when I last used the silver it was hard to spread evenly..

also the thought of trying to clean the existing crud off there is not that appealing either..

The pre-applied was a blessing, but now I am kicking myself for screwing it up.. I should have checked the flow rather than just assuming..

But of course I do want to make it as efficient as possible.

[stopthekilling77]

all you need is to clean off the existing thermal paste then put a line of new thermal paste down in the center of the CPU about the size of an uncooked grain of rice. no need to spread it at all. just put the heatsink on and the paste will spread itself quite nicely!

[RUHere]

Any special trick to cleaning off the old paste? I know they sell cleaning kits for it, but is it really that bad to get off?

Also any orientation for the line of compound? some site was suggesting a full line (width of grain of rice) down 80% the length of the CPU vertical for dual core, and horizontal for quad (where I'm at)..

The noise of the two fans working against each other is a non-issue for me, as I have an XFX 8800GT in there w/stock cooling, so that is by far the loudest thing in the box.. it's virtually silent if I stop that fan..

The only other thing holding me back is working-space, I'd have to pull the PSU out again to get at the top clips, and concerns about pushing the clips in now the board is suspended in the case.. I don't think the mounting pins put much support near the CPU block.

Thanks for the patience!

The rig as a whole...

Gigabyte P35 - DSR3
Intel Q6600
Arctic Freezer 7 Pro (Backwards)
4gb Patriot Viper @ 800
Rosewill RS850 w/135mm
250gb Baracuda @ SATA II
300gb Maxtor @ SATA I
Pair of CoolerMaster 120mm
Housed in an Enermax Chakra w/250mm side fan.

[bubba]

All you need is some cotton swabs (q-tips) and 90% isopropyl alcohol. These can be found at any corner drug store.

Wipe off the bulk of the TM with dry swabs, then clean the residue off with the isopropyl alcohol. Then reapply the new TM and install the cooler.

as for the TM line direction, best to look at the manufactures website for the proper amount, most is just a small amount smack in the middle of the CPU, the cooler base will force the TM out with out creating air bubbles.

Here is the instructions for the TM I use for the reviews, in the images it shows whats under the heat spreader for an Intel quad core.
http://www.arcticsilver.com/pdf/appinst ... d_wcap.pdf

[RUHere]

Well I have some time this weekend, so time to re-orient..

It might explain why I'm getting CPU temps of 31° whereas my system temps are 37° if I am blowing the CPU heat back into the box..

Given I have the G0, I may consider an OC once I have the fan going the right way..

So I'm cleaning off this thermal goop.. and the isopropyl doesn't seem quite as effective as I was hoping.. how clean do I need to get it before reapplying?

EDIT : That would be the heatsink, just came off the CPU fine.

[RUHere]

Sometimes I wonder why I bother...

I now have to remove the corner of the plastic fan bracket to clear the northbridge heatsink.. and then move my RAM to 2/4 instead of 1/3 because it blocks the first ram slot..

Neat..

[RUHere]

That said.. I'm now idling with 19° CPU 36 System..

Prime95 torture test has been running for a few minutes now and has stepped up the CPU fan speed, CPU temp holding around 26°, system has dropped to 34°

Probably because the increased speed on the CPU fan is drawing more system air out the back of the case..

About 10 minutes in now, and holding at 26/35

How long would you burn it in for?

[DMB2000uk]

Well if it hasn't shot to sky high temps already, then it is holding out just fine.

It will break in over normal use, if you leave your machine on all the time, turn it off at night or something to let it cool to ambient and complete the 'thermal cycle'.

Dan

[RUHere]

I used to leave it on all the time, but since getting the 8800 GT, it's a noisy beast, and I turn it off at nights..

I just bumped the FSB up to 333, so I have an FSB of 1332, and a CPU speed of 3ghz I pushed the memory multiplier down to 5:6, so she's running at 800mhz on the ram still.

I now have four instances of prime95 running on my machine, Torture test, the max heat option..

All four cores are maxed out, and I'm getting holding at 40° - 42° (Mostly sitting on 41°, has not gone above 42°) Stable for 20 minutes, then 21 minutes in, core 3 gave a rounding error.

Oh well, for 20 minutes I had a stable 3ghz machine..