XP-120 Hotter than stock cooler

sculptor · 7 May 2006 at 00:54

Hi StevenG,
I have an XP-120 the same as yours, crap temps.
What I did to improve the temps was sand down the base of the retention bracket this helped improve the contact to the cpu.
You have to watch out for the heatpipes catching on the bracket if you sand it too much. this happened to me but I got round it buy using a craft knife to cut away the bracket so the pipes werent resting on it.
Judging by your pics you have the same problem, not sufficent contact on the cpu.
Hope it helps.

StevenG · 7 May 2006 at 01:18

retantion bracket? black plastic thing? sand down the bottom of it so its closer to the mobo to give the sooler better contact with the cpu. i will give it a try.

Street · 7 May 2006 at 04:53

StevenG said:
the XP-120 Idles at 32 and peaks at 42-44 - Lapped

Thats pretty much exactly the same as my SI-120 on my 3700. Does it really matter a few degrees difference?

ns400r · 7 May 2006 at 05:40

Sounds to me that the pressure exerted on the top of the CPU is greater when using the stock cooler causing the IHS to compress more and make a slightly better contact with the core underneath.

Do you think that the stock cooler is a firmer fit than the 120 ?

StevenG · 7 May 2006 at 12:17

it is actually. its got one of the spring clip things. push the handle down and it locks it in place. the xp-120 isnt as secure as the stock. so will taking some material off the bottom of my mounting bracket make some difference

and to answer your question... does a few degrees make that much difference, YES the stock cooler is beating my XP-120 and it shouldnt.

i will try the mounting bracket idea later today i think. Thanks

megatron · 7 May 2006 at 14:29

My xp-120 is pretty stiff to attach, and Id imagine cant imagine another cooler giving more pressure or lots of cpu would be broken attaching it. Did u replace the mobo retention bracket with the one supplied with xp-120 (probably already been asked and its probably incompatable anyhow)?

roadie · 23 Jun 2006 at 13:24

I am going to drag up this thread because it interests me. I have a Freezer 64 Pro that is giving me higher temperatures with a 3500+ that has a lower TDP than a 3000+. I am going to lap the heatsink and the IHS of the 3000+ to see exactly how cool I can get it. It's an OEM chip that is out of warranty so I don't really mind what happens to it. I can't really do much to the 3500+, as it's brand new.

Mikey1280 · 23 Jun 2006 at 13:26

Lap the IHS, why?

TaKeN · 23 Jun 2006 at 13:54

I most certainly WOULD NOT Lap the IHS, Its not very thick remember and next time you clip on the Heatsink it could be weak and break through..

I would polish the IHS but not lap it,.

weescott · 23 Jun 2006 at 14:03

The IHS is not very flat so lapping won't do any harm. After all the flatter it is the better contact it will make with the HS.

roadie · 23 Jun 2006 at 15:08

Mikey1280 said:
Lap the IHS, why?

I just thought this looked kinda cool. It should also make a small difference to temperature. Anyway, I am going to pop down to B&Q and Homebase in Wandsworth tomorrow to get the sand paper I need. I will then steal one of my flatmates glass shelves and get to work on my Freezer 64 Pro and the IHS.

Mikey1280 · 23 Jun 2006 at 15:19

roadie said:
I just thought this looked kinda cool. It should also make a small difference to temperature. Anyway, I am going to pop down to B&Q and Homebase in Wandsworth tomorrow to get the sand paper I need. I will then steal one of my flatmates glass shelves and get to work on my Freezer 64 Pro and the IHS.

It does look pretty good, remember not to take too much off either the IHS or freezer.

ob1 · 24 Jun 2006 at 20:49

Ive been thinking of doing that myself but dont people just remove the IHS alltogether. I dont think I could or would because my heatsink wouldnt clamp down enough but do some people because IHS is only some cheap aluminium material that probably conveys heat quite badly

Mikey1280 · 24 Jun 2006 at 20:57

They remove the IHS so that you directly cool the core, on some chips the contact between the IHS and core is pretty poor which affects the temperature.

weescott · 24 Jun 2006 at 21:01

One person here whom shall remain nameless took the IHS off his FX60 and took 2 chips off the CPU in the process. :eek:

He was very lucky that the chip still works!!!

Mikey1280 · 24 Jun 2006 at 21:02

weescott said:
One person here whom shall remain nameless took the IHS off his FX60 and took 2 chips off the CPU in the process.

He was very lucky that the chip still works!!!

Oh yes I remember that

, was that the same person who decided to practice on his 'lowly' x2 beforehand and broke that as well?

ob1 · 24 Jun 2006 at 21:02

Worth considering with a 805d ? I have a zalman 7000b on there and it does screw down but Iam not sure if it'd still be tight

Mikey1280 · 24 Jun 2006 at 21:07

ob1 said:
Worth considering with a 805d ? I have a zalman 7000b on there and it does screw down but Iam not sure if it'd still be tight

Its not recommended at all on intel chips, you would need a hacksaw to take it off.

ob1 · 24 Jun 2006 at 21:14

haha ok glad I asked then

Drazic · 25 Jun 2006 at 00:54

Solder iorn helps on the new LG775 chips

Poped the Conroe already, well one of my few.

Direct die on there new stuff is a winner

Anyway i lapped my Xp-120 and temps droped loads. I also lapped the top of my IHS. Nice pea sized drop of AS5 and then cranked up the clocks and volts and ran dual prime over night..this gave some heat which got the AS5 flowing, left to cool over the day with pc running stopck then off overnight and temps were good

120mm front and 120mm on the HSF is a must, rear psu if a 120mm directly above will hamper the performance a swill a rear 120mm if you got one on the era chnage to an intake, will helps loads belive me