A digest for conscious living
So I’m totally outing myself as a complete nerd by writing an article about CPU heatsinks. Now you know… Building computers excites me. I’m a fucking nerd. Well, I’m really writing this post in gratitude for an awesome company that deserves praise. Noctua. I’ve written before about printer ink cartridges. I guess I can do it again for this.
Recently, I got a sweet deal on Ebay; got myself a 6 core i7 for 30% off what they sold for at Newegg. Newegg always has great prices and amazing service, but this time I found a new, retail CPU from someone who had bought one too many, and sold it on Ebay at a discount.
Since I do a lot of rendering, and all kinds of graphics and video processing, I figured the extra two cores would pay for themselves in time saved over the course of the next year, and so it made total sense to replace my perfectly fine cpu with a 6 core unit. I was even looking forward to overclocking it. Yeah baby, 6 full cores.
My previous CPU, a 2.8Ghz quad core i7 930, could only be overclocked to 3.2 Ghz because of overheating issues. When I first got it, I spent two days figuring out why I couldn’t get the temperatures others were reporting. I needed my box to be stable, and not risk high temperatures. This wasn’t a gaming rig, but a system I make a living with.
I had purchased a Noctua NH-U12P cooler when I first built my box; a top of the line heatsink that cost more than any other brand offerings. I wanted performance and silence, and Noctua products were getting rave reviews on all fronts. I got a good deal on it at Frozencpu, usually my go-to site for coolers and soundproofing. They have have great selection and friendly service. Still, the price was steep. Back then, this heatsink was cooling a Wolfdale e8400 CPU, dual core, socket 775. It must be told that, when I upgraded to an LGA1366 motherboard, I emailed Noctua support, asking whether there was a way to keep using this cooler, considering I had spent around 75$ for a pound and a half of machined metal and a plastic fan. Other coolers can cost half as much.
Within two days I received a reply, and was sent a mounting kit for my new cpu, compliments of Noctua. I was looking forward to some stellar overclocking on my new i7! To complement this install, I bought some expensive Zalman ZM-STG1 thermal grease (I had already used the thermal paste that came with the heatsink on its first install). It came in a little bottle with a brush, like nail polish, and had the consistency of it. My case is a well ventilated Antec P180 with extra fans, I was ready to do some serious OC’in…
Interior Layout (Click to enlarge)
Disappointingly, I was getting high temperatures at load when I ran Prime 95 tests. It would go up to the 80’s. I tried multiple thermal paste applications, re-seating the cooler, etc…
I chalked it off to a bad batch CPU, and was still able to use it safely with a low overclock.
So when I got my 6 core chip, I had renewed hopes of a solid overclock. To my dismay, at default speed, I was getting load temps in the mid 90’s with the i7-970. Not only was this bad, I just couldn’t risk burning it off when rendering something overnight on a summer day. That’s all it would have taken.
I was back to the drawing board, a second i7 cpu was heating up and at this point I started blaming my Noctua cooler. Maybe the mounting brackets weren’t mating my cooler with the cpus… My case had great airflow. I could only get temperatures a degree or two lower if I kept it open. That’s with a Quadro 5000 graphics card, 6 RAM sticks, and four hard drives. So, in my mind, it had to be a problem with the Noctua cooler.
My Noctua cooler in my case (click to enlarge)
I took a Saturday afternoon to fiddle with the mounting, re-seat the heatsink, and apply the Zalman thermal grease in different amounts. I noticed that the grease seemed to bubble and collect together, and I concluded, that the heatsink plate may not be mating with the cpu. But it just didn’t make any sense. I could feel the contact being made just before screwing in the cooler.
I gave up after an unfruitful day of troubleshooting, and wrote Noctua a request for troubleshooting assistance.
The next day, I decided to give one last try. I filed down the plastic risers that support the cpu mounting brackets, just a hair, like half a millimeter, in case my motherboard PCB was a bit thicker than others. The way the heatsink is fastened, however, would have adapted for that. It’s a very easy, sturdy and precise mounting. The best I ever used. After doing this, however, there was no improvement in the cooling.
The Mounting Bracket (Click to enlarge)
Then one more thing came to mind… I decided to apply the thermal paste that came with my Intel CPU, instead of the Zalman grease I had been using. It was more viscous, like a cement, and I put the entire syringe as instructed.
Finally, my 6core was idling at under 30c, and load temperature in the high 50’s to low 60’s!!! A difference of almost 40 degrees.
Load temps with my overclock
It was the grease! The fancy Zalman thermal grease just wasn’t doing it’s job. Meanwhile, the Noctua NH-U12P was clearly doing a stellar job of cooling this 130w CPU.
Two days later, I received my answer from Noctua’s techs. While I had already fixed my issue, their genuine effort in helping me prompted me to provide a thorough, and grateful response. I am posting their reply here, to show people what they are paying for when they buy a Noctua fan.
“Dear Mr. Protti,
Thank you for contacting Noctua.
I’m assuming that you’re using an older NH-U12P CPU cooler that came with only one fan. It should be possible to lower the CPU temperatures by adding a second fan and if necessary we’ll of course dispatch you the required mounting parts free of charge.
I would like to get an second opinion on your CPU temperatures and we would be more that happy if you could send us a screenshot that shows your CPU temperatures when running Prime95.
In any case I will get back to you as soon as I’m able to tell anything more specific.
Kind regards,
Alexander Dyszewski
Noctua support team”
This kind of support, along with the top notch craftsmanship of their heatsinks and fans, is what you pay for. I’ll remind you that I was able to use the same cooler for two different computer builds now, and Noctua provides mounting kits for the latest sockets, so that you can keep using the same heatsink. Another sensible aspect is that you can replace the fan separately, in case it fails or starts to whirr.
If you take into account that I was able to use my NH-U12P on two builds, and will be able to keep it in the future, the value of this product becomes evident. If you are an enthusiast and you regularly upgrade your PC, your best buy will be with Noctua for the long term. These guys don’t just provide a stellar product, they provide amazing value and service in their business. In the two times I was contacted by their customer service, I received thorough attention and assurance that my problem would be resolved at little or no cost to me. They’ve made a lifelong fan out of me. As for my Zalman thermal grease, well, perhaps I picked the wrong item, or perhaps it was a bad batch. After all, I bought some great heatsinks from Zalman in the past. But, after the grease debacle and the great support I got from our Austrian friends, Noctua will have my business in the future.
Raphael