Re: Installing the Zalman CNPS9700 LED

attilathehun1 wrote:
If you really think I should take it off and redo it I will. I figured I put enough on both. I didn't paste the whole areas to the edges. I did about 80% of both. I'm leary about taking it off and on too many times and striping the plastic screw sockets. That reminds me to ask about only using 2 bolt screws to put the cooler on. Why do they give you 4 bolts and what's this about being able to move it in 90% increments? I did only use 2 bolts to install it. I used the 4 longer bolts to install the backplate but I only used 2 of the 4 bolts they provided.
Thanks, attilathehun1

"Paul" wrote:

attilathehun1 wrote:
Ok, I'm about to install the CPU chip and then I'm going to install the backplate onto the underside of the motherboard. Once I get the backplate installed, I can then start to install the cooler. This seems a bit, well I'm glad I have some input here of help. What do you think about that procedure? Is this the correct series of steps so far? Install the CPU chip first, then the backplate, then the cooler? Or backplate first, then CPU chip, then cooler or does it matter if the chip is installed before the backplate?
Any more help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, attilathehun1
What matters, is that the back of the motherboard be supported, when
you're putting pressure on the top of the motherboard. You can choose
whatever order results in good mechanical support for the motherboard.

When putting the plastic piece on the top side of the motherboard,
the Zalman video shows that the plastic piece has to be oriented,
so there is room for the hinge of the lever. The plastic
piece should only fit one way, and should leave room for the
lever to move through its normal range of movement. Since the
lever is free to move, you can install the CPU either before or
after the retention frame is installed and backplate added to
the back side.

I put a half-grain-of-rice sized bit of paste on the CPU,
squash it with the heatsink, and see how far it spreads. I
clean it off. and apply paste according to the instructions
that come with the paste. Some people do it different ways
than others (they either spread it, or they place a dot
in the center, and let the pressure spread it out). According
to the Arctic Silver instructions, priming and filling the
rough areas on the metal surfaces, helps improve the performance
of the paste. So an initial application, clean it off (doesn't have
to be "shiny clean", just wipe off the excess), and then the final
measured quantity, should give good results. A little bit of
paste should be visible at the joint where the metal on the
CPU meets the metal of the heatsink. If a lot gushes out, you
used too much, and should do it again. Too much paste, works
like an insulator. The paste is only there, to displace trapped
air bubbles. You're not supposed to build an "Oreo cookie" with
it :-)

I'm still on my original tube of Arctic Silver. So if you don't waste
it, the stuff lasts a while.

Paul


Maybe when you were in school, they had practice fire drills. The
kids would all run out of the building, and the administrator for the
school would use a stopwatch, to time the exits. The idea is, to
practice so everything works smoothly.

Fitting the heatsink dry, works the same way. You're doing it, to
see how hard it is to do up, and if there are any issues with
getting it to assemble properly. Sometimes, a new heatsink applies
too much pressure to a motherboard, and rather than waste paste
while testing, you can assembly the parts without paste, to verify
you really understand how to put it together.

Then, for your *final* assembly, you apply paste. You want the paste
to be in there, when your computer is really working. If no paste
is present, the CPU will be hotter than it should be.

As for setting up the fan speed control, try the following.

1) Get a copy of Prime95. This version runs in Windows.

http://www.mersenne.org/gimps/p95v255a.zip

2) Start the program, and when prompted, you want to do the Torture Test.
A thread of execution should start per processing core. The
purpose of this program, is to test your CPU, and also make your
CPU get hot.

3) Start with the fan in "High" setting. When Prime95 is running,
are you getting an acceptable CPU temperature ? OK, then drop
the fan to "Medium". The CPU temperature will shoot up a bit.
Is the temperature too high for your liking ?

The idea of the above test, is to test the CPU when it is as
hot as possible. Then, see what fan setting results in a good
CPU temperature. Your stock trading application won't make it
run hotter than it will when Prime95 is present.

On my Zalman, I run it at full speed. But some people are willing
to accept a slightly higher CPU temperature, in order to get
quieter operation. Testing at the various fan speeds, should give
you some idea what is needed. I set the speed once, and haven't
touched it since. On one of my computers, I use nylon wraps to
fasten the controller to a metal bar in the case.

Nylon wraps can be used to make things tidy inside the computer,
but don't overuse them. They should be used for smaller cables that
get in the way - and don't do up the nylon wrap so tight,
that it cuts the insulation on the wire. (The unused end of
the wrap can be cut off with diagonal pliers with cutting
jaws - it is too hard to do with scissors and you could
cut something else by accident. To remove the wrap, you cut
it in two and throw it away. I have bags of various sizes
here, for stuff like that. The hardware store may offer
a mixed bag, of some large and some small ones.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cable_tie

In terms of motherboard fan speed control methods, there is
a confusing set of options. The CNPS9700 LED is a three pin fan
header, so it is unlikely that it will be controllable from
the motherboard. (That would require onboard linear control,
and that has been removed from motherboards for a while now.)
Most modern LGA775 motherboards now, use a four pin fan header,
which would interface nicely with the CNPS9700 NT. The fourth
pin allows "PWM control" from the motherboard. Does this
always work nice ? Well, not always. On some motherboards,
the speed is too low, driving the users crazy. So, in fact,
you should be happy with the CNPS9700 LED and the FanMate
controller, because that puts *you* in control, and not
some buggered version of BIOS or software. Set the fan
speed for the best compromise between CPU cooling and
noise. The reason I run mine on high, is because the
fan on the rear of the computer is much louder than the
CPU one, so it doesn't matter what speed the CPU one
runs at.

The temperature you're aiming for, is 65C. You want the
CPU to be below 65C, when Prime95 is running. My CPU is
currently at 43C or so, so plenty of room.

Also, Prime95 is a testing program. If, while you're using
it, it stops with an error, then your computer is not
stable. That is the real reason for the Torture Test -
it checks that the computer can compute properly. I use
Prime95 after using overclock settings, to determine
whether my machine is overclocked too far. But you can
let Prime95 run for four hours, and see whether the
computer is stable at stock speeds. On a lot of modern
motherboards with DDR2 or DDR3 memory, you need a slight
boost in memory voltage, to make Prime95 work nice.

Paul
.

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