Crosshair V / Phenom II 1100T - temps getting out of control

[skubany]

Hi,

Just got myself a Crosshair V, Phenom II 1100T cooled by Thermalright SI-128 SE with fan @ 2400 rpm. Goal is to reach 4Ghz, but for starters I've set 3,6Ghz, just to have it higher than my old Phenom II 940 Deneb @ 3,5Ghz.

I've got some issues and I'm wondering why they occur.

To stress the CPU I'm using SP2004 x 6, 4/6 have option Blend - stress ram and cpu, 2/6 have option Large - test some ram, because I don't have enough memory for all of the SP2004 instances to run with Blend.

Measurements taken with HWMonitor64 and Asus AI Suite II's EPU status for CPU wattage monitoring.
I have a Kill-A-Watt (KaW) monitoring wattage of all my computers.

OC'ed via BIOS by changing the multiplier only, from Auto to 18. Set Digi+ VRM to Regular/100%/Auto/Optimized/T.Probe - basically the defaults.

Stock results:
idle - 22C cores, don't remember the socket temp
load (10min) - 48C socket, 41C cores
wattage:
idle - 580W (KaW), 35W (EPU)
start of the testing (about 1 min after starting the test) - 660W (KaW), 76W (EPU)
10min into testing - 662W (KaW), 76W
20min - same as 10min, even after 20min the values at 10min hold without change.

OC'ed at 3,6Ghz:
idle - 37C socket, 27C cores
load (10min [socket/cores in C]) - 55/52, (20min) - 64/66, (23min, manual stop) - 68/71
wattage:
idle - 580W (KaW), 40W (EPU)
start - 678W (KaW), 87.91W (EPU)
10min - 694W (KaW), 98-99.5W (EPU)
20min - 708W (KaW), 99.99W [max that can be displayed apparently] (EPU)
23min - 715W (KaW), 99.99W (EPU)

Loading the CPU pretty much reaches and then holds 55 socket and 52 core temps for a few minutes. Once these temperatures are exceeded then it's a gradual rise to a point where I'm forced to stop the test. Above 20min the temps increase at an even more rapid pace. It seems like the MB is feeding the CPU more and more and more juice, but should it? Is this normal or abnormal?

Could a 300Mhz increase lead to the observations I'm making? My HS is perfectly capable of keeping a 3,3Ghz at 48/41 for over 20minutes, but it can't keep a 3,6Ghz CPU below rated max temperatures after 20min period?

Is the MB regulation circuitry bad? Why would MB feed more power to the CPU over time when it held very wall over couple minutes at 55/52 temps.

The case is ventilated well. Could it be that too much AC5 was applied?

[skubany]

I've tried 9-blade fans. PULL: Scythe SY1225SL12M (1300RPM), PUSH: SilverStone FM121 (max rotation, 2400RPM)

With this configuration putting on a fan grill on the PUSH fan did not create a whining sound, if anything, a very faint one. But, the SilverStone fan by itself was creating a higher pitched annoying whining sound.

When the two fans spin at different RPM the radiator does emit a low tone sound. So it's best to use same speed fans to avoid it.

I created a few wave files and will put them up shortly to show the difference between fans and fan speeds.

I ended up going back to the stock H80 fans, both speed-controlled by the water block. At idle they're quiet enough, more quiet then my old air cooler setup which was using the above mentioned SilverStone fan.

[skubany]

Ok, I'm finally happy with my temps and my decibels.

I've ended up using SilverStone FM121 as the pull fan, currently running at 1700-1800RPM. The push fan is stock H80 connected to the water block which itself is set to MAX performance, but still the fan rotation is temperature controlled - low rpm at idle and mid/high at load.

I chose this configuration because I wanted to be able to control my pull fan externally which FM121 allows me to do, plus I already had my case set up to use that fan as it was cooling my old Phenom II x4. The water block does a good job at controlling the speed of the push fan. With the water block set at MAX performance I get best cooling when needed and quiet when idling.

Here are links to the wav files I've created testing various fan setups (24MB rared).
www.megaupload.com/?d=IKHMLXGH
http://www.fileserve.com/file/w8HacB2/fan_acoustics.rar

How I tested. The microphone was about 5-6 cm away from the radiator and to the side of it. I've started at the meeting point of the radiator and the push fan. I moved the mic parallel to the radiator in the direction of the end of the case. I then circled slightly pointing the mic at the side of the exhaust of the pull fan, then reversed direction to go all the way to the intake side of the push fan. Finally I went back to the starting point and hit stop recording.