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solitudinalcomp
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Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:29 am

Hi, I recently installed a Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 to replace the stock heatsink for my AMD Athlon II X4 640. I restarted, and, after waiting a bit longer for Win 7 to sort out recognising the new fan, it eventually worked. So far, so good. I checked the settings in the BIOS and they are the same as for the previous stock AMD cooler.

Anyway, after getting to the desktop and opening a few programs, I then ran CPUID HW Monitor.

The Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 is running much slower (1000rpm vs 2000rpm for previous AMD stock fan) although there's no noticeable noise difference.

But, the case fan at the back of the machine is now running faster (1000-1100rpm vs 900-950 with AMD stock fan).

I'm thinking this is because the new cooler is larger thus taking up more space and restricting airflow. I also had to move the HDD because of this. The direction of this fan is also either up/down and not in the direction of the airflow through the case, which could also be another factor.

Oddly, in spite of the reductions in speed, the computer sounds just as noisy as before (even a bit noisier??????)

Could it be simply be the cooler is not that good??

My dilemma now of course is whether to just return the new cooler and keep my old one??

CoolerMaster Elite 340 Micro-ATX Tower Case
AMD Athlon II X4 Quad Core 640 3.0GHz (Socket AM3) Processor
CPU Cooler: Stock AMD
Motherboard: Asus M4A88TD-M EVO/USB3 AMD 880
Memory: Corsair XMS3 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz Dual Channel
Hard Drive(s):Samsung HD103SJ SpinPoint F3 1TB SATA-II 3.5" Hard Drive
Graphics: VTX ATI Radeon HD 5770 1024MB GDDR5 PCI-Express Graphics Card
OS: Windows 7 64bit
 
solitudinalcomp
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 11:32 am

Here's an HW scan just after the new installation:
Image

This is the scan before installation i.e. with stock AMD cooler.
Image
 
flip-mode
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:17 pm

Do you know for certain which fan is making the most noise? It has been my experience that there is usually one fan that ends up being louder than the rest. This is pretty easily tested by putting your finger on the hub of each fan to stop it and noting the difference it makes for each fan.

Still, what is happening with your machine does not make sense to me. You should definitely have realized lowered temperatures after installing that new cooler. It is possible, I suppose, that you could have a defective Freezer 7 Pro on you hands, or even that your thermal sensors are not reading correctly.

For what it's worth, I've given up on software-driven fan speed controls and I now either have manual controls for each fan or else I buy fans that are quiet at 100% speed. My Radeon 5770 is the loudest thing in my case.
 
sircharles32
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:25 pm

My best guess would be that the CPU fan wasn't the culprit to begin with.
You've got three more choices left: case fan, video card fan, or power supply fan.

Crack the case open, with it running, and try and pin point where sound is coming from. If you're having difficulty discerning between sources,
then I'd recommend making a paper cone to help pin point sound sources.

Unless you overclock, I can't imaging the stock cooler being the loudest thing in your case. I've got an Athlon II X4 630, with stock cooler, and can't hear it at all over the
case fans (2 x 20 cm, 2 x 12 cm).
Workstation: Phenom II X4 965
Every-Day: Athlon II X4 630
Servers: Athlon X2 BE-2400, A8-7600
Gym: Opteron 150
 
parism
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 12:42 pm

You need this version of Arctic Cooler Freezer Pro: ACFZ64-PRO, coolerguys.com has it. I had the same issue (AMD Athlon II X4 965) and the cooler you now have. I ended up RMAing it and getting the one from coolerguys. The ACFZ64-PRO will make your fan suck air from the front to the back as opposed to top/bottom or bottom/top (that you now have). Also, I noticed that your CPU temp probe (motherboard) temps that are different from the Core temps (that are lower). The fans are governed by the BIOS so the fans will spin faster if the motherboard sensor reports higher temps.

Hope this helps...

p
 
solitudinalcomp
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:05 pm

Thanks for the prompt replies - nice to know someone cares...lol.

Yes, the plastic casing for the fan which attaches the fan to the fins was damaged as well as a couple of the fins in the corner (in transit) - minor damage but perhaps contributive. I thought I'd try using it anyway to see what type of temps/rpm I was getting and so here I am.

Most of the noise is the CPU fan and the GPU fan as far as I can tell, and as long as the case fan stays below 1000rpm, then it's quiet enough.

With the GPU I've enabled power saving mode in the BIOS and so hopefully it will power down when not in much use and therefore make the system quieter. I'm not too worried about noise during gaming.

sircharles,
I can't imaging the stock cooler being the loudest thing in your case. I've got an Athlon II X4 630, with stock cooler, and can't hear it at all over the
case fans (2 x 20 cm, 2 x 12 cm).
What speeds are you getting for all these? I've never been able to get my AMD stock cooler below 1950rpm??

parism
Also, I noticed that your CPU temp probe (motherboard) temps that are different from the Core temps (that are lower). The fans are governed by the BIOS so the fans will spin faster if the motherboard sensor reports higher temps.
I noticed that too. Any idea how I get the mobo to report the correct temps??
 
sircharles32
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:16 pm

I can't tell you the CPU fan speed right now (at work), but I can from memory tell you what the approximate speeds of the other fans were.

20 cm: ~800 RPM
20 cm: ~750 RPM
12 cm: ~1050 RPM
12 cm: ~1200 RPM

The CPU fan is set to auto, so it will adjust as the temps increase/decrease. Also of note, my GPU is passive only (no fan to worry about).
I typically use Speedfan to monitor my temps and fan speeds, in Windows.
Workstation: Phenom II X4 965
Every-Day: Athlon II X4 630
Servers: Athlon X2 BE-2400, A8-7600
Gym: Opteron 150
 
parism
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 1:54 pm

If the casing of the Arctic cooler fan is damaged, then it may begin to rattle hence contribute to the noise. I also have an ASUS mobo and have found that the only way to control the fans are in the BIOS, like you did. I don't really know how to make the motherboard sensor similar to the AMD core temp sensor; when CPU load goes up, the CPU temp sensor lags behind the core temp. The other way around, when the load is decreasing, the CPU temp sensor shows temps that are decreasing slower than the core temps. In your case, the CPU temps are higher than what is reported by the AMD core temp sensor. The questions is, are these temperatures at stable CPU load?

p
 
solitudinalcomp
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Mon Aug 15, 2011 3:39 pm

I've gamed for a bit with the new cooler and the temps increase a bit but nothing extraordinary....as to be expected.
 
solitudinalcomp
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:44 pm

OK, I ended up replacing the cooler with the old stock one and it seems to be running ok although the fans are running a bit faster than previously (2100:950 vs 2050:900 before).

All the temps are cooler too; what I don't understand is why can't I get the fans to run slower and just let the temps go up a bit (see 2nd pic). I mean if I could get the stock fan to run at 1500rpm and the case fan at 850rpm, then that'd be ideal.
Last edited by solitudinalcomp on Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
 
flip-mode
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Tue Aug 16, 2011 2:59 pm

solitudinalcomp wrote:
OK, I ended up replacing the cooler with the old stock one and it seems to be running ok although the fans are running a bit faster than previously (2100:950 vs 2050:900 before).

All the temps are cooler too; what I don't understand is why can't I get the fans to run slower and just let the temps go up a bit (see ?? I mean if I could get the stock fan to run at 1500rpm and the case fan at 850rpm, then that'd be ideal.

Turn off all software fan control and get one of these each for the case fan and the cpu fan:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6811995073

I have a couple of those (not same make/model) and I just leave them laying inside the case rather than take up a case expansion slot.

It's a guaranteed solution to the problem and will last though OS changes and software updates/removals/reinstalls.
 
sircharles32
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:05 pm

Depending on your motherboard's bios, you should be able to manually tell the system when to speed up the CPU fan, based on it's temperature.
You should also be able to specify a minimum fan speed, as well. I believe mine is set at 10%. So, theoretically, if my system is doing nothing, and is
way below my allotted temp threshold for speeding up the fan, then the fan should idle at only 10% of it's maximum.

Now, if your system is having difficulty dissipating normal heat from components, then the manual settings will likely be useless, because it will very
quickly reach those higher temperatures, and force the fan to speed up.
Workstation: Phenom II X4 965
Every-Day: Athlon II X4 630
Servers: Athlon X2 BE-2400, A8-7600
Gym: Opteron 150
 
solitudinalcomp
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Re: Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 PRO Rev.2 vs Stock AMD

Tue Aug 16, 2011 3:44 pm

It seems my system's temps are fairly normal.

Yes, I can to some extent change settings in the BIOS although I don't think I can alter the CPU fan settings as they seem to be dictated by the mobo.

As parism stated, the CPU core temps are different to the mobo's reading of the CPU temp.

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