dual xeon build

[MindCrime]

Edit: I did change the thermal paste on that processor with no change in temps at all.

That thought crossed my mind but when you said you and bryan both have the 2nd cpu high temps too I figured it wasn't thermal paste, wish it was that easy. My theory is that all the hot air generated from the first cpu continues on to "cool" the 2nd cpu, but obviously its now hotter. I thought an AIO would be good for the 2nd cpu if you can make it work. I figure it gives you the space savings on the cpu mounting area and is near immune from the exhaust of the 2nd cpu depending on where the AIO res is mounted.

There looks to be space for two 90mm (my guess) fans right above the I/O area inside the case. I'm going to wait for a day off to crack it open and actually pull the riser and have a look. In the meantime I have one 120mm fan mounted(taped) over the area i think is for the smaller fans. It definity pulls a lot of hot air out, temps dropped a few C but a permanent solution is needed.

Whats funny is the 2nd cpu seems to be favored, more work load on those cores than on the first cpu, could just be the current WU assignments though.

[John P. Myers]

This should solve your problem: http://www.performance-pcs.com/nexus...n-adapter.html

Only 21 left in stock at this massive discount. Better get on it. This will allow you to mount a 120mm fan/rad to an 80mm or 92mm case exhaust port and it's low profile.

[Al]

Keep in mind, it's a Dell and you may not have the connectors to power much additional fanage.There is an additional molex and 2 pci-e. The free molex means at least 2 should be possible.

[MindCrime]

Keep in mind, it's a Dell and you may not have the connectors to power much additional fanage.There is an additional molex and 2 pci-e. The free molex means at least 2 should be possible.

This is exactly the hurdle im on right now. I'm using the free molex for the 120mm fan but yeah the mobo looks to not have any open fan headers. And the ones it does have are 5pin...wtf. The riser has two fan headers on it one for the ram blower and one for the cpu cooler. Don't know how they're controlled. I really haven't noticed much fan speed variance at all as a matter of fact. It's pretty damn quiet of a machine before I added that 120mm fan. I wonder if a program like hardware monitor will show sensors for the fans. I have a four channel fan controller that can fit in one of the free front drive bays, but of course if the mobo has to control the cpu fans thats not gonna work.

How do water cooled builds defeat CPU FAN errors?

[John P. Myers]

How do water cooled builds defeat CPU FAN errors?

The pumps on water cooled units plug into the CPU fan header. Not sure how that would work on loldell's proprietary pin configurations though. What i would do is relocate the fan that's plugged into the CPU fan header, but leave it plugged in there. Then run a water cooled (or air cooled) CPU cooler off of your fan controller.

[FourOh]

This is exactly the hurdle im on right now. I'm using the free molex for the 120mm fan but yeah the mobo looks to not have any open fan headers. And the ones it does have are 5pin...wtf. The riser has two fan headers on it one for the ram blower and one for the cpu cooler. Don't know how they're controlled. I really haven't noticed much fan speed variance at all as a matter of fact. It's pretty damn quiet of a machine before I added that 120mm fan. I wonder if a program like hardware monitor will show sensors for the fans. I have a four channel fan controller that can fit in one of the free front drive bays, but of course if the mobo has to control the cpu fans thats not gonna work.

How do water cooled builds defeat CPU FAN errors?

I have the same temperature difference on my T5500 - obviously it's a design issue. As long as the 2nd CPU isn't consistently over 85-90C I don't think you'll have any problems. If you are trying to reduce temps in order to stop the CPUs from throttling, additional fans may help. As I mentioned earlier, there is a high-performance heatsink available (Dell part U016F) but only for CPU 0... I don't think that will help CPU 1 though. I think your best bet is to add an exhaust fan or two at the bottom rear of the case - I measured mine and it looks like two 80mm fans will fit the hole pattern.

To add a bit more intake, you can install a hard drive fan assembly (unless yours already has one). There is a fan header for this on the mobo up by the SATA connectors. If you only have one hard drive, you can install it in this caddy and remove the hard drive tray for better case air flow.
http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_mPrR...rt=nc&LH_BIN=1

In my experience, in order to enable manual software fan control on a Dell workstation you have to disable driver signature enforcement on startup. You can do that by hitting F8 during boot and using the menus or you can download and install a Driver Signature Enforcement Overrider. Even then, it can be tricky.

[Fire$torm]

I have a couple of suggestions for your power issue.
*A tandem PSU setup.
*An optically switched on external 12V 2~4A power brick. (This would be a DIY project)

[FourOh]

I installed the optional hard drive fan in my T5500 workstation today... sadly it did not improve CPU temperatures at all. It seems to have helped the GPU temp by 1 degree C, but I don't think that's worth the cost, trouble, and additional noise.

[MindCrime]

I was going to start a new thread when i SOLVED my 2nd cpu temps but i haven't done that yet. What I have done is fooled around a bit and figured out what didn't help. I unmounted the 2nd cpu fan and removed the black shroud. I noticed how little effective surface area the cooler has. I believe the issue is purely the power dissipation capacity of the heatsink itself. I also found that with the shroud removed the fan was not mounted flush against the heatsink. I was able to drop a 2-3c on the hottest core with the black shroud completely removed and the stock fan mounted flush to the heat sink.

I also found two 80mm fans that fit perfectly in that unused fan location right above the I/O section. listed at 7$ http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811999199 They are well reviewed, pretty much silent, and the fan blade is designed to be pulled and removed for easy cleaning.

While i was in there I took note of the socket backplate on the riser card. It looks like it would be aftermarket HSF friendly, ie theres probably enough space to mount an aftermarket socket 1366 heatsink backplate. I've been looking at some just not my top priority. Currently the highest temp is core #6 on cpu2 and it runs 79-80c and been running 24/7 for a few days.