Scythe Katana 3, OC X4 955, problems?

[Zoddom]

Hi,
I got an AMD X4 955 black edition OC'd to 3,6 GHz ( 3,2Ghz normally) and a Scythe Katana 3 CPU cooler. Without any case coolers, the temperature of the core reached ~65?C (Prime95, Speedfan and Coretemp64, CPU was on 3,5GHz that time) which was just the maximum temperature the CPU could take. Now on 3,6 GHz and with two case coolers behind each other (pictures) the max temp is about 57?C.
Now, I tried to set the smart fan control in the BIOS to PWM controlled. I noticed that the fans were spinning much slower and more quietly. But when i started Prime95, after 10 sec i got a blue screen and my PC rebooted.
I wanted to try a different fan control mode because i read reviews about the Katana 3 which said that my CPU was in idle at about 38?C and the fan at 800-1000rpm. Without the case coolers, my CPU temp was always >40?C and the fan at about 1500rpm. Additionally, the aluminium fins are very hot but the air coming out of them is not very hot and barely noticable...
Im not sure about what I should do now, I think it depends on my case which is very small and has bad air flow attributes. Would it help if I bought two new case coolers (my ones are very old and loud, one of them is even an old CPU cooler fan), one in the front and one in the back of my case (the CPU cooler makes it impossible to put a cooler at the side of the case)? because i got the feeling that my HDD and the graphicscard are blocking the airflow...
what would you do?

showing the second case cooler, which is in fact an old CPU cooler fan and is supposed to forward the air flow to the CPU cooler

showing the HDD and the CPU blocking the airflow of the first case cooler- which is why i put the second one in

showing the (theoretical) airflow. blocking parts in red. black rectangle shows the position of the second case cooler, which hopefully transmits the airflow.

[samogon100500]

Maximum temperature for Phenom II X4 - ~71 degrees,for X6 - 65 AFAIK.

Well looks like you got 2 chooses - open your case or buy new cooler.
P.S I have Phenom X4 925 and Zalman 10x Flex with 2 1337 red-glowing $3 fans(1000rpm) =)
Idle temperature - ~27-28 at winter,how ~30-32.
~60% CPU load - 34-35.

[Eddiereyes909]

Try to update your drivers.

And have you switched your on and off button yet?

[Gaz]

You've no actual exhaust fan, just an open vent (where an exhaust fan should be). Your side mounted CPU cooler is also pushing exhausted hot air back towards the lone case fan sucking cool air in.

[Zoddom]

Try to update your drivers.

And have you switched your on and off button yet?

what drivers? I just made a BIOS update .. but now the fans seem spinning even faster in idle than before...
what do you mean by switching the on off bottom? oO

still 57-58? max with prime95 now, and no blue screens yet.

@samagon:
AMD says max temperature for the cpu is 62 degrees. at about 67? i get those bluescreens, with 3,6GHz after 5-20 min prime95... but somehow i think i remember having such temperatures with 3,2GHz and the boxed cooler before without errors... hmm

You've no actual exhaust fan, just an open vent (where an exhaust fan should be). Your side mounted CPU cooler is also pushing exhausted hot air back towards the lone case fan sucking cool air in.

so you think i should install one fan in the back and one n the front? the thing is i dont have enough screws for both fans, because as i said one was a cpu cooler fan and its too small and its cable is too short to fit in the back. ill try different setups

edit: now ive set them up like this:


Not that much difference, even 1?C hotter than before... the small fan in the front spins with max 3400rpm but now its just spnning at 1700rpm... dont know why, only changed CPU fan mode to PWM ... but this isnt the CPU fan....

edit#2:
after some testing this is the best result:
the bigger case cooler in the back, the smaller still inside in front of the CPU fan, BIOS setup on AUTO.
=> idle 32?C at 1400-1500rpm
prime95 max. 54?C
but somehow after the bios update the smaller case fan is just spining with 2000rpm... but thats not that bad, because its freaking loud

[Pedz]

Did you attach the CPU cooler? If so did you make sure to apply enough thermal paste (but definitely not too much)?

When building mine (used noctua C14, which came with NH1 thermal paste), I applied too little at the start and found my cpu at 42C idle, took it off again, and saw it didnt cover the whole chip, applied some more, and now its 36C idle. However I do have lots of extra case fans... Is there anyway of adding a pull fan onto that heatsink? It tends to help keep the flow going.

[Zoddom]

Did you attach the CPU cooler? If so did you make sure to apply enough thermal paste (but definitely not too much)?

When building mine (used noctua C14, which came with NH1 thermal paste), I applied too little at the start and found my cpu at 42C idle, took it off again, and saw it didnt cover the whole chip, applied some more, and now its 36C idle. However I do have lots of extra case fans... Is there anyway of adding a pull fan onto that heatsink? It tends to help keep the flow going.

lol sure its attached... otherwise my cpu would be ashes... and i covered the whole chip with a thin layer of paste BEFORE i attached the cpu.

the idea with the pull fan is good^^ but it would have to spin as fast as the other fan otherwise it wouldnt be good for the airflow. i dont think theres a possibility to attach a fan on the backside... except with glue, lol

[Pedz]

lol sure its attached... otherwise my cpu would be ashes... and i covered the whole chip with a thin layer of paste BEFORE i attached the cpu.

the idea with the pull fan is good^^ but it would have to spin as fast as the other fan otherwise it wouldnt be good for the airflow. i dont think theres a possibility to attach a fan on the backside... except with glue, lol

Possibly a few strong elastic bands (not 100%) and what I meant by "did you attach your cpu cooler" was whether you did it yourself, or was it done by a 'professional' .

Also to make it spin as fast, it may require a Y-Splitter for the fan which I'm sure are available somewhere, as my PCs top fans are split using one and my CPU cooler came with one(but I removed the push, because it wouldn't fit )

[Zoddom]

Also to make it spin as fast, it may require a Y-Splitter for the fan which I'm sure are available somewhere, as my PCs top fans are split using one and my CPU cooler came with one(but I removed the push, because it wouldn't fit )

never heard of a Y-splitter... as i said before i updated the BIOS the fan was spinning at 3400rpm ... well its probably detected correctly now.
i love it, 31?C in idle

edt: hmm some google searches told me that most people are using their fans in PWM controlled mode.. i wonder why that mode is making my cpu much hotter than the automatic mode :/