@TzunamiOSX
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5,1 Mac Pro water cooled project - Working, with photos
doneski let me know what you think.
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MP 1,1-5,1 Cooler Northbridge on The Mac Pro 5,1 Dual CPU
- Thread starter drolson
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Check out this solution.
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Here's another input: I read the thread with interest and concern, since the Northbridge diode on my dual-cpu 5.1 was running about 80C at idle, which was 95% of the time. Being an engineer, but also being cheap, I wanted to find the best bang-for-the-buck solution. Here's what I did in 15 minutes at no cost to reduce my Northbridge diode temp from 80C down to 67C:
1. I removed the CPU tray and using my Mark I lungs, I blew out all the dust that I could. I carefully went up and down the large CPU heat sinks and also vigorously blew dust away from the fins of the Northbridge Heatsink. Also blew some dust away from the large intake and exhaust fans and picked off a few clinging dust bunnies. Result: about 2C temp drop in the Northbridge diode.
2. (This made all the difference) In iStatMenus, I changed the default settings of the intake and exhaust fans from 600 to 850 RPM. Result: Northbridge diode dropped another 11C, down to 67C. Under heavy CPU load, it drops further to 60C.
This is good enough for me. I'm a little older now, and I can't hear the fans blowing at all at idle, but as soon as the CPU A gets near 70C, the fans spin up to screaming turbine mode, and the temperature never climbs above 72.
1. I removed the CPU tray and using my Mark I lungs, I blew out all the dust that I could. I carefully went up and down the large CPU heat sinks and also vigorously blew dust away from the fins of the Northbridge Heatsink. Also blew some dust away from the large intake and exhaust fans and picked off a few clinging dust bunnies. Result: about 2C temp drop in the Northbridge diode.
2. (This made all the difference) In iStatMenus, I changed the default settings of the intake and exhaust fans from 600 to 850 RPM. Result: Northbridge diode dropped another 11C, down to 67C. Under heavy CPU load, it drops further to 60C.
This is good enough for me. I'm a little older now, and I can't hear the fans blowing at all at idle, but as soon as the CPU A gets near 70C, the fans spin up to screaming turbine mode, and the temperature never climbs above 72.
@TzunamiOSX
Check out this solution.
5,1 Mac Pro water cooled project - Working, with photos
doneski let me know what you think.
Looks good, but this in not usable on a dual system, or without watercooling, because the a part of the Northbridge is under the CPU cooler
@MassMacMan
I clean my computer regularly. At the moment i do the same as you, but the fans are expensive wear parts. In my eyes it is less expensive to run the fans at normal speed and add a fan.
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I have to ask - to all you guys... Before you try the baffling and other DIY fixes, have you tried reapplying thermal paste? You guys motivated me to take a can of compressed air and clean out my system this morning. Here's the result:
Before and After both at idle:
10C cooler after the cleaning. Apparently that little Northbridge heat sink gets pretty dirty in my single CPU system. It's hard to get at because of the large heat sink. you have to use the little straw extension to really get in there.
Last September, I had a rivet pop and I had to replace the assembly. So, in doing so, I cleaned off the thermal paste and applied a fresh coat. The old thermal paste was dry and brittle after 10 years. I also reapplied the CPU thermal paste too since I had to remove the whole heat sink. The result was fantastic. At idle the Northbridge sat around 62C... then this morning I saw this thread and noticed I was running back up in the low 70's. Well, 5 minutes and can of compressed air later I am back idling around 62C again as pictured above.
If you haven't tried it yet, I'd strongly suggest reapplying the thermal paste first.
Yes, but i think rack mount cases are "little" of a different story. Sure, if there is no height available at all, your only choice to get proper cooling is very fast, concentrated airflow. But that's what these things sound like.
By the way: I gave 1.200rpm (double of what i usually have) a short test-run too. It got the northbridge down to 65 (and CPUs to 34/38) within minutes without anything additional installed.
@flyproductions I agree entirely that a 2 Rack unit solution is not the same configuration that is ideed why I included a picture of the baffle in Post #172. To be clearer on my part the IBM Engineers were forced to funnel the air over a short Heatsink, in this case we are essentially opting to do that by choice.
My approach is to combine an air foil "origami" with the standard apple inletfan to increase air velocity over NB Heatsink.
I intend to use Macs Fan Control Software or iStatMenus. (I'm yet to decide on the tool, as netiher has an IOS alert app notification.)
Not speaking for @TzunamiOSX but their approach will essentially achieve an increase of air velocity by increasing static and velocity pressure at the inlet ( using an additional fan ). Remembering that the invested Fan Power is converted into a Total Pressure of which we need both to increase the heat transfer across the NB We should see an interesting examination of efficiency.
I think we will converege towards a similar outcome as the NB seems to be active irrespective of the CPU Load, I'm not an expert on these old machines Thermal design parameters.
Why does my Northbridge need 1.12 Amps at 1.1V Seems liek an awfull lot of Current for a Controller I have a pretty lower load with 8 RAM DIMMs and one Sapphire Radeon RC580 GPU ( with the usual 2x 6 > 1x 8 Power Feed)
Northbridge (computing) - Wikipedia
Any comments from the Collective ?
from
Definition of Northbridge
What does Northbridge actually mean? Find out inside PCMag's comprehensive tech and computer-related encyclopedia.
Westmere (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia
Heres My own Load for a week
@fatespawn
Just noticed the Temps of the PSU...
I'd set the PSU fan depending on the Temp, supposing you cleaned the PSU too?
Just noticed the Temps of the PSU...
I'd set the PSU fan depending on the Temp, supposing you cleaned the PSU too?
That’s the exact reason, why i just snapped one used 4,1/5,1-Exhaust-Fan of ebay, just for some investigation if something like that would fit.
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
By the way: Higher rpm does not necessarily mean shorter lifespan of a bearing (which might be the only part of the MacPro’s fans getting some wear anyway). Under some circumstances, i.e. a rattle at a particular low rotation speed resulting of suboptimal balancing, even the oposite might be the case.
At the moment my exhaust fan runs quieter @ 700 rpm than at it's minimum which is 100rpm lower.
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Now the second test construction with the right fan. Tunnel is a bit to wide (will be corrected) and the fan holder must be cut out, but the temp is good (see below)
Nice nearly 20ºC drop in temps! 👍
What about the sound of the fan. Is it something one can live with?
What about the sound of the fan. Is it something one can live with?
I don't hear the additional fan. The Noctua is really silent.
Working on a model for 3D Printers. When all is tested, i will upload it here, but i think this will need some weeks with adapt and printing
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Just a quick link to the xserve solution@flyproductions I agree entirely that a 2 Rack unit solution is not the same configuration that is ideed why I included a picture of the baffle in Post #172. To be clearer on my part the IBM Engineers were forced to funnel the air over a short Heatsink, in this case we are essentially opting to do that by choice.
My approach is to combine an air foil "origami" with the standard apple inletfan to increase air velocity over NB Heatsink.
I intend to use Macs Fan Control Software or iStatMenus. (I'm yet to decide on the tool, as netiher has an IOS alert app notification.)
Not speaking for @TzunamiOSX but their approach will essentially achieve an increase of air velocity by increasing static and velocity pressure at the inlet ( using an additional fan ). Remembering that the invested Fan Power is converted into a Total Pressure of which we need both to increase the heat transfer across the NB We should see an interesting examination of efficiency.
I think we will converege towards a similar outcome as the NB seems to be active irrespective of the CPU Load, I'm not an expert on these old machines Thermal design parameters.
Why does my Northbridge need 1.12 Amps at 1.1V Seems liek an awfull lot of Current for a Controller I have a pretty lower load with 8 RAM DIMMs and one Sapphire Radeon RC580 GPU ( with the usual 2x 6 > 1x 8 Power Feed)
Northbridge (computing) - Wikipedia
en.wikipedia.org
Any comments from the Collective ?
View attachment 924008
from
Definition of Northbridge
What does Northbridge actually mean? Find out inside PCMag's comprehensive tech and computer-related encyclopedia.www.pcmag.com
Westmere (microarchitecture) - Wikipedia
Heres My own Load for a week
View attachment 924005
View attachment 924006
I got rid of the tape method and used hook n loop (aka velcro) with adhesive backing, one on my small fan and the other on heatsink A (angled) to hold it in place with my ram sticks as support. not that it makes any difference but the tape is less secure and always tears apart when servicing. the velcro holds up and tape doesn't block fan B.
now if there was a solution to get the psu temperature lower, besides cranking up the psu fan rpm.. any help there please let me know
now if there was a solution to get the psu temperature lower, besides cranking up the psu fan rpm.. any help there please let me know
Attachments
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My Model was finished weeks ago, but after an unexpected but necessary purchase, it is not possible to print and test the tunnel at the momet.
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Yes, I can post it if you want, but without warranty.
First to say, i have needed 7 tries, to get a model who can be used as printable model. So much functions of my 3D-Program give me defective and not reparabel models. So some parts are simpler replacemets.
Size is 170.30 x 50.50 x 87.50 mm
Without print and test i can't give a warrenty that this tunnel is just as effective as my PVC construction or making other problems. Perhaps it is also necessary to correct small parts.
The hole (position and size) for the cable is optimized for the Noctua 40x40x20 Fan (the plug must be removed with a small pin)
Size is 170.30 x 50.50 x 87.50 mm
Without print and test i can't give a warrenty that this tunnel is just as effective as my PVC construction or making other problems. Perhaps it is also necessary to correct small parts.
The hole (position and size) for the cable is optimized for the Noctua 40x40x20 Fan (the plug must be removed with a small pin)
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Thank you for sharing your work.
I will be happy to contribute back a venturi effect modification I have been contemplating.
This diagramme from
BTW true to form for the internets' collective consciousness, Google have been busy with the math on this.
US20090183858A1 - Venturi for Heat Transfer - Google Patents
Heat pumps consume power in order to transfer heat from a source to a higher-temperature sink. This invention enables spontaneous heat transfer from a heat source to a small portion of the generally warmer working fluid that is cooled locally by the Bernoulli effect to a temperature below that...
patents.google.com
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Unrelated yet interesting ideas
Attachments
Hey, I thought I might hop on this thread to ask a related question about my 2006 Xeon XServ. I've noticed (using the Temperature Gauge menu bar app --- iStatMenus won't run on this machine as it's stuck on Lion) that my Northbridge is sitting at idle (no apps running) at 108C. Ambient temp in the mac is 17C. 108C seems way too hot and suspect this will blow the Northbridge if it persists. I've had it apart, blown out dust, and cleaned and replaced the thermal paste between the northbridge chip and its heat sink. This has made zero difference to the registering temps. Other than this being a chip failure, is there a chance that this might be related to memory dimms playing up? The memory slot and dimm 0 is at 70C which also seems hot. Anyway -- any advice appreciated.
Hey, this is also my print service^^
Sorted this out by making up a plastic deflector to direct the airflow from the fans over the northbridge heat sink better. I think the fans are getting a bit worn now (it is a 2006 machine!) and not creating enough air movement to keep the northbridge cool. Using my home-made deflector the northbridge has been running in the 65-75C mark for three days now.
@Martin J Hunter Pictures ?
Try using MacsFancontrol or equivalent, you should be able to set your fans to push more air over the NB Heatsink.as I found while looking the NB is "behind the CPU" in air flow terms so perhaps the CPU Heat sinks need a clean as well.
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