I finally installed my Xigmatek S1283 cooler this weekend on my non-overclocked Q6600. I'm worried, however, because HWMonitor is showing CPU temps at idle of 35 - 37 degrees celsius, which as I recall is *higher* than they were with the stock Intel cooler.

The heatsink is very firmly in place with the aftermarket Scythe mount & spring-loaded screws rather than the stock mount. I used Arctic Silver 5 compound, and applied a long thin line down each of the copper heatpipes on the Xigmatek, then placed the cooler on the CPU, wiggled it slightly, and fastened it into place.

Any ideas on what the problem might be? I understand the Arctic 5 compound requires 200 hours of curing time (!) before it reaches full effectiveness, but I'd expected to see at least some drop in temperature immediately.

My case is an Antec 900, so lack of ventilation is not the concern.

Welp, look at the Xiggy, then look up the direction your cores go across the middle of your IHS on the processor, and make sure you have it turned in a way that allows the middle heat pipe to go over them all!

The other way, the mid heat pipe only crosses the middle of the cores, but doesnt go along them!

Went from 66c to 59c tops when I corrected for that flaw!

You applied the goo as properly needed with the sink, a thin line along the three heat pipes, and none on the CPU.

Good Luck!!

--Lupi

Hmm, I mounted the thing pointing towards the back of the case because that seemed to block off the fewest other components on the motherboard.

I honestly have no idea which direction the cores would run on my mobo and don't know how I'd find out short of removing the Xigmatek cooler -- which I'd prefer to avoid doing because installation was a pain in the backside.

hehe, looks like its performing poorly either way, so unless its very hot in yer room, or you remove it to at least look and see how well the goo from the heat pipes contact the IHS of the chip, yer pretty much screwed!

Are you using those push pins? I trashed those instantly and just yanked some small puny bolts I had from another kit and held it in a pair of pliers while I screwed it on.

I had that problem at first with a single push pin never going all the way down. it sure LOOked like it was on right.

Then I re mounted it my way, and had a bit of the same thing, then changed dirs, and its cold! Just tested 3.510 loaded through primes first test on my 1.2500 VID q6600 and got 55/55/51/51 on her.

Can't beat that!!!!

Just look on the web for the core location, and then when you mount it in the socket, its done by those two lil outdents to make it only fit one way. Look how its in and look at the core directions from a net pic and mount the Xiggy again with that middle pipe going down the cores.

--Lupi

Here's a thread about the core layout.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messag [...] erthread=y

Excellent! Thanks for finding it. I guess I am just getting lazy, because I have done it all 1000 times already, hehehe!

here it is easier, thanks to BalloonShark!

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159 [...] ramih8.jpg

--Lupi

No problem, I had it bookmarked. I'm the one that is lazy because I have yet to figure out if I installed my Xigmatek SD-964 in the proper orientation. After hearing your great results, I will definitely take a harder look at which way I mounted the heatpipes.

Cheers!

hehe, yeah! I was ready to bash on it, all the rumors about it having TRUE like performance... mine sucked, until I took both steps.

Now it does perform quite well!!

--Lupi

Lupiron- One more question for clarity. Did you mount the center heatpipe parallel in between the cores or perpendicular across the center of them both? In other words when looking at the .jpg in our links, did you mount the 1283 horizontally or vertically? I'm trying to figure out what to do since mine has 4 heatpipes. As it stands now, they are running parallel to the cores which would be horizontally in the pic / .jpg.

I'll thank you in advance as I don't want to interrupt Jaevrics' thread anymore.

Jaevric- Here is a link about applying TIM to a HDT type cooler.
http://benchmarkreviews.com/index. [...] mitstart=5

So the heatpipe should go <----> across the processor. Good to know.

Hmm, looks like I mounted it the wrong way then, mine's pointing towards the back of the case and it needs to be towards the top.

Thanks folks. That's not quite how I'd applied the thermal paste, either, so we'll see what happens.

Yup! And for the rest. If you have a Tri heat pipe. xxx3, you wanna have the middle heat pipe go the direction the cores go, so that Middle heat pipe is totally right down the cores, and the other two can grab the extra heat.

For you with 4 heat pipes, you still wanna try and do the same. Make it where the middle two go straight along the cores, and let the outside two pick up the extra heat.

To apply it, I have noticed that a thin line straight down the heat pipes with thermal paste makes contact A LOT better than placing the thermal paste on the processor.

Good luck, and it does seem like the obvious way when ya think about it, huh? if that heat pipe goes right along the IHS the same way the cores go, its gonna be spot on, and get full heat transference. If all three were just running across the cores, but not along them, none of the pipes would be functioning fully, because you'll have lots of contact with the IHS, but little over where the cores are!

--Lupi!

Well, I turned the heatsink's orientation so it is now blowing towards the top of my case, but so far the results on HWMonitor are the same.

On the other hand, since I currently don't have web access at the apartment, I haven't gotten to download one of the stress-test programs to push the CPU up to load -- I'm just not seeing any improvement to the idle temperatures, which I'd expected.

How odd. My first time setting the thing I realized that the push pins blow, and swapped then pins for some small bolts and screws I had, and I attached it directly to the board that way.

I DID NOT get any performance from it while using the push pins at all. I don't believe they sit on it properly. And as a matter of fact, it very much LOOKS like it was on tight, until I removed it, and looked at the transference of thermal paste from the heat pipes to the IHS of the processor.

Once removed, it was obvious that it didn't seat right. Before bolting it down. I say bolt, but they are puny little ones.

To do that test, just remove it again, clean them both, place a thin line of paste down the three heat pipes, and seat it directly on the IHS. Give a tiny wiggle or two, and lock it in place.

Push down firmly on it for like 10 seconds, then just remove it by lifting it in such a manor that doesn't allow the pipes to "slide" against the processor. Take a peek at the IHS of the processor, and it should be easy to tell if the whole entire heat pipe area is making full contact.

Prime example, though it's my TRUE, you can easily see what I mean.





As you can see by looking at it, the left upper corner doesnt make contact at all. You want to get it on in such a manner that there is a thin layer over it all, and make sure it's FULLY contacting the processor.

Looking at the other pic, it's easy to tell that my best chip, the 1.2000 VID was way sloped on the IHS, and I had to remove half of it to make most of the IHS meet the heat sink!!

--Lupi

Huh....weird, its with you too. I have the EXACT SAME problem. In also have an Antec 900, but my CPU is a Q9300 and my cooler is an HDT-S1283. I get high 30s in idle. And I looked at those diagrams and still can't figure out which way the cores go. I might try turning the HSF, but it is just going to be another thorn in my side to install again.

You look at the notches in your chip. Line them to where one is on the bottom left and upper left.

Then the cores go left to right.

As in, pick the thing up, look at the IHS, and then locate the two notches. Make sure they are on the upper and lower left.

Just like in the pic!

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/ [...] decomp.jpg

Hehehehe!

--Lupi

Then you apply the paste directly to the heat pipes only, a thin line down each, and make the middle pipe go straight along the entire length of the cores.

The other way and each pipe would only cross the cores.

This way, you get one pipe directly down the cores.

--Lupi

Yep. I checked and the copper pipes go up and down the way it is set up. And my CPU is set so that when looking at the mobo the notches are in the bottom left and bottom right corners, which would mean that the pipes are going down the cores, which is how it should be. I still don't know what is wrong. I think I might try putting the Stock Intel Cooler back on and record the temps with that and see what happens.

Yeah, just test what you can against it. if nothing works, then RMA it and get a new one.

I mean, if the paste is clearly going from the heatpipes and smoothly across the CPU, obviously making good contact, and aligned right, the mid pipe down the entire length of the cores, then it must be flawed.

It's hot in my room, and lemme get a temp read... of 38s and 34s. Fan on low. Hot