Sunday 21 June 2009

Option 2: Same Heatsink Model used in Optiplex

The manufacturing process of this processor is 90nm. It dissipates a lot of heat which is quite similar to Pentium 4. So you need to get the Heat sink that is used in Dell Optiplex Pentium 4 based desktops. If you use the current heatsink, you will burn this CPU(maybe not now but later on even if you have a good thermal compund). Here is the link address for the Optiplex heatsink I used. Notice the heatsink is different from what you have there at the moment (assuming you didn't upgrade your E521 before)




When you have bought this product, you have to unscrew and remove the shroud since the shroud itself won't fit(it is for C521 so that means you can install AMD 6400 into C521 if you have this model). But first, you must remove the shroud of your current heatsink to replace with the new one.








To me, it was really hard to unscrew so i went to the computer shop and asked the guy to unscrew them for me. You will have to push a bit but the heatsink definitely fits to the current shroud of E521(I asked him to do this as well :-) ) This particular heatsink will fit in Dimension 9200, E520, E521, and C521 safely.




Finally, Buy Noctua 92mm fan and attach it at the back of the shroud. You don't need to use any device. You can insert it and the shroud itself will hold the fan (or if not, you can still use the tape to secure it). This greatly reduce both CPU and GPU temperatures.

The result (with the noctua fan):

Idle Temp 26C~34C
Load Temp 48C~55C


Pros:
Original heatsink from Dell
Cool down the system just about right

Cons:
Expensive to get if you live outside America. (shipping cost I mean)


14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for all the great directions! I am installing th AMD X2 6400+ CPU, the Optiplex heatsink, and the Noctua 92mm fan. One question, where do you plug the Noctua fan into the power. Do I need to install some sort of new plugin into the motherboard? I just can't see where it plugins iin your pictures. Thanks!!!

T.OINARI said...

Dear Kevin



When you have received the Noctua fan, the Fan connector to Molex power converter should be included as well. Did you get it included or just a bunch of screws. The Noctua fan and in fact all other fans are usually directly connected to the PSU or connected on the motherboard but since Dell motherboard doesn't have the fan connector, you have to connect directly to the PSU. If you still haven't changed the PSU, there is one molex cable apart from SATA cable and it is covered with the black cover. Remove the cover and you will see 4 pin molex cable. If you still don't get how to install, please email me directly and I will show it to you directly.

I know I haven't updated my webpage for a long time.

Anonymous said...

Thank you very much for this article. I was overheating bad after upgrading to 89w 6000+ 3.1 AMD CPU using the original 65 watt heatsink. Using the optiplex heatsink, I am at 18-22 degrees at idle and 49-52 degrees full load running Prime95. I am just using the stock Dell fan with good results. I taped up some of the holes and gaps in the fan shroud to provide better airflow. For me, this was a $15 solution (on ebay) to overheating. Thank you!

T.OINARI said...

Dear Anonymous



That is the amazing temperature you've got there!

Yes, as long as it doesn't go over 60C, it should be fine.


I have to amend the temperature listing accordingly.

I am glad my webpage helped!

Warmest Regards

Tomo

Brandogg said...

I just wanted to say thanks for this information. I ordered an Optiplex heatsink and it came today, I put some AS5 on it and then noticed it's for a P4 motherboard. Looking at your pictures I said "ah, what the Hell" and tried it anyway...and my temps dropped by 25-50%, absolutely amazing. I'm using an X2 6000+ 3.1Ghz, my previous temps were about 32c idle and 64c load, now they are 16c idle and about 49c load (that's 100% on both cores!), once again, absolutely amazing.

T.OINARI said...

Dear Brandogg



It took time to find out that this heatsink was actually compatible with E521 because of the crappy customer service from Dell. The link was broken so I have fixed it before you have bought it. I am glad that my webpage helped you Brandogg!!

Regards

tomo

Bruce said...

Thank you for your research on this! I went ahead and bought the optiplex, but no matter how I tried to fit it into my stock shroud the top 4 spokes would not fit, so I took a drill and made the holes slightly larger so that it fit perfectly. I was a little worried when I placed the shroud and heatsink over the CPU because as I was screwing it in , it was putting a lot more pressure on the cpu than the stock heatsink did. I left in the stock dell fan but I added a small fan at the back of the heat sink pushing air towards the back of the computer. I upgraded to a 6000+ windsor and both cores are idling between 20-30 degrees. I do notice that core #1 always runs hotter than core #0, is this normal? SO far everything is working better than I hoped. Thank you for sharing your tips!

T.OINARI said...

Dear Bruce

sorry I have been away for few days. But looks like I was on time to get back to you. :)

Yes, it is bit tricky to fit in that four pins sticking out. I should have taken the photo of that part but i forgot to do that. Whatever the method you use, don't try to heat the plastic to do modifications of it as the smoke coming out from it will kill you instantly. (or make you paralyze)

Anyways, you have done that and I can see that you have nice idle temperature there too. That temperature is the normal temperature for 6000+. For 6400+, you will get around 34C idle under normal ambient temperature.

Yes, it is perfectly normal for AMD dual cores where the first core temperature is roughly 7C-10C higher than the second core. Normally, we read the lower core when measuring the temperature so even if you get 60C on your first core, there is no worry yet(in this case second core is around 50C) unless your second core rise up to 70C or more (first core 80C or more).

And yes, you have to put a bit of more pressure when fitting in the new heatsink. I did that too. Make sure you don't put a lot of thermal paste on the CPU.

If you have any more questions, don't hesitate to ask me any time.

Thanks.

tomo

Anonymous said...

Just wanted to share some of my findings. There are 2 types of the original Dell heatsink that should fit. The one you see in the pics is with 4 heat pipes.

Info:
Dell part number: P8016

You can find it on:
Dell Dimension 9100/9200
Dell Precision WorkStation 380/390
Dell PowerEdge SC440

The other one is edentical except it has 6 heat pipes (and presumably higher heat transfer).

Info:
Dell part number: J9761/D9729/X9694

You can find it on:
Dell Optiplex GX620/GX745/GX755
Dell Dimension 9100/9150/9200
Dell PowerEdge SC430
Dell Precision WorkStation 380/380 Extreme Edition
Dell XPS 400/410

Anonymous said...

On my e521 motherboard, my CPU socket is not rotated 45 degrees. The bottom of the Optiplex heatsink looks like it's for a motherboard that has a rotated CPU socket. Will the contact pad still cover all the corners of my CPU?

T.OINARI said...

To Anonymous


Yes, although the heat plate at the bottom of the heatsink is not straight, it does it's job. The middle part of the cpu is the main part where we need it to cool. I have done this so no worry. The computer is still working great.

Warmest Regards

Tomo

Glenn Jacob said...

Thanks a lot.
This is a very useful blog.
Heatsink

Anonymous said...

The fact that this heat sink does not cover the whole surface of the CPU is okay, right?

T.OINARI said...

Dear Anonymous

Yes, it is completely fine since the core processor itself is located around the middle of the cpu.


Warmest Regards

Tomo