XP-90 Install on 9NDA3J questions

[Mike abcd]

I just got an XP-90 retail package (includes fan) for my 9NDA3J. Any issues removing the stock retention baracket? Is it glued on, etc? Should I get some nail polish remover before I try the install? My understanding is the retention bracket on top of the board has to be replaced but the stock backplate on the underside is still used.

Has anyone measured the current on the fan included in the XP-90 retail package? I'd like to connect it to the 9NDA3J CPU fan connector to get fan speed control via the BIOS to reduce noise under low load. I don't plan on connecting any other fans except the stock chip set fan to the motherboard. I've looked around at comparable fans (size and cfm) and they seem to be well below the 6 watt limit (.5 A) posted by Epox tech for a reasonable limit across all the motherboard fan power outputs. I emailed Thermalright a couple of days ago but haven't gotten a response.

Anybody tried the XP-90 retail package? Any comments on how well the retail XP-90 fan works and noise level would be appreciated. I'm currently running a Winchester 3000+ at 2.54G (282 x 9) with +.05V core in the BIOS (1.34-1.38 in USDM).

Thanks,
Mike

[WooferWrecker]

No, the retention bracket isn't glued on. It's simply screwed on.

Don't know about the fan or XP-90

[GrahamGarside]

I wasn't aware the XP-90 came with a fan? as far as I know thermalright leave it down to you so you can either go for a quiet or high air flow fan.
to be honest with a winchester you can probably just run a quite fan at the lowest possible speed. I use a Zalman CNSP7700 on my newcatle and it can cope with full load running the fan at about ~600rpm, and the xp-90 is a better heatsink so a 92mm fan on silent mode probably won't need turning up for full load.

[danrok]

I've used 92mm fans, on Zalman heatsinks, connected to the fan header on the motherboard. I think you should be OK with the XP-90 fan.

You will have to connect it to the motherboard in order to use C'n'Q.

[Mike abcd]

Wow! Thanks for all the quick help!

The retail package is evidently recent at least in the US. I saw a UK(?) review on it a while back. Info is on Thermalright's site.
http://www.thermalright.com/a_page/m...uct_xp90rt.htm

The fan is rated about the same airflow as the recommended Panaflo but spec'd at 35 db vs 30 db for the Panaflo. The price was the same as the bare heatsink so I thought I'd give it a try first. I only had a fan connector convenient that's wired for 5 volt but it's very quiet at 5V so it might be ok with the BIOS fan control. The stock AMD HSF runs at 1250 rpm on my setup under light load vs ~3000 rpm at full tilt. I'm not using Cool N Quiet since everything I read says it's a no no with overclocking but I have been using the BIOS fan control with a temp setting of 40 C. It responds slowly but defintely cuts noise a lot under light load.

I got it at Sidewinder Computers, $37 + $7 priority mail shipping. Ordered late Thursday afternoon, got an e mail with a tracking # in under an hour and it showed up in the mail today. Nice service! evidently they only ship USPS.
http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/thxpforforin1.html

In searchin today for info on the noise of the included fan, I actually found one place selling it for $30. + shipping. ($6.26 UPS ground)
http://www.jab-tech.com/customer/pro...4&cat=0&page=1

Thanks again!
Mike

[WooferWrecker]

Yeah, Gary at Sidewinder is a real good guy! I bought my water cooling kit from him (the one I haven't installed yet) . Their service and support is second to none!

[GrahamGarside]

Yeah you don't need cool'n'quiet with some boards anyway, you can use clockgen to underclock/undervolt as needed, with my system bringing it down to 800mhz@0.9V makes it possible to turn the cpu fan off alltogether, and even at full tilt it only reaches ~60°C with my 7700 fan running at what I can only estimate to be 600rpm. Runing that fan on 5V will probably bring it down to about 1300-1500rpm, it won't be silent but it won't be loud