Odd Behaviour of Mega 180 SYS Fan

a while ago I posted a thread about weird thing going on with the so-called SYS fan of my Mega. "So-called"because it is actually attached to the CPU heatsink...
At that time it seemed that problem with it (not working) was actually caused by the stupid me playing around with rpm thresholds/limits in the PC Alert thing (at least I couldn't think of any other reason), and that problem was solved by clearing CMOS eventually.
Now this issue popped up again (although I am quite sure I haven't touched these lovely settings in PC Alert), nor modified anything in BIOS setup since restoring the "right" settings after the above-mentioned CMOS clearing.
And, you know what - problem is GONE (!!!) after you merely shut the machine down and disconnect the power cord for 10 secs...
All I can say now is -
!!! what a wonderful piece of machinery is Mega 180!!!
Quite literally - full of wonders...

Quote
Originally posted by jon23
Could it be a fulty fan and the restarting of the system is putting more power in it and starting it up again. (ie tackie or a bad spot)
I don't think so, it rather looks like a matter of control... System reaches the "high" temps well after the PSU is running at normal load.
The behaviour pattern looks like this:
a) initially this fan works as it probably should - going with full revs at CPU temp =74 oC, slowing down (not stopping) when CPU temp drops to 70 oC
b) after a while - (month or so) the SYS fan does not slow down anymore when CPU temp drops
c) at the end it also does not start on high revs anymore , at least not until PC shuts down due to CPU overheating (threshold set to 76 oC at the moment)
d) return to state/step a) can be done by unplugging the power cord for a short while

Similar Messages

Mega 180 CPU Fan

Hi,
has anyone successfully replaced the provided CPU cooler and fan of the Mega 180? I have seen a lot of postings about reversing fans and installing additional Zalman OP1, but none about replacing the CPU cooler.
Do you think a Zalman CNPS5100 (link below) would fit?
http://www.zalmanusa.com/usa/product/view.asp?idx=24&code=005009
Thanks, Ricardo

I also Bought one of these lovely little systems
but I was worried, whenever i started playing games (Call of Duty for example)
my CPU Temp went over 60 and Im near 100% i smelt a bad burning smell :(
Spec
3000XP AMD CPU
512 GB DDR Ram
MSI TV Turner Card
Sony DVD Rom/CDRW
I did have a 256MB G-Force FX Card in it, but was scared incase it wasnt helping the CPU Fans run and incase that was the reason for the over heating.
other nitemare i had with this was trying to get the Graphics card into the AGP slot :(
anyone has any ideas how to cool it down a little lmk
also whats the average temp on a tower case anyhow, i got one but no idea what cpu temp is

Mega 180 fan specs???

Hello,
I'd like to change all my fans on my Mega 180 (cpu and psu fans)
Can anybody tell my the specs of these fans so i can buy a new ones???
Thanks in advance (and sorry for my bad english)

It's not actually the CPU-fan that is causing the most noise. The smaller exhaust-fan is the only one measured by PC Alert (as far as I know, correct me if I'm wrong), and it is quiet enough, even for being a Delta! The problem is the larger (60mm) intake-fan that seems to be running on a constant rpm.
I've tried the Zalman Fan Mate 1 to lower the rpm on the intake. Tuning it down does take away a lot of the noise, but the CPU temperature will increase instead, causing the CPU-fan to spin faster That isn't a big issue however, since it is rather silent...
This weekend I'll be replacing the standard 60mm fan with a Papst. It should be much quieter than the stock fan, but I'll just have to see what happens to the CPU temps. One problem with replacing the fans is the lack of space in the chassis. The original fans are 60x60x15 and 50x50x10, and not much else will fit with the standard HS in place.
One other measure I'll take is to follow johnrr6's advice on maximizing the airflow inside the Mega by removing cable clutter: https://forum-en.msi.com/index.php?threadid=46409&sid=
It seems John's Mega is the quietest thing around, and the coolest running...
Noise just isn't compatible with a Media Center PC, and although an SFF isn't exactly the best chassi for an ultrasilent HTPC, the Mega could do better than this.
Let us know if you try something successful.

MEGA 180: A story of stupidity mixed up with bad product design

This is more for a word of caution to Mega180 users and future owners.
A bit angry as I managed to burn ( physically ) 2 harddrives because of carefulness about 10 mins.
Spend quite some time looking for a SATA to ATI power converter while looking for a solution to CPU temp problem. Could not find one ( and I don't know if any one does it )
As my old HD did not start the OS on Mega180 for some data transfer I was not able to use my USB external HD. So I decided to connect old HD as slave and do a HD to HD transfer. Here comes the bad design, the HD connection cable specifies a slot for a slave HD however there is only one power connector (ATI) for supported IDE HD. and there is a useless SATA power connector,it is useless as MEGA 180 does not support SATA.
Here comes the stupidity, for a min I came up with the bright idea of using the CD drives power connector ( I now remember that I ruled this option earlier, I wish I remembered it all along) As there is always a current on this cable (when there is a power connection - for the HIFI mode to work ) I guess some static electricity effected my HD. Not having realised the HD is already affected, I swapped the cables as the HD connection cable is not long enough to keep 2 HDs in a steady state.
As a result both my HDs are now not working, when I tried the original master HD I was horrified to see a spark and some fume
I wish I never tried to use my old graphics card - which I wanted only for the DVI support. This led to CPU temperatures of average 70 degree celcius and when I ever I tried to use the PC properly I was had to turn it off due to extreme temperatures over 75 degree celcius.
All I was after is a troublefree smooth working nice looking PC, yet I am stuck now... I am both upset for the data I lost as well as hours I spend in trying to put this thing together. I will decide in the morning to return or keep the product. If I keep it the next challenge will be getting my external HD to run an OS as I need to save up again to buy a new HD, I was hoping my next HD would be a SATA one :(
This is definately a bitter lesson. Such a pity that with just a little more effort MSI could have really improved the profuct most are listed here but I want to summarise:
1. before getting the new product out try fitting a new graphics card and a TV card and operate both for 2 hours... That is if you could fit them both in the first reason why you could not is the cables from power supply is unnecessarily long for supplying power to the board and unsuitably located. the best you could do is place them all infront of the cpu fan.
2. It is really great to have detachable ODD and HD yet Floppy drive ( card reader ) bay is static
3. a better location for CPU or card slots would have contributed to airflow far more.
Better close here... I am still not sure if positives of the product companates all the negatives.

Simply, be aware that the power cable for the CDRom is live most all the time that your backpanel power cord is plugged in. Its for the support of CD/MP3 in HI-Fi mode. If you shut down your system, and not unplug the power, and you try to connect or disconnect anything to the IDE cable, and you are using the power cable for the CD, you can cause static/surging on the component you are hooking up....
If you must hookup an alternate drive [slave] for data dumping/imaging etc. use a Y cable from the HDD power cable. It only activates when the PC power switch is utilized....

Mega 180 - onboard soundcard is gone???

Hello there!
I've turned on my Mega 180 this morning,and the Windows couldn't see my onboard soundcard.
I've checked in the BIOS,it's turned on.
Last night everything was allright.
What could be this???

Quote from: gibbon75 on 29-July-05, 17:54:55
I disconnected the smaller CPU fan,and the northbridge fan,because the bearings are too noisy
My temps remain the same
Yes, I also removed the SYS fan (northbridge fan) and the temps remained the same (really rare, sure). If you have an AGP card or usually play games (using the onboards gfx), consider installing a little fan besides the radio module to extract hot air or your temps will dramatically raise.

Mega 180. Randomly shutdown.

Anyone ever have this issue? The meda 180 just randomly shutdown. The light stayed on for 'PC', and the cpu fans were spinning, but the cdrom and hdd powered down, as well as there was no video. Nothing was running other than winXP, and it wasn't any hotter than normal. upon trying to boot it back up, it would sit and do nothing. i reset the cmos, and it booted again, but... odd.
amd barton 2500
corsair 2700 256mb x1 (sad, i know)
wd 120gb jb
random brand dvd 16x
mega 180, newly flashed bios
Also, while we're on the subject, the system takes forever and a year to detect ide drives. jumpers are right, and they are new units that work fine in different machines.
--> fix: me and a friend were talking. we decide the only thing I hadn't tried was changing out the jumpers themselves. to our humor, and my delight, switching the jumpers out for some newer ones laying around (same type of jumper, mind you) and the issue with ide drives taking forever to detect is fixed. however, I am still at a loss for the random shutdown..

oi, and when I have cdrom before hdd-0 in the boot priority, it will not boot unless there is a cd in the drive. boot other device is enabled... shouldn't it be cycling to the second boot device when the cd fails..? quit an annoyance.

Msi Mega 180 Gaming Problems

Hi,
I having problems playing games on my MEGA 180. Everytime I play a game, after 5 to 10 minutes it just stops and goes back to desktop! Sometimes, I get the blue screen of death instead saying (basically) -
A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down......................
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Technical information:
*** Stop: 0x000000D1 (0x2A200003, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0xF7B9606B)
*** USBPORT.SYS - Address F7B9606B base at F7B7D000 Datestamp 3d6ddc31
Does anyone know what this means and / or why my PC refuses to play games for more than 10 minutes? Everything else works and runs fine untill it comes to games. The blue screen of death only happens when the graphics card is in. Anyway, heres my spec -
MEGA 180
Athlon XP3000+
Crucial 512mb DDR333
MSI Geforce FX5200 T128
Seagate 120gb hard drive
MSI DVDRW
Standard heatsink, fans, power supply etc.
XP pro with sp 1 & 2
Please help!!
Thank you,
Neil.

Sounds like all of your drivers are not up to date....
Here's what M$ has to say about it (shamelessly copied and pasted from another different website/board post).
Stop 0x000000D1 or DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
The Stop 0xD1 message indicates that the system attempted to access pageable memory using a kernel process IRQL that was too high. Drivers that have used improper addresses typically cause this error.
Interpreting the Message
This Stop message has four parameters:
Memory referenced.
IRQL at time of reference.
Type of access (0x00000000 = read operation, 0x00000001 = write operation).
Address that referenced memory.
Resolving the Problem
For additional troubleshooting suggestions that apply to all Stop errors, see "Stop Message Checklist" later in this appendix.
Stop 0xD1 messages can occur after installing faulty drivers or system services. If a driver is listed by name, disable, remove, or roll back that driver to confirm that this resolves the error. If so, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for backup programs, multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, DVD playback, and CD mastering tools.
For more information about Stop 0xD1 messages, see the Microsoft Knowledge Base link on the Web Resources page at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/reskits/webresources. Search using keywords winnt, 0x000000D1, and 0xD1.
Update Drivers
Updated and comaptiable drivers are very important when running XP. Check your hardware with the HCL http://www.microsoft.com/hcl If you hardware is not on the list it does not mean it won't work it just means it hasn't been tested by Microsoft and they won't Guarantee it to be compatible. If it not on the list check the manufacturer's website fo an up to date XP driver, if they don't have one you may be out of luck. This goes for motherboards and the bios too.

Mega 180 voltage problem

Dear all,
I just bought this Mega 180 with Athlon 3000+, 1G RAM, using the onboard graphics card.
I took the advice in this forum and reverse the fans direction, although it decreased the cpu temp by 3-4C, but it increased the sys as much as 8C... I think it's something which we need to be aware of since the cpu certainly can torlerate higher temp than, say the board and harddisk...
OK, let's talk about my problem, two days ago, when I was running sandra 2005 ram/cpu benchmark, PC alert 4 warns me that the 3.3V supply is too low, it drops down to 2.8V once...
My initial thought was that it's because of the high internal temp which gives extra resistance to the board circuit, but after I reverse back the fan, it still stays around 3.13V... which by the ATX standard (3.3V + or - 5%) it's still dangerously low...
Can anyone here share what their voltages are? and does anyone knows whether my voltage would have any negative effects?
Another observation to the Mega180, I hear some little buzzing noise when I run the cpu/ram intensively, is it normal?
Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated, thx
Kevin

Quote from: sorchu on 02-March-05, 08:31:58
Has anyone got problems with the 3.3v low voltage lead?
No problem but PC Alert4 shows me strange values:
3.18 for 3.3v
5.02 for 5v
N/A for 12v and when I test the 12v with another software like speedfan it shows me 10.1v and even 9.8v
But everything is fine, I don't have any strange behavior or misfunction.
I have a real buzz too, when I play 3D games or when I use my TV tuner. It's certainly a capacitor.
Sorchu, for your sys temp problem, do you remove the HDD cage?

MEGA 180 and Radeon 9800 Pro/XT

Haven't posted in a while, just wanted to spread a little good. Having a MEGA 180 is a little limiting with power supply and space issues etc but i've got a cracking setup working here :-)
I bought the MSI RX9800PRO TD128, despite a 300watt power supply warning for the card it works perfectly in the MEGA, but the good news doesn't stop there, the graphics chip is not a standard 9800PRO R350 core, for some reason it has the R360 core from the 9800XT, overclocking is a breeze with the ATI Tool. It comes default with a 378 core - 338 mem setting, I have saved a profile in ATI Tool with the XT settings of 412 core - 365 mem and they work a treat in UT, Q3, Tomb AOD and i've even stressed the card in 3DMark05 for quite some time and it just works, I dare say I could push it even higher but I'm happy getting XT performance for PRO money :-)
Overclocker New Zealand have even managed to get it up to an insane 479 core - 391.5 mem see http://www.overclockers.co.nz/ocnz/review.php?id=04vga00r9800promsi00000r9800pro0105
There is also another great thread all about this card at http://forums.extremeoverclocking.com/showindex.php?t=118366&highlight=rx9800
The ATI Tool is quite good, i've even created a profile for 2D that is underclocked for when I'm in windows so it keeps my system a little cooler with the XT settings set to kick in when I start up 3D, coupled with a Barton 2800+, 1Gb of PC2700 and the 120Gb Maxtor with 8Mb of cache and it is all just working well together, Win XP Pro with SP2 is rock solid, well it is for me anyway, :-)
Couple of things to know.
Win XP finds the RX as an XT, so no need to try and flash the bios, it isn't an XT PCB anyway, just an XT core.
As there is no heat sensor for the core ATIs Overdrive isn't available but you can get the ATI Tool from loads of places on the net, here is a link anyway http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/
happy at last :-)
J.

Dont know if this will help but I had the same problem awhile back with an Asus A7N8X deluxe that I built for a friend. Sometimes it would initiate the monitor and others it would not. This drove me nuts for about a week, I tried everything that I could think of. This is what I did to remedy the situation somewhat.
Go to the ATI website and download the catalyst removal software and also download the Catalyst 3.7 driver from there "older" drivers page.
Now boot into windows and remove the ATI drivers and control panel from add remove programs, DO NOT REBOOT!
Run the ATI driver removal tool.
Shut down the machine, REMOVE THE POWER CORD,clear cmos, set the jumper for CPU fsb to 100mhz (safemode) and REMOVE your ram. Boot the machine, you will get a series of beeps indicating that the memory is not installed. Shut the machine down, REMOVE THE POWER CORD, Put the memory back in, reset the CPU fsb jumper to its normal position, and clear Cmos again. (this series of actions also solved my no display issue on my Mega 180 using the onboard graphics).
Now boot into bios and set it up the way you want then boot into windows and when windows tells you that it has found new hardware do not let it automatically install anything (cancel it). Now run the 3.7 catalyst setup and follow the instructions.
I am not sure why this worked to solve the issue but it did for me on both my Mega and the above mentioned system. I think there may be some odd conflict with the Nforce chipset and the ATI drivers and or Card bios.
Why it worked on my Mega is a mystery, I am using the onboard graphics and would have the system turn on with fans working and all but would have no display out.

Mega 180 Fanspeed og LCD Display

Hi - I have everything up and running and before using live update, my lcd display show sys info.
After update everthing with live update, new bios and new PCAlert - my LCD display can not show sys info?
Fanspeed is not showing under bios setup and it is not showing in PCAlert.
Can anyone help please
MSI Mega 180 Deluxe
AthlonXP 2800+
512mb ram
Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 9 160 GB, 7200 rpm, 8 MB
Adaptec SATA RAID 1210SA
Windows XP prof. sp1 & all patches
bios 3.30
PC-Alert 4.0.6.0.1

Re: S3 state.
S0 ~ S5 are the various sleep states on a computer. This ranges from no sleep [fullly on=0] to full sleep [ System off=5]. This is based on the Intel/Microsoft whitepaper describing the various states of ACPI. S=3 is supposed to be equivialant to "Suspend to Ram". So after suspend resume, max fan, until controlled by PC Alert in XP. Hope thats clear?

MEGA 180? please help

hi pps
my first post so b nice
im currently looking into building (once my student loan cums in) a mega 180 c,with an Athlon xp 3000, 2x512mb ddr,160gb hdd and a tv turner card, asfter ready all the posts around here regarding cooling its really beginning to put me of, i am wondering if 1) the cooling is as bas as it sounds 2) does ne one use there mega 180 for standard pc work (office,internet,msn messenger) as well as the fun side (radio,tv,dvd etc)
also does ne one know when the new mega is due out,i understand its going to b based around the amd64 so if its due out soon,obviously dont wanna get it to find out its o-o-d in a few months, wud rarther wait
thanks in advance pps

1. Yes it is quite bad but reversing the fans, lapping the heat sink(I didn't do this) and putting some good thermal compound on the CPU instead of the factory fit stuff goes a long way to removing the problem.
2. I use mine for development in VS.NET and BEA Weblogic, also graphic apps like Fireworks, PSP and Web GUIs like Dreamweaver and Visual Interdev also add Word, Visio, SourceSafe and I also have the odd dip into a game or three and tend to a few baddies, it is a great setup and i'm sure will not disappoint you :-)
J.

Mega problems with new Mega 180 - Help, please!

Hello everyone. I recently built a MEGA 180 system for a customer of mine, and have been having NOTHING but problems with it. First off, during the Windows XP PRo install, I'll often receive errors stating that certain files cant be copied, and I'll have to hit enter several times before the file will copy. I've replaced the CD-ROM with an MSI model, and used a different XP CD, and still receive these errors during install pretty often. Secondly, once I get everything installed, I'll get numerous program errors in XP (usually explorer.exe and iexplore.exe, but pretty much every program crashes sometimes). I've used a different HD, different RAM, and I've formatted the HD and reinstalled XP at least 6 times, and am STILL having problems. Im a computer tech, and fairly proficient at building PCs, though this is my first SFF pc I've built. Im really at my wits end here, and am not sure where else to go for ideas on what this can be. I've submitted an online help ticket with MSI, but I wanted to see if you guys had any ideas in the meantime. System specs are as follows:
MSI Mega 180
AMD XP 2800+ CPU (I used artic silver, btw)
512MB Corsair XMS PC3200 RAM (I also used 512MB GEIL PC3200 Golden Dragon)
80GB Western Digital HD
MSI CD-RW/DVD-ROM combo drive
average temp under load: 50c
average temp idle: 36c
Thanks in advance guys!
Rheq

Well, hrmm... :noidea:I know when I built my Mega180 I didn't have those problems at least, so it's hard to pinpoint. My bets are toward the memory (although you did swap it out, so that's what bugs me with my thought on that). My next guess would be the MoBo itself (which would be an MSI replace basically as there isn't much leeway for a different board for that case (or getting it out ). I am shocked, however, that you have your sys temps so low. I have an Athlon XP 2700+ (333 FSB, Thunderbird) and my temps go around 60C with the case open and a small room fan blowing through the case...for now). Do you mind telling me how you got your system so cool? I've been considering the Koolance Exos watercooling just to bring this system to stable, lower temps [but I've never dealt with watercooling yet ) Of course, sys temps have always been by biggest problem.
Sorry if this wasn't a big help, but the randomness of the errors seems to lean towards the memory/mobo...possibly the HDD I suppose. Does it still receive errors when not dealing with an optical disc (CD or DVD)? If so, that definitely rules out the optical as the only problem (it may still be a problem, but it wouldn't be the only one at least).

New MEGA 180 - not too good

Well I just built my Mega 180, up for about 48 hours. My quick exp:
I read most of the threads here before buying so I knew what I was getting into... Anyway, first off with a clean install of XP, the NEC 2500A worked great! I thought I dodged a bullet on that one, but after I installed MC3 and updated some drivers(forget which ) the eject button on the remote stopped working. It ejects fine from explorer and most other apps. Its apparent to me that MSI is working pretty hard to be sure you buy only their HW on this appliance. So all you people waiting around for 'a patch' I wouldn't hold your breath. They are working against you. hard.
PCAlert4 - Worked when I first installed, but wouldnt display fan speed. I updated to the web ver(#.?) it then it then its stopped sending info LCD completely. I updated my BIOS to the new version. Still wont display to LCD, but app grabs CPU fan speed ok. (1000 rpm variance from BIOS). V. annoying. They should really stop trying to make this stuff look cool and make it functional first. I think after some hacking I can get this to work though. Ideas appreciated.
Clock - displays 24hr clock, fine, but I dont wear fatigues everday! Anyone know to change this?
Radio - Its crap. I was really hoping that the radio would be independent of the OS. I dont want to look at my monitor just to change a stinking radio station(MSI radio). Just because my computer is 'on' doent mean Im sitting in front of it! Cant change "EQ mode" while the computer on, fark... the remote doesnt even change the stations when the computer is on. Volume is all that works. This one really erks me.
Thats about all the trouble I'm having. The rest seems ok; but this MSI 180 is having a huge identity crisis. Its making me stressed. I feel like I just forked over $300 for a small case with a clock on the front and an impossible to open DVD player.
Thoughts appreciated, thanks.

I just wanted to post update.
PC alert 4 - I finally got PC alert 4 to work. There seems to be a conflict with Search & Destroy v.1.3.1. I unintalled on a whim, rebooted, and the LCD reports sys info again. Not positive there is a correlation as no TSRs were loaded, but that seems to be what happened. Fix: jarhead's post led me to remove MSI radio from the 'startup' folder. It worked, they don't like each other in there.
MSI Radio 1.00.01 - I unintstalled both MC3 and MSI radio, and reinstalled MSI radio alone. Most remote functions still don't work as I would 'expect': no preset tuning from remote, can't record from remote, can't change EQ Mode *at all. I guess this is all because its still version 1.. is this the same experience for everyone?
NEC 2500A - Work fine as far as I can tell, but I havent burned much or used it in MC3. But the eject button on the front panel works just dandy. Its the ir remote eject button that seems to have stopped working. Just wanted to be clear on that.
TLC continues.

HD 3450 in Mega 180 - connection problem

Hi,
I'm planning to buy an ATI HD3450 based card, Asus brand. It has an additional molex power connector on board. I do not have any spare molex connectors left in my Mega 180. I'm not using the one marked by MSI as for ODD, because it is always powered on, so I use the other one for both HDD and ODD.
Would I burn the PSU if I use the same 12V line for molex (and connect it to HD3450) as I use for HDD and ODD? I might be a little to much for the PSU 12V line to hold and power all 3 devices at once.
Does anyone know what is HD3450 card demand for power? I've been looking over the internet for 2 days and I found various answers: from 36 Watts up to 75 Watts.
36 Watts is OK for Mega PSU but 75 is out of it's range (+CPU, HDD, M/B, ODD, RAM).
Why do I want HD3450? It comes from Asus as low profile and it is AGPx8. Low profile VGA means more hot CPU air getting out easily (both CPU fans reversed).
To those who have ATI 9700/9800 series and nVidia 66xx series: you have an power supply connector on VGA board, 6 pin or molex, how did you connect it to the PSU? Did you use the same power 12V line as for HDD or adopted an another one?
Is it possible to connect the unused SATA power connector to VGA? Yes, I know I have to adopt the connector, cut the SATA connector out and solder in molex or 6 pin, but that's the easy mechanical part. My question is about the electrical part. How many Amperes can it sustain at 12V?
Thanks for all answers (I hope) in advance :-)

Thanks, but take a look: http://www.diamondmm.com/3450PE512.php , Specifications tab. It says "Power Consumption : 75 Watts".
This spec if for 512MB PCI-E version, but I do not think that 256MB AGP version is so much different.
Where did you find 25 Watts info? If that was true the card would not need any additional power, I suppose that AGP slot can provide 25 Watts itself.
I'll try to connect my ODD to the other molex (the one MSI designed for it). I'm not worried about any power drain when it's not oparating, I just hope it is safe for the electronic equipment such as ODD to be constantly powered.
Does anybody have HD 3450 in their Mega 180? I have read that this card has some problems with nVidia chipset based mobos. At least had a half year ago. I cannot find any info if this issue has been fixed by Asus (no specific information in thier latest driver changelog).

Mega 180 Temps

Let me start off by saying that the Mega 180 is a great idea for a product but unfortunately it is not finished. MSI is using us as beta testers - at our expense. I build computers for people as a side business and against my better judgement, I built a customer a Mega 180 based system and I've had nothing but problems with it and it's damaging my reputation. But, OK enough of that.
One major problem with the Mega 180 is it's CPU and hard drive temp and here's what you can do to fix it. First off, the CPU heat sink is nice and big and made of copper - very nice. However, the underside of the sink (the part that touches the CPU) is absolutely aweful! The bottom should be mirror smooth. Mine looks like the surface of a record. Therefore, you need to lap it. Look this process up on the net to see exactly how to do it. Once lapped and the bottom is mirror smooth and you can see your reflection, use ARTIC SILVER thermal grease (just a tiny bit) and put the sink back on. Your CPU temp under load will be about 8 degrees cooler. Next, replace the small fan on the cooler with a bigger one (make sure you use one that's sensored, like the one you're replacing). Lastly, get some flexible ducting from the hardware store (plastic, not aluminum), attach one end over the sink's big fan and carefuly route the other end to the side of the case (may not be possible if you are using an AGP card) and position it so it sucks in outside air. Now that your CPU is cooled with fresh air, you will see another 2 - 3 degree reduction of CPU temp.
Finally, the hard drive is way too hot. I measured it with a IR temp meter after a full defrag and my jaw hit the ground when I saw how hot it was - 152 degrees F. That type of temp will kill your hard drive. Fix this by placing a fan inside the case (RAM side) blowing fresh air right onto the hard drive. This brought the temp down significantly. It also cooled other items too (CD drive, chipset).
The only downside to this is your system will be louder due to fan noise. However you will have fewer system lock-ups and mystery reboots (caused by overheated components).
One last idea, if the case is just too cramped for you, remove the power supply, buy a new one and mount it outside the case on the back. It doesn't look good but it sure frees up space and improves air flow (plus you'll have more power if you buy a higher watt supply).
Peace!

Hey cb31,
Even though this thread is about temps, I too think noise is the biggest problem with the Mega, and my current efforts are targeted at killing the constant background noise. My goal is the same as your's - I want to leave the computer on most of the time and not be bothered with it.
I'm proceeding slowly however, and so far I've only done the following:
-Replaced the 60mm Delta fan with a Papst of the exact same size. I found the Delta to be noisy, while others report that it's doing ok. Don't know about you... The Papst is really quiet and actually cools a little bit more effective, though that's a bonus feature! But on the overall it didn't have the effect I hoped for
-The smaller Delta fan (outtake side of heatsink) already is quiet enough, so doesn't need to be replaced on behalf of noise anyway...
-Took out the PSU and put White Lithium Grease in the fan for smoother operation since I figured it made a lot of noise. That didn't help much either... I'm thinking about replacing the PSU fan with something better, even though a lable on the back of the PSU states "W/ Noisekiller". It's still a no-name fan and can be improved upon.
Right now the loudest noise in my Mega doesn't seem to come from any fan at all, but rather from the hd. And it's not so much the actual noise from the unit as vibrations reverberating through the chassis. A common problem obviously, but there isn't any room for hd suspension systems in the Mega, so other actions are required here! I tried to slide in thin sheets of plastic between the drive and the cage, to act as silencers, but that didn't have any real effect as the cage touches the drive in several places, thus transfering the vibrations anyway. A new drive cage could do the trick, but I haven't gotten that far yet, and might not ever...
The Seagate Barracuda is considered to be a silent drive, so replacing it probably wouldn't help.
To conclude: If your fans are noisy, replace them or grease them for better operation, but you might not even hear the difference...
The major flaw seems to be the internal design of the Mega, and there's isn't much to be done about that, unless you're handy with a Dremel and sheets of metal. I might be, but I will have to get back to you on that!
Cheers!
-M

Odd Behaviour of Mega 180 SYS Fan

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for