I recently bought a ReadyNAS Ultra 2. I installed a 1TB Samsung HDD in it, upgraded Bios to last version, cleaned all the dust inside, upgraded OS to 6.9.3 using the excellent instructions and the prepare script, upgraded memory to 2GB (run for 2 hours Memory Test from Boot Menu), replaced the old, dried-out, thermal compound between the CPU and the cooling block with a thin layer of Arctic Silver MX5.
I also set the Fan in the settings to "Cool".
At the moment I only enabled SSH, there are no optional modules intalled and is not yet in use. But I am worried that altough the fan is set to "Cool" the CPU temperature when the nas is completelly iddle is 70 degree Celsius and when I transfer over SMB a large file it goes to 76 degree. I am afraid that when I start using it properly it will get even hotter, not to mention that in the room where I am using it are now 22 degrees but in the summer can get at times 30 degrees ambient. All the other components inside (disk, system, 27-30 degrees) report low tempertures so maybe is a CPU sensor error ? Should I be worried ?
After replacing the dried thermal compound with Arctic MX5 I was expecting to see 10-15 degree less but there was only maybe 1 or 2 degrees less. When I start the NAS ofter has been stopped for a while I see the CPU temp immediatelly after boot at 50 degrees but gets to 70 degrees within 5 minutes of running. Perhaps too much of the fan airflow goes over the HDD area and too little over the CPU coolblock ? As mentioned, only one disk is inserted at the moment but both trays are installed as well as the mesh door, just in case this could influence the airflow for CPU.
Model: ReadyNAS RNDU2000|ReadyNAS Ultra 2 Chassis only
Are you experienced in applying heat sink compound? Putting it on too thick, installing the heat sync cocked, or air bubbles in the compound (typically caused by manually spreading the compound before attaching and/or applying to both surfaces) can cause poor conduction. There is also this from the Artic Silver web site:
Important Reminder: Due to the unique shape and sizes of the particles in Arctic Silver 5's conductive matrix, it will take a up to 200 hours and several thermal cycles to achieve maximum particle to particle thermal conduction and for the heatsink to CPU interface to reach maximum conductivity. (This period will be longer in a system without a fan on the heatsink or with a low speed fan on the heatsink.).
Thank you for the reply. I do have some experience with applying thermal compound and I am fully aware of the need to apply on a thin layer (also I do not want to overflow from the actual chip area since this might be a conductive compound and there are some passives on the CPU itself, outside the chip area. The need for the compound to cook for a few days or weeks is indeed documented but as you mentioned should be no more than a few degrees. Compared with the hardened stuff which was there before the Arctic should do better even when still freshly applied. I Will try to start using it with non-critical data and see how it goes.
