Hi all.
Im pondering trying to get a little more juice out of my computer. Two things that come to mind are my RAM and CPU cooling.
RAM wise, Im running Vista 64bit with 2GB
Im using this ram (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/114728)
I had to play around with the ram settings in the bios to get it to run stably, will have to edit the post later with the timings Im using. I think the main thing was I had to change the voltage.
Anyway, the RAM question is, will I be able to get away with mixing the ram? I was hoping to get 2 more sticks the same and up to 4gb (Which is ok on 64bit vista I gather). However theyre out of stock at the mo, and was wondering what would happen if I put 2 sticks in that are slightly different? Im guessing if I put slower stuff in, the existing stuff will run slower, or vice versa if I put faster RAM in.
The main differences are that the ram I have at the mo is 2v and CL5 ( 5-5-5-12 ). What Im looking at adding is 2.1v CL4 ( 4-4-4-15 ) (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/116755) ram ? Of course the other option is to wait around and see if I can just match what is already in the system?
The other question is regarding cooling. Im pretty sure I either didnt seat my heatsink properly or its just a bit crap really. Im currently using This (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/115664) And temps under full load get just over 60, which I gather is too hot. Even at half load it all creeps up.
Im looking for suggestions on tried and tested CPU heatsinks/coolers that are pretty quiet and are effective, as I might look into slightly overclocking my CPU over the summer (only slightly, Its an E6400) I was looking at this (http://www.ebuyer.com/product/105994) but any suggestions welcome.
Sorry for linking to a competitors website, but it was just easier to link the RAM as thats where I got the first lot from. And it was convenient whilst I was doing that to look at alternatives...
I think Ive answered my own ram questions...looking in the bios I set my ram to run at 2.1v last year when the comp wasnt liking 1.9v
The only other question is, Im guessing running 1.9v ram at 2.1v is going to shorten its life expectancy?
And if I get ram that is set to 4-4-4-12, should I change the BIOS to this or leave it at 5-5-5-12?
what cpu do you have ?
you wont really notice much of a difference going from 2gig of ram to 4gig unless you do a lot of photo editing etc...
That I do :D
I tend to cane my computer on a regular basis with the opening up of loads of crap. Google Earth nearly kills my computer when I use it hehe. Even just after booting Everest is reporting I have 800 megs of ram spare. Would be nice to have a little extra freedom, and considering that the ram is 1/3 what I paid for it 18 months ago...
CPU is an intel E6400
I just had a go at reseating the heatsink on the cpu using some thermalpaste I had. Its now running even hotter heh. When under load I managed to get my CPU up to 68 oC.
Am thinking I might pop the generic heatsink combo that came with the cpu on and see what that does...
RAM is that cheap now its well worth going to at least 3gb, Im on 2Gb and struggling :(
As soon as you open Photoshop on any computer, baby Jesus weeps for your memory.
Replaced the Akasa cooler with the Intel stock jobby. Whereas when my computer was booting with the akasa it was hitting 68-69 degrees at the end of the boot, the stock cooler took 3 mins in everest stress testing the CPU at full load to hit 64 degrees. And whereas the akasa was idling at 55ish, this is idling at 50 degrees.
The thing that throws me off is that everywhere you read people are talking about 30-40 degrees idling. Maybe its because Im in a small room and the case is tucked away in a poorly ventilated area without much in the way of additional cooling?
But any suggestions on how to quickly/easily/cheaply get that temp down a little is appreciated, as it gets a bit stuffy in here in the summer...
do you have any more temps ?
could well be high case temps... which are normally quickly/easily/cheaply fixed :-)
and... do you have 4 slots for ram in the m/b.... not many do now !... but yeah as nige said (i forgot lol) prices are so low right now you might as well up it to 4 gig :-)
I have 4 slots...Im not a total dunce when it comes to comps hehe. Mind you, whether 2 more sticks fit in with the OCZ heat spreader/sinks is another matter.
More temps. My computer has been idling for the last 1.5 hours:
Mobo: 46
Cpu: 50
GFX: 60
HDD: 36
Both my CPU and GPU fans are spinning at 1500 RPM atm.
I actually have a sneaking suspicion that the side panel fan on the case makes things 1-2 degrees hotter in the case. Doesnt really seem to do much in terms of blowing or sucking air in. Case is: http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2877840
I cut bigger air holes into the side panel with a heated sculpting blade, no fan on at the moment as I knackered the pins taking it odd, but the comp now is idling at:
MOBO: 42
CPU: 44
GFX: 59
HDD: 35
So thats good. Ive ordered some ram and a few other bits and bobs, including a better side fan, hopefully thatll help lower things a little!
Quickly OT, are stock fans crap these days?
My 3700+ stock HSF is brilliant, I can stress test all day at 36degC. Albeit I do have a lot of noisy fans. :)
My E2180 gets to 38c on a stock fan going full out. so in most cases it depends on the CPU. An overclocked to 4ghz job would need some heavy cooling.
yeah... those case temps are a bit high....
do you have a fan in the back blowing out ?
and one in the front spot blowing in ?
the fan on the side of the case should be blowing in too.... thatss a nice spot to cool the gfx card, the ram a bit and supply nice fresh air to the cpu ;)
also, can you contorl the fan speeds at all ?
(might be an optin in the bios for some of them)
other than that, trhy some better fans ;-)
Fan blowing in at the front and one out the back. Cant control those. Can control the CPU fan though.
When my order comes through Ill set the 120mm fan on the side blowing in, it should help make a difference now Ive cut some bigger holes for it. Also got an 80mm one for underneath hehe.
Not sure how much itll help as the case is halfway to buried at the end of my bed. One of the factors causing it to heat maybe was that the back of the case was quite close to the wall before, so hot PSU air wasnt circulating and maybe warming the case. Other than that, its quite a warm room anyway :(
It is running cooler now that those holes were cut, I think before they were too small and the fan was just blowing air against the inside of the case hehe!
A hole at the top is usually better than underneath, to allow hot air out rather than trying to pull cool air in from the bottom. I think it was White Giant stated in another thread, positive pressure is better (i.e air being naturally pushed out rather than drawn in). Air coming in will never be that cool, so you want to vent as much as possible outwards.
When I was at uni I had far too much free time and built some toilet roll ducting to draw cool air from a window. Its something you could consider :lol:
Even better use some flexible ducting pipe, the same as they use on the backs of washing machines and extractor fans. That will fit a 120mm extractor in the top of the case and keep the computer nice and cool. Clockd its also the issue of density, if you pump air out faster than it can get in you get a vacuum, that lowers air temperature in the case. Pumping more air in than can get out you end up with a pressurized container, it effectively becomes warmer.
can you take some photos ?
you need nice smooth air flow through the case, tury cables etc...
tho, going with niges post, a duct onto the CPU fan so it has fresh air from outside the case makes a MASSIVE difference to cpu and case temps :D
(and lower case temps mean lower shipset, ram and gfx temps too!)
I can do photos though theres not much to look at. When I said about the 80mm fan on the bottom, I should have been more specific and said 80mm fan below the 120mm on the side panel.
I was wondering about the ducting and stuff, but lets face it, if Im not overclocking is there really any point?
Pic of my case in situ:
(http://www.zpyder.co.uk/forums/case2.jpg)
You can see my classy and hi-quality attempt at cutting bigger air holes, it actually looks BETTER in the pics than it does in real life haha. Function over form though hah.
Also note how close the back is to the wall, and the book shelf basically creating a channel for the hot air to go up or stay at the case
The place where the 120mm fan is going is obvious, the 80mm fan is going on the bottom row of air holes to the left. Reckon I could put the 80mm sucking and the 120mm blowing, if hot air rises surely the 80mm should be ok getting the bottom air? Or both blowing? The 120mm should be directly over the CPU etc whether that helps.
There is a fan at the front that does something but to be honest I cant really see or feel if its blowing or sucking when its on as its so inaccessible and the holes again are tiny, this time pin sized!
And Ive never been that great at tidy cables. Add to that 2 more sticks of ram to warm things up and another 500Gb SATA HDD going in when the new fans and heatsinks and things should look a bit messier again!
New fans and stuff in and idling at:
Mobo: 36
CPU: 44-45
GFX: 54
HDD: 35
Cpu would probably be more efficient as well if I had bothered reading the instructions more carefully, had to quickly take the HS off and turn it around before whacking on, no doubt therell be air bubbles in the thermal paste!
The amount of thermal paste should be minimal. the pressure will push out any air bubbles anyway
Aye, the thermal paste Im referring to is what came on the heatsink, it was quite tough and actually seemed to be gluey in terms of sucking the HS to the heatspreader when I tried to take it off.
if I were you Id have both the side fans blowing in, the front fan blowing in and just the back fan blowing out ;)
what are your max temps / gameing temps ?
you might have already done enough already ;-)
max temp on the cpu seems to be about 55.
I might see about reversing the bigger fan to blow in, only problem is the warm air around the case...
It might be worth as well replacing the Intel stock cooler as other people have said and infact they are crap, try getting the latest Zalman CPU Cooler that is avaliable on the market now (i dont think the CNPS9500 is the latest one anymore?) but i used to use the CNPS9500 cooler and it was brilliant - on my old athlon rig temps would neve reach over 40C! :D
Liam
I replaced the intel cooler with an Artic Cooling 7 thingymajig :D
Worth noting that it appears the Intel reference cooler is better (in my experience) than the Akasa cooler I previously had. Quieter AND cooler!
Idling at 44-45 to me is an improvement of 5 degrees hehe. Will try the 120mm fan blowing air in, as the AC cooler is set up to be blowing the warm air off of the HS and to the rear fan, having a fan blowing cooler air from outside the case onto the HS might also help...
With both side fans blowing air in...now idling at 40 hehe!
Mind you I dont think the fan liked me ramming it with my thumb as I pulled the cable...seems to be a little louder now!
Figure this one out...now I have swapped out the mobo, the temps are:
Mobo: 35
CPU: <20
GFX: 55
When idling. Thats halved the CPU idling temperature? My only ideas are that I either have gotten used to the process of cleaning and applying thermal paste, and did it right for once. Or the mobo/bios in the P5B was badly configured by me and voltages or something were effecting temp (Ive left all that on auto at the mo, have yet to stress test in games to see if the ram voltage is set right...) OR the bios is reporting a faulty temp?
Everything is in pretty much the same place, except the IDE cable is stretched across the case pretty much. Upgraded from a P5B to a P5KC.
Mobo & CPU temps are reversed.
That or the CPU sensor isnt reporting correctly.
Could it be that it wasnt reporting properly on the old mobo? Any way of checking without reseating the HS? Im thinking that I shouldnt look a gift horse in the mouth if it is actually keeping cool?
I mean, what temps should a Core 2 Dueo E6400 idle at when it isnt overclocked?
Thought it was too good to be true. Updated the BIOS (Youd have thought Id learn my lesson haha)
Its now reporting similar figures to before :(
Nevermind heh.