EVE General Discussion

912 isn't bad, but keep in mind that big fans don't work so well. Usually you end up with a low pressure problem or something like. Basically, they move higher volume with less pressure and don't really do a heck of a lot.

I'm using a cheap Cooler Master case I really like and Gelid Silent 120mm fans that hit about 13 dba. I hate noise. That might work for you but it runs into a problem with the often high temps of AMD CPUs where I'm using a stock i7 that has relatively low TDP.

Also, my HSF is just a cheap Cooler Master HDT. It works very well for me though. Unfortunately, summer is here and I might have to do something about that where I am. Moving though, so I'll wait and see what the temperature average is there where I keep my PC. Sweating here right now, so I have a good idea it won't be enough.

It's 39 to 43 c on all 4 cores atm, so still handling it nicely, but then it is late at night and I'm not gaming.

If I knew what Chassis I was using I'd point it out, but it never came with a description. I just bought it because I was sick of the super tower, not using an EATX board anymore, andit was only ~ $80 ..It works awesome. Even cable maagement was a breeze, but I also used braided PSU extensions that I had for a planned build I never did.

What I'm saying is, have a look at some available inexpensive CM cases that are reasonably priced and have good mesh and stick to the 120s. 120s can push some serious CFM. Even mine are 50-60 cfm though they're low dBA.

Airflow is best in the front and bottom and out the top and back. Also, in from the side. plexi is nice but unecessary. Good solid no window with 2 fans on the side is great. IIRC I'm only using one side intake and no tops as it's sealed. Just out the back. High pressure in the chassis keeps the dust from sucking in all the cracks too, so if you mesh your intakes you should be able to keep your chassis clean.

Corsair 120 is a nice SSD if it's the one I'm thinking of. Ironically, one of the best SSDs of the last year was a Kingston KHX shown in this random review I pulled off Kingstons site: http://nerdreactor.com/2012/02/16/kingston-hyperx-120g-sandforce-sf-2281-ssd-review/

It's a 2281 sandforce, which is important to remember. That generation improved a lot over previous generations for all SSD manufacturers. Kingston also tends to run a cheaper retail than Corsair and the like and this particular SSD from them competes with the best they had to offer and beats quite a few.

All imo, but that is just a general cost-performance comparison and weighing out the loss of high speed read vs write here or there with a much better balance between the two. Basically it beats most on one or the other and IIRC has Enterprise class NAND.

Not sure what availability is like in Iceland, but I KnowUK shipping and pricing is not the best, and there are potentially other issues with availability from other areas and maybe higher shipping costs too.

Corsair 120 is good all around though, and SSDs still tend to outperform HDDs even when they are older. Just lifetime you need to worry about mostly. TRIM support is good, and some of the new SF controllers and such are good for extending that.

Good luck with the build; keep us posted.

Nice

Forgot to mention: The Q-Fan profiles don't tend to work to well and it's a good idea to have a HSF for your CPU that has PGM. CPU fan should be 100% pretty much, and with my build the same for the rear exhaust fan.

The other fans can take some tweaking to avoid excess pressure in the case which can be an issue too. I have a Sunbaem fan controller for some chassis fans, and I used it to adjust the fan speed until I hit an optimal with my CPU temp.

Basically, I adjusted their fanspeeds until airflow seemed to optimize and one fan didn't create excess pressure rendering another fan ineffective or all intake fans didn't push so much that the rear chassis fan was ineffective in drawing the heat off the CPU, GPU and Mosfet/Vregs, (which are right in front of it.).

The CPU fan pushes through the HSF towards the back of the chassis and the rear fan too, and draws air and heat off the RAM chips. The front of course blows across the HDDs, and side pushes air down on to the GPU.

GPU fan draws air in from the chassis and the fan pushing down on it and exhausts out the back of the GPU. One reason you don't want low pressure in your chassis is this exhausted Heat can be drawn directly back in as it's exhausted because the chassis usually has gaps and/or perforations on the back surrounding the I/O plate.

With mesh on the front of my chassis, that allows airflow that way as the bit of excess pressure I have pushes out that way. You can feel it, but not so much, and at least you know the chassis won't be sucking dust in that way.

The key is tuning the fans, but it isn't really that hard to do. If using BIOS, (setup), just set them to about 70%and ramp them up until you can feel air pushing out the gaps, but just barely. Not so much that turbuence affects the air inside though. Too much of that and you can end up with your CPU fan just bouncing air off the HSF or your GPU not being able to effectively draw air in from the chassis.

I also use a standard ~ 15 dBA Cooler Master fan, (comes with the chassis), on the rear because it has higher CFM, (even if a bit noisier(, and compensates for the 3 intake fans. My PSU exhausts out the bottom and draws in from the rear of the chassis on the bottom.

Top mounted PSU chassis are a pain and they tend to suck air from around the CPU and exhaust it out the back. Basically you're running hot air through the PSU trying to cool it and lowering its efficiency and possibly power factor control. The other issue there is that the PSU gets hotter, (normally hot anyway to one degree or another), and heats up the air around the vregs/mosfets, and CPU as it sits within an inch of the HSF usually. This is undesireable and counterproductive of course.

Lots of other stuff.. .I could go on forever I'm sure. j/k That's pretty much it for normal cooling considerations.

@Adam Smash:

..man, you are a troll aren't you; like a bull in a china shop.

I didn't address the issue of RAM being listed at 668 because I didn't read his whole post; having seen the specs was enough. I suggested rebuild because he has a baseline AMD mobo with an old Phenom II that is guaranteed to be slow in terms of computing capability.

I don't really care if he buys AMD or Intel, because the issue isn't having the best, but rather what he likes and feels like spending money on. Also why I didn't specify a processor aside from not using A series which will likely have lower performance than his current. Any AM3 FX processor listed on AMDs site atm is good enough for most applications and is still varying levels of cheaper than many Intel CPUs at MSRP.

He's got a nice GPU, (ATi is fine), the RAM is probably good unless it has cooked, but I doubt he has more than a min. PSU and know his chassis has got to be of limited usefulness and certainly isn't giving him good airflow or cooling unless he lives in the Bahamas.

The RAM is a bit confusing if you don't know that the spec and hardware monitoring programs read it that way. I don't even recall why and don't much care as it isn't important. I'll probably go look it up sometime just to refresh my memory, but not right now. I know looking at it that it's 1333 just like mine. 8GB is also adequate. I have no problem with mine and I have the same speed and capacity.

The HDD is hitting 45 c and is a 1 TB SATA set for IDE in setup according to the Spec. Green or Highspeed isn't really important. What is relevent is that higher capacity HDDs have more platters and thus more weight, and it is also running to hot for that or other reasons. Back to the chassis given his CPU is at 60 c.

Now, to address your post: wtf? learn to type in a fashion that is representative of due consideration and intelligence rather than just troll speak if you're going to bother giving advice, and particularly if you are as knowledgeable about computers as you claim to be, so that people will give you half a chance.

What you did type shows useful google but it doesn't necessarly represent knowledge. Should and does are two different things. It doesn't. That doesn't mean it has a virus and that can be checked easily enough. What it does seem to show, I have already mentioned and this is more likely.

A virus will usually be fairly obvious when it has reached the stage where it is chewing your computer performance up. What may not show so easily or be immediately obvious is Malware or Spyware. There is MBAM for that and it seems to work fairly well.

Also, AMD doesn't have bad drivers; no more than any other system out there anyway. Sometimes they get a good release of drivers, and sometimes it is just fubar. That applies to all GPUs, Motherboards, and manufacturers of everything that uses drivers. Drivers are simply assembly language instruction code that tells hardware what to do.

Quick tips on upgrades:

1) If CPU is purchased within the last 3 years, it's good.

2) If memory is < 4GB, upgrade

3) If hard drive space < 10% free, upgrade

4) GPU - a bit more complicated and I don't pretend to be up to specs for the newer cards, especially their ever changing naming schemes. However, there are some general guidelines here. There are specific cards in every series that are geared towards gaming or simple desktop apps. If you're card is of a model type geared for simple desktop apps you want to upgrade. If you're using a onboard video card, upgrade. If your card has less than 512mb of ram, upgrade.

The GPU really is the driving force for gaming. As long as you have a modern CPU and enough memory and free hard drive space to not bottleneck your GPU and assuming the GPU is adequate then you'll be fine.

I run 8gb of system memory, phenom II 4 core, Geforce 9800GTX+ w/ 512mb. With this I can run 1 client full settings with no lag. 2 clients at almost full settings, 3 clients on low settings. The biggest bottleneck for my rig is the GPU memory @ only 512mb. One client at full settings will eat most of that.

A good utility to see how your video card is performing is GPU-Z. If you're close to or at 100% on GPU memory or GPU utilization, time to upgrade the GPU. If not and performance is still slow then your computer is bottlenecking your GPU. To see how, open task manager and look at system memory or CPU utilization. If memory is close to or at 100%, add more. If CPU utilization is close to or at 100% upgrade the CPU. But in the case of the CPU you might also be looking at replacing your system in order to utilize more modern generation CPU's. It depends how old it is and whether or not you can purchase a CPU sufficiently more powerful so that it doesn't bottleneck your GPU. I would guess if you're approaching 100% cpu utilization while playing the game that chances are you'll need to replace the entire computer with something newer. I've actually experienced this on an old old system where I was unable to upgrade the CPU sufficiently to overcome it bottlenecking the GPU. The only fix was to upgrade to a newer system allowing me to use the next generation of CPU's.

Also, you speak of Windows eye candy. Turn this sh1t off. I mean if it's the difference between spending money or not then why not turn it off especially on a system already having problems running the game. I can guarantee its affecting your gaming performance significantly. The difference might be +20FPS depending on your system. That's huge, significant and a real performance increase you can feel.

Good luck!