Current hardware:
I think that covers the basics.
First things first: heat & noise. Temps are alright, I'm pretty sure the worst of it is because the left side of the case is right up against a wall so it can't radiate any heat off. Simply moving it will let me keep the case fans running lower but that's not an option atm due to space constraints.
The real culprit is that ATI stock cooler with its blower fan. It steps nicely, I'll give it that, but when it's hot it really makes some noise - so I'm looking for a reliable quiet cooler that remains at an acceptable noise level even when the fan's on high. And it needs to be able to handle the card's heat output of course.
The HDD is making the case vibrate but I've got some rubber mountings to fix that.
Now speed.
Yes, that nagging feeling that my PC's running slower than it should is nibbling away at my soul
Games like Oblivion look really nice but get a bit choppy in action scenes.
Besides keeping drivers up to date and trying to avoid having useless apps running on the PC (and generally not being a dumbass when it comes to software) I've really not looked at optimization.
I'll be disabling some WinXP services when I can find that site that lists all of them...
Basically I want to find out what is bottlenecking the system (say, disk queues, RAM, CPU or GPU). Suggestions of a good general benchmark which can point out what is restricting the other components would be greatly appreciated.
I'm not deaf to HW upgrade suggestions, especially crossfire or more efficient coolers. Preferably air, I don't trust plumbing in PCs
- Some Akasa >500W PSU.
- DFI LANPARTY UT RDX200 CF-DR
- AMD x64 3700+ w/ Gigabyte "Rocket" 3D cooler.
- 2x 512MB Corsair PC3200s and 2x 256MB Corsair PC3200s.
- ATI Radeon x1800XT 512MB (stock hoover, err I mean cooler).
- Sound Blaster Audigy 2.... rather old.
- 10K RPM 80GB SATA HDD.
- Akasa black aluminium case w/ 2 120mm fans hooked up to a basic fan controller.
I think that covers the basics.
First things first: heat & noise. Temps are alright, I'm pretty sure the worst of it is because the left side of the case is right up against a wall so it can't radiate any heat off. Simply moving it will let me keep the case fans running lower but that's not an option atm due to space constraints.
The real culprit is that ATI stock cooler with its blower fan. It steps nicely, I'll give it that, but when it's hot it really makes some noise - so I'm looking for a reliable quiet cooler that remains at an acceptable noise level even when the fan's on high. And it needs to be able to handle the card's heat output of course.
The HDD is making the case vibrate but I've got some rubber mountings to fix that.
Now speed.
Yes, that nagging feeling that my PC's running slower than it should is nibbling away at my soul
Games like Oblivion look really nice but get a bit choppy in action scenes.Besides keeping drivers up to date and trying to avoid having useless apps running on the PC (and generally not being a dumbass when it comes to software) I've really not looked at optimization.
I'll be disabling some WinXP services when I can find that site that lists all of them...
Basically I want to find out what is bottlenecking the system (say, disk queues, RAM, CPU or GPU). Suggestions of a good general benchmark which can point out what is restricting the other components would be greatly appreciated.
I'm not deaf to HW upgrade suggestions, especially crossfire or more efficient coolers. Preferably air, I don't trust plumbing in PCs
Noise is acceptable at full but it's very good at lower speeds, hence why I want to keep them there.