Upgrading on a budget??

infernox · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:20

thats fine, when are you seriously gonna use 100% of your chip anyway

try some of your software and see if theres an improvement

iTek · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:21

Its highly unlikely you will see the strain prime95 puts across all 4 cores on any software application you use to date so its nothing to get cut up on, the idea is to check for stability but of course you need to get the temperature under control first.

oh and about speed step, if you were referring to me saying "Disabling speedstep will force your computer to run the processor at full speed as opposed to running at a 6x multi." I was merely pointing out what the function did not that you should disable it.

Big.Wayne · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:24

ichabod crane said:
Just for you I have put it at 333x9 but its running a high temp 85 under prime95! 51 idle

Can you open CPU-z please and tell me what vCore the chip is getting at full load please? . . . can you also tell me if a small furry animal has crawled into your heatsink fan and died?

ichabod crane · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:25

iTek said:
Good man...

Temperature is high but what cooler you using? I go high under prime95, round the 70 degrees mark but that's at 3.8Ghz.

Obviously a good cooler for < £50 and sat at 3Ghz will be a good start. ??

A zalman CNPS7000C-AlCu LED thing, is there something better suited/performing?

Big.Wayne · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:26

Big.Wayne said:
Can you open CPU-z please and tell me what vCore the chip is getting at full load? . . .

ichabod crane · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:29

iTek said:
Its highly unlikely you will see the strain prime95 puts across all 4 cores on any software application you use to date so its nothing to get cut up on, the idea is to check for stability but of course you need to get the temperature under control first.

oh and about speed step, if you were referring to me saying "Disabling speedstep will force your computer to run the processor at full speed as opposed to running at a 6x multi." I was merely pointing out what the function did not that you should disable it.

No was someone else, not you.

Big.Wayne said:
Can you open CPU-z please and tell me what vCore the chip is getting at full load please? . . . can you also tell me if a small furry animal has crawled into your heatsink fan and died?

Core temp says VID: 1.2750v
CPU-Z says Core Voltage 1.360v

No furry animals in here, its the cleanest case you will ever see inside!

iTek · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:29

ichabod crane said:
A zalman CNPS7000C-AlCu LED thing, is there something better suited/performing?

Certainly, what case is this hardware housed in, this helps us decide whets up to the task as some coolers are ridiculously high.

ichabod crane · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:32

iTek said:
Certainly, what case is this hardware housed in, this helps us decide whets up to the task as some coolers are ridiculously high.

Siverstone fortress FT01 silver not that you need to know the colour

Big.Wayne · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:35

ichabod crane said:
at 333x9 but its running a high temp 85 under prime95! 51 idle

ichabod crane said:
A zalman CNPS7000C-AlCu LED thing

ichabod crane said:
Core temp says VID: 1.2750v
CPU-Z says Core Voltage 1.360v

Hmm that does seem a bit high? . . . a few things I am wondering

The TIM under the heatsink has dried up?
The Fan on the heatsink is full of poo or is spinning real slow?
The vCore Voltage is too high on [Auto]
Combo of all of the above

Let me know about the state of the heatsink and how long its been since you cleaned it? . . . is it full of poo . . . is the fan on quiet mode . . . how many years has it been since you replaced the TIM?

Also can you go back into BIOS to this page

And change

CPU Voltage from [Auto] to [1.300]
Load-Line Calibration from [Auto] to [Enabled]

iTek · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:38

I use the Corsair H50 simply because its very quiet, its not quite as good as some of the really top end Air coolers but it certainly does the job on my Q6600, so its one possible option and it will fit inside that case, the cooler system is here

A cheaper alternative is this here

I must hold my hands up, I'm no guru in coolers but most stocked here will do the job, its all about budget, some recommend the Artic Cooler Freezer which is < £20 so its all down to budget.

ichabod crane · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:40

Big.Wayne said:
Hmm that does seem a bit high? . . . a few things I am wondering

The TIM under the heatsink has dried up?

The Fan on the heatsink is full of poo or is spinning real slow?

The vCore Voltage is too high on [Auto]

Combo of all of the above

Let me know about the state of the heatsink and how long its been since you cleaned it? . . . is it full of poo . . . is the fan on quiet mode . . . how many years has it been since you replaced the TIM?

Also can you go back into BIOS to this page

And change

CPU Voltage from [Auto] to [1.300]

Load-Line Calibration from [Auto] to [Enabled]

Fan is clean I hoover inside the case and the fan filters weekly, TIM was replaced about a 2 months ago, in all honesty this CPU has always ran hot and the fan is set to standard in Bios.

I have made those changes in bios

Big.Wayne · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:44

and is this load temp still 85°C under Prime95 "blend" :confused:

Your using this cooler right?

iTek · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:44

Out of curiosity what are your idle temps in comparison to what they were earlier...

ichabod crane · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:51

Big.Wayne said:
and is this load temp still 85°C under Prime95 "blend"

Your using this cooler right?

iTek said:
Out of curiosity what are your idle temps in comparison to what they were earlier...

Thats the cooler yes,

Idle is now 48, 44, 40, 45 and prime blend is currently at 65, 63, 60, 60

so has gone down but only been running 15mins. Ok it has levelled out now at 70, 70, 66, 67

iTek · 29 Sep 2010 at 19:55

Nice new cooler me thinks will sort this right out

ichabod crane · 29 Sep 2010 at 20:02

iTek said:
Nice new cooler me thinks will sort this right out

pfft overclocking and watercooling, its like being back at university

Dropping the vcore down seems to have lowered the load though which is good

iTek · 29 Sep 2010 at 20:06

The sums will add up if and when you hit 3.3Ghz + for the cost of a new cooler :cool:

ichabod crane · 29 Sep 2010 at 20:17

iTek said:
The sums will add up if and when you hit 3.3Ghz + for the cost of a new cooler

The H50 seems pretty good value and much simpler than a DangerDen kit like in the good old days

Big.Wayne · 29 Sep 2010 at 20:27

ichabod crane said:
Idle is now 48, 44, 40, 45 and prime blend is currently at 65, 63, 60, 60

so has gone down but only been running 15mins. Ok it has levelled out now at 70, 70, 66, 67

Sorry about delay . . . just has some web problems there!

Ok so dropping the vCore from [Auto/1.360v] to [Manual/1.300v) has reduced the Prime95 "Blend" load from 85°C down to 67°C/70°C . . . thats pretty good . . . can you tell what me what vCore the CPU is now getting while loaded under CPU-z please?

There is more to come but need you to confirm that the chip is "fully" 30-60mins stable under Prime? . . . that vCore should be ok but may not be enough? . . or it could still have some voltage shaved off .

ichabod crane · 29 Sep 2010 at 20:34

Big.Wayne said:
Sorry about delay . . . just has some web problems there!

Ok so dropping the vCore from [Auto/1.360v] to [Manual/1.300v) has reduced the Prime95 "Blend" load from 85°C down to 67°C/70°C . . . thats pretty good . . . can you tell what me what vCore the CPU is now getting while loaded under CPU-z please?

There is more to come but need you to confirm that the chip is "fully" 30-60mins stable under Prime? . . . that vCore should be ok but may not be enough? . . or it could still have some voltage shaved off .

I have had prime running for nearly an hour now, Core voltage reads 1.296v