Recently I've started noticing that my computer is getting noisy and that temperatures are starting to get quite high too. I've dusted the case with a can of condensed air, and removed the cpu cooler and the gpu to more carefully dust them, and then put them back. I would definitely benefit from taking the time to remove everything and more thoroughly cleaning the case though. The computer still gets very noisy, and the temperatures get quite high too (80C on CPU, and 82C on GPU today). I can't remember what the temperatures were when i first built the computer, 4 years ago, but i am certain they weren't this high. I'm wondering what the best changes for me to make are. Should I invest in an aftermarket cpu cooler, or first upgrade from the stock fans on my case to something that can provide better airflow. Also, is it worth upgrading the gpu cooler? I don't have anything overclocked, but my airflow must be quite poor, since in its review the same GPU maxed out at 65C in the guru3d review This is the computer. I've used paint to add some beautiful arrows showing direction of airflow. The case is a fractal core 3000, and all of the fans are those which came with it. Any suggestions for fans or coolers, or the order in which i should upgrade things would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dan
I'd buy a new CPU cooler first Clean the actual case fan fins too, once they have a coating of dust/muck on them, they can't cut through the air efficiently and won't move anywhere near as much air around Get a paintbrush to clean the GPU cooler fins too, once you have a good case airflow and a clean GPU that should cool the card down a bit And leave the side of the case on or you mess the airflow up too
Great suggestion with the paintbrush, I'll order one from amazon now. I do usually have the side of the case on, since i read on here years ago that it's better that way. Are there any CPU coolers you would suggest? I like the look of the Noctua NH-D15S, but it's pretty expensive, and i imagine that any aftermarket cooler should offer a huge upgrade from the stock intel cooler.
Hi Dan As above I would go with aftermarket cooler as first there,i would have look on Corsair H80i or something similar like is this Regarding air cooler,have look on Coolermaster 212 EVO which are great CPU coolers and they don't cost too much,if budget allows then I would go with Thermalright and many others CPU coolers,have used Thermalright macho Rev B which has been awesome CPU cooler https://www.scan.co.uk/products/the...ged-copper-base-plus-ultra-low-noise-ty-147a- Please have look on those CPU coolers https://www.scan.co.uk/shop/computer-hardware/all/coolers-air/multi-cpu-coolers-single-fan Regarding better cooling,have look on better filters something like is Silverstone filters,those cost around £5 each I think,I bought 2 pack of them for £8,they're magnetic filters Plus I would have look on better fans which would bring you better temps and better airflow,but in yours case I would rather get better modular PSU with which you should make PC cleaner,but sometimes does help changing the case too,I've went via few cases and right now I've Phanteks Enthoo Primo which is expensive case,but is really worth it And if fans are very loud,I would have look on fan controller,I'm using right now Phobya fan controller which seems is great for money All depends on budget,but in yours current case is possible to make cleaner and cooler,good CPU cooler will lower temps for sure,stock CPU cooler is good for nothing there Hope this helps Thanks,Jura
if you want silence here's the guide -big cpu heatsink, look at reviews and db readings, recently I got surprised by the CM geminII, it comes with a "silencio" fan and that name is no joke, can barely hear it at max rpm -run case fans at 5v -avoid reference coolers on gpu, they are as bad as stock intel coolers in regards to noise -use rubber screws to mount the fans -old 3.5 hardrives can be noisy
adding to all good advices from our gurus: try separating the internal computer space in two compartiments the separation could be a piece of cardboard( o any light material) just a inch above the GPU, from the front intake fan until the back of the case. The front intake fan (and the bottom case if you put one there) should be more than enough to blow cool air into the GPU zone, and the GPU's fan should be the exhaust the seconf zone is the CPU zone, where you should put a beffier cooler and there is plenty of airflow. try at first with cardboard, and if you see improvements, then upgrade to something better, as you see fit. ps that 12 v CPU rail from the PSU could be positioned under the GPU gap, and some other cable management makes a difference
Clean up the cable mess, get a decent CPU cooler with a large body, Arctic GPU cooler, Noctua fans or Be Quiet! fans. You might also want to take a look at the 3,5" bay since those tend to resonate. Some rubbers (not those ) will do the job most of the time. If you want to ghetto rig you could suspend the disks in the case by using wire/rope Noctua and Be Quiet! coolers and fans might be expensive but they truly live up to their reputation. I've used a lot of their products (inluding the at place I work) and there aren't many brands that even come close. EDIT: Upgrading the GPU cooler isn't worth it, it's old and you're better off spending those €30-€40 on a new GPU.
I'm about to buy the Coolermaster 212 EVO, which should do a lot to reduce temperatures. I think you're right about thermal paste Spartan, i've not replaced it since i first built the computer, and i've reseated the cpu cooler a few times after cleaning. I took apart the cooler on my gpu last night and cleaned out the dust. I would put new thermal paste on the GPU, but I can't remove one of the screws that holds the little X shaped bracket on the back of the cooler that holds the heatsink on. Judging by the review on here if i improve my airflow the card should stay super quiet anyway. It peaked at 39 decibels under full load here http://www.guru3d.com/articles_pages/palit_geforce_gtx_660_ti_jetstream_review,9.html. The options for cable management in my case aren't great, but i've had a look and i can definitely reroute the big cable which is in the way so that it goes behind the motherboard. I'm just looking at case fans now. EDIT: I've just ordered the 212x, and two Noctua redux 140mm fans.
Just a quick update and thank you. I replaced the stock cooler with a Coolermaster hyper 212X, and temperatures dropped hugely. I'm now running my 3570k at 4.4ghz, and after 3 and a half hours of prime 95 the temperatures never got higher than they did running far less intensive software for far less time, also my computer is staying a lot quieter than it was with the stock cooler forcing itself to max speed. The 2 new case fans should be arriving tomorrow, so i'll install them, and hopefully see temperatures get even lower. Thanks for all of the help everyone! One little query i have remaining though is whether it'd be beneficial to put new thermal paste on the GPU, and if so, whether anyone knows a good way to remove screws that won't come out. The head of one of the screws isn't completely ruined, but it's not as well shaped as the others, and small bits of metal come off when i try to remove it...
Hi Dan Removing GPU cooler should be very easy on yours,I've replaced in past on GTX560 thermal paste(I've used ShinEtsu paste) and this has been very very easy to do so But,I've reread yours comment on that,what tools did you used there ? My friend used in past some cheap tools and he damaged 3 bolts on his Titan X and only option for us has been re-drilling the screws out,due this if you have good friend with some better tools I would ask him to re-drill old screw and try source new screws,those screws are easy to buy new http://www.moddiy.com/products/3mm-...JhYCbBD9JkPa4Zkt88Tj2kFInWm0iObSMVBoCfADw_wcB Hope this helps Thanks,Jura
I used a screwdriver that has lots of different heads to choose from. It didn't damage any of the other 10+ screws, and the other 3 on the heatsink bracket came out very easily, but it could still be a low quality screwdriver, and i could be lucky not to have ruined more screws. It's one of the circled screws in this picture. The screws don't look like the ones in your picture, they don't have springs on. These are just normal very small screws.
Hi Dan On my older GTX560 there has been those screws and on Titan X I'm sure they're been there too as I've replaced stock cooler for EVGA AIO kit Those screws are usually glued with Loctite what I know,on my Titan X there has been pain to remove and I've used precision screwdriver set and still I've couldn't remove one screw,friend removed the screw later on for me I would try to play some games or play benchmark for few minutes and then try remove those screws,if you will be not able to remove them then I would suggest re-drilling the screw will be probably best option Hope this helps Thanks,Jura
When replacing some of the fans on my case I had more screw related issues. This is definitely from poor quality screws though, since some were slightly rusty. Looks like I'm definitely going to have to source some tools for removing the old screws. The one of my new fans i have installed is super quiet though. I think once I've replaced the other 2 stock fans my computer will be very quiet, and the new heatsink has already helped massively with the temperature issues. I'm running lower temperatures with less noise and a 1GHz overclock on my cpu. There's still a few changes i need to make, but my computer is already quieter, cooler and faster than it ever was. You guys have been really helpful!
I've been trying to overclock my GPU. I Guru3d's review of my card they were able to achieve a 150MHz overclock. I however am unable to even achieve 50MHz before i get this I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, or if i just got unlucky with my card. If it helps, I'm using MSI Afterburner, and with the same power settings are guru3d, i can't even achieve 1/3 of the overclock.
You were running an i5-3570K on the stock Intel cooler all this time? That's a big reason why your temperatures are so high. Those temperatures are also dangerously high, above the thermal limits of your CPU. The motherboard should have throttled back the CPU, and no doubt it has. What this means is you probably aren't running 4.4 GHz when it comes to heavy processing. A new CPU cooler would definitely help! Also picture the airflow through the case. You have a blank slot at the top of the case, air will be draw down through there to the exhaust fans missing much of the computer. Also, the slots at the back of the case are not blanked off. The two below the graphics cards are fine, as any air drawn in there has to pass over the graphics card. The slot above it however, will be draw straight out the back of the exhaust fan. So, block off that top slot (even if you have to use tape!), add an extra exhaust fan to the top, and a better CPU cooler. This should not only keep your CPU cooler, but provide better airflow for the GPU and CPU. That said however, I wouldn't overclock the video card, and I'd probably knock a bit off that CPU overclock, even down the 4.3 GHz can make a noticeable difference with temperatures depending on the voltage required. There's two ways to look at it. The first is that you want to overclock so you can run stuff faster delyaing the need to upgrade due to affordability. The other is that you don't want to stuff up what you have because again, you can afford the replacement which would probably involve the motherboard, CPU, and RAM. If something goes wrong, you won't know which component has failed without testing, unless it's something 'obvious' like the graphics card. Therefore, it is better to err on the side of caution. Heavy overclocking is really only for the realm of people who simply go 'meh' and replace the items if they stuff it up. A 4.4 GHz overclock on your CPU is pretty 'eager' even with good cooling. I have worked out for me, 4.3 GHz is the ideal speed for ongoing heavy processing (I do a significant amount of video encoding, and use the machine for multiple other things at the same time, running 24/7) and keeping things cool. Going to 4.4 GHz the temperatures actually rise noticeably.
I was running my i5 on the stock cooler all this time, but it was running at stock settings, and it only recently started reaching such high temperatures. Now though after many hours of prime 95 I'm peaking in the 80s at 4.4GHz with the new cooler on there. The empty top slot now has a fan in there, and I'll be switching out the stock one in the other top fan slot in my case as soon as I get a screw extracting tool, since the original case screws are really soft metal, and are being destroyed by my screwdriver.
Pfff, 80c is still too hot for IB although not dangerously high. And why did you put 4,4GHz in your sig? If you're running stock you're not running it at 4,4GHz. And 80c with the new cooler means it hasn't been mounted properly. A CM 212X should do better IIRC. EDIT: NVM, was pretty drunk when I wrote that. 4,4 and 80c should be considered the absolute maximum.
Haha, don't worry about it. I might decrease the overclock a little. Those temps are only when I'm running prime95 btw, but i don't really need the speed increase atm anyway, the overclock was more out of curiosity. I tried pushing to 4.6GHz a few days ago, and that got insanely hot. I think sober you understood, but the stats in my sig are since installing the 212x. I only ran at stock settings on the stock cooler. What temps would you aim for under full load?
Show your PC some love and Hoover that thing out , it may help , and as others have said get a new cpu cooler , look here https://www.overclockers.co.uk/raijintek-themis-direct-contact-cpu-cooler-hs-001-rt.html 14.99 cheap as chips and so much better than the stock intel
