I am back as promised with an update on my PC Overhaul project.
Now I am at Stage 2 of this project. Initially, when I started this project, I knew I was going to split it into 3 stages; but now, I believe it would stretch to 4 stages. :P
Background on what I have been doing with my PC is below in Stage 1.
On with Stage 2...
When I first got the basic system up and running in Stage 1. I decided to do some light overclocking to my system setup. For those who doesn't know what overlocking means, it simply means making the PC faster than it actually is. There are tons of articles and online materials to learn about overclocking but I won't go into too much detail.
I have been playing with overclocking for quite a number of years. It has been a personal hobby of mine and I think it is a form of art. The key to have a successfully overclocked and stable system that can last is to select the right components that can do the job at the intended speed.
At Stage 1, you can see that I have named several brands of different component makers that are out there. These are some of the trusted brands in the business; and of cos there are a lot other brands out there for the job, all you need is to spend some time at the forums.
My choices are based on my personal liking and experiences.
So back to my system. Originally, the CPU is suppose to run at 2.66GHz as stated on the package. But normally, Intel's CPU are good for at least 1GHz higher than their quote speed. Therefore, it is entirely possible to run the CPU at 3.66GHz or even more. The downside of doing this is obviously that the warranty will be voided and the life of the CPU will be shorten.
But I still decide to overclock my system to be a tad faster than its stated speed. I will spare you the nitty gritty details on the tweaking and tuning portions. But I fixed my CPU to run at a speed of 3.2GHz.
3.2GHz - 2.66GHz = 540MHz speed increase.
*In the overclocking world, this is a very small increase. But nonetheless, I decided to keep it as that as I am going to run my system 24/7 without shutting down and would not want to overstress my system.
Hmm.. at this point you may be wondering what's so special about stage 2 then... Just to give you an idea. When a CPU is being overclocked, the heat that is generated increases due to the increase in power consumption.
Therefore, stage 2 is a crucial stage... It is how I cool my system down...
Firstly, I would like to mention that there are 2 hardware in my system that requires improved cooling. The obvious one would be my CPU which has been overclocked.
Secondly, the next hardware to cool is my graphics card. It is running at around 82 Deg C even at idle and going up to a insane 93 Deg C when I was fully load testing the graphics card!!!! Even though, the manufacturer claims it is perfectly alright and no damage would be done to the card even at these temps, I do not believe so. At 90+ Deg C, we could cook at egg with it. Obviously, I can't just leave it alone.. :)
Lets start with the CPU cooling...
When the CPU is running at original speed with its original cooler, it was rather cool. Running at around 41 Deg C (from Mainboard CPU sensor) at idle and a maximum of near 55 Deg C when running fully loaded. However, with the original cooler, running at the overclocked speed, the temperature shot up to around 49 Deg C at idle and 59 Deg C when fully loaded.
Though the increase from 55 to 59 Deg C does not seem significant, it is important to keep your CPU as cool as you can even when its fully loaded. Thus something has to be done to lower the temperature from the CPU. This means trying to spread the heat from the CPU away faster...
This means replacing the original cooler with a more efficient one. For this, I chose to use the Thermalright 120 eXtreme CPU cooler. The reviews on this coolers over the world has been great and therefore I decided to give it a try myself.
So on with the cooling project in this stage 2...
Some photos of the Thermalright 120 eXtreme CPU cooler.
For your information, this cooler is huge... Standing at around 200mm tall, 140mm wide and 50mm thick, it is one of the biggest CPU coolers I have come across... But also notice that the company does provide very good packaging and all essential items.. A thoughtful company I must say...
Here are some pictures of my original cooler system of the CPU and graphics card.
* I was doing my tests on this original system setup. And with this setup, that was how I got the temperature readings...
And so.... after a certain amount of time, removing the original CPU cooler and fixing the new one in... Here are some photos of the newly mounted Thermalright 120 eXtreme CPU cooler in action with a Blue-LED fan sucking into the cooler.
With the new Thermalright 120 eXtreme CPU cooler mount, I began to do some CPU loading test on my system. The sames I did when my original cooler was in my system.
I ran the CPU stress test and monitored my CPU temperature to find the Minimum and Maximum temperature when my system was either at idle or full load.
And below are the results...
Original cooler @ Stock Speed (2.66GHz)
Idle - 41 Deg C
Full Load - 55 Deg C
Original cooler @ Overclocked Speed (3.2GHz)
Idle - 49 Deg C
Full Load - 59 Deg C
Thermalright 120 eXtreme CPU cooler with Blue-LED fan @ Overclocked Speed (3.2GHz)
Idle - 44 Deg C
Full Load - 55 Deg C
As you can see, the results are not too shabby... With the CPU at Overclocked Speed, I am able to get it to be running at a temperature when it was at Stock Speed....
The Thermalright CPU cooler certainly helped cooled the CPU down. But frankly, I wasn't very impressed as I had expected more from this product. Therefore, I started asking myself 'did I do something wrong? Or did I not do something?' as I feel that the CPU cooler is under-performing.
And I went back to the drawing board and the internet to look for an answer to my question...
keke... Stage 2 will be continued...
Stay tuned...
Best Regards,
Ken
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