Hi all,

 

I'm just looking at some options for my rig as per my specs on the side.

 

I'm very happy with the way it's running FSX and everything else for that matter but coming into Summer here in Australia it tends to get pretty hot so I just have a few minor concerns about my temps.

 

My OC to 4.9 Ghz gave me max temps around of 83C under IBT and Prime 95 after a 24 Hr test. This was with roughly a 23C ambient temp. Normally temps in FSX might max out to about 70C and other games considerably less than that. However the other day it was a bit warmer with ambients at around 27-28C and temp in FSX hit 75C which I guess was expected.

 

The CPU cooler is a Corsair H50 but with a ridiculously good Delta Fan on it and it seems work quite well considering what it is, however I have picked up a really cheap H70 off eBay which I'm hoping the larger Rad might help me drop temps a little.

 

Now the question. My case/MB is an Alienware Aurora R3 (which I only got since I got it ridiculously cheap). The Airflow in the case is not great and the MB is an Alienware so the the BIOS options are fairly locked down.

 

I have a little money to spare so I have a few options, Swap out the Case to something with better airflow and the MB to an ASUS Z77 Sabertooth/ASUS P8Z77-V-PRO or maybe an ASROCK equivalent. Alternatively I can take that money and grab myself a nice SSD dedicated to FSX or perhaps some other piece of hardware, save it for later, or what ever else I may desire.

 

Am I being paranoid about temps? What would you do?

 

Cheers.

anyone have any thoughts?

How much Vcore do you need for 4.9GHz?

I would just do 4.6 - 4.7GHz in the summer time

 

I have a little money to spare so I have a few options, Swap out the Case to something with better airflow and the MB to an ASUS Z77 Sabertooth/ASUS P8Z77-V-PRO or maybe an ASROCK equivalent. Alternatively I can take that money and grab myself a nice SSD dedicated to FSX or perhaps some other piece of hardware, save it for later, or what ever else I may desire.

 

 

As far as the new case/mobo route the HAF932 is a monster, but it has fantastic airflow. Not sure what your budget is but it is defiantly one of the better cases in terms of circulation and exhaust.

 

I don't know how ALIENWARE works but are their MoBos standard sizes and detachable from the current case? Could you take that Mobo and put it in a new case? If not the AsRock Extreme 4 is what I am running and its a great OCer.

Vcore at 4.9Ghz is 1.368, I could easily down clock but if I can keep my rig at 4.9Ghz I'd prefer it. I'll keep that at the back of my mind though. Yesterday my ambient temps were reporting at 30C and my CPU maxed out at either 73 or 75C playing BF3 so I may be okay.

 

I was looking at the HAF case and it does look really good. As for the mobo, yes it is detachable, it's a mATX mobo but it's also hooked up to some other boards for controlling the lights and for power to the CPU pump/cooler, so if I was changing case I'd take the route of grabbing a full ATX mobo.

 

I'm just not sure if it's worth the money now. I think I'm leaning towards just keeping what I've got and seeing what new CPU cooler does for me when it arrives.

 

Now i'm just in two minds whether to go the dedicated SSD route for FSX or just holding on to my cash for an upgrade down the track. Hmmmm

I think if with h50 you can keep it at 75, which is well within limit, then H70 should do a much better job. I would say check the performance with your new cooler first and then decide on a new case and motherboard.

 

Just out of curiosity, what is the temperature of your GPU under load? Are you using any aftermarket cooling solution for the GPU?

 

Regards,

Rohit

Hi Rohit,

 

That's what I was thinking i'd do. Hopefully it arrives soon. I've got some Artic Silver from another build I did a while back so that may even help provide better temps too.

 

As far as GPU temps I'm not sure what they are, I'll check next time I'm using that box but they are low enough using a custom fan profile with stock cooling that I don't need to worry.

 

Prior to the gtx 680 I had 2 x 560 TI's in SLI and that was heat central, for the bottom card anyway. It literally had no airflow and was pushing upwards of 90C. With the GTX 680 I get better performance too.

Just thought I'd update on my CPU Cooler change. I finally got a chance to install the H70 last night. It did take a little bit of stuffing around but once in the results seemed pretty good.

 

Compared to the H50 the H70 reduced temps at identical ambients by about 5*C so it seems to be doing it's job quite well. I'm hoping that may drop a little further after the Arctic Silver 5 has time to settle in.

 

I also installed the cooler as an intake which is how I had the H50 installed but I may try it as an exhaust also just to see the effect on temps.

I have the haf 932 advanced and love it. Highly recommend it. If your worried about temps, go with the h100i. Short of a custom built cooler, that's as good as it gets. I have that too and am very happy running a 3770k at 4.7 for fsx. Fits nicely in the haf 932. I have it set up with four fans in a push pull.

 

If I could have a do over with my motherboard I would get the asrock formula oc. I've read that it's a great overclocker.

I just ordered the Corsair C70. It's ugly as sin but does everything I need it to do. That's how I roll.