Cooling & Overclocking FX-8350
Cooling & Overclocking FX-8350
I regret the cable arrangement. The power cable from the GPU is largely difficult to manage, and I haven't located a suitable alternative online. If needed, I can relocate the GPU to the lowepci 16x slot, though I haven't done this before due to uncertainty about whether it's advisable to let the SATA ports touch the card's edge.
I could possibly handle that, but I'm not clear on what you're referring to by overdrive. I did a blend test earlier that indicated the CPU gradually increased to 45 degrees over a minute before I turned it off because I had to leave the room.
Scratch that part about overdirve again. I haven't fully woken up yet.
In other news, I caught a squeaky vibration noise and took a look at the new fan. It's a bit wobbling now. I noticed it spun slowly when I first installed it, but it feels a little smoother now, even though it briefly wobbles when I think its speeds are lower.
I started with AMD overdrive, removed unnecessary components, launched prime95 and overdrive, but found there was no standard start-up test. Instead, I performed a benchmark for several minutes followed by a short FFT analysis.
The findings indicated the thermal margin dropped to as low as 25 degrees. The SFFT reached a minimum of 14 degrees before the system became unresponsive after three minutes, requiring a reset with the thermal margin stuck at 14.1. This outcome seems concerning.
where is your noctua cooler fan mate? did you install it at the bottom? which direction does the airflow go? when you say inoperable, do you mean the pc completely froze or just very slow under heavy load?
I would have put it on top, mate—blowing into the heatsink fins—that’s how you get board/VRM cooling, right? That’s exactly what I thought it should be used for.
That would be my first move, honestly.
That's the version I had at first, but I figured moving it down would give it more space to breathe since the fan was just a centimeter away from the side panel on the other side. Another point I want to mention is the heat pipes pointing toward the ram in the steam at the back of the case. I'm not sure if it matters, but it was quite a challenge installing the cooler with the fan underneath and the pipes at the back, so I changed it. I saw a quick rise in my temperatures—about 1 to 3 degrees—when I switched the fan like that, but I didn't realize it was that significant. Now I'm realizing even a small increase helps.
Jon-93 originally had it this way, but I considered moving it to the bottom for more space, since the fan was only 1cm from the side panel on the other side. I also observed that the heat pipes pointing to the ram in the rear of the case made a difference, though it was a bit challenging to install the cooler with the fan underneath and the pipes at the back, so I changed it. Noticing a quick rise in temperatures—about 1 to 3 degrees—when I adjusted the fan position, I realized even a small improvement matters. I’m now using a Pallas blower, similar to the one you mentioned, which blows air into the heatsink towards the board. This setup provides cooling for the ram, northbridge, and VRM, along with CPU cooling. Most 990 boards tend to get very hot, so swapping the cooler fan really makes a difference. I believe my heatsink is correctly installed, with the pipes directing airflow to the rear overhang and the northbridge area between the GPU and CPU. The cables look fine too; I’ve seen worse setups that block airflow significantly.
I reinstalled the cooler according to your advice, but haven’t had a chance to test any games yet. That’s about to change with the Division beta. Before then, I’d like to note that running basic tasks—such as Torch browser, Steam, CAM, and AMD overdrive—has been increasing my temperatures. I’m seeing readings in the thirties without doing much work. The CPU is hitting 42% usage, and it looks like most of that comes from Steam, which is only downloading an update for the division. Overdrive indicates I’m operating with a 24 thermal margin. I feel something is off here. The air coming out from the back of the case isn’t very hot, and I can’t imagine Steam using 40% of an 8-core processor.