Random Hardware topics

[neogunhero]

Wonders if CPU temp was Cores or Package. I expect its cores since they normally the cooler of the two. 47 on package in games would be impressive. I am lucky if I hit that at idle unless its 8c outside (like right now).

47 on cores in game is pretty good either way. Could be most of the load of the game is on GPU though. . If CPU just sitting there doing nothing it is easy to stay cool.

I'll have to look again and post some screens of HWInfo. That game specifically already ran fairly cool on both compared to other games, so I'll also need to test more games, get a more realistic view of the temps. It's a graphically impressive game but by no means the most demanding. I tend to get higher temps in Pirate Yakuza, and I haven't played that in about a week, so I'll have to try that again.

I'm just happy I'm pretty much done with my PC for a while. It's been a nearly two week journey doing everything I did. It's a well needed upgrade, and certainly a welcome one. The temps here haven't gone above 70F, so it's still quite cool outside. Once the summer comes here in the northern hemisphere, it usually gets up to 90-100F, so that will be the real test of my cooling upgrades.

 

[Colif]

random thumping noise is back... ai shows it could be cooler not mounted right, I will have to check it. Not many other things in cooler that would cause it.

Guess its been a month between problems... sigh. I had hoped Mouse was my March problem. This should be easily solved.

we had two cool days but its back up to 86F by end of the week, but summer is meant to end next month so there is that to look forward too. I expect pretty cool temps out of this PC in winter.

 

[neogunhero]

random thumping noise is back... ai shows it could be cooler not mounted right, I will have to check it. Not many other things in cooler that would cause it.

Screws loose or not mounted to mobo properly? Thumping would indicate something is moving, rocking back and forth. Very strange.

 

[Colif]

Potential causes - As per AI

Spoiler

1. Loose Screws or Mounting Issues:

1. Check the cooler's mounting: Ensure the cooler is securely mounted to the motherboard, and that all screws are tightened properly.
2. Verify the mounting plate: Make sure the mounting plate on the motherboard is also securely attached.
3. Reseat the cooler: If you suspect a loose connection, carefully remove the cooler, clean the thermal paste, and reattach it with new thermal paste.

2. Fan Issues:

1. Check the fan blades:
2. Inspect the fan blades for any damage or obstructions.
3. Verify fan connectivity:
4. Ensure the fan is properly connected to the motherboard and that the fan speed is set correctly.
5. Test with a different fan:
6. If possible, try swapping the fan with a known working fan to see if the noise persists.
7. Try lowering the fan speed:
8. If the noise is only happening at high speeds, try lowering the fan speed in your BIOS/UEFI settings.

3. Other Potential Causes:

1. Loose components:
2. Check for any other loose components in your PC case that could be vibrating and causing the noise.
3. Resonance:
4. Sometimes, the noise can be caused by resonance within the case, try to move the cooler to a different location or add some dampening material to the case.

1 seems plausible, fans sound normal to me so I don't think it is 2. Its not a resonant sound, as I have had that before. I know what it sounds like

its not very loud, can only hear it when house is dead quiet so I don't know how lose the screw is. I can't tell if noise is always there as fans may drown it out. Does seem to come from behind the cooler... so 1 looks realistic.

I do have to be near PC to hear it, so its not loud or anything. I am just making sure its not a problem I can fix.

I will look on the weekend. Its about earliest I will have time.

 

[neogunhero]

So that slim top exhaust fan I got has PST, PWM Sharing Technology. It has two connectors, one 4-pin and one 3-pin. I have never seen this before, so I only plugged the 4-pin into the Noctua PWM splitter. However, after using the PC for a while the fan stop spinning. I can see the blades sitting idle. My fan curve is set through the BIOS and it’s on the normal function, which will spin even at low temps. Copilot says I should try plugging both into the splitter. I haven’t done that yet, do you guys think that will work? Maybe I just need to try a new header too.

Somehow I unplugged my SATA SSD too, so I guess I’ll be fiddling around inside my pc again tonight.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

PST just seems to mean that you can plug another fan into it so you only use one port. I wouldnt think it would make a difference but I havent ingested the entire internet like Co-pilot so worth a shot.

Sounds to me like the low range on your fan doesnt work below whatever you have set as the low range on the mobo. Does it spin up when the other fans arent idle? Might be you would have to set the low range a bit higher on the fan curve to make it work all the time.

Could also check in BIOS that fan port is set to PWM and not Voltage control, dont know if that would help or not.

 

[neogunhero]

PST just seems to mean that you can plug another fan into it so you only use one port. I wouldnt think it would make a difference but I havent ingested the entire internet like Co-pilot so worth a shot.

Sounds to me like the low range on your fan doesnt work below whatever you have set as the low range on the mobo. Does it spin up when the other fans arent idle? Might be you would have to set the low range a bit higher on the fan curve to make it work all the time.

Could also check in BIOS that fan port is set to PWM and not Voltage control, dont know if that would help or not.

It at least spins on start up, not sure for how long, but it stays spinning for a while. It’s usually after I get off the game and check the temp charts that I notice it’s stopped. You’re right about PST, that’s what it says on the product page, you can daisy chain fans together if you had a few in a row like on a radiator. Copilot suggested perhaps it wasn’t getting the full power since one is not connected, but I’m not sure if that’s correct. I’ll give it a shot and mess around with the BIOS settings too.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

So your not sure if its running while youre gaming? Could try running a short CPU benchmark to see if it spins up when the others do. CPUZ has a quick and easy one thats not too demanding but works the CPU a bit. I use it sometimes for that kind of thing.

CPU-Z | Softwares | CPUID

CPU-Z for Windows® x86/x64 is a freeware that gathers information on some of the main devices of your system : Processor name and number, codename, process, package, cache levels. Mainboard and chipset. Memory type, size, timings, and module specifications (SPD). Real time...

www.cpuid.com

 

[neogunhero]

Fiddled around in the BIOS and noticed all the headers were set to "Auto" instead of PWM, so I promptly changed them all, even ones I'm not using. My best guess is that some of the headers don't default to PWM when set to Auto, for example the Pump headers may default to Voltage mode which puts the fan at 100% constantly, but I could be wrong about defaulting to different settings. That also doesn't explain why the fan just stops. Also found out I actually have about 7-8 different headers, I told Colif I only had 3 which was incorrect.

I ran the CPUZ test for a few minutes and played some Insurgency Sandstorm for about 30, and I don't think the fan stopped spinning. It's easier to see when it's night and the room is dark as the light from the mobo shines up through the fan, but I think it stayed spinning the whole time. I also set the manual fan curve up a little more, so at 0-35c all fans spin at minimum 40% as opposed to the 15% it was set to on Normal mode.

I'll have to give it longer of a test tomorrow, just to make sure the fans really are spinning. The 30 minutes of Sandstorm I played gave me pretty much the exact same thermals as yesterday when I played for an hour: GPU hovered around 60c, CPU hovered around 50c, so I wonder if the fan just stopped after I closed the game last night? I have no idea, it's kind of strange.

Different topic, but one thing I wish I would have done was take better benchmarks and recorded more data before I did all of this to my PC. Just for curiosity's sake really, because so far every game I've played recently has been running really cool in my PC, so I have no complaints about that. I just wonder how much of a real improvement I've made. I've realized the Furmark benchmark three times back-to-back is not a great way to really see how much cooler your GPU is running. I should have played a game for a while or even did in-game benchmarks on actually demanding games and see how it compares. Oh well, again it runs very cool so I'm very happy either way.

 

[Colif]

Also found out I actually have about 7-8 different headers, I told Colif I only had 3 which was incorrect.

that would have been obvious if you had looked in your manual

https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_z370-aorus-gaming-5_1002_e_190520.pdf?v=e698dd0a80367a7a8cd1c1394b454e56

I am missing all the ones that you have along bottom of the board. I guess if you never looked down there, it be easy enough to miss them.
My next board only has them along the edges I think? for some reason all the fan headers are at the base on it. Apart from the CPU ones.
Current one matches up with your system fan 1 & 2 locations, I don't have any others. I have the CPU & Pump ones.

That also doesn't explain why the fan just stops

what fan just stops?

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

I ran the CPUZ test for a few minutes and played some Insurgency Sandstorm for about 30, and I don't think the fan stopped spinning. It's easier to see when it's night and the room is dark as the light from the mobo shines up through the fan, but I think it stayed spinning the whole time. I also set the manual fan curve up a little more, so at 0-35c all fans spin at minimum 40% as opposed to the 15% it was set to on Normal mode.

I'll have to give it longer of a test tomorrow, just to make sure the fans really are spinning. The 30 minutes of Sandstorm I played gave me pretty much the exact same thermals as yesterday when I played for an hour: GPU hovered around 60c, CPU hovered around 50c, so I wonder if the fan just stopped after I closed the game last night? I have no idea, it's kind of strange.

I dont think its that strange, Ive had two fans of the exact same model have different low ends for RPM where one would kind of stop spinning, sort of hitching and the other would slowly spin consistantly. Both ran fine at faster speeds, and I read in a few places that its just normal variance.

They might have been voltage controlled though, I had a fan controller that needed DC fans so I had a lot of non pwm ones.

Different topic, but one thing I wish I would have done was take better benchmarks and recorded more data before I did all of this to my PC. Just for curiosity's sake really, because so far every game I've played recently has been running really cool in my PC, so I have no complaints about that. I just wonder how much of a real improvement I've made. I've realized the Furmark benchmark three times back-to-back is not a great way to really see how much cooler your GPU is running. I should have played a game for a while or even did in-game benchmarks on actually demanding games and see how it compares. Oh well, again it runs very cool so I'm very happy either way.

Dont know if you knew about them but 3D Mark has a free Steam version and I think UniEngine (Superposition, Valley, Heaven) is free. I usually run them both when I change something with the PC to make sure its all going as it should be.

 

[Colif]

Some fans do have a zero rpm mode but it is normally controlled by the fan curves in bios or software.
I can set mine as off in the gigabyte System Info Viewer app, then set a point in temp where it will cut them off.

See option in bottom left corner under the graph. Once its clicked you can select the minimum temp by sliding the last dot along the curve. Those are Noctua fans and as you can tell from chart on the right, they run at 0 speed at 0pwm. So check the curves out.

SIV calibrates the fans when you run it first so it knows what speeds your fans can run.

I could in theory set a 0 rpm for case fans but I think I leave them spinning to cool GPU/Nvme and feed CPU cooler. I see in winter how i go.

My CPU fan runs at 535rpm minimum so its nice to know it won't go that low at all.

SIV itself puts load on the system so it can be fun getting a fan curve right at lower temps

I too run 3dmark and Heaven/Superposition before/after any major change... though maybe not fans. I did for my CPU & GPU when I replaced them.

I would think that if PC is running cooler in games, it is likely performing better as it can boost higher than before without making a great difference to heat.

SIV is available for your motherboard, you get it using the App centre. If you use App centre, make sure to click the x next to select all in the download area or you get a bunch of extras you don't want. it normally shows in the title area for different types of software

so the white circle next to third party was ticked by default and would have downloaded all the things below I didn't want.

 

[Colif]

What is wrong with this picture?

It took the reviewers a while to work out problem, didn't they just look inside case? the slot stands out pretty obviously under the nvme.

 

[mjs warlord]

I live by the mantra if it aint broke dont fix it this is my 9 year old rig

The tower COOLERMASTER HAF-X FULL TOWER GAMING CASE
The cpu is Intel® Core™i7 Six Core Processor i7-6800K (3.4GHz) 15MB Cache.
The motherboard is ASUS® ROG STRIX X99: ATX, USB 3.1, SATA 6 GB/s.
The ram is 16GB HyperX FURY DDR4 2133MHz (4 x 4GB) ....
The graphics card is 8GB NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 1080 - DVI, HDMI, 3x DP - GTX VR Ready!
The main drive is 480GB HyperX SAVAGE 2.5" SSD
The second drive is 960GB HyperX SAVAGE 2.5" SSD
The third drive is Sandisk 2TB SSD

The power supply is CORSAIR 650W CS SERIES™ MODULAR 80 PLUS® GOLD, ULTRA QUIET.
The cpu cooler is Noctua NH-D15S Ultra Quiet Performance CPU Cooler

Yes i know the ram speed is a weak point but the rig can handle everything i throw at it.

We live in a throw away world ... you buy the latest and best mobile phone and a better one is just being loaded onto a slow boat from china

 

[Colif]

Only crazy people buy the best every year... or generation. Or rich people.

Just buy what you can afford, don't look at what you can't... and never demo it as you can't afford the experience. Some times its better to not to know. Ignorance can be bliss

 

[mjs warlord]

What is wrong with this picture?

It took the reviewers a while to work out problem, didn't they just look inside case? the slot stands out pretty obviously under the nvme.

I am shocked that somebody could have made that many mistakes

 

[Colif]

I am shocked that somebody could have made that many mistakes

It looks like it wasn't tested for performance before sale. I guess that could be normal, depends how mass produced it is. It clearly had latest BIOS installed and all new drivers, since they weren't mentioned. So some things are on the list.
Could be the list assumes the person making PC isn't an idiot. Probably need to add more items to checklist before releasing it to sales.

1. XMP being off is pretty normal for pre built systems
2. But installing GPU in an unrein-forced PCIe 3x slot is dumb, and
3. breaking a USB connection in process is worse still.

That and it costs 4k GBP.

Pity it ended up being a review copy. Some user might have got it and not noticed right away.

 

[neogunhero]

what fan just stops?

The new top exhaust fan I just installed. I fixed it by changing the setting in my BIOS to make it run in PWM mode instead of Auto, and adjusting the fan curve up a bit. This seems to have fixed it, I haven't noticed it stop spinning all weekend.

Dont know if you knew about them but 3D Mark has a free Steam version and I think UniEngine (Superposition, Valley, Heaven) is free. I usually run them both when I change something with the PC to make sure its all going as it should be.

I've never really used benchmarking software until recently. That's why I thought doing Furmark back-to-back three times in a row was a good way to benchmark, in my observation it really just makes your hardware way hotter than it realistically gets when gaming. At the end of it all though I'm happy how cool things have been.

 

[neogunhero]

I live by the mantra if it aint broke dont fix it this is my 9 year old rig

Good mantra to live by. I tend to window-shop a lot and start wishing and dreaming of better hardware, but then I think about just how ridiculously priced things are and just be happy with what I have. It still plays everything just fine besides brand new games but that's just another way to waste money, though I have bought some this year already. This is also why I spent some time and money improving the cooling of my system, just want to make sure things run good for the next however long I keep this rig. Hoping for at least a few more years before doing a new build.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

The new top exhaust fan I just installed. I fixed it by changing the setting in my BIOS to make it run in PWM mode instead of Auto, and adjusting the fan curve up a bit. This seems to have fixed it, I haven't noticed it stop spinning all weekend.

I've never really used benchmarking software until recently. That's why I thought doing Furmark back-to-back three times in a row was a good way to benchmark, in my observation it really just makes your hardware way hotter than it realistically gets when gaming. At the end of it all though I'm happy how cool things have been.

3D mark has a really useful feature where it shows a chart of where your system scores compared to other systems with the same hardware. I bought the base version a long time ago, not sure what features are in the free version though to be fair.

 

[neogunhero]

Holy. ****. Holy ****. Guys. I have committed a total act of sin against PC gaming. A cardinal sin perhaps. It has happened right underneath my nose for 6 years and I never knew. Until just now.

I have been running single channel RAM this whole. Effing. Time.

Before you revoke my gaming credentials let me explain!

I uh... must have read this manual wrong six years ago. Somehow I thought they had to be in slots 1 and 3, the furthest right ones... yeah...

I found out when I was poking around CPU-Z and stumbled into the Memory page, and it displayed the Channel # as 1 x 64-Bit. I thought that was strange, so I looked at HWInfo as well, and Channels said 1. I looked it up online to confirm and yup, I was running single channel. Have been this entire time too. I promptly opened the mobo manual, re-read it a few times, and yeah, two sticks in Channel B are only in one channel, duh.

I was worried I had to remove my cooler fan but it worked just fine. Got the RAM stick switched to slots 2 and 1, so second and fourth starting from left. Channel A and B, two channels, dual as some call it.

So yeah. Going to test some games now. I may not see a major difference, maybe just less stuttering when loading in.

I feel so ashamed...

 

[Colif]

Looks at CPU Z

Good, stops thinking about where his sticks are. i tend not to look at my ram as ever since adding 2 of these in its hard to remember which slots my ram is in

VENGEANCE RGB PRO Light Enhancement Kit — Black

CORSAIR VENGEANCE RGB PRO Series DDR4 Light Enhancement Kit completes your custom PC’s look by filling your empty DDR4 slots, boasting 10 ultra-bright individually addressable RGB LEDs each. **PLEASE NOTE - These Modules Contain No DRAM Memory and are Mea

www.corsair.com

and sometimes CPU-Z is confused about my ram.

You should notice a difference I expect.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Holy. ****. Holy ****. Guys. I have committed a total act of sin against PC gaming. A cardinal sin perhaps. It has happened right underneath my nose for 6 years and I never knew. Until just now.

I have been running single channel RAM this whole. Effing. Time.

Before you revoke my gaming credentials let me explain!

I uh... must have read this manual wrong six years ago. Somehow I thought they had to be in slots 1 and 3, the furthest right ones... yeah...

I found out when I was poking around CPU-Z and stumbled into the Memory page, and it displayed the Channel # as 1 x 64-Bit. I thought that was strange, so I looked at HWInfo as well, and Channels said 1. I looked it up online to confirm and yup, I was running single channel. Have been this entire time too. I promptly opened the mobo manual, re-read it a few times, and yeah, two sticks in Channel B are only in one channel, duh.

I was worried I had to remove my cooler fan but it worked just fine. Got the RAM stick switched to slots 2 and 1, so second and fourth starting from left. Channel A and B, two channels, dual as some call it.

So yeah. Going to test some games now. I may not see a major difference, maybe just less stuttering when loading in.

I feel so ashamed...

It happens! This is the reason I like to run 3D mark to check how my rig stacks up against others with the same hardware. Theres usually something you need to tweak

I had a similar problem when I installed my CPU. I upgraded from a 5600x to a 5800X3D, having updated the BIOS to the latest compatible beforehand. Everything seemed fine, but when I ran 3D mark I was underscoring, turned out for some reason the CPU wasnt boosting clockspeed as far as it should. Once I cleared CMOS and reset everything in BIOS as needed it boosted normally and scored much better.

You could argue that if I didnt notice then why would it matter, but I think its nice to have everything working properly to get the performance you paid for. Also gets you ahead of any potential problems that might happen down the line sometimes.

 

[Colif]

I think I flashed my bios a few days before installing the 5800x3d. I can't remember but I know I installed one that was compatible. Fairly sure it was behaving as it should be.

I don't have newest now as randomly updating the BIOS just because a new one exists is a great way to get problems you didn't before. Also can be risky. Don't mess with the board the entire PC relies on to work.

 

[Kaamos_Llama]

Yea, hardware is hardware. I dont think there was any reason for it to do that anyone could know. Thats why customer service always tells you to turn stuff off and on again, sometimes things just glitch out, cosmic rays or whatever.

I sometimes update my BIOS to the latest one when I notice theres a newer version. Sometimes its security stuff. Ive never had a flash go bad, think it was much more common in the old days but as long as you do it from BIOS and your housing areas power infrastructure isnt bad then I dont think theres much risk.

If you live in an old house or older area I guess you might be more at risk of a brownout or something, maybe that could screw things up