Heat issue/maybe...

[MayheM]

Hey guys, I have my system now for a while and have everything set up. I have been running tests because I should be getting way better results from the cards I have than I am. I have a Dell XPS 730 with a Q9550 cpu, 8 GB Ram, 2 GTX 295 running quad SLi. So I started playing L4D2 and expecting to get great frame rates on the highest settings. However I have dipped down below 30 a few times and honestly there is no way that is right.

So last night I started up CPUtemp and saw the four cores of the cpu at about 140 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. This seems REALLY high to me. I have been having lag issues but my ping is in the 30s on the server I play on so that is not it. So my question is, will heat like that effect game performance?

I obviously need to do something about the heat because it is not good even if it is not hurting my in game performance it is probably hurting up the cpu... But I do want to know if it is part of the problem I am having.

Thanks guys...

[Dionysos]

I guess it's possible, but before my last upgrade (long time ago) when I had a fan cooler my cpu would regularily go up to 60 if I remember correctly. I don't think there should be any performance hit or damage at that temp, as they're specified "safe" to go as high as 70-80 or even higher. Maybe it's an issue with the sli setup not being properly utilized?

Either way I would watercool that cpu. Mine is, and it rarely exceeds 20C (68F), even though I've overclocked it somewhat.

[Major Banter]

Listen to the rig. Not every fan should run; if they're all cranking full blast something is very, very wrong and the computer's performing overheat emergency stuff.

It may be worth removing the casing, checking the parts and running it then.

[MayheM]

Well I have the H2C Cooling unit meant for the machine. However I did buy it separately. Fortunatly I did not pay too much for it. I am not really sure if it is working to its full potential. I think what I need to do it run some more tests with the default cooling fan installed. I want to see if it runs cooler with that then it does with the H2C, obviously if that is the case I need to pursue other cooling options like a third party cooler perhaps as you suggested Liquid Cooling.

One thing I can do is run Prime95 and CPUtemp as well as have the nvidia manager open to see what the fans in the case are doing without having to open it up. I know one issue is that I currently have DDR3 1066 Ram in the machine when I can use DDR3 1333 Ram. I know that will explain some of the under-performance of the system, but not as much as I am seeing.

Thanks for the insight.

[xoqolatl]

60° C is perfectly fine for a modern quad core cpu. Unless your CPU is a real gem, you shouldn't need to watercool it, ever. FSB wall will stop it form overclocking further before heat does. I would say you have some bad crap running in the background.

[coder0xff]

Mine usually runs around 50C and I let it get all the way up to 72C. (OC is adjusted so that stress tests wont exceed that). I can tell you with 95% certainty, heat is not the cause of that much of a performance issue. It's worth checking the BIOS settings to see if there is any kind of throttling in place. FPS is gonna typically be more closely related to the graphics card, but if something is really hindering the RAMn, bus, or CPU that could cause frame rate loss as well simply because the GPU isn't being instructed to render often enough.

Run some tests. I'd try PCPitStop, which will profile several aspects. Do some benchmarks, too. CPU and GPU. Compare your results to similar hardware. I think your first problem was identified in the first sentence: "Dell". I'm pretty certain you of all people could have built yourself a box.

[MayheM]

So last night I stopped off and got a new tube of arctic silver and took the H2C cooling Unit out of the machine and cleaned the CPU and then put the original default heatsink back in its place. My temperatures when from an average of 145 at 100% load to and average of 85 at 100% load using Prime95. So even though heat may not be the issue I am never touching that H2C again! The air cooling I have now is WAY better! I am going to upgrade the RAM in a week or so to some Corsair Dominator low latency 1333 RAM. That will then put the FSB at its full potential since it is down-clocked by the ram I have now since I am using DDR 1066.

Coder, as soon as I typed Dell XPS 730 I knew you would come on with your anti Dell talk. To be honest this is the fist time I ahve ever has an issue with a product I got from Dell. Considering I got the system for $800 I am not sure If I coudl have built thing for that much. It was a great deal!

[RefaelBA]

Wow man 8 GB of Ram!?
Are you running nuclear simulations on your rig? That's crazy!

I didn't catch from your posts, whether your cpu is overclocked or not. I'm glad you found the original air cooling satisfactory, as much as I know the original coolers are pretty good and you can still use them for some very minimal overclocking. I'm not a great tech person so if I say something that's not very clear, assign it to my (virtual) mysteriousness and pretend I'm just really cool.

So! Your rig is insane, and it could have an effect.
Having the quad SLI on full throttle will warm up the entire case, add to that some serious stress on your CPU, and the temperature goes even higher. It might not be very significant but every component contributes some heat inside your rig, some spots are hotter and some cooler, but it's possible that having two massive GeForce cards running together may have an effect on the temperature of other components as well.

It's good you ran those tests, but does it really explain the low framerates?
It's possibly foolish to ask, but is everything alright software-wise?

Oh shit this fly is pissing me off!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[MayheM]

No The system is not overclocked. Any you are right it does not explain the low frames. In fact when i tested last night even with the far better temps I did not see an improvement in the frames. Part of that is the RAM I currently have but certainly that is not the only problem. So tonight I am going to remove one card and run some tests as well as double check the bios to be sure that everything is set to its original default settings.

As far as software, yeah everything is solid. All drivers are up to day, bios is the latest version and all that jazz. but it should be running far better than it is without a doubt. I should actually be pegged at about 299 fps but I am not seeing those kinds of results...

I will post an update after my next round of tests...

[trcc]

What is your power supply capacity? 4x graphic card is HIGHLY demanding + 8 gigs of ram + quad cores !

I'd say your computer needs like a 1000 watts ps or maybe even more O_O

I have 2 cores 1 graphic card 6 gigs of ram and my ps is 700 watts

[Corigami]

Also check your amps on the 12v rail.

[MayheM]

I actually have a 1000w Power supply as well as a dedicated second power supply (450w juice box)to run one of the cards.

Ok so I just went into the bios and reset everything to its default settings. Apparently the CPU multiplier was set to 6x when i got the machine, however when i set it to the default it was supposed to be 8x. I will have to run some tests now, but I think i may have found at least part of the problem...

[MayheM]

First let me apologize for the dreaded double post, I just wanted to bump this so the guys who replied saw the problem was solved. So I had bought the computer used but was not told it had been overclocked. So when I got it I never thought to change any bios settings or switch them back to their default settings. Apparently, like I said in my last post the CPU Multiplier by default should be 8X while it was set to 6X. So I went in and reset all the settings to default and ran some benchmarks and pow. I went from a 19000 score on 3Dmark to a 24000. I still want to upgrade the ram to the low latency but in game I did not see my frame drop below 100 on its highest settings and very sync off.

So it turns out it had nothing to do with heat, only problem was the cpu multiplier was altered in the bios. Lesson learned... always check the bios... I figured when I flashed the bios and updated it that all the settings would go back to default, apparently on newer bios that is not the case...

Thanks for all the help guys.

[RefaelBA]

Glad to hear it's over, and I think you can even turn V-Sync on and still enjoy a whopping framerate.

VERY nice buy for a used comp! (What happened, the seller was done with splicing DNA codes?)

[xoqolatl]

I wouldn't bother with RAM if I were you. Memory bandwidth on socket 775 is limited by chipset and FSB, and you already have four sticks (or two double sided) of very fast memory. I can provide numbers to back this up