In need of a new GPU!

[juneau]

In Afterburner, go to settings, monitoring tab, Select 'GPU temperature' then at the bottom of the screen tick 'show in on screen' display. Do the same for 'GPU Usage' and 'Framerate'. This should put a couple of lines of text somewhere on the top of your screen when you're gaming displaying realtime stats.

When you start to notice a slowdown note down what the stats are saying and compare that with when everything is running smoothly. This is just to rule out it isn't the gfx card, which I don't think it is.

edit: Didn't read above. Looks like you've got it sorted.

[chantme]

You can still mount a fan on the RAM slot side, just move your memory to slots 2 and 4 instead of 1 and 3. Those temps were crazy high, so it looks like your CPU as throttling back once it hits those high temps in-game. It's only a matter of time til that happens with those high temps you had.

The ideal fan setup for the 212+ is a push/pull setup, with the front fan pulling air into the heatsink behind it and the rear fan pulling that air out of the heatsink. That hot air then is pulled out of the case by the rear case fan, which is the preferred method. It's not entirely ideal, as it doesn't blow on the RAM, but its the best you can do without active cooling on the RAM.

Tidy up all that wiring clutter as well .. it will drop temps a bit, as what you have is blocking the clean airflow in your case. You can route 80% of those cables underneath your board.

I appreciate the time you've taken to provide suggestions on my PC troubles. I will slide the ram over to the other slots and mount the heatsink fan on the opposite site. Tonight, I will also route some of the PSU cables behind the mobo to reduce air flow blockage.

If its airflow. If it is normally sitting on that shag. Raise it up on some bricks. You most likely are not getting any flow from below.
Also check under your PSU there might be a mesh to clean out. Mine has one .

I'm going to find something in my garage to prop my pc up. Never really thought about it before.

Golden, there aren't any intake fans on the bottom of the case so no worries about it being hampered from the bottom. The PSU fan is an intake but its mounted upside down so it won't do anything but pull the warmer air from inside the case to dump on the PSU internals. I actually think the PSU may be reversible so that it will mount the correct way and pull in cool outside air, so in that case then OP would need to get it off that carpet.

That stack of 4 HDDs sandwiched in there is bad news. I'm curious of the temps on the 2 stuck in the middle - I bet they are hot as a microwave plate. I try and stagger them if I need to mount multiple HDDs, but OP may not have a choice.

I'll try flipping the PSU and seeing how it fits, should be ok. As far as the HDD cage, I'm not sure what else can be done aside from mounting them into the 5.25" bays or going external. I'll find a HDD temp program and report the temps.

In Afterburner, go to settings, monitoring tab, Select 'GPU temperature' then at the bottom of the screen tick 'show in on screen' display. Do the same for 'GPU Usage' and 'Framerate'. This should put a couple of lines of text somewhere on the top of your screen when you're gaming displaying realtime stats.

When you start to notice a slowdown note down what the stats are saying and compare that with when everything is running smoothly. This is just to rule out it isn't the gfx card, which I don't think it is.

edit: Didn't read above. Looks like you've got it sorted.

Thanks for the info. I'll give it a go anyways just to be informed.

[WalkinTarget]

Good deal, chantme !! Glad I could help, my friend. I only noted it based on the fact that some drives (not all) run very warm. I usually buy Seagate, but their drives can run very warm. They average about 37° compared to my Samsung F3's that are at 31°. Heat is the #1 reason a HDD fails prematurely, so I always put a fan on them.

With my HTPC, I have a very small HDD bay and was forced to sandwich my two 3TB HDDs aside of each other. I hate doing that, so I'm looking at adding an 80mm fan behind them to circulate air over them. It's the only build I have ever made that stacked drives like that. I ran into the same 212+ blocking my first RAM slot situation you did, using the same G.Skill RipJaws RAM as well, so I dealt with that one firsthand months back.

[chantme]

HDDs have been running between 39-45c all day. Anyways, I'd like to look into purchasing some more fans for the case to get some more air moving through it.

This is my case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16811139018

It says there are 8 fan mount locations and I'm guessing all of them are 120mm and I saw a user diagram of airflow here. Once I get the cables managed and tidied away, how many fans do you think I should add? I'm thinking one to the bottom of the case and at least one to the top. I need to make sure my rear fan is an exhaust and not pulling in (last night it felt weaker outside than inside but could have been the heatsink fan blowing).

*Looks like I can have two 120mm or 140mm fans on the left panel, 2 120 or 140 on the top, and 1 or 2 on the bottom panel (no air filter). Not sure what kind of CFM I should be looking for (obviously I don't want airplanes in there).

I've been buiding PCs for 15 years and I guess I've always been extremely sloppy with cable management. Never dealt with aftermarket coolers until this current build.

[Apache Warrior]

Top and back should both be exhaust. The front and side should be intake. If you run on the bottom it should be intake also. I am not a fan of bottom intake because of the possibility of sucking small light objects into the case. For example if you are on carpet you may get lint and carpet fibers in the case.
Apache

[WalkinTarget]

Agreed with Apache. Skip the bottom intake fan - it doesn't help anything in particular other than adding dust to the interior. I can't see in those Carbide pics whether or not you can mount a 120mm behind the HDD bay. That would solve your HDD heat issue and be useful compared to a wasted bottom intake fan.

Orrrr, you could do what I did to keep my hardware cool and buy this case: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...irtualParent=1


That thing is amazing (albeit pricier than any 2 cases combined that I have ever bought). Huge fans everywhere, isolated HDD trays, adjustable side case fan that uses a contact point to power it, SATA backplane for the HDDS ... its loaded, and heavy.

[chantme]

I'll keep that Thermaltake case in my bookmarks for now... haha.. WOW!!!

Drum roll... drum roll please...




What do you guys think? Much improved or hardly improved? And yes, thats a baking pan underneath the PC. Ok, I think I will look around at dual 120mm or 140mm fans for the top. There is no room to mound a second fan on the front panel for the HDD cage. I'm thinking about buying 2 3.5->5.25" brackets and mounting two up top.

[WalkinTarget]

Not bad, young padawan !!! You are getting the hang of it now !! See what a small amount of cable management can do to clean up its appearance ?

I'm not convinced that you can't mount a fan on the front panel .... almost every tower case includes holes that accept an externally mounted fan under the front faceplate. You have to gently pull the front panel off (start at the bottom - the top will be hooked to the USB and audio cables for the front pinouts that then plug into the board) and pull it loose just enough to see if those holes exist to mount a 120mm. Its airflow will be blocked about 50% by the metal of the case, but its better than nothing.

[BadHabitz]

Your baking pan looks like it's restricting some airflow on your bottom-mounted power supply. If your PC has to be on a carpeted floor I'd recommend putting a board under it. For me, I took a board from my old desk and it sits under my computer.

[chantme]

Not bad, young padawan !!! You are getting the hang of it now !! See what a small amount of cable management can do to clean up its appearance ?

I'm not convinced that you can't mount a fan on the front panel .... almost every tower case includes holes that accept an externally mounted fan under the front faceplate. You have to gently pull the front panel off (start at the bottom - the top will be hooked to the USB and audio cables for the front pinouts that then plug into the board) and pull it loose just enough to see if those holes exist to mount a 120mm. Its airflow will be blocked about 50% by the metal of the case, but its better than nothing.

I'll take a look at it this weekend and double check. I definitely agree with you though, my babies need some cooling power

Your baking pan looks like it's restricting some airflow on your bottom-mounted power supply. If your PC has to be on a carpeted floor I'd recommend putting a board under it. For me, I took a board from my old desk and it sits under my computer.

Yeah, I needed something for the short term. Going to find a better solution this weekend. I moved it back a bit so the PSU is unrestricted.

[Apache Warrior]

I have an NZXT Phantom case. I have two 200 MM top fans and my Corsair H100 cooler. There is a 120 mm rear exhaust fan. A 200 mm front fan. The side of the case has a 230 mm side fan blowing onto the motherboard. Also the side has two 120 mm fans blowing onto the hard drives.







Apache

[K PhaNTOM]

Much, much improved. I love cable management.