New video card suggestions?

[VenomX]

My PC kept shutting off last night so this morning I took it out and blew the dust out.
Well I see why one of the video cards ( 512MB GeForce 9800 GT, ZOTAC International) had half the fan hanging down.
Since there was 2 cards I just removed it and put the other in it's place.

Any suggestions for new cards that are SLI ready?

Also looks like I need to get someone to look at this thing the CPU
( Intel Core i7 920 2.67GHz Bloomfield 45nm Technology ) is running at 89 °C
crap!@#! Need to redo the thermal paste or maybe buy better cooling. Any suggestions on a new cooler?

Speccy says the motherboard is a ASUSTeK Computer INC. P6T (LGA1366)

[lordlundar]

To start off with, unless you're actively utilizing the SLi funcionality I wouldn't worry about it. For the most part a single, more powerful card will usually outperform two linked lower end cards.

Now if you're looking for a replacement to link your current card with then you'll be restricted to the same chipset your current card has.

My advice? Keep the 9800 as an emergency backup and get a new higher end card. A 450 GTS if you can swing it.

[emax4]

Any thermal paste reapplied to the old card should do the trick. I picked up an 8600 GS for $15 once. It seemed to run a little hotter than normal (but nowhere near your posted temps). I removed the fan, scraped off the dried grease, applied new grease, and it ran much cooler.

[EricKei]

89C on the cpu? Doesn't look like it's overclocked, and it's been my understanding that Core- type procs run cooler than the pentium-era ones by a significant margin, so that's...odd. You may want to check out the cooling setup in the case itself as well (I don't mean to go out and buy a watercooling rig for umpteen bucks), i just mean blow out all of the dust, make sure all of the fans work, take a look at where they are, and try to avoid major imbalances -- iirc, you should have more or less the same amount of air coming in as going out, when possible.

And as emax said, definitely *carefully* remove the old thermal paste before applying a fresh coat.

[VenomX]

For a video card I was looking at this..
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121656

And for cooling the CPU...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835103055

This thing has always ran hot. It has 12 gigs of ram yet it feels like it only has 1 or 2 because it has always been slow. I am hoping the over headed CPU is the reason.

This PC is like 3 years old. I usually just trash them and buy a new one but I think I want to start just upgrading this one. I have like 5 old towers sitting around that no longer work for one reason or another.

My current cooler looks like this one but the fins are full of dust. I can not get it to blow out. Which is odd since I usually blow out the dust every week.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835119117

I figure since I am going to replace the cooling system why not just upgrade the CPU but...
My current CPU is
Socket 1366 LGA
45nm
Intel Core i7 CPU 920 @ 2.67GHz
according to Speccy.

But looking on newegg I can not find any I7's that fit the 1366LGA socket. All I can find for that socket are Intel Xeon's. If I got one of them is that concidered a downrade?

[RichS]

Xeon is Intel's processor for servers/workstations. Not a downgrade at all, and looking at the spec sheets you could possibly upgrade your 4-core i7 to an 8-core Xeon.

Would it be cost-effective, however? You'll be spending quite a bit on that Xeon, which you'll need to check with your motherboard manufacturer to see if there's support for Xeon processors for your board.

Also, if you're not running it already, you'll need ECC (Error-Correcting Code) server memory to run with that Xeon. Considering the LGA 1366 socket was discontinued last year, I'd look into putting that cash into a LGA 1155/2011 - based board and processor, and you might be able to reuse your memory. It's something you don't really need to worry about; your i7 system is still a good performer.

The Asus card is a performance-enhanced version based on Nvidia's mid-range chipset. I like Asus' stuff, and you'll see a definite performance increase over that 9800GT.

I've only read middling reviews on the Cooler Master V8, but the Newegg reviewers seem to like it. It wouldn't be a bad choice. However, they make a better, cheaper solution I've read nothing but glowing reviews of that you might want to consider. Since you'd be replacing the heatsink, I'd like to recommend preparing your processor/heatsink with this before you apply the new heatsink material. This stuff works great!

[VenomX]

Thanks for all the help.

Just felt around the tower. Seems all my fans pull air in.
Power supply and fan below it pull in.
Fan on the side, light for it stopped working a year ago, pulls in.
Shouldn't there be one pushing air out?

[emax4]

Here's the cooler I have, after upgrading from an older ASUS Silent Square Pro:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835106184

The cooler has the heat pipes running upwards, while the fan pushes air through the fins and out the back. I remembered that I had purchased some same-size fans a year before that but never used them. The cooler came with extra rubber pins, so I had the stock fan pulling air in from the right (from the front of the case), and affixed the extra fan to the other side of the cooler, pushing air out from the cooler to the rear of the case. Even with a simple cooler like this, I'm always at or below 30 degrees C.

The video card.. I hate you for that! haha I'd love to have the same card, but it's out of my budget. Besides I'm happy with the framerates I have as it is (using a Zotac GT440 1 GB). Just be sure that your power supply does not only have a connector for the video card, but the average wattage (not the maximum) will handle the power drawn for the video.

[VenomX]

Thanks for the reminder about the power supply and video card.
Looking at the ASUS page for it I need "up to 225W2 additional 6 pin PCIe power required".

There are a few open power connections just hanging in the case. Guess I need to try and see if they will work.

[EricKei]

Venom -- One way to double-check/test it is with something light that you can easily hang on to, like a ribbon from a balloon or a present., if you haven't already. Place it near each of the fans in turn from the outside to make sure nothing is blowing air out (which is REALLY odd -- if someone made this for you, they dun screwed up). Then, with the case side off, you can use the ribbon to get a general idea of how the airflow is within the case.

If it's all in and little or no out, the air being taken in is simply creating a high-pressure area with nowhere for the air to go. Hence, little or no movement, and the heat doesn't get evacuated. Note that "all out" has the net effect of creating a partial vacuum, iirc, resulting in, again, no real air flow. The grilles, holes in the case that do NOT have fans, and natural slits from the case structure will allow for a tiny bit of in/out, but not much.

I'm sure we have people here who can give you far more detail and help on this, but at a basic level:

- The power supply's external fan should be blowing out; probably not changeable, not that you'd really want to.

- Ditto for the graphics card

- While it's not ALWAYS, basic airflow rule of thumb for a setup short of carefully-calculated airflow patterns (that most users wouldn't need to bother with) would be "intake up front, exhaust out of the back and (if the case allows for it) top"

Ideally:
-- Intake blowing over the hard drive(s)
-- Intake blowing over the RAM, especially if it's of the more modern, higher-speed types
-- Exhausts from the power supply and graphics card (normally built in)
-- Exhaust fan as close to the CPU as is practical, ideally above it (because heat rises)

If you have fans on the rear/top blowing in, just unscrew them and flip them (some may just have toggle switches), then see what happens. Disconnect power AND toggle the PSU's big honking on/off switch first, of course.

Plus, of course, make sure to clean/dust the case. Fans and filter grilles, by definition, are dust magnets.

As for speed -- maybe dealing with the temps will help out. Also, make sure that the boot drive has over 30% free space at all times (esp if using windows)

edit: If the video card requires an extra power lead, I'm guessing it would not have functioned at all without it. Maybe you had it connected and just don't realize it?

[emax4]

Here's a closeup of what the power connector for the video card should look like:

[wolfie]

I'd lean toward having SLIGHTLY more "pull in" than "blow out" capacity, and filters on the "pull in" fans. That way, any gaps and cracks would leak filtered air out, rather than dust-laden air in.

[suburbandecay]

I've heard of one set up before that had no fans blowing out. It involve a t lot of fans and a perforated case. Supposedly, the massive air intake created an over pressure in the case to prevent dust build up.

[EricKei]

Just for future reference, especially if you end up doing a new build -- site I came across today:

http://pcpartpicker.com/