The Official OC (OverClocking) Thread!

Estuansis,
I remove the fan that came with it and put on the opposite side of the rad as the intake, and use this Scythe fan on the rear as an exhaust.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835185058

It's important that the Scythe goes on the rear because it doesn't live long as the push fan because of back pressure, but works just fine as the pull. Here's the temps! I don't use the motherboard to control the speed, as it's to slow to catch up to changes in temps and will run much cooler at a constant speed. Not very noisy either. In fact I turn the CPU Smart Fan Control off, and do the same with the System Smart Fan Control.

If it wasn't for that %$#$*)-$*#^@& POS MSI Video card it would be extremely quiet. Stay away from MSI Video Cards! This is my 5th 9500GT, and it still has the same problem as the first one. MSI refuses to replace it with a 6th one. I've replaced everything but the case and HDDs twice and I wish I had the original back. All give a horizontal anomaly with little dancing dots under the text of the post screens. You have to Ctrl, Alt, Del as many as 6 times to clear it. Works fine after it clears, but the fan runs too fast and you cannot set the speed with this one like I could the original! 3 year warranty is worthless if they can't make it work right, and refuse to resolve the problem. First they tried to tell me that there is no fan controller on that card, which is BS. The original roared at start-up until the card's software loaded and then was nice an quiet. I could adjust the original to 25%, this one only adjusts itself up from 50%, and is FREEKIN LOUD! You know more than their techs do!



Russ

 

Well I'm set then. Two of the Scythe SFF21Fs on the way as we speak.

 

That should do the trick. I had thought about those but decided in the one I linked because it's 1200 rpm and quieter than the 21F. I called Scythe to confirm that I could use it as the pull fan. The fan that comes with it is 62 CFM. I got that from CoolIt. Combined with the 68 CFM Slipstream, it's plenty quiet. I haven't even had to clean the dust out of the Rad yet! Good luck with it all!

Russ

 

You want a 7-blade fan like the SFF21F for a radiator really. The pressure produced by the slipstreams is too weak for that environment, you may as well just be using sn SFF21E instead of a 1200rpm slipstream, though of course the slipstreams are cheaper as they're lower quality fans.
You can often wire up graphics fans to a fan controller, especially if it's a two-pin with no fan control, but this method works with 4-pin PWMs too:

These adapters that don't have the cover, can be forced into the tiny fan power sockets that graphics cards use, allowing you to control the speed with a dedicated fan controller, or presumably with the motherboard. I see no reason why that wouldn't work though I haven't tried it myself.
I ran the fan on my Asus 3870 like this from my Zalman ZM-MFC1 so it was running at 5V. Much quieter than stock, and because the 3870s put out so little heat, there were no issues.
Of course, being Asus that card didn't last long anyway, but nonetheless it was useful while the card lasted.

 

Sam,
That's the very reason I use the Scythe SY1225SL12M 120mm "Slipstream", as the rear exhaust fan, because it is 1200 rpm, and very quiet. It has no trouble moving lots of air and it works really well with the stock 62 CFM fan that comes with the CoolIt ECO. Makes for a really quiet setup! I called Scythe before I purchased it, and they did advise me not to use it as the push fan! The combination of the two moves an enormous amount of air very quietly!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

Yeah as case fans the slipstreams are excellent, hence why I use six of them, though I did have reservations about their longevity when I bought them after having read some reviews. So far one has failed and been replaced, but the other five have been fine. They came cheap from an ebay store anyway, as did the replacement, so in terms of outlay they've been reasonably good. £40 for 6 case fans as good as the slipstreams are is pretty reasonable value, I paid that much for three FM121s, and almost that much just for two Noctuas [the original ones]. The Noctuas were terrible as well, the bearing whine was hideous, and it is something SPCR complained about in their review of one of their samples, but not the other.

 

Sam,
Maybe you are misunderstanding me. Mine is the rear exhaust fan on the Radiator! LOL!!

Russ

 

Hmm, I tend never to use push-pull setups as they're not really suitable for air cooling, thus I can't say exactly what effect would be. I imagine rear exhaust rather than front intake would be better on a radiator for a 9-blade fan though as there's not the same issue of backpressure. Still, if it were me I'd be using a pair of S-Flexes, pricey though they are.

 

Sam,
The Scythe and the stock fan is a very happy marriage. In the summertime I hit all of 43C when encoding, and it doesn't break 50C fully stressed, usually 47C is tops unless it get's real hot in my room (85F). The combination running at full speed is pretty ideal! Moves some serious air, yet is very quiet! Not by your standards of course, but not very loud at all. I don't let the MB control the stock fan, because it runs warmer that way. The controller reacts too slowly making the CPU run warmer. It just doesn't react fast enough to keep up with the temperature changes. I've tried a number of different fans, and so far this is the best combination, and I sure can't complain about the temps!

Best Regards,
Russ

 

I run all of my fan flat-out or on a controller. I plan to run the Scythe S-Flexes at full voltage hence the 1600RPM. Good balance of performance(especially with two fans), and noise.

 

Quiet's relative, my gaming PC couldn't hope to be as quiet as yours under gaming load as there's 570W of GPU heat to dissipate versus your 60W. However, that load temperature seems a bit high. My room reaches 85F quite often (A PC dumping out 800W of heat warms up a tiny room quickly) yet I barely see temps in excess of 50C either, just with an air heatsink. I know AMDs put out more heat than i5s, but I would have expected better of a watercooler to be honest.

 

?

 

I have to say, honeycomb grill on the rear case fan with black metal looks really stylish. Shame the scythe logo on the fan is upside down though

 

?

 

Russ,
The AMD fan you pointed me at works great. I too felt the chipset and it was too hot to keep my finger there more than a few seconds. Now the heatsink is slightly warm at best. 10 runs of IBT high stress shows about a 5*C drop at the thermistor, but I think it may be more because the temp difference on the heatsink was drastic.

Anyway just letting you know everything worked exactly as you described(I even used a zip tie like you suggested) and my cooling setup thanks you

 

I don't miss chipsets, they do run hot

 

A little too hot LOL! The last board I touched startled me. The south bridge nearly burnt my finger in under a second! Now that's hot! I knew then it was the problem...

Ideally, I'd like to water cool my northbridge. I worry about it now.

 

Estuansis,

I think what floored me the most is how quiet that 3200 rpm fan is out in the open like that. You get used to seeing how loud they are in the old aluminum block coolers, only to discover that the fan by itself is so quiet. Tell your Cooling Setup, it's welcome! LOL!!

Have a nice day,
Russ

 

Yeah I scalded myself on my old P5N-E the one time I touched it. Thankfully no other board I own has run hot enough to cause sufficient damage
Generally, in the case of properly manufactured chipsets (i.e. anything but nvidia) you're fine with pretty considerable temps, you only need to look into the temperatures if you're getting stability issues which aren't getting cured (or are being made worse) with voltage.

Russ: Mounts have an enormous amount to do with noise. I don't know if anyone remembers the hideous racket that Radeon X850/X1800/X1900 coolers made, but after I took the fan off, it was remarkably quiet running in open air. A little vibration dampening goes a long way.

 

Sam,

The noise from the old aluminum block coolers was not caused by vibration, unless it had a bad fan. The whining noise they normally made was strictly from air resistance, and the buffeting it caused. If you hold one in your hand, there is almost no vibration at all, and they are remarkably quiet at 3200 rpm. The way Estuansis and I chose to mount them is to the "legs" of the steel spring mount for the CoolIt Heatsink/Pump assembly. any vibration would be highly magnified by that if the fan vibrated at all! They are double ball bearing, and extremely smooth and quiet. They move a ton of air too! Made in China, of course! LOL!!

Russ