Overall performance question

Ok guys, well.. I'm just trying to understand a bit more about my pc and how well it's operating. I built it about a year ago - upgraded the CPU and GPU since then.

Screens of temps/voltages:


One thing I immediately noticed was that Everest's reading of my cpu is way off. My bios reads closer to what CoreTemp detects.

Also this is my system fairly idle. How does it look? Specs for PSU are in sig.

Never heard of that brand and I dont not know the OEM so I cant tell you if its good or not. But only 25A on the 12v rail for a 580W PSU is a bit disconcerting. It should power your system fine, but most modern ones have a bit more on the 12v for that wattage.

Idle temps are really irrelevent. Load that CPU up using Prime95 Small FFT and use coretemp, then report back...

I forgot to inform that my CPU is currently being overclocked from 2.4 to 2.8GHz. With Prime95 Small FFT running for approx. 10 minutes the cpu hit 78c which is easily the highest it's gone.

thefuzmix said:

I forgot to inform that my CPU is currently being overclocked from 2.4 to 2.8GHz. With Prime95 Small FFT running for approx. 10 minutes the cpu hit 78c which is easily the highest it's gone.

Click to expand...

Your Prime temps are too high, they'll go higher the longer you run it until it finds a medium. Better recheck your cooler seating.

I agree with ED on your power supply.......... I've owned 430 watt power supplys that put out more than that.

I think it's an Andyson unit, this one:

http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16817709011

You're playing with fire, literally.

Is your heatsink beefy enough to be taking on an O.C.ed Quadcore? I would take a close look at that.
As already noted by ED and RT, Your PSU is very suspect.

I highly recommend chucking that PSU and buying a Corsair cx400w.
The corsair unit can put out 30a 12v all day every day, runs quiet, and won't explode and kill everything.

Additionally if that Everest reading is accurate for your power supply fan RPMs, it's awfully high which may indicate it's overworked already.

i checked my pc out and realized 1 bad thing. The thermal grease is no good. A lot of it looks to have worn out. This time I purchased some Arctic Silver 5 as well as a new Asus fan for my case. I'll post temps when I've redone my stuff. btw I appreciate you guys helping me out. People are pretty awesome here.

RollingThunder said:

Additionally if that Everest reading is accurate for your power supply fan RPMs, it's awfully high which may indicate it's overworked already.

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For some reason the other fan I have hooked up is being detected as my PSU fan. But I know it's not, because I can control the fan speed, and the number goes up as I turn the knob accordingly.

After applying Artic Silver 5 to my CPU and replacing the no-name fan with a better quality one, these are my results after 20 mins. of testing with Small FFT selected.

The temps stabilized about 10 minutes in it seems.


Also, this is overclocked so I am seeing a 12c difference from 78c which seems to be quite substantial. Back when I put my pc together I used some stuff by Vantec which came with the hardware. Never again will I make that mistake!

Try downloading and running real temp and see what it shows for your temps.

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/1691/Real_Temp_3.40.html

60's are OK for full load on that CPU but no higher!

And as others have pointed out you are really weak on the 12V rail and could start causing system wide issues. A much much better PSU would not cost you much at all and would be the first thing for you to upgrade at this point before doing anything else.

Edit: I think Coretemp is the more reliable app IMHO

Yeah, I'm glad I got the temps into the safe range. So, about the PSU... I can't get one now, though soon I will. In the meantime, what are some warning signs the PSU is on the fritz?

As far as monitoring the voltage, I have noticed that it fluctuates from 1.1 to 1.2 fairly often.

thefuzmix said:

Yeah, I'm glad I got the temps into the safe range. So, about the PSU... I can't get one now, though soon I will. In the meantime, what are some warning signs the PSU is on the fritz?

As far as monitoring the voltage, I have noticed that it fluctuates from 1.1 to 1.2 fairly often.

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Saddly you probably wont know you have a problem till its already happened... You can get corupted files on your hard drive like the system hive (which means you have to reinstal the OS). The PSU can fry the videocard, cause memory faults etc... Anything attached is at risk. If your system becomes unstable, PSU gets really hot or you start to smell something burning I'd cut it off right away.

thefuzmix said:

Yeah, I'm glad I got the temps into the safe range. So, about the PSU... I can't get one now, though soon I will. In the meantime, what are some warning signs the PSU is on the fritz?

As far as monitoring the voltage, I have noticed that it fluctuates from 1.1 to 1.2 fairly often.

Click to expand...

Check your 5v and 12v voltage with a digital multi-meter if they are software readings. King summed it very well, there may or may not be any warning until smoke appears. We don't mean to alarm you but that power supply is about as low on the register as it gets.

Then again you might not have a problem but with your new card and CPU and overclocking, it's Russian Roulette. You have 2 12v rails: one 14 amp and one 15 amp. There's a good chance of cross-loading your rig and there is no telling how or if that power supply would handle it.

Depending on where you are and what's available to you a Corsair VX450w would do nicely. There's a sold little 450w power supply of excellent quality that puts out more amps than your 580 watt and they're not expensive. I suggest you beg and scrape the funds to get one. It's a lot cheaper than replacing a motherboard, CPU, a $160 video card or all three. You have a nice rig!