which fans for my Scythe Infinity to overclock my Xeon

[Ramon89]

Hello,

I'm new to this forum and also new to overclocking (for 7months now, and its addictive )

I recently bought a Scythe infinity/mugen to overclock my Xeon x5450 (3.0 ghz) on an Asus P5KE- wifi (lga 775)
I managed it to get it to 3.6 Ghz with a max temp on core 1 on 76 C with prime95 (15min). But I tought I can push it a little harder with dual fans and better one's. Do you guys have any reccomendation on good (cheap) fans for this cooler? And where can I buy the metal mounting system for on the heatsink.

Also I have the idea that the Xeon x5450 generates allot of heat, is this true ?
The overclock is btw for gaming purposes.

Greetings Ramon

 

[don256us]

In your case, you are looking for fans with a higher CFM rating. This is a rating based on how much air they push. Higher is better. Generally speaking, this will have an inverse affect to the sound rating. The more CFM, the more noise you get. High cost comes from fans that have high CFM and low noise.

In a sense you have three factors:
1) High CFM
2) Low noise
3) Low cost
Pick any two.

The next thing to keep in mind is the size of the fan desired. I believe these are 120 mm or 12 CM. This is a common size and thus will be easy to find.

Next, connector type. If you want to connect to a mother board header, you'll need to know what type of header you have. These are standard but you do want to take note. Otherwise, get a four pin molex connector and connect it directly to your power supply.

Finally, you'll want to keep an eye on the power draw and not over tax your MB connectors if you go that route or overload your power supply especially since you are overclocking older gear. By this I'm assuming that the power supply is also of the same generation as your OC gear. Power supplies do wear out over time as to the soldered on componants of the mother board. As you increase voltage to try to get more speed, keep a close watch on temps for all gear and keep cool air flowing over the MB and PSU too not just the CPU.

The fact is that your cooler has probably done all that it can do. More cooling may not increase your OC from this level. You will at some point hit a wall on the OC that your gear can achieve.

I hope that this gives you some idea on where to look. Without knowing what price range you are looking for or if you want to consider noise too when buying a fan, it is hard to give a specific recommendation. With that said, if all you want is cfm, then you won't have a problem finding a fan that you like.

 

[Ramon89]

Thanks for the fast reply!

So the point is that better fans propably wouldn't help that much ?
I have an 420 watt psu (cheap brand) which also gets hot during the stress testing.
My pc case isn't worth of talking about (its old and ugly) I installed some extra fans for more airflow.

I am also looking for a better PSU, and a new case.

Do you think with a new case and psu (from decent brands) will drop my temps ?


Greetings Ramon

 

[don256us]

A new PSU with an 80+ rating will help. Basically the ratings ensure that for every dollar of electricity you put into the PSU generates more power and less heat. Cheap power supplies are generally 70-80% efficient. On the low end that would equate to 70 cents of electric and 30 cents to heat. A very highly rated power supply could be as efficient as 92 cents of power and 8 cents of heat. Lately I've been buying 80+ gold. You don't need the most efficient but understand the difference between them. Less heat from the PSU will result in less heat that you have to remove.

When buying a power supply, you want to have more power than you need. I'm not sure what the "fast" rule of thumb is but I think that its around 75%. You don't want to exceed that percentage for long term usage. Overclocking can really push the wattage up in a hurry depending on how things go. There are a lot of good brands out there so take your time and choose one that fits your needs.

A case can make a lot of difference too but don't over think it. A nice large roomy case with ventilation will do fine at any cost. I personally have been buying Fractal lately because of the low cost, sound absorbtion and air flow. There are many good cases out there and there are as many opinions as to which one is the best.

P.S. I love that CPU cooler that you have. I had one on every machine for a while. They had two versions and stopped making them all together. That's why I think you are at your CPU limit already. That HSF (Heat sync/Fan) is already efficient.

 

[Helgaiden]

a better PSU is just a good investment, though it may not really drop your temps. A better case, sure. If you want to stick with good airflow, a cooler master HAF case would probably be good though it isnt the only good case for air cooling. You could always step up to a 240mm or bigger AIO water system, though you'd have to a pick a case that can accommodate that. Wouldn't have to spend money on cpu cooler fans or buy a new cpu cooler as the don sort of suggested with his comment about your cooler possibly being at its limit. Just some stuff to think about.

 

[don256us]

a better PSU is just a good investment, though it may not really drop your temps. A better case, sure. If you want to stick with good airflow, a cooler master HAF case would probably be good though it isnt the only good case for air cooling. You could always step up to a 240mm or bigger AIO water system, though you'd have to a pick a case that can accommodate that. Wouldn't have to spend money on cpu cooler fans or buy a new cpu cooler as the don sort of suggested with his comment about your cooler possibly being at its limit. Just some stuff to think about.

I didn't intend to say that he needed a new cooler. He could add a push/pull set of fans on what he has but I don't think it will pay a dividend. Nor do I think that water cooling his current rig will produce much more. It might.

 

[Ramon89]

Thanks for the advice !

I think a Coolermaster HAF is a little over budget for me. I whas more thinking between 30-50 euro (I dont care if its second hand).

But now first I'm gonna upgrade my PSU and GPU, so that I atleast can play Battlefield 1 when it comes And after that I'm upgrading my case to get a better airflow and less heat.

And over 1~2 years I want to upgrade my Mobo, CPU(get an I5 or I7), but for now I stick with this system.



PS : I also saw on reviews that the Scythe Infinity whas good. So when I got it I saw little improvement, but not so much. So I whas a little bit disappointed. Now I understand that is propably the rest of my gear and a bad overflow thats causing the heat.

 

[Leegit]

What kind of PSU do you have? Can you list your current PC specs so we can help you figure out what to upgrade first, to get the most for your money?

I would definitely consider getting a PSU with 80 Plus certification. For instance, EVGA Supernova 550 GS which is 80 Plus Gold and is one of the recommended PSUs on this site. It's has full modular cabling and 75$ right now on Amazon. Pretty good

to the OC forums!

 

[don256us]

When the time is right, take a look and see if anything from this company trips your trigger. They are cheaper than most, roomy, have lots of features (but heavy) and should fit your bill.

http://www.fractal-design.com/

Edit: Going back to your original question, I personally like the fans from those guys too. Good CFM with low noise. Noise is my big issue over "bling" or cfm but these fit the bill for me.

 

[Ramon89]

I will give you my sytem specs (I can also post CPU-Z readme file, but i dont know if I make you happy with that, its so long ). I normally played only Strategy games on my PC like Rome 2 or Empire Total War and played the FPS on my PS3, but with BF 1 this isn't possible anymore

Here are my specs :

OS : Win 10
PSU : LC Power 420 Watt
Mobo : Asus P5KE Wifi/app 775
CPU : Xeon X5450
Cpu Cooler : Scythe Infinity/mugen
GPU : Geforce 9600 GT
HDD : Hitachi HDS721616PLA380 160 GB
WDC WD1600AAJS-56WAA0 150 GB
Ram : Nanya 1+2 GB 800 Mhz
Kingston 1 GB 800 Mhz


I want to spend 200 Euro in Januari to upgrade my RAM, GPU, PSU and then eventually a new pc case. I dont care if its second hand

 

[Nebulous]

I would invest in a good branded psu. If you're stress testing/gaming and the psu is starting to get hot, that's a good indication that the system's power demands are greater than what the psu can deliver. Sooner or later it will fail and possibly take other parts with it. Concentrate on the psu first, then a case. A good one would be a Corsair 550w unit and it won't break the bank.

 

[Helgaiden]

i would also keep an eye out for mobo + cpu + ram combo deal somewhere, just to be safe. 775 systems, even OC'd, just cant hang with today's modern games and stuff. And yes absolutely upgrade that GPU when you can. You might even be able to get a deal for all that online like on ebay if you go with a branded system (like HP) parts pull. I built a gaming desktop (i have a thread here) with an HP Z400 motherboard that came with a Xeon w3550 (like i7-950) and 6gb ram and it only cost $100 USD for those parts. The rest i carried over. Cant overclock, but it plays everything. Just needs a little mod for a standard PSU to work, nothing crazy. If you get creative, lots of solutions available

As for a nice affordable case, maybe check out the offerings from Deepcool like the Dukase v2 (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...853035&cm_re=dukase_v2-_-11-853-035-_-Product). There are others for good prices though just gotta look around.

 

[Ramon89]

When the time is right, take a look and see if anything from this company trips your trigger. They are cheaper than most, roomy, have lots of features (but heavy) and should fit your bill.

http://www.fractal-design.com/

Edit: Going back to your original question, I personally like the fans from those guys too. Good CFM with low noise. Noise is my big issue over "bling" or cfm but these fit the bill for me.

Looks nice, not to expensive and good reviews. Didn't know the brand either.

 

[Leegit]

Fractal Design makes great cases. I have two of them. The company is based out of Sweden. You mentioned the Euro... so you are somewhere in Europe? Don't know how much of an option eBay will be over there? What sites/stores do you typically buy computer parts from?

I would start with getting a PSU like many have mentioned because it is a stand-alone item, sounds like its producing lots of excess heat when gaming, and getting older. Next I would look for a MOBO + CPU + RAM upgrade. Then the GPU and case.

I don't think you will want to upgrade your RAM (unless its real cheap and gets your temporary gains till your ready to spend more) until you move to a more modern CPU platform. Maybe Woomack will show up and have a suggested on some better RAM for that platform. I have no idea what to suggest for it.

 

[Ramon89]

The Mobo+Cpu+Ram deal sounds good. I life the Netherlands btw, but also here we have Ebay (with big shipping pricing if shipped from the US). Then I still need a PSU, GPU and case (but if I cant overclock with the new Mobo then a new case won't matter that much I think). I can get DDR 2 Ram 2gb 800 mhz for 9 Euro from aliexpress (from a good seller).

Allot of options to reconsider.

What do you guys think if I sell my current setup : Cpu+mobo+ram+gpu what would I ask for it, like 75 USD or something ?

 

[don256us]

I ve a differeing view on the MB+CPU+RAM upgrade. I think that you have enough horse power with what you have but could bennifit from a GPU upgrade. Upgrading from the 9600 to anything in the 900 series or the AMD 480 might be a very good low cost upgrade that will give you real fps like right now. The AMD 480 series is just around $200+ USD.

 

[Helgaiden]

I ve a differeing view on the MB+CPU+RAM upgrade. I think that you have enough horse power with what you have but could bennifit from a GPU upgrade. Upgrading from the 9600 to anything in the 900 series or the AMD 480 might be a very good low cost upgrade that will give you real fps like right now. The AMD 480 series is just around $200+ USD.

Of course a gpu and psu upgrade can go first to see if performance will be acceptable, especially since those parts can just transfer over. I think depending on the game, the cpu and that amount and speed of ram will have the system wanting more horsepower period. Selling the current setup for $75 might be doable sure. Buying newer gear though, you won't be looking at ddr2 anymore so pay attention to that before ordering additional ram (if needed).

 

[don256us]

Of course a gpu and psu upgrade can go first to see if performance will be acceptable, especially since those parts can just transfer over. I think depending on the game, the cpu and that amount and speed of ram will have the system wanting more horsepower period. Selling the current setup for $75 might be doable sure. Buying newer gear though, you won't be looking at ddr2 anymore so pay attention to that before ordering additional ram (if needed).

That's a good call on the RAM. 3 GB is not enough for the OS and a game. However, and here is the catch, it depends on if your Windows 10 is 32 or 64 bit. If you presently have a 32 bit OS, then 3 GB is your max.

 

[Ramon89]

I have win 10 64bit OS with a max of 8 gb. So that would be enough to play the most current games. I also don't want to play games add 4k or something like that, 1280×1024 will be fine for me.

 

[Ramon89]

I'v just bought an Antec three hundred case for a better airflow, and some extra fans,also a Konig 550 watt psu and some Ram.

I'm very curious what the better airflow will do to my temps. I hope I wil receive my stuff tomorrow and will let you know.