When do I upgrade cooling system

[ROA44]

Finally have my new system fired up but wondering if or when I need to up grade the cooling system from the stock AMD H/sink Fan assy prefer not to have to go to liquid cooling. Haven't looked at overclocking CPU yet still thinking on this. Can't really afford to cook this baby.

M/Board M5A99FX PRO R2.0,

RAM is G Skill Trident 16MB Kit (2X8MB 2400MHz) and reset to run at 2400MHz,

CPU (AMD FX-8320) is currently running at 44⁰C and CPU voltage at 5.035V

Windows 7 is now loaded but haven't loaded any other Software at this point.

Thoughts appreciated.

[ameerat42]

If everything is still stock and you have no need to go to warp speed yet, then...
I don't think you really need to. Else there's not enough info.
Am(at Mach1 still).

PS: OK, there wasn't going to be a PS, but what are you going to use the overclocking to do? I have formed the opinion from seeing a mate go
great guns with o'clocking, only to hear constant laments and frustrations and finally a return to normal speeds. Just wondering. He was madly into
flight sims.

[ROA44]

Thank you ameerat42. I'm not looking at this as a gaming machine, (probably overkill) but needed to upgrade to try to set up to be more compatible with the newer technology and later software If at most if all I may need to do is a biggger H/S and fan ass'y then that would be great.

It will be mainly used for photo editing and plus having a few problems with the older system probably as much me an not knowing how to use software properly. I have been running on two systems up till now.

One system was only set up to get LR running and OS was borrowed so am now legit and will be able to do upgrades easier and finally get rid of about 4 or 5 other systems plus parts, (less junk happy wife happy life).

[Morgo]

You should check out the Corsair H100i, I think thats it, sealed water cooling system at a decent price (about $130) I put one in my new build using an i7 3930K which is a hot chip and the cooling works great.

Just for comparison my computer has been on for hours and I'm watching a movie while surfing the net, running two displays, the CPU reads 30⁰C

[Tannin]

If you are really running at 44 degrees, there is only one possible reason to want to "upgrade" your cooling system - 'coz you have too much money and want to waste some of it for no gain whatsoever. CPUs run perfectly happily at not far off double that temperature. Stock HSF assemblies are generally very quiet and very reliable. Manufacturers like AMD and Intel go to a lot of trouble to ship capable, reliable HSF assemblies with their products because they don't want problems with warranty returns. The only time to consider non-stock cooling systems is when you are doing something well outside the design limits of the factory system, such as heavy overclocking, extreme environments (e,g., down a mine at 55 degrees air temp), or badly designed case installations without proper airflow. 90% of after market cooling system installations are just bling. Buy yourself a nice graduated ND filter, or three bottles of scotch, or put it on a horse.

[Cage]

While I pretty much agree with what Tony has said above, I've had a close encounter with a stock AMD CPU cooler.

I'm running an AMD Phenom II X4 955 CPU and when I first installed it, it was running close to 50C, about 22C above ambient, and the fan was spinning it's little fins off at nearly 10,000 RPM. I figured it was not going to last long so I upgraded the cooler to a Noctua set-up.

I've since nudged the CPU from a standard 3.2 MHz to a very stable 4.0MHz where it has been happily chugging along for about nine months without a problem. I have Core Temp permanently on display on my desktop and it is showing the CPU temp at 29C, about 7C above ambient.

While I've never had a problem with AMD CPU's, I've never had a lot of faith in their heatsinks and fans, and have invariably changed them to after market set-ups.

There is no 'bling' factor in the Noctua gear, just a lot of peace of mind that my CPU isn't going to cook itself when I'm not watching it.

[landyvlad]

I'd say that the fact the fan was going at full bore is more a reflection on the fan than the CPU !


This talk of degrees above ambient is pointless. Ambient Brisbane, Melbourne, Darwin.. ? Air con room or back sun room?

It's the actual temperature that's important. As Tannin says the CPU should be fine as is.

People focus on CPU temps but the best thing is to ensure that you have good airflow through the case. This helps graphics cards etc but alos brings down the teperaturein teh case which will make the CPU cooling fan more efficient.

But if a whizz bang cooling system makes you feel confident then by all means do it. Your money after all.

[Cage]

I'd say that the fact the fan was going at full bore is more a reflection on the fan than the CPU !


This talk of degrees above ambient is pointless. Ambient Brisbane, Melbourne, Darwin.. ? Air con room or back sun room?

It's the actual temperature that's important. As Tannin says the CPU should be fine as is.

People focus on CPU temps but the best thing is to ensure that you have good airflow through the case. This helps graphics cards etc but alos brings down the teperaturein teh case which will make the CPU cooling fan more efficient.

But if a whizz bang cooling system makes you feel confident then by all means do it. Your money after all.

I suggest you actually read the post before you start bagging it. I did not say that the high fan speed had anything to do with the CPU.
And to say that ambient temp does not come into the equation is an ill considered comment.

If you can't add something constructive to a thread, why waffle?

[arthurking83]

With my first AMD processor, I used to regularly see 75°C and sometimes more on hot days(40-ish) and never once had any issues with that PC.

My current CPU is the same as Cage's X4 955. Software temps say one thing .. hardware sensors always say another!
I got an accessory front panel thingy for the use of the USB ports and card slots, but it also has three sensors with 3 readouts for whatever you wish to keep a tab on. On the display panel they're marked CPU VGA and Case, so that's how I set the leads.

With the PC churning lots of data, temps reach about the high 40's on a warm day, and a fan whizzes furiously all the time.
I used to think that the furious whizzing fan was the stock AMD fan, but on a few occasions that I've tried to check it, I used my finger to stop the CPU fan dead, only to find that this annoyingly high pitched whizzing was still going. Turned out to be one of the cheap case fans used to flow air around the HDDs.
It's too much of a pain to remove this one, and I can't remember the leads required to stop them .. so I've not bothered with it. One day I may get stuck into it.

But the point is more that even with the CPU fan stopped for a few seconds on a warm day(30-ish) and part of the temperature regulating system working hard to keep the PC cool .... the CPU never failed in any way, and I know it got hot during this short fan stoppage.

AMD CPUs are known for their hotter running temps .. 50°C isn't a worry.
Most modern motherboards will have a system where fans will speed up/slow down as required to keep the entire system as cool as possible ... not just the CPU.

FWIW: the software monitoring readouts say 45-47°C for the CPU, yet the hardware sensor reads 39-41°C. (It seems to alternate every few moments)

I wouldn't bother too much about a cooling system either. Unless you're going to get heavily into overclocking, the return on your investment may not be so great.

Coming close to it's 5th birthday in a couple of weeks, my poor little 50°C AMD cpu is still doing fine.
it's had to crunch a decent amount of data in this time, through some pretty hefty ambient temps(I don't use AC systems!).

I'd say that the fact the fan was going at full bore is more a reflection on the fan than the CPU ! ...

I'm not entirely sure I'm following this comment.
If the fan was going at full bore on this AMD system, the chances are that the motherboard was set to vary fan speed with core temps(as mine is).
Hotter ambient temp always will result in a warmer CPU temperature. So as all temps rise, the motherboard monitoring software send the signal for the fans to up their workrate!

One thing I do have tho, is very good flow into and out of the PC case!

[landyvlad]

Retraction: Sorry I didn't mean to offend anyone, must just be a bit grumpy this morning and didn't consider what I typed before i hit send.

I obviously could have been clearer in what I was trying to say, so with apologies to all I will do my best to clarify.

I suggest you actually read the post before you start bagging it. I did not say that the high fan speed had anything to do with the CPU.

No, you didn't. My comments on fan speed are, on second thought, probably not correct. I was thinking that it might have been that the fan wasn't doing a very good job at cooling and therefore had to run faster/longer. There is no good reason why I assumed that though. I also admit I'm obviously not up to date with this stuff. I had no intention to mislead though.

And to say that ambient temp does not come into the equation is an ill considered comment.

Only in so far as a higher ambient temp may lead to a higher absolute temperature. It's my contention that it's the absolute temperaturebeing experienced by the chip that is important, not any measure of "degrees above ambient"

If you can't add something constructive to a thread, why waffle?

I was attempting to be constructive. Obviously I was just unclear.

[ROA44]

Thank you everyone for your input. I currently only have the Asus GPU software running at the moment and need to install a full system monitoring software program but have to find one. One I did find was Beta and wasn't sure if it would run on Win 7.

PS Don't want to spend the money on cooling rather splash it on lenses, filters, Excetera, excetera, excetera. Camera Oooooo

[arthurking83]

.....
PS Don't want to spend the money on cooling rather splash it on lenses, filters, Excetera, excetera, excetera. Camera Oooooo

I think that's what the general consensus will be.
IF(big IF!!) you find that the pc becomes unstable in any way during any long hot period in the future, then look into cooling. Otherwise that money could be more efficiently used in other ways.

If you were determined to overclock the PC for extracting better performance, then it could be wise to upgrade the cooling.

Having used the Asus monitoring software, AND also using PCWizard/CPUID .. they both basically indicate the same thing.
The major difference is that PCWizard(which is also known as CPUID) also does some performance testing (my only interest was in HDD/removable memory testing).

The benefit of using the Asus software is that it allows you to set some performance parameters for the system. How early the fans can cut in/out .. how much CPU power you want to use, etc, etc.