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Rated: 80% (4 votes)
Loading ...Ignore other people’s CPU temp readings
combatus
I’ve seen this way too many times now on various forums - people comparing CPU temps and getting worried that someone else is 5 or 10′C lower than theirs. Enough!!!! I draw your attendtion to THIS article which in short states that you can’t even rely on your own temp sensor to give you an accurate reading from one temp to another, never mind comparing it to someone elses! Not only this, but different programs will give you different readings too. As we speak I have both the Asus AI suit program running showing a CPU temp and Coretemp 0.95. Guess what, they give me totally different readings!!!!!
There are so many factors that can influence the reading temp sensors show onscreen. Your ambient room temp may be a few degrees higher than someone elses so your system maybe running a few degrees hotter, you might have slower fans pushing cool air into your case, but a huge factor is simply that motherboards are not very good at measuring temps accurately or relatively. Yes they can probably tell you if your CPU is too hot,  but between 20-50′C if you’re temps are higher than someone elses with a similar setup, it’s more than likely absolutely nothing to do with your cooling setup despite what people may say.
 My point then? Well apart from ignoring the poeple who smugly barge into a forum post saying their CPU temp is 10′C lower than yours, you shouldn’t really worry about your CPU temp if it isn’t causing you problems. Clearly if you have stability issues when running the CPU at load, or you can’t seem to overclock very far, then this could be a sign of overheating. But comparing temps for the sake of it is like comparing the size of disused chimneys - a complete waste of time!
Rated: 95% (4 votes)
Loading ...Do we need Crossfire and SLI motherboards?
combatus
I’ve built a few PCs recently where the owners have specifically stated they will not be delving into dual GPU setups and would prefer a board with extra features or space. I didn’t think this was a problem but when I looked for motherboards that were “high end†practically everything had SLI or Crossfire capability and a maximum of 3 PCI slots which seemed a bit of a waste.
The Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe. One of the best motherboards ever made and one of the first to include SLI technology.
One of the best overclocking Socket A boards for AMD the Epox 8RDA6 Pro
the lack of SLI means more space on the board for PCI slots.
Then I upgraded to socket 939 and had my shiny new Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard with its dual PCI-E slots, I thought “This is great! When my 6800GT starts to show it’s age I’ll just buy another one for far less than a new high end card.†In theory this could have worked quite well – 6-12 months down the line the retail price for most PC hardware, especially CPU’s and GPU’s is cut in half, and SLI did appear to give significant performance boosts in many games.
However this is where the fairy tale ends and there are several reasons for this:
1. Availability of cards
The 6800 series cards for example were all discontinued before I found the need for a second card. The only choice was to get a second hand card of Ebay.
2. Cost effectiveness
If you do the maths, it’s often clear that when your current card is showing it’s age, its more than likely that by selling it and getting a newer card, you’ll end up no worse off than getting a second card for a dual setup. You’ll also have the benefit of a warranty on the new card as well as being able to use any new features that card might have over your old one.
3. Two heads are not always better than one
While SLI and Crossfire do work, they only work in a select catalogue of games. Many games don’t benefit at all or have stability issues. Even when they do work, the benefits are no way near 100%. Time has shown that even the best results give around 70% performance increases and this is usually at very high resolutions which few gamers actually use.
Edit{4. SLI and Crossfire linked to memory loss!
See Gareth Ogden’s Post on:
 memory loss in dual card setups -
Yet another reason to stick to single card setups, especially in 32bit OS’s
This leaves me thinking when are dual card setups worth it? Well there is an answer to this and no it’s not “neverâ€. The answer is if you have the money to get two of the fastest cards around and whack them into a dual card setup, then you will probably have a lightning fast PC.  Two 8800GTX’s or Ultras at the time of writing for example which I know a few people have.
Unfortunately Nvidia and AMD/ATI have never made it possible to buy two cheaper cards resulting in a faster system for less dosh than a single more expensive card. Nvidia even went out of there way to do this with the 6600GT – two cards of the 256MB model could outperform a more expensive 6800GT so the card was withdrawn and soon became as rare as Dodo eggs.
So from a mercenary point of view, if you’re looking to get the best bang per buck it’s best to avoid dual card setups. But where does this leave us with regards to motherboards? After all, I may want to stick to single GPU setups but I sure as hell want to overclock the nuts out of my system!
Unfortunately manufacturers don’t seem to cater for this point of view as all high end boards since the Asus A8N series first came out in late 2004 have ditched a PCI slot in favour of 2x PCI-E graphics ports.
Yes there are a few boards around that can overclock quite well which don’t have dual graphics slots but I reckon a vast majority of people out there don’t have dual card setups. This suspicion is confirmed if you look at the very interesting Steam’s system stats survey carried out by users of Counterstrike and Half Life’s distribution software.
Out of just over One million entries, only 13,000 have dual card setups. “So what†I hear you say – “they could be the high end users with decent graphics cardsâ€. Well unfortunately there are over five times more 6600 card users for example than the number of dual card users, not to mention any other popular card like 6800, 7800 or 8800 and I haven’t even mentioned ATI yet!
What I’d like to see is a return to high end- single PCI-E slot boards or at least a few more of them. At the moment that second PCI-E slot is a complete waste of space for a majority of people that own them.
Antony Leather
Rated: 60% (1 votes)
Loading ...My experience with watercooling
combatus
I’ve been dabbling in the dark arts of watercooling for several years now and thought I’d share a collection of pics from past and present projects, as well as create an ongoing blog about hardware and watercooling in general, maybe adding a bit of advice here and there! My most recent, or rather on-going project is Big Red, my beloved Coolermaster Stackwhich has been modified and altered almost daily over the last three years.
                                                     
          
          
Currently housing an overclocked (3.7Ghz) Core2 E6600 processor, Asus P5K Deluxe and an ATI X1900XT, it’s possibly the most versatile watercooling case ever made with very little, if any modding required to fit large and complex watercooling systems.
My system includes two radiators, a dual 120mm and a dual 80mm, a D-tek Fusion CPU Block, Alphacool GPU block, a Laing DDC ultra pump and a now discontinued Wet and Chilly Chips Passive reservoir (much like the passive XSPC reservoirs). Currently in a single loop design - I have experimented with separate loops but found that they offered very little benefit, especially with modern pumps like the Laing DDC.
I also love checking out new cases as they come onto the market or are reviewed in CPC - the first thing I look for is watercooling potential. If I see a case I like then I sometimes end up buying it, fitting a watercooling system and then selling it! Crazy I know but it has lead to some weird desgins!
 - Sunbeam Clear Tower case - C-systems pump, Bay reservoir and a 4 unit Cape Cora Passive radiator. The Acryllic case proved too weak to support the rad on the side so I had to add weights and strength braces before I sold it.
 
 
 
One of the best things I came up with was a cube watercooled case. Based inside am Aspire X-Qpack case, it had an 80mm internal rad (not amazing but it cooled a 7800GT+Athlon 3800 single core pretty well) with a micro reservoir and c-systems pump. Plumbing was a bit of a nightmare but worked well eventually and the UV effect of the water was ace. I even included a bleed port using a Dangerden fill port so you didn’t have to take the whole thing apart to drain the system.
 Other projects include two more cubes based around an Antec Aria case and a mini ITX system, also watercooled using a Mobile Pentium inside a very small Morex Venus Cube case.
I guess this is leading into something isn’t it? Well I’ve just aquired a new case to play with!!! Now if I can figure out how to get a plog as well as a blog then you’ll see the beginnings of the project there!
 Antony Leather
 ”Never be afraid to put water inside your PC.”
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