Using EVGA Precision

I hope this is the right forum for this question. If not, feel free to move it.

Ok, I recently started playing Modern Warfare 2 and I've been having a freezing issue that forces me to hard boot my system. Needless to say it's quite annoying, especially when it happens only a few minutes into the game. But rather than blame the game, as so many do, I figure it's got to be something with my system. Now it just so happens that I had the exact same problem with Modern Warfare 1, although on a different system, but I think the cause was similar. At first I thought it was an overheating issue, and removing my side panel does appear to alleviate the problem. But after installing EVGA Precision, I'm not so sure. But I think just a little tweaking on my part just might resolve my issue. I set EVGA to display my GPU temp, fan %, memory clock and memory usage over top of the game. My normal operating temp is 50º C, and the fan is running at 50%. It only takes a few minutes for the temp to climb to 61º and the fan is running at about 60% as well. The thing I noticed is that the Memory clock is set to 1150. When the game froze this last time the temp was 64º, the fan was at 61%, and the Memory clock in the realtime display said 1152. My question is could it be that the memory clock usage is what's causing my freezing issues? If so, how do I adjust it to prevent that??

I hope I've described it correctly. Thanks in advance!

 

Well as an update, I don't think that 1152 Memory clock number has anything to do with the freezing issue, as I noticed that that's where it starts out at when I start the game, and flucuates. Keeping the side cover off, and the temp not going above 61º-62º seems to keep the game running. I haven't had a single freeze as long as the temp stays in that range. Isn't 64º a little low to cause a problem? I have 3 fans in my rig, 2 pulling air in from the front and side, and one in the back pulling it out. I guess that's just not enough to keep the temp down with the side cover on. I hate leaving the cover off though and exposing the mobo to all that extra dust.

 

What graphics card are you using? also helpful would be to know what power supply

 

My graphics card is in my sig. My power supply is a Muchkin 650 wt

 

is that the PSU with rail fusion? should say on the back near the switch and have an LED light indicator for it, if so then it should be fine, but if not that vid card requires 36 amps on the 12 volt rail, that mushkin has I think 4 12 volt rails but only 20 amp on each, with rail fusion it should combine the rails to provide the required power when needed but without it I am not sure the PSU can provide enough oomph to the card under gaming loads.

If temps concern you (they dont look too bad to me, a tad high) disable the auto fan function on evga precision and manually set the fan to run max before you start gaming then re-enable auto after gaming (its what I do) it should lower temps some.

If your PSU does have rail fusion make sure your video drivers are all up to date Just remember to fully uninstall the current drivers before installing the new ones.

Also test some other games, or video benchmarks and see if the crash is specific to that game or in all heavy video uses

 

I checked the back, and sure enough it said Rail Fusion Active. I bought the thing a while ago, so I really didn't know for sure. My video card has 2 power connections for power. Mighty beefy for when I bought it, and it's done the job so far on any game I've installed, but every now and then I had a game that would just freeze, and I always thought it was the game not being compatible with my AMD dual core processor. But I started realizing that if I left the cover off the side, the freezes stopped happening. I wish I would have realized that sooner. I'd like to find a way to modify my side cover, it's partially see though glass, that appears to be removeable. I've thought of replacing the glass with screening. I really don't like just leaving the cover off. Thanks for the response.

 

Have you monitored your CPU temps when these freezes happen? if removing the side panel cures the freezes somthing in your system must be overheating and if your max temp on the GTX 260 is 64c its not that, try a stress test like OCCT, 3D Mark, Prime95 ect ect while using somthing like coretemp to monitor your temps, if you get to 60c shut it down cause it looks like the max for your CPU is 63c

 

I've never monitored the CPU temp, but I was wondering about that too. I'll see if I can find that CoreTemp software and give it a shot. I also can adjust some cpu temp settings in my bios. Maybe it's just set to low?? But the thing is that I never get a overheating warning from the mobo like I think it's supposed to give me.

 

also be sure (just incase) the vid card is plugged into 2 different 12v rails if rail fusion isnt working properly this would fix it since you would combine the rails "manualy" by use of both plugs.

and the overheat warnings are usually set at the max temp so basicly thermal shutdown is your warning, and AMD CPU's are notorious for getting a lil wonky when you get close to max

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

link to coretemp

 

Well, I just assumed that the card needed 2 connections since there was 2 plugs, and they are special plugs that only fit on the card, so I used 2.

I went into my bios and saw that there was a SmartQ Fan Function that was disabled. This supposedly auto adjusts the fan when the CPU temp goes up. And in Enabling that feature, another one popped onto the menu screen about a SmartQ Fan Profile. There were 3 options, Silent, Optimal, Performance. I chose Performance. I can't believe the first feature was disabled by default! And thanks for that link for coretemp. I'll grab it now!

 

Actually smart Q fan when disabled runs your cpu fan at 100% all the time, when enabled it slows the fan down when the cpu isnt hot to reduce noise, I reccomend either the performance setting you chose or disabled

 

Now you got me interested in this...........my current CPU temps are 66º and 62º C with a 0-3% load on each. This is with only IE and OE running. Is this high?? And I did put my side cover back on. According to CoreTemp, this is hot, but not critical. I'm gonna crank up Modern Warfare 2 and see what it climbs up to.

 

Also what I mean for the plugs on the video card is make sure the plugs comming from the power supply have their own cables all the way back to the PSU and are not piggybacked on each other or anything else plugged in for example sata power connectors comming from the PSU usually have 3-4 connectors on a single set of cables, or molex will have several connectors off the same cables and maybe you have a CD drive and a HDD both plugged in off the same cables, for the vid card make sure its 2 entirely different sets of cables all the way

 

According to AMD your over heating the CPU, here are the details straight from AMD for the CPU you list in your sig http://products.amd.com/pages/DesktopCPUDetail.aspx?id=33

55-62c max if your idle temps are 66 and 62c do not fire up the game please untill we get your heat issue fixed

 

Yes, they are definitely sole source cables. Like I said, the plugs are special, not the same as a cdrom or ATA hard drive. There is no piggy backing with these things. They can only fit onto my video card.

For just a minute of gaming my temps of both CPUs went into the 80s, but there seems to a constant 4º-6º difference between the two cores. Is this normal? I bought an aftermarket fan that is actually 2 fans cranking down on each individual core. It's maybe 2-3 yrs old. I can't quite remember when I upgraded it from the original fan. It's not very loud, I mean I don't hear anything that would lead me to believe the ball bearings are wearing. But I do notice that the color temp of CPU1 is blue at 62º and the color of CPU0 is yellow at 66º. I guess this means my CPU0 is running hot all the time, but not critical.

On further reading, I think the difference in colors are to differenciate between the two CPUs. Which makes me feel better. On a side note, removing the side cover dropped both temps into the 50s, (runnign at idle) with still that constant 4º difference.

 

Not sure what you mean about your dual fan cooler blowing on each core, the CPU cores are internal to the processor chip and the chip is like 1.5 inches square.

what model cpu cooler is it? are you overclocked at all? what case are you using and what fans in the case? how long has the cpu cooler been installed? when you replaced it did you properly clean the cpu and apply new thermal compound? what are the ambient temps in the room with the PC? (alot of questions, I know, but alot of variables to cover)

not sure about the temp difference in your cores, I have never seen a difference more than 1-2 degrees I will check on it though

 

doing a bit of research on the temp difference between cores I found It is not uncommon for a dual-core CPU to show differences of 5-10 degrees C so your ok there but temps are deff too high, even with the side off idle temps in the 50's when max is ~63 is too high, your max at 100% load shouldnt be more than 60c with stock cooling.

temps dropping when side is removed means your case airflow is lacking so thats deff one place to start

 

Sorry about my lack of knowledge on the subject. You are correct, it is just one chip about the size you stated. I haven't looked at it in such a long time I got confused. You'd never know I've been in the IT field for 12 yrs! But performance hardware wasn't and isn't what I work on, except for at home. I guess I know just enough to be dangerous.

Anyway my fan is a ARCTIC COOLING ACF64LP 60mm CPU Cooler for low profile PC. It's actually 2 fans blowing on the CPU, hence my confusion. You can see the specs here:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835186019
I upgraded from my original fan in Nov 08.

I don't normally overclock my CPU, although I do have Rivatuner installed. I've never really known how to use it, so I've only launched it a few times with the recommended settings. It never seemed to make a difference in my freezing issues, which is why I was trying it.

My case is an Xion. There are 3 fans, 2 120mm, one in front and one in back, and an 80mm fan on the side. The front fan sucks air in and the other two suck it out. The computer is not in a confined space but is under my desk. The side with the fan is not against a wall of any kind. My room temp is around 70º or less at this time of year.

Yes I did put new thermal paste on of my cpu when I replaced the fan, keeping in mind that was 3 years ago.

 

coretemp should tell you what speed your cores are running at, if its 3200 or close to it your prolly still at stock settings, that cpu cooler has kinda low airflow for a dual fan but should be better than stock, did you clean the old thermal grease off the cpu before installing the new? stupid question, I know but you would be suprised, so i have to ask.

does the case have any fan mounts that are not being used?

and it prolly wouldnt hurt to pull the cpu cooler, clean all the old thermal paste (prolly thermal flakes by now) off the cpu and heatsink, apply fresh according to the directions keeping in mind less is better and then reinstall the cooler, what orientation is the cooler installed? airflow front to back of the machine or bottom to top? if you have a choice install it so its pulling air from the front of the case and blowing it toward the back, if you cant do this then make sure its blowing up toward the top

 

Go here and see if you can tell me which one is your case please <will help figure out best fan setup and airflow>

 

guess link didnt go, try this http://www.xionusa.com/index.asp

 

Well there is a frequency number, which is 3210.55mhz. That's the only number that looks like a speed to me. And yes, I most definitely cleaned off the old paste before installing the new fan.

No, all fan mounts are being used, although there is a correction to a previous statement that the side fan is sucking air in, not out.

Well that can be my weekend project. I still have a tube of Arctic Silver. Hopefully it's not dried up! But I know I most likely used more than less 3 years ago. I'll make sure not to make that same mistake again. The orientation of the cooling fan is bottom to top and due to other components on the mobo, that's the only way it can be. But luckily it is blowing from bottom to top as well. I guess I lucked out in that decision when I installed it.

I do appreciate all your advice and help. It's much appreciated. I'll post an update after I get the thermal paste replaced and the fan all cleaned up. Hopefully that will get my core temps closer together.

 

About a pea or grain of rice size blob of the paste in the center of the cpu then place the cooler and let it spread it out for you by pressing slightly, give it a wiggle then lock it down

also go here http://www.xionusa.com/index.asp and see if you can tell me which case is yours so i can try to come up with a better airflow pattern for you

 

http://www.xionusa.com/Product-case-Xion2.asp

This is my case. I'm surprised they still have it listed.

 

Yea not much you can do with that case without getting into modding it, if the case fans are all still stock you can upgrade them for fairly cheap, go for the highest CFM that you can stand the noise, if you get adventurous and decide to mod, a 120mm in the top as exhaust would go a long way with your cpu cooler blowing bottom - up to vent the hot air from the cpu

 

Just a little update. I ordered two new fans. It appears my currents ones aren't really pushing a lot of air, so I ordered 2 of these....
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835705003

If changing the thermal paste and these fans don't bring my temp down to let's say in the fifties with the side cover on, then I'll consider modding the top to put in a bigger fan. I might need a little advice on just where to start, like to they sell kits for that?

 

Those fans will push alot of air but will be kinda loud, if it will fit I would use one for front intake and one for rear exhaust.

Not sure if they have case mod kits for adding fans, I usually just use a holesaw on a drill or a dremel, and use the fan I will be using as a template, and find a fan grill to mount on the outside, though if changing the thermal paste and putting those new fans dont drop you into the 50's at full load I would invest in a new cpu cooler before I started cutting on the case

 

That's exactly where I'm going to use them. I have two existing 120mm fans, one in the front and one in the back. I'm not feeling much air flow at all from the front one. But my 2 SATA hard drives are right in front of it. Not much room in there with that big *** video card. It sort of dictates where the hard drives go.

 

Yea its a shame other components get in the way of intake air, I just took apart my system today to remove my stock cooler and install a TX3 coolermaster i had laying around, so I took the opportunity to move my HDD to the bottom slot to give an unobstructed path for the intake air straight to the cooler, cleaning up the wires and cables can help too, so when your in there reinstalling your cooler make sure to reroute any cables that cross airflow routes if you can

 

Well here's an update. Fans replaced, a little louder but it's like background noise, nothing that's going to keep me awake at night. Thermal paste replaced, and man what a mess I made of it 3 years ago, definitely part of my problem. I did it up right this time. Pea sized drop of paste. I cleaned the cpu fan, and man did the dust come blowin outta the heat sink fins! I also took the side fan off and that was full of dust as well. Basically I cleaned it all up, including the graphics card. My current cpu temps, with the side cover on, are in the mid to upper 40s! There is still a constant 3º-6º difference between the two, but in the 40s is definitely better than in the 60s!

A side note about my cpu double fan. It doesn't blow in any one direction, like bottom to top. Both fans blow air in over the heat sink from the sides and it ventilates out the top of the the heat sink, if that makes any sense.

And as long as it's taken me to type this up, with the side cover on, the temps have not gone higher than when I started.

So I'm hoping that this resolves my freezing issues. Jim, I want to thank you again for all your advice. It definitely got me through this project! And although we really didn't discuss how to use EVGA Precision, I still hope that this thread will be a help to others.

 

Glad it all went well for you man, also happy we caught the problem before your cpu fried, 40's i deff better than it was, and dont worry about the temp difference between cores, after some research i found that is normal for those cpu's up to 10c difference.

Depending on the paste you used your temps should drop a bit more over time as it "cures" but not enough to write home about, you should check your temps at load though, not sure how intense the games are you play but I know on my computer my full load (prime95) temps get to around 58c (my rig is overclocked a bit) and when I game they get to about 53c, with your idle temps in the 40's I wouldnt recommend using prime95, somthing like OCCT <found here> http://www.ocbase.com/perestroika_en/index.php?Download run the CPU OCCT test on default settings and watch your temps, if they get to 60c stop the test, ideal would be able to run the 1 hour test and never go over 59c

If you still have questions on how to use evga precision let me know, I have used it some though i left it and moved to MSI Afterburner (same thing just easier to use/more options)

 

Yeah well, my idle temps went to high 40s for CPU1 and Low 50s for CPU0. I downloaded that program in less than 2 minutes it was over 60 and it didn't take much longer for CPU0 to reach 70. That's when I stopped it. I know my gaming has taken the temp of CPU0 into the 90s. The bios for my motherboard has the max set at 130º C. I'm not sure how that correlates to normal operating temps.

But I'll launch a game later and see where the temps go up to now that I've the overall temps down to an acceptable level.

 

yea your project helped and prolly saved your cpu for now, keep in mind, the max temp of 63c that AMD lists for your chip is usually a low estimate but evrytime you go beyond that you risk damage and or lowering the life of your cpu, when you got the extra $ I would look into a new cpu cooler, you can usually get a good one for ~30$ and put a new case on your wishlist

 

Well hell, it's been running at these high temps for a few years at least!! And like I said, the other night I saw the recorded high temp for cpu0 was in the 90s and bios default warning limit is like 130º. 63º seems rather low. Although I don't see anything wrong with my current cooler, I'll shop for a better one. $$ is not an issue at the moment, so I'll order one tonight or tomorrow.

Thanks for doing that research!! I appreciate it.

Edit:
Oh geez, I just realized that when I installed this one, I had to change the mounting hardware, and I don't know where the original hardware is.. That was over 3 years ago!!

 

if you get a bolt through type cooler all the hardware should come with it, but it will prolly mean having to remove your motherboard to install

good luck man

 

The one I have is a bolt through, and yes I did have to take the motherboard out to install it. I checked around for other coolers, NewEgg, Tiger, Ebay and Amazon, and there aren't many out there for my CPU, and the ones I've seen are of the stock variety with only one fan on top blowing down, and in fact I have one of those new in the box, but it was smaller than the stock one, so I never bothered using it and just ordered the one I'm using now. And honestly, I don't think I'll get lower temps from a single fan one. I think the one I'm using is about as good as it's gonna get. I could try using my stock fan again, but ordering another fan would most likely be waste of money. Whatever damage, if any, that I've done over the past 3 years is done.

 

A good portion of the reviews I have read on your cpu cooler state they went back to stock cooler and got lower temps, yes what dmg is done is done but you can prevent further dmg.

Your CPU is a socket AM2 I believe? there are alot of "universal" coolers that are good, this one is considered by many as the best air cooler you can get and is fairly cheap.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...03065&cm_re=hyper_212+-_-35-103-065-_-Product

it fits AM2 AM2+ and AM3 amd sockets so should fit yours just fine, if you need a lower pricepoint let me know I will look for you

 

Oh shoot! Really?? My CPU is a type Socket A. Doing a search for that criteria I didn't find much. But like I said, I still have the stock cooler and another one of the same type, and I can try them easily enough. They just clip on to the side of the CPU mount.

But here's funny thing I've noticed the past few days. When I log into my pc remotely from work, my core temps are 8-10 degrees less!! Then when I get home, they go back up to where they were when I'm normally home. Could it have anything to do with me turning my monitor off when I'm not here??

 

Well, I looked into using my original cpu cooler and I realised I had removed the bracket that it attached to. I had to look up my mobo on the internet to even refresh my memory as to what it looked like! I looked in the few places where I would have put it, as I'm a pack rat and I don't throw anything away, and it wasn't there. So I'm at a bit of a loss. Without that bracket I'm stuck witth my current cooler. And I seriously doubt I can find that bracket for sale. I can only imagine it was made for my particular mobo. But I know at some point in the future, I will find it, and then I'll set aside a day where I can install it, and that will be a project, as I will have to remove my mobo to do so. Not that it's a really big deal, but it will involve a few hours at least. So for now, I just have to go with what I got. Jim, thanks again for all your advice and research. It was of immense help and I appreciate it.

 

Well another update:
In looking at pics of my mobo in the NewEgg archives (and thank God for them!) I was able to see the original mounting hardware for the cpu cooler, and I realised that I was using the wrong description when looking for a replacement fan and/or mounting bracket. The desripton of the Mobo had as a AM2+/AM2. I was able to match up visually the retention bracket on the original to replacement brackets that are available for sale. I found on on Amazon for under 10 bucks!

Alas this does mean taking my mobo out of the case, but it's worth a shot.