[QUOTE=Dubslow;394769]Okay can the title changes *please* stay in the Soap Box or otherwise near the bottom of the front page list? This is a bit ridiculous.[/QUOTE]
+1 !

[QUOTE=Mark Rose;394740]The four case fans are [URL="http://www.fractal-design.com/home/product/case-fans/silent-series-r2-140mm"]Fractal Design Silent Series R2 140mm[/URL], pushing up to 66 CFM, at under 19 dB. With three intakes, that's about 200 CFM. Come to think of it, I could get more air flow by removing the dust filters, which actually capture quite a bit.

The R4 case shields most of the centrifugal sirens' noise. I would say over half the subjective sound is the rushing of air in general. The most noticeable fan now is the power supply fan, which buzzes a little.[/QUOTE]

OK. I was putting too much emphasis on the blower noise. It may be that the shrouded design just runs hotter than the dump-it-inside kind, though I have to push a lot of air to keep the kind of cards I have happy. I am also fairly certain the my decreased hearing is shielding me from some of that rushing sound. My partner says I'm not happy with a computer unless I can hear the fans.

However, I do keep the GPU temps down.

[QUOTE=Dubslow;394769]Okay can the title changes *please* stay in the Soap Box or otherwise near the bottom of the front page list? This is a bit ridiculous.[/QUOTE]

+1

To be fair I WAS secretly hoping to see trivial division but I agree that this stuff is meant to be serious. Some people legitimately looking for information might not know to look here when the title is "trivial derision with ZULU (yes, in fact)"

I guess I have become inured to the shifting tidals. I had not even noticed the last couple of twists. I guess I just recognize the general shape or rhythm of the title. All that aside, I [I]strongly[/I] agree that it would be better to leave more technical sections and threads with truly descriptive titles.

I'd be careful about demanding stability in the thread title -- we're liable to end up with something like, "Troll division." (AFAIK, that could have happened already somewhere along the way...)

As a prior victim of the forum gods in this respect, I know that they can become particularly, uh, [I]playful[/I] and [I]mischievous[/I] if you ask them to behave otherwise. :smile:

Rodrigo

[QUOTE=Rodrigo;394881]I'd be careful about demanding stability in the thread title -- we're liable to end up with something like, "Troll division." (AFAIK, that could have happened already somewhere along the way...)

As a prior victim of the forum gods in this respect, I know that they can become particularly, uh, [I]playful[/I] and [I]mischievous[/I] if you ask them to behave otherwise. :smile:

Rodrigo[/QUOTE]

Yes. Sometimes we suppose that [URL="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_Must_Be_Crazy"]"The Gods Must Be Crazy."[/URL]

...continued: A Tale of Two GPU's
 

I am carrying this over from its misplaced location [URL="http://http://www.mersenneforum.org/showpost.php?p=395017&postcount=50"]here.[/URL]Well, the saga of running two GPUs takes another turn. Yesterday, I extensively rerouted power cables to clear obstacles from the airflow. In the course of this, I disconnected the PCIe cables from the GTX 570, the one with power connector troubles. Unfortunately, the bare pins, without the plastic surround, are tricky to line up with the cable connector. This translates to the unavoidable application of some force to the pins on the board, and predictably, things did not go well for some of the solder joints.

When I finally got things back together and started the machine, only the MSI GTX 580 appeared in BIOS or Windows. This necessitated pulling the 570, and installing the EVGA-based 580, which has an aftermarket Zalman cooler. I had been avoiding this card because it is triple slot, and because the cooler is marginal, at best. At least, the MSI has always been the coolest thing in the case, regardless of which position it is in. The EVGA has always been the hottest.

ATM, I am running at the highest throughput I have ever achieved: 990 combined G-d/d. This comes from the EVGA at 891 MHz and 85 C, with the MSI at 900Mhz and [I]73[/I] C. I don't think I could have gotten the EVGA to that level and stayed in the mid 80s, if I had not realized that it defaults to the highest voltage I have ever seen on any GTX card: 1.088 V. The next step up is 1.100 V, which did not bode well for controlling temps. However, it turned out to run fine at 900 and default voltage. I may still try trimming the voltage to see how it does.

When I noticed that EVGA was running a bit higher throughput than the MSI, I slowed EVGA to 891 M. This, plus some creative fan arranging, got it pegged at 85 C, or maybe a hair less if the heat is down in the apartment. I am still not really happy with the Zalman cooler. My last hope is that whoever installed it did a lousy job of heatsink compound application. I now aim to pull the cooler, deep clean the surfaces, and do my own HSC. I have Arctic Silver cleaners, 91% isopropyl alcohol, and acetone for removal, though the first two should really take care of it.

On the application side, I have a choice between Arctic Silver 5, ShinEtsu X23-7783D, and Tuniq TX-4. I am leaning toward using the last of these. It will be interesting and gratifying if I can improve the performance of this supposedly decent cooler. It is pretty disappoint as things stand. :sad:

[url]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iegpwo9SqSg[/url]

[QUOTE=blip;395365][URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iegpwo9SqSg[/URL][/QUOTE]

Wow! Just WOW! I thought I was into improvisation. I am utterly humbled by this guy. The cooler seems to be a tad bit of overkill, but WTH. Quite an interesting exercise.

It would work better if the heatsink weren't upside down, too.

[QUOTE]My last hope is that whoever installed it did a lousy job of heatsink compound application.[/QUOTE]This turned out to be true. All cleaned up, with a proper thin layer of TX-4 has the EVGA stabilized at 76 C, versus 73 C for the MSI. w00t! That is really decent for the card on top. :smile:

EDIT: I dropped the voltage from 1.088 to the next step of 1.075. It remains to be seen if this is stable, but it did produce an immediate change from 76 to 75 C. :grin:

EDIT2: It does seem that Zalman could have sprung for PWM fans and the connectors to plug them into the board's fan controller. Slightly more powerful fans would not have hurt, either. However, things are much better than first appeared.