On Wed, 30 Mar 2011 16:57:48 -0700, Jeff Liebermann wrote:

On Wed, 30 Mar 2011 18:56:09 +0000 (UTC), Meat Plow
wrote:

I've run several raw digital videos back to back encoding them to DVD
but even at 10x encode rate I can't get the CPU load up to more than
50%. Not even enough load to speed the CPU fan up past 1800 which is
still an idle speed.

Nice, but depending upon how you're running that test, the CPU could be
waiting for HD I/O, which might explain why it's at 50% idle. Try a CPU
and/or RAM only benchmark to see how your overclocking is doing.

It's not idling at 50%. That's the highest CPU load that I can manage
with the video software. Actually any software I have. My video card
is pre-CUDA support else-wise CPU load would be less than 50%.

Don't really need to burn anything in or force a failure artificially. I
might do that if there was a problem.

Awwww.... you're no fun.

Yeah I know. No need to heat the soup up unless it's time to eat.

Nice. One of these days, in my non-existent spare time, I'll build
myself a high end machine. Thanks for the pointers.

$500 got all three items. Probably lots cheaper now Already had an Antec
server case. Has a 120mm fan in back and a vent tube the size of the CPU
fan with access to the
side case so the CPU draws its own fresh air in. The tube covers the top
of CPU fan. I thought it was a great idea.

I've seen a few boxes with fans like that. They work quite well for
cooling the CPU, but seems to require a 2nd fan to cool the rest of the
system. I've seen video cards that suck almost as much power as the
CPU. $500 for all that is cheap, even with todays prices.

The side vent has a tube you can adjust over the CPU cooler. And flairs
at the end so it covers the cooler inside. Just wanted to make sure I
stated that correctly. Sometimes my descriptions suck. There is an
aditional PCM controlled 120mm fan mounted under the PSU on the real
panel The PSU has a load controlled 120mm fan.

It's a quiet machine also. Rubber mounted hard drives x3. The case has
sound dampening on the sides and a locking cover for the drive bay. I
can't handle a loud PC.

I have the same problem. I *HATE* noisy machines. About 2 years ago, I
went on a noise reduction purge and replaced my office and home
computers with Dell Optiplex 960 and 755 mini-tower machines
respectively. Both use a single 120mm fan for cooling. No other fans
in the box. The fan normally rotates quite slowly, which makes it very
quiet. When I run Bench95 to heat up the CPU, the fan gets quite noisy.

Yeah the Dell desktops both home and office versions always used a
large slow rotating fan with a shroud over the CPU. Made them popular
for being quiet.

At full speed, it could probably lift the PC off the table.
No shock mounting on the hard disk drives. If there was enough noise
and/or vibration to warrant a shock mount, I would also suspect that the
drive was off balance or ready to blow. Some boxes allow the side to
act as a sounding board for the drive noises, which I guess justifies
sound dampening. I've done as well with stiffeners, battens, and
fiberglass matting on the sides.

The screws for the hard drives go through a silicone grommet. All drives
make some noise and there's space in this case for 4. I have a mini ATX
case that I used with 1 drive prior to building this. You could hear the
drive spin and click. This case with 3 drives you cannot unless you hold
your ear up to the front.

Incidentally, I once had a PC (PIII/866) that had no fans. It used heat
pipes, liquid coolant, and a small aquarium pump to move the heat to
outside of the box. Worked nice until I found anti-freeze all over the
carpet.

More recently, I spent some time playing with two "no-fan" ATX power
supplies. This was one
http://www.fspgroupusa.com/zen-400/p/412.html but I don't recall the
other model. It had a big copper heat sink sticking out the back of the
machine. I burned myself several times during testing. Both worked,
but with limitations. The Zen-400 would accumulate heat inside the
case, between the top of the case and the power supply. No air flow in
that area would make the top rather hot. The other would probably scorch
anything that came in contact with the copper heat sink. Meltdown and
fire is a small price to pay for a quiet PC.

I used to offer a micro pc to clients. It had no fans either. Sold a few
of them but they weren't upgradeable.

My son has a Intel P4 @ 3ghz. Has a large PCM fan on the CPU. Pretty
quiet most of the time unless he's playing a game. The CPU fan ramps
up and down with the load of the game. It will whine when the heatsink
gets clogged with dust. Can definitely tell when it's time to detatch the
fan and brush and vacuum it out. The maker anticipated this and the fan
is latched on, easy to remove to clean. It's been long enough now for
this one to get its first cleaning. I've cleaned the side vent off
several times as dust gathers rather quickly over the inlet. It's not a
screen but a circle of closely drilled small holes.




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Live Fast Die Young, Leave A Pretty Corpse