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SFF Build Issues

J

Jaheed

n00b
Joined
May 31, 2010
Messages
47
I recently purchased and built a Mid-High end 351 SFF system:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1522684


1 Corsair CMPSU-750HX 750-Watt HX Professional Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply compatible with Core i7 and Core i5

1 Asus Rampage II GENE Core i7 / Intel X58/ DDR3/ CrossFireX & SLI/ A&2GbE/ MATX Motherboard

1 Intel Core i7 Processor i7-930 2.80GHz 8 MB LGA1366 CPU, Retail BX80601930

1 Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 All in One High-performance CPU Cooler CWCH50-1

1 Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D Dominator 6 GB 3 x 2 GB PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-Pin DDR3 Core i7 Memory Kit

2 Sapphire Radeon Toxic HD 5850 1 GB DDR5 PCI-Express Dual DVI-I / HDMI / DP Graphics Card 100282TXSR

2 Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARS

1 Intel 80 GB X25M Mainstream SATA II Solid State Drive (SSD) Retail Package SSDSA2MH080G2R5

1 Liteon 24X DVDrw Sata Retail

My only deviation from this was cheaper memory, all put in a lian-li v351.

The computer was relatively easy to build, and runs mostly fine. I have noticed slight choppiness in some games (ME2, DA:O mostly, SC:C runs great) but using fraps frame rate calculator in FRAPS, the frame rate never seems to drop below my monitor's refresh rate. The choppiness is somewhat strange, almost imperceptible; it runs smooth and every couple seconds will seem to drop a single frame or something.

Further I have had a couple of system crashes under load, and was having a freezing problem that seemed related to onboard audio (MOBO firmware and audio update seems to have fixed that latter issue).

My guess is that the crashes and choppiness may both stem from heat issues, though I am going to install catalyst 10.6 when I get home and see if that has any effect. I have ordered some high (150ish) CFM fans from Delta and a 80mm Silverstone fan as well as a high watt fan controller; I am hoping that these will fix the issue, but as I am currently on the road, I will not have a chance to test for another week and a half.

Anyway after that wall of text, I have a couple of questions:

Does it sound like heat is the problem (I have seen processor and GPU temps in the 80 deg range)? The GPU that gets warm is the inboard one, the spacing of the slots allows for about 1/8 inch of air to the inner card's fan.

My cooling setup is similar to what others have posted here before, the h50 placed on the CPU side 120mm fan, and the rest of the cooling stock. I plan on replacing all the fans in the box, but I am wondering what configuration to do it in. Should I make both front 120mm fans pushers, or should I have the h50s fan be an exhaust. I assume I should leave the 80mm fan at the back of the case as an exhaust. But with only a single 120mm fan providing airflow to the box, will I have any issues with cooling? If I do make the h50s fan an intake, will the warm air blowing over the processor, memory, and NB (which stays at about 80c despite load) do more harm than good? I am assuming that as the fans are rather loud at full grunt that I will run them lower that max most of the time, but even then, 100+ CFM of airflow per fan should be able to recycle the air in the box many times a minute.

Also, for the inboard GPU, any smart way to get more airflow down the gap, it generally runs 20-25c hotter than the outboard card, I was thinking I could maybe funnel more air down the gap somehow, but have yet to come up with a good solution.

My last recourse would be maybe to get a v352, though I am not sure if the airflow will be any better.

Any ideas or suggestions?
 
Airflow sounds like the issue. If you go with a slightly larger case you might have better temps.

Jaheed said:
I recently purchased and built a Mid-High end 351 SFF system:

http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1522684


1 Corsair CMPSU-750HX 750-Watt HX Professional Series 80 Plus Certified Power Supply compatible with Core i7 and Core i5

1 Asus Rampage II GENE Core i7 / Intel X58/ DDR3/ CrossFireX & SLI/ A&2GbE/ MATX Motherboard

1 Intel Core i7 Processor i7-930 2.80GHz 8 MB LGA1366 CPU, Retail BX80601930

1 Corsair Cooling Hydro Series H50 All in One High-performance CPU Cooler CWCH50-1

1 Corsair TR3X6G1600C8D Dominator 6 GB 3 x 2 GB PC3-12800 1600MHz 240-Pin DDR3 Core i7 Memory Kit

2 Sapphire Radeon Toxic HD 5850 1 GB DDR5 PCI-Express Dual DVI-I / HDMI / DP Graphics Card 100282TXSR

2 Western Digital 2 TB Caviar Green SATA Intellipower 64 MB Cache Bulk/OEM Desktop Hard Drive WD20EARS

1 Intel 80 GB X25M Mainstream SATA II Solid State Drive (SSD) Retail Package SSDSA2MH080G2R5

1 Liteon 24X DVDrw Sata Retail

My only deviation from this was cheaper memory, all put in a lian-li v351.

The computer was relatively easy to build, and runs mostly fine. I have noticed slight choppiness in some games (ME2, DA:O mostly, SC:C runs great) but using fraps frame rate calculator in FRAPS, the frame rate never seems to drop below my monitor's refresh rate. The choppiness is somewhat strange, almost imperceptible; it runs smooth and every couple seconds will seem to drop a single frame or something.

Further I have had a couple of system crashes under load, and was having a freezing problem that seemed related to onboard audio (MOBO firmware and audio update seems to have fixed that latter issue).

My guess is that the crashes and choppiness may both stem from heat issues, though I am going to install catalyst 10.6 when I get home and see if that has any effect. I have ordered some high (150ish) CFM fans from Delta and a 80mm Silverstone fan as well as a high watt fan controller; I am hoping that these will fix the issue, but as I am currently on the road, I will not have a chance to test for another week and a half.

Anyway after that wall of text, I have a couple of questions:

Does it sound like heat is the problem (I have seen processor and GPU temps in the 80 deg range)? The GPU that gets warm is the inboard one, the spacing of the slots allows for about 1/8 inch of air to the inner card's fan.

My cooling setup is similar to what others have posted here before, the h50 placed on the CPU side 120mm fan, and the rest of the cooling stock. I plan on replacing all the fans in the box, but I am wondering what configuration to do it in. Should I make both front 120mm fans pushers, or should I have the h50s fan be an exhaust. I assume I should leave the 80mm fan at the back of the case as an exhaust. But with only a single 120mm fan providing airflow to the box, will I have any issues with cooling? If I do make the h50s fan an intake, will the warm air blowing over the processor, memory, and NB (which stays at about 80c despite load) do more harm than good? I am assuming that as the fans are rather loud at full grunt that I will run them lower that max most of the time, but even then, 100+ CFM of airflow per fan should be able to recycle the air in the box many times a minute.

Also, for the inboard GPU, any smart way to get more airflow down the gap, it generally runs 20-25c hotter than the outboard card, I was thinking I could maybe funnel more air down the gap somehow, but have yet to come up with a good solution.

My last recourse would be maybe to get a v352, though I am not sure if the airflow will be any better.

Any ideas or suggestions?
Click to expand...
 
More than likely it's not a temp issue IMO.

Since you have a crossfire setup, you may have ran into the fabled "microstutter" issue that occurs occasional with SLI or Crossfire setups. This happens rarely and even then only a few people actually notice it. Unfortunately you can notice it. And unfortunately there's no fix for "microstutter" at all AFAIK.

To see whether or not you actually have this microstutter issue, remove one of those HD 5850 cards from the PC. Then play a game and take notice.
 
so far, without extensive testing, looks like it was kinda a temp problem, specifically, the micro stutter seems like it may have been caused by the temp differential between the cards.
 
try turning off motherboard sound, too, since you cited a sound driver crash.
 
I was going to say that it sounds like it could be microstutter for your choppiness. I ran SLI for a while and I definitely saw it. Frame rates are high but the animations are not smooth in a lot of cases (for me).

It's unfortunate, but as far as I heard, ATI or nVidia haven't fixed it (if it's even possible)
 
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