Hey guys,
I'm gonna need some advice on my rig. I've been using this like 4 years from now for gaming and surfing. I did some improvements on the rig but I'm not sure if I'm using it right or if I did something wrong. I just want to get the "best" out of this build. Here are the specs of it and some issues that I want to mention, the whole system and some questions about it down there. What I'd like to have is your comments and some advice on it. (fyi, I can't spend any money for it since I am unemployed at this very moment and will be for 3-5 months more.)
Specs
Click on components to go the manufacturer's website for the product itself. (as much detail as possible cos why not.)
Mobo: MSI 970 gaming socket AM3+
Cpu: AMD 8120 / 3.1 GHz Black Edition (couldn't find the official cpu page)
Vga: Sapphire Tri-X R9 290X 4G GDDR5
Memory(s): Silicon Power Xpower 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 2133 Ram
Psu: Xilence XP700 700W 135MM Fan Gaming Series 80+ Power Supply
Chasis: Zalman Z3 plus ATX mid tower Computer Case
Ssd: 500gb Samsung ssd 750 evo -> contains my geniune win10 pro, and games and stuff.
Cpu Cooler: Zalman LQ 310
Chipset cooler: Xigmatek Porter Chipset Cooler (N881) interesting part here, I am using it but I don't know do I still need it, with a 8cm silent fan operated by motherboard. I'll be sharing HWmonitor temperatures because that was why I felt the need of using this "chipset cooler" because why not.
Hdd1: 2tb WD green 7200rpm sata 3.0 (used to be external but it's "external adapter circut board(not sure it's the name for it)" stopped working, now it's internal), contains my steam games but it has bad sectors in it. Sometimes I have to copy what I can from the game backup with Jfile recovery and make steam redownload the broken data.
Hdd2: 1tb WD blue 7200rpm sata 3.0 (empty) sometimes I install linux on it and be happy.
Hdd3: 2tb WD my book external usb 3.0 -> contains all my data (photos, backups, etc)
I don't always put both 2 internal hdd
Sound card: I use Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI soundcard because the on board sound quality of this particular motherboard of MSI is absolutely disgusting.
OK. It's not much right? But the performance I'm getting from it is not my issue and It's totally fine imo. But temperature levels and noise pollution totally are. Which is why I've decided to share all the details with my rig to you guys and hear you out.
I don't overclock it. It runs everything on stock with latest build of win10 pro as OS and always updated, latest drivers from amd for r9 290x, latest drivers of everything on the setup. I'm using it for gaming, surfing,
I do maintenance for once in 3 months; I change thermal paste, I remove dust and I believe the cable management is OK (not perfect but really enough to not to block the airflow if you check out some pics at the attachment part )
And I use this thermal paste (click to go the manufacturer website) maybe this is an issue?
TX Thermal Paste 30g model TXCCT3OG
Thermal conductivity ≥ 1.93 W/m-K
Thermal impedance < 0.255°C-in²/W
The airflow looks like this; (the weird heatsink at the middle is a chipset cooler which I stated on my specs)
So what do you think? Is the airflow ok? Should I keep using that chipset cooler or not?
There used to be the stock heatsink on the chipset which is that;
But I've changed it with a custom, bigger heatsink works with a 8cm fan that I mentioned up here because my pc was running hot. But that didn't work. Yeah AMD systems runs hot I know. But still I wanted to do something about it. I wonder why it runs so hot and I don't know whether some Intel systems overheat that much too. Below there are temps.
Here are my temperatures from HwMonitor after gaming (Dirt Rally on ultra 1080p) for an hour;
When I was gaming, ambient temp was 15-20 celcius
See the tmpin1 temp on hwmonitor? 91 celcius max. I mean what is that? It runs 80 - 90 celcius when I game. It's not the chipset in that case right? Because installing an aftermarket heatsink didn't help. I was getting the same temperature levels before installing it and now it still runs hot.
About the noise issue, some might say it's silent when it's idle. But I can't stand even to that noise and while gaming, I use headphones to not to hear it. But I have a surround sound system and I'm not hearing it clearly when the volume is low enough to not to wake anyone up in the house. This is the best I could get with what I have.. I mean, would Noctua fans run more silent? Sorry I can't measure the sound of it and post it here somehow. But I can say it's loud for me. Maybe it's not loud for any other user out there but I don't know.
How is your system running? For example if you have an intel system and an nvidia card, would that run more silent? how can I make this rig "dead silent"? or I can't? If I have a custom water cooled system with all the blocks and stuff, would it be silent?
And of course what do you suggest me to do with what I have? If i spend a little on something you suggest, what can I achieve? Is something wrong with this rig? I need all of your suggestions and comments really.
And I included some more photos of my setup down below if you'd like to see the system from different angles.
I guess that's it.. Had a lot of questions for you guys. Thank you for your time and please enlighten me if you have anything to say about this setup.
I'm gonna need some advice on my rig. I've been using this like 4 years from now for gaming and surfing. I did some improvements on the rig but I'm not sure if I'm using it right or if I did something wrong. I just want to get the "best" out of this build. Here are the specs of it and some issues that I want to mention, the whole system and some questions about it down there. What I'd like to have is your comments and some advice on it. (fyi, I can't spend any money for it since I am unemployed at this very moment and will be for 3-5 months more.)
Specs
Click on components to go the manufacturer's website for the product itself. (as much detail as possible cos why not.)
Mobo: MSI 970 gaming socket AM3+
Cpu: AMD 8120 / 3.1 GHz Black Edition (couldn't find the official cpu page)
Vga: Sapphire Tri-X R9 290X 4G GDDR5
Memory(s): Silicon Power Xpower 16GB (2x8GB) DDR3 2133 Ram
Psu: Xilence XP700 700W 135MM Fan Gaming Series 80+ Power Supply
Chasis: Zalman Z3 plus ATX mid tower Computer Case
Ssd: 500gb Samsung ssd 750 evo -> contains my geniune win10 pro, and games and stuff.
Cpu Cooler: Zalman LQ 310
Chipset cooler: Xigmatek Porter Chipset Cooler (N881) interesting part here, I am using it but I don't know do I still need it, with a 8cm silent fan operated by motherboard. I'll be sharing HWmonitor temperatures because that was why I felt the need of using this "chipset cooler" because why not.
Hdd1: 2tb WD green 7200rpm sata 3.0 (used to be external but it's "external adapter circut board(not sure it's the name for it)" stopped working, now it's internal), contains my steam games but it has bad sectors in it. Sometimes I have to copy what I can from the game backup with Jfile recovery and make steam redownload the broken data.
Hdd2: 1tb WD blue 7200rpm sata 3.0 (empty) sometimes I install linux on it and be happy.
Hdd3: 2tb WD my book external usb 3.0 -> contains all my data (photos, backups, etc)
I don't always put both 2 internal hdd
Sound card: I use Asus Xonar DG 5.1 PCI soundcard because the on board sound quality of this particular motherboard of MSI is absolutely disgusting.
OK. It's not much right? But the performance I'm getting from it is not my issue and It's totally fine imo. But temperature levels and noise pollution totally are. Which is why I've decided to share all the details with my rig to you guys and hear you out.
I don't overclock it. It runs everything on stock with latest build of win10 pro as OS and always updated, latest drivers from amd for r9 290x, latest drivers of everything on the setup. I'm using it for gaming, surfing,
I do maintenance for once in 3 months; I change thermal paste, I remove dust and I believe the cable management is OK (not perfect but really enough to not to block the airflow if you check out some pics at the attachment part )
And I use this thermal paste (click to go the manufacturer website) maybe this is an issue?
TX Thermal Paste 30g model TXCCT3OG
Thermal conductivity ≥ 1.93 W/m-K
Thermal impedance < 0.255°C-in²/W
The airflow looks like this; (the weird heatsink at the middle is a chipset cooler which I stated on my specs)
So what do you think? Is the airflow ok? Should I keep using that chipset cooler or not?
There used to be the stock heatsink on the chipset which is that;
But I've changed it with a custom, bigger heatsink works with a 8cm fan that I mentioned up here because my pc was running hot. But that didn't work. Yeah AMD systems runs hot I know. But still I wanted to do something about it. I wonder why it runs so hot and I don't know whether some Intel systems overheat that much too. Below there are temps.
Here are my temperatures from HwMonitor after gaming (Dirt Rally on ultra 1080p) for an hour;
When I was gaming, ambient temp was 15-20 celcius
See the tmpin1 temp on hwmonitor? 91 celcius max. I mean what is that? It runs 80 - 90 celcius when I game. It's not the chipset in that case right? Because installing an aftermarket heatsink didn't help. I was getting the same temperature levels before installing it and now it still runs hot.
About the noise issue, some might say it's silent when it's idle. But I can't stand even to that noise and while gaming, I use headphones to not to hear it. But I have a surround sound system and I'm not hearing it clearly when the volume is low enough to not to wake anyone up in the house. This is the best I could get with what I have.. I mean, would Noctua fans run more silent? Sorry I can't measure the sound of it and post it here somehow. But I can say it's loud for me. Maybe it's not loud for any other user out there but I don't know.
How is your system running? For example if you have an intel system and an nvidia card, would that run more silent? how can I make this rig "dead silent"? or I can't? If I have a custom water cooled system with all the blocks and stuff, would it be silent?
And of course what do you suggest me to do with what I have? If i spend a little on something you suggest, what can I achieve? Is something wrong with this rig? I need all of your suggestions and comments really.
And I included some more photos of my setup down below if you'd like to see the system from different angles.
I guess that's it.. Had a lot of questions for you guys. Thank you for your time and please enlighten me if you have anything to say about this setup.
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