Overclocking and noise abatement

[storm-chaser]

Do you guys tolerate loud rigs when it comes to overclocking? I was thinking it would be fun to see who has the quiet and the fast rigs by posting a quick video with your rig and CPU at full throttle on a torture test. I will post a video of my 5.0 ghz 9600KF rig which I've finally been able to strike a decent balance between speed and sound. It would be interesting to see some other rigs and get a better perspective on other members setups as well.

 

[joemama]

I already have a loud-as-hell GPU so it doesn't really matter.
BTW what voltage are you using to run 9600KF at 5GHz?

 

[storm-chaser]

I have the video made now I'm in the process of uploading we can talk about details at that point. The v(core) you are going to see me running is high in comparisons to the flagship 9900kf but this is a known fact the 9600kf requires a bit more voltage at 5ghz

 

[freeagent]

Mine probably isn’t the loudest, but I’m sure it’s up there. When she is wound up on a scale of 1-10 it would probably be a 7. I couldn’t sleep next to it with those iPPC @ 3K.

 

[cvaldes]

Well the custom cooling aficionados will come up on top.

Posting a video is meaningless. The loudness of the system depends heavily on the microphone quality, distance, ambient temperature, etc. Moreover, the sound capture profile of a microphone may end up being considerably different than what your ears hear. Plus there's the fact that some frequencies end up being more annoying to some humans than other frequencies for other humans.

It's not just a sound level measurement. There's also the notion of noise variability. A cooling system that frequently changed in peak sound levels may actually be more annoying than a slightly louder system (on average) that stays constant.

 

[bobbybluz]

Noise? My new favorite 120mm fans are the Delta FFB1212EH-PWM's. 140-150cfm and I'm getting them for $10 each including shipping from China when I buy 4 or more. They've replaced the Silverstone FM121/EverFlow R121225BU's (same fan, different colors and the Everflows are 1/2 the price) that only push a wimpy 110cfm that I've been using for over a decade. I also have a stash of the 252cfm Delta 120 x 38mm beasts that scare my cats and suck far too much power.

 

[storm-chaser]

I already have a loud-as-hell GPU so it doesn't really matter.
BTW what voltage are you using to run 9600KF at 5GHz?

The v core is set to override mode at 1.373 volts and with LLC set on 3 it pushes at exactly same voltage under full CPU load. Mother board PWM frequency is set at 1000kz to minimize ripple and assure very precise voltage control at all times.

Well the custom cooling aficionados will come up on top.

Posting a video is meaningless. The loudness of the system depends heavily on the microphone quality, distance, ambient temperature, etc. Moreover, the sound capture profile of a microphone may end up being considerably different than what your ears hear. Plus there's the fact that some frequencies end up being more annoying to some humans than other frequencies for other humans.

It's not just a sound level measurement. There's also the notion of noise variability. A cooling system that frequently changed in peak sound levels may actually be more annoying than a slightly louder system (on average) that stays constant.

So my next challenge will be to set all fans to a static rpm so I don't get any noise accumulation at all. Going to see if I can bring core voltage down as well.

Can seem to get 600rpm across all four fans. Going to test the OC overnight to see if we didn't lose it due to heat soak.

 

[cvaldes]

So my next challenge will be to set all fans to a static rpm so I don't get any noise accumulation at all. Going to see if I can bring core voltage down as well.

Can seem to get 600rpm across all four fans. Going to test the OC overnight to see if we didn't lose it due to heat soak.

Well for most users this is utterly pointless. The system load is variable not constant.

I have a couple of gaming systems; for sure the load varies on what games I run and each game has peaks and troughs in GPU usage. Remember the old meme "But will it play Crysis?" That was before memes were named memes. It points out that Crysis demanded more system resources than Solitaire or Minesweeper.

I also have a productivity desktop system and a notebook PC. Those have an even greater variability in system load. Office applications? Nearly zero load. Handbrake encode? CPU maxxed out. Video conferencing? Having 50 tabs open in a massive resource pig like Google Chrome? Load depends on individual software.

When I use my systems, I'm not running static benchmarks. I'm running a variety of software.

The main takeaway is to spec your cooling system to provide adequate performance for the various activities you perform over the long run.

Sure, my NZXT H1 isn't silent during a Handbrake encode but A.) the noise it makes isn't that bad, and B.) the system runs fast enough where the encode is acceptably quick. Some day I may end up transcode 8K video to 4K and the current components won't be fast enough. But today it is good enough to transcode 4K video to 1080p.

But for sure, setting your system fan(s) to a static speed is unrealistic for the typical PC user's varied tasks. This is like measuring overall fuel economy by driving at a constant 35 mph. That is not a realistic real world usage case. The world has freeways, stop lights, a little old lady in the crosswalk, driveways, spaces in parking lots.

 

[FireFox]

Well the custom cooling aficionados will come up on top.

Most of them, some custom cooling are way louder than AirCooling.

 

[cvaldes]

This is true if you don't use graphics cards.

Remember that modern graphics cards generate WAY more heat than CPUs.

I will reiterate that I don't consider overclocking a primary usage case. I do normal stuff like office productivity, web browsing, e-mailing as well as leisure activity like gaming.

I don't know of a single mainstream GPU that is quieter than the same PCB with an aftermarket custom cooling solution based on a full coverage waterblock. Zero.

I assume that Germans have the same general access to graphics cards as Americans do. Moreover, I actually have German waterblocks on my CPUs and GPUs (I'm using excellent Alphacool units).

 

[storm-chaser]

Well for most users this is utterly pointless. The system load is variable not constant.

I have a couple of gaming systems; for sure the load varies on what games I run and each game has peaks and troughs in GPU usage. Remember the old meme "But will it play Crysis?" That was before memes were named memes. It points out that Crysis demanded more system resources than Solitaire or Minesweeper.

I also have a productivity desktop system and a notebook PC. Those have an even greater variability in system load. Office applications? Nearly zero load. Handbrake encode? CPU maxxed out. Video conferencing? Having 50 tabs open in a massive resource pig like Google Chrome? Load depends on individual software.

When I use my systems, I'm not running static benchmarks. I'm running a variety of software.

The main takeaway is to spec your cooling system to provide adequate performance for the various activities you perform over the long run.

Sure, my NZXT H1 isn't silent during a Handbrake encode but A.) the noise it makes isn't that bad, and B.) the system runs fast enough where the encode is acceptably quick. Some day I may end up transcode 8K video to 4K and the current components won't be fast enough. But today it is good enough to transcode 4K video to 1080p.

But for sure, setting your system fan(s) to a static speed is unrealistic for the typical PC user's varied tasks. This is like measuring overall fuel economy by driving at a constant 35 mph. That is not a realistic real world usage case. The world has freeways, stop lights, a little old lady in the crosswalk, driveways, spaces in parking lots.

All good points on the real world unknown workload coming at you fast with lots of power demand. But that is sort of my goal with this machine. Essentially what I am aiming for is to build a system that can run all *most* desktop jobs including gaming with the fans more or less between 6 and 700 rpm.

 

[nguyen]

I have my radiator fans tuned to water temperature for years now, since water temp rise slowly, so do fan speed ramp up.

 

[storm-chaser]

In other words, build a loop with so much overhead I don't need to push the fans above idle speeds.

 

[cvaldes]

All good points on the real world unknown workload coming at you fast with lots of power demand. But that is sort of my goal with this machine. Essentially what I am aiming for is to build a system that can run all *most* desktop jobs including gaming with the fans more or less between 6 and 700 rpm.

I have a solved scenario for my builds.

The GPU generates the most heat so that is my primary focus. On my primary gaming rig, I have a 360mm Alphacool radiator cooled by three Noctua NF-F12 fans. If I run the Unigine Heaven benchmark with the standard ASUS overclock, the RTX 3080 tops out at 56 degrees Celsius. The fan speed is about 1150 rpm at full bore.

At idle, the fans are running around 580 rpm and I'm not trying to drain every last rpm out of them. During normal desktop usage, they probably run around 800 rpm.

With a large enough PC chassis, you might be able to stick a bunch of oversized radiators in them to soak up all of the heat your components generate. Or maybe you should just run them as an open bench.

I wish you had clearly stated your intentions early. It would have saved me a lot of time typing.

I hereby bow out of further discussion in this thread.

Best of luck to all.

 

[storm-chaser]

This might be chall up h

I have a solved scenario for my builds.

The GPU generates the most heat so that is my primary focus. On my primary gaming rig, I have a 360mm Alphacool radiator cooled by three Noctua NF-F12 fans. If I run the Unigine Heaven benchmark with the standard ASUS overclock, the RTX 3080 tops out at 56 degrees Celsius. The fan speed is about 1150 rpm at full bore.

At idle, the fans are running around 580 rpm and I'm not trying to drain every last rpm out of them. During normal desktop usage, they probably run around 800 rpm.

With a large enough PC chassis, you might be able to stick a bunch of oversized radiators in them to soak up all of the heat your components generate. Or maybe you should just run them as an open bench.

I wish you had clearly stated your intentions early. It would have saved me a lot of time typing.

I hereby bow out of further discussion in this thread.

Best of luck to all.

I'm sorry? Where did things go wrong? I was interested in your insight never once rejected your advice. My best analogy would be to say for example putting a big rig radiator in a small sports sedan so the fan itself never has come off the idle stop no matter what traffic conditions it faces. Remember I'm just tinkering here no big deal.

 

[FireFox]

Essentially what I am aiming for is to build a system that can run all *most* desktop jobs including gaming with the fans more or less between 6 and 700 rpm.

Sure you can achieve that but my question is: what about summer when you have a 30c room temp, will your fans be that efficient at 600/700Rpm?

 

[storm-chaser]

I have a solved scenario for my builds.

The GPU generates the most heat so that is my primary focus. On my primary gaming rig, I have a 360mm Alphacool radiator cooled by three Noctua NF-F12 fans. If I run the Unigine Heaven benchmark with the standard ASUS overclock, the RTX 3080 tops out at 56 degrees Celsius. The fan speed is about 1150 rpm at full bore.

At idle, the fans are running around 580 rpm and I'm not trying to drain every last rpm out of them. During normal desktop usage, they probably run around 800 rpm.

With a large enough PC chassis, you might be able to stick a bunch of oversized radiators in them to soak up all of the heat your components generate. Or maybe you should just run them as an open bench.

I wish you had clearly stated your intentions early. It would have saved me a lot of time typing.

I hereby bow out of further discussion in this thread.

Best of luck to all.

I'm sorry? Where did things go wrong? I was interested in your insight never once rejected your advice. My best analogy would be to say for example putting a big rig radiator in a small sports sedan so the fan itself never has come off the idle stop no matter what traffic conditions it faces. Remember I'm just tinkering here no big deal

Sure you can achieve that but my question is: what about summer when you have a 30c room temp, will your fans be that efficient at 600/700Rpm?

Right, environment changes will effect loop performance I'm just playing around here having fun testing the limits of my loop.

I love when

Noise? My new favorite 120mm fans are the Delta FFB1212EH-PWM's. 140-150cfm and I'm getting them for $10 each including shipping from China when I buy 4 or more. They've replaced the Silverstone FM121/EverFlow R121225BU's (same fan, different colors and the Everflows are 1/2 the price) that only push a wimpy 110cfm that I've been using for over a decade. I also have a stash of the 252cfm Delta 120 x 38mm beasts that scare my cats and suck far too much power.

I too have a decent PWM 120mm fan. It's the noctua nf XXX or something. It goes to 3000 rpm which I really really love if I am in the mood for noise. That's the fan on the alphacool 120 rad..

I have a solved scenario for my builds.

The GPU generates the most heat so that is my primary focus. On my primary gaming rig, I have a 360mm Alphacool radiator cooled by three Noctua NF-F12 fans. If I run the Unigine Heaven benchmark with the standard ASUS overclock, the RTX 3080 tops out at 56 degrees Celsius. The fan speed is about 1150 rpm at full bore.

At idle, the fans are running around 580 rpm and I'm not trying to drain every last rpm out of them. During normal desktop usage, they probably run around 800 rpm.

With a large enough PC chassis, you might be able to stick a bunch of oversized radiators in them to soak up all of the heat your components generate. Or maybe you should just run them as an open bench.

I wish you had clearly stated your intentions early. It would have saved me a lot of time typing.

I hereby bow out of further discussion in this thread.

Best of luck to all.

This people is what we call a thread snob. If that's the way you want it: don't let the door hit you on the way out. Ps I validated this chip at 5.6ghz on this tightly packed cluster of power.

 

[FireFox]

Right, environment changes will effect loop performance I'm just playing around here having fun testing the limits of my loop.

Yesterday with a room temp of 29c i tested the fans at 800rpm ( inaudible ) played 3 hours of COD CW and the result was water temp 39c, GPU temp 51c and CPU max temp 78c in 1 core, average CPU temp was 50c/56c, i put my hand in the back of the PC where the 2x rear exhaust fans are and the heat that was coming out was kinda hot.

 

[storm-chaser]

What do you guys think about the concept of running two pumps? Will this improve flow rates?

I know some people knock this case but keep in mind it's the only thing I have left, so I am stuck with it for now. That means it's the only thing I can tinker with. That means the only content I can deliver is on that.

 

[FireFox]

What do you guys think about the concept of running two pumps? Will this improve flow rates?

I know some people knock this case but keep in mind it's the only thing I have left, so I am stuck with it for now. That means it's the only thing I can tinker with. That means the only content I can deliver is on that.

It can/will depending your actual flow rate.
Sometimes adding another pump it's just wasting money chasing diminishing returns.

Exclusive for you
https://www.reddit.com/r/watercooling/comments/5qxotg

 

[storm-chaser]

Guys I had to dial down to 4.5Ghz more results on that later. I also added a 500 watt halogen work light to make this even more challenging. Stay tuned! Going to see if I can run all my fans at 0 rpm and overclock the pump itself for better performance.

Correction: OVERVOLT the pump not overclock it. That would just be silly!

finally found my second 75 hz gaming monitor. just missing the HDMI cable at this point. And check it ouut! avril is looking pretty hot if you ask me. especially since I'll have two of her once I get my second monitor up and running. (two Avrils at once) damn, that would be like dying and going to heaven.

 

[GerKNG]

normally yes.
but in these days absolutely not.

when we talk about overclocking a modern CPU or GPU, you increase your powerconsumption by 50% to gain 2-4% at best. we are not in the late 2000s anymore where a q6600 overclocks from 2.4 Ghz to like 3.7-4.0 Ghz. we talk about (at best) single core boost on all cores as the absolute limit.

i'd rather undervolt

 

[storm-chaser]

normally yes.
but in these days absolutely not.

when we talk about overclocking a modern CPU or GPU, you increase your powerconsumption by 50% to gain 2-4% at best.


i'd rather undervolt

There is some wisdom here people.

Well damn. That escalated quickly.

 

[FireFox]

Well damn. That escalated quickly.

WTF is that?

 

[bobbybluz]

WTF is that?

A Craigslist "gaming computer"...