[BLKMGK]

Yeah, this board is a winner IMO. I do wish we could figure out the sound stuff though. I cannot get stereo output for some reason despite multiple attempts but others seem to get it no problem - very weird! Folks trying to get 7.1 output via HDMI are also running into issues that aren't hardware specific either so even if we get HDMI sound it doesn't mean that uncompressed audio is going to pass merrily along. Still, it's nice to cut down on cabling <shrug> This board is cheap enough I may go ahead and upgrade my current primary system just because working with it is interesting heh Okay maybe the CPU while I'm at it jsut to have something cooler running...

[spozen]

BLKMGK,

I hope you are not talking about the E7300 now? Becasue i just ordered one, is it running too hot?

[Snowflake]

Well, anytime you overclock something it's going to run warmer than normal. It's been mentioned many times in many threads that you need 3GHz to run HD video smoothly. You can overclock an E7300, but you'd be better off spending the extra $50 to get an E8400 or E8500 instead, and running it at its rated speed. It'll run cooler, and depending on your configuration, you might even be able to run it fanless... Due to the fan and heatsink configuration in my case, I don't seem to need a CPU fan right now.

[spozen]

Yeah fanless would be nice but you need to have a extreme heatsink for that something like Thermalright Ultra-120 which is quite big and not that suitable in a HTPC case.

Take a look at this the the overcloking world record with stock cooler for the E7300 is 4,7GHz. http://www.ripping.org/database.php?cpuid=696

Also i was going to buy the E8400 but it was out of stock, but it think this will be just fine, we will see when i get everything.

[olympia]

Yes, please!
Also would like to know more about the benefits with XBMC upgrade - mostly to get auto refreshrate change?! Something more?
/O

Available here:
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=42863

[olympia]

Well, anytime you overclock something it's going to run warmer than normal. It's been mentioned many times in many threads that you need 3GHz to run HD video smoothly.

1. If you are not changing/ increasing the voltage settings, your CPU shouldn't be warmer, even if you overclock it

2. My E7300 @ stock speed (2.66) plays killa sample without dropped frames (only 10-12 at the very begining, and no more during the clip)

[BLKMGK]

Umm whoa!!!

I have two systems, the one I just built for my girlfriend with the E7300 (Edit: whoops her's is the smaller cache one not the E7300 - number escapes me but is in other threads!) and HDMI audio and the one in my sig which uses a 2.66ghz 65nm CPU that is overclocked. the 65nm chip runs hotter than the 45nm and cannot overclock as well - however mine can go over 3ghz if I choose.

as for the 45nm running "hotter" because it was overclocked - B.S.! Intel "bins" their CPUs by testing them. If a CPU tests at 3ghz but they are short on 2.6ghz CPUs for that day guess how that CPU gets marked? Yup, 2.6ghz! The 45nm stuff has been around awhile too which means the process is well worked out - they are nto having to work hard to get 3ghz CPUs. That means that almost all of the 45nm chips being made are 3ghz CAPABLE. So why would one run hotter than another? They won't. you primarily get heat from overclocking when you are forced to bump CPU voltages. This is done when a CPU isn't quite making it to the speed you want, voltage will stabilize it usually. It will also make the chip heatup - often to the point that it's a losing battle of heat over speed. My Q6600 is this way - it ALMOST hits 3ghz but the fans have to run HARD. It's fast for video encoding but it's a headache to have running.

When I overclocked the 2ghz Celeron to 3ghz I didn't have to bump voltage. When I overclocked the 65nm C2D to 3ghz I didn't have to bump voltage, when I clocked the 45nm C2D I didn't have to bump voltage. If you don't have to bump voltage than the CPU will run no hotter than it's not overclocked counterpart - there's no reason for it to run hotter! Overclocking isn't magic and neither is heat management.... Make sense?

So for the record, I wish to replace the 65nm CPU I have with a 45nm CPU because the 45nm CPUs run cooler out of the box and draw less power not because it or any other heavily overclocked CPU I own is overheating except maybe my quad I also happen to need to build some computers for some children and this is an excellent excuse to give them some CPUs I don't want and allow me to upgrade with a clear conscience :p

Edit: as for fanless - the heatsink on my 2.66ghz 65nm CPU nearly fell off once upon a time due to Intel's crappy heatsink attachment. Still ran 3ghz, still played video perfectly, I only noticed it because I was in the case playing around! These CPU can take heat pretty well and will slow down if they begin to overheat I think. I was pretty surprised it ran as well as it did with like 3 of the 4 heatsink legs popped!

[Snowflake]

Interesting. I haven't done real-world tests, but I was under the impression that a CPU doing more work (running at 3GHz instead of 2.66, for example) would need to dissipate more heat. So you're saying that as along as the voltage remains constant, the temperature will remain constant? I'm not sure I buy that, but then again i'm not an electrical engineer... Just a mechanical one.

But as a mech eng., I do understand cooling. I have a Scythe Ninja Mini on my E8500. The Scythe sits directly in front of one of the case exit fans on the Fusion case (within a few mm), so the only place for the fan that comes on the Scythe would be directly on the opposite side of the cooler, blowing through the heatsink and directly into the exit fan. This is just wasted effort, since i'm not doing anything particularly tasking to the CPU (no overclocking or playing with voltage).

And it's *very* quiet.

[BLKMGK]

No that's not what I said! What I said was that a chip overclocked to 3ghz is not going to run hotter than a chip marked as being 3ghz - they are essentially the SAME CPU. Higher clock will make for higher temps but not hotter than a CPU already designed for those temps.

As for your cooling setup - I'd suggest bridging those few mm between fan and heatsink. Air will take the path of least resistance and you are likely not drawing nearly as much air through the heatsink as you might like to. And in fact you ARE doing demanding things if you are playing HD videos on this machine, it's why we've found that we need the CPUs we do. HD video pushes the CPU on both cores. When folks go into their XBMC GUI and find the CPU at 100% due to who knows what that is ALSO demanding - the CPU is maxxed out! If the CPU wasn't taxed we'd be using slower CPUs.

Adding a proper fan on there wouldn't hurt if you cannot bridge the gap and even if you can bridge that gap would probably lower temps a bit <shrug> A big fan turning slowly wouldn't be loud but I wouldn't resort to another fan unless you were sure it was needed, CPUs can run warm just fine and need not be ice cold. BTW you would be surprised at how restricted the CFM of a fan can be pushing out through some of the grills in various cases, especially if the flow of air INTO the case is restricted. I used to remove the metal grills on my XBOX just to bump up the airflow leaving my cases and on my main box I put in a slightly larger fan <shrug>

[Snowflake]

No that's not what I said! What I said was that a chip overclocked to 3ghz is not going to run hotter than a chip marked as being 3ghz - they are essentially the SAME CPU. Higher clock will make for higher temps but not hotter than a CPU already designed for those temps.

Ah, yes, now I understand, and I agree. The problem is how do you know that your 2.66GHz chip is really a 3GHz chip that's been marked at 2.66 because they were short on a shipment?

As for your cooling setup - I'd suggest bridging those few mm between fan and heatsink. Air will take the path of least resistance and you are likely not drawing nearly as much air through the heatsink as you might like to.

In this case the fan is between the heatsink and the exit grille, and the fan is blowing *out* of the case. So the fan is creating a slight vacuum in that 2mm gap. This will draw air through the heatsink, as it's easier for air to come straight through the heatsink and into the fan than it would be to go around the heatsink through the narrow spaces around it. Some will leak through, I agree, but I think the effect is marginal. It might be worth mentioning that my day job is designing enclosures for consumer electronics, and heat management is a critical part of that... I've got a fair bit of real-world experience here.

And in fact you ARE doing demanding things if you are playing HD videos on this machine, it's why we've found that we need the CPUs we do.

True, but what I was getting at is that i'm running a 3.16GHz CPU (not 3) and an NVidia 9400. Both are above and beyond what's needed to run smooth HD video, and I haven't seen either CPU at 100% yet (only to 96% running the killasample). So i'm not really running as hard as people who are overclocking "true" 2.66GHz processors and Intel graphics.

BTW you would be surprised at how restricted the CFM of a fan can be pushing out through some of the grills in various cases, especially if the flow of air INTO the case is restricted. I used to remove the metal grills on my XBOX just to bump up the airflow leaving my cases and on my main box I put in a slightly larger fan <shrug>

I see this every day in the cases I design... Providing enough intake air is an extreme challenge for electronics that are meant to be carried around and yet need cooling. The Antec Fusion case, however, has exceptionally good airflow management, and some would say an excessive number of intake air vents.

Still, I won't be able to confirm that going fanless on the CPU is a good idea until I can figure out why the info screens are only giving me ? for the temperatures. Maybe when the next Live release hits that will be fixed... I'm not sure I want to go to the effort of rebuilding from SVN.

[GileraGFR]

I'm gonna get my hands on a Sugo SG02B-F in a review here it shows a cpu cooler designed by Silverstone, the NT06-E (a more recent vversion than the review) that uses the fan from a standard ATX PSU to cool it.

Its the only problem i have with my setup at the moment, its SFF so the PSU is a funny shape so can't replace with a better one and a tad noisy. Plus i've never trusted the never heard of brands on the sides of them.

[BLKMGK]

Snowflake - even if it was tested at 2.66ghz if it runs at 3ghz it's not going to be any hotter than a standard 3ghz CPU. As I said, almost ALL of the CPU being produced at 45nm as C2D are hitting that speed easily. Heck, the E8400 in my desktop was one of the early ones and has been running 3.8ghz 24X7 since day one. It will go 4ghz too but not for an hours long 100% maxxed out transcode. <shrug> These CPU are rated conservatively and experience has shown that pretty much all of them will hit the needed 3ghz or more. Heck the Celeron I had took a 50% overclock from it's rated, and the lower end model Celerons are also hitting 3ghz - they are rated at like 1.6

If your cooling experience says that will work go for it. I know some of the Dell have a similar setup where a single fan cools chassis and CPU heatsink - however they shroud the entire heatsink and duct it out the back much like what I have suggested to you. <shrug> It will either work or not, lots of stuff looks either good or bad on paper and then defies common sense!

GileraGFR - Have you considered swapping out the fan in the P/S? Is possible to do that as well! Consider trimming the grills over the fan too as they can create noise - removing every other bar for instance might help. That heatsink does look nice, just make sure it fits in your case! Big fan moving slow ought to be nice and quiet. Better yet just hide the silly case somewhere

[rodercot]

Guys,

Going to 3Ghz on a 7300 is nothing for the stock cooler. I ran a M2N-SLI dlx with an Passive 8600GT a x-plosion 7.1 sound card and a pvr-150 in a Zalman hd-135 with AMD-6400 x2 and a Ninja mini passive I had two 120mm silenX fans pulling air in at the front and two 60mm or 80mm pulling air out the back. The case was packed and never once ran into heat issues.

This P5N7a with the 7300 at 3Ghz is running in the same case half the temps the amd system did. Unless you are trying to majorly overclock or upping the voltage considerably you should have no issues. I USE only Artic Silver 5 as a transfer compound though, even with a brand new CPU I clean of the stuff on the new h/s an install Artic Silver to Guarantee Excellent thermal transfer.

If anything I would be focusing on a H/S for the GPU/Southbridge.

I should post some temps - these are CDN EH!!!

the Amd system never saw above 55 degrees C
The intel system at 3Ghz in the same case runs a stable 32-35 degrees C it may hit 40 with HD and to be fair the Silent 8600 Gt I was using is no longer in the system and that thing is like a Freakin Radiator - LOL.

I will be looking to upgrade the H/S on the GPU in the future that will generate some heat which will drive the system temps UP.

The new 180.18 driver has a temp reporting window, not sure if the other drivers do with xconfig utlity in Ubuntu. but my 8600GT Silent was running at 85 degrees C in a full tower case (test machine)

Dave

[BLKMGK]

When I ran watercooling on an older system of mine a really big part of the reason why I did it was the GPU temps. That sucker ran a good 15-20 degrees HOTTER than my CPU. It never had issues but WOW it was bad! Water brought it way way way down, water rocks! However it is a huge PITA and expensive, dead quiet though

On the embedded graphics this new ASUS board runs I have seen folks comment on the temps the GPU hits. However we're not using it for video decoding and even though the temps can be high they aren't out of spec. A small fan could be used to better control the GPU and chipset temps but frankly I ain't messing with it YMMV. Oh the NVIDIA panel I have has graphics temp too, I have a passive cooled GPU in my main box, yes it gets hot - oh well! I think it will soon be replaced with the new ASUS board....

[spozen]

When VDPAU works with XBMC will we see heat problems on the ASUS board? Or is this just paranoia? If the board dies because of heat issues it shouldn't affect the warranty right?