RAM Settings, Fan Setup, GA Motherboard, and PSU Questions

[killacam7478]

Hi Everyone,

I have a bunch of random questions and I was hoping someone could help me with them.

1) I have 2 different kinds of RAM, 2 sticks (2X4GB) of Kingston HyperX Red Series at 1600Mhz Cas 9, and 2 sticks (2X8GB) of GSkill Ripjaw 1866Mhz Cas 10. I have them staggered so they are in dual-channel mode. In my BIOS, I set the speed to 1866Mhz, because it was defaulting to 1333Mhz. Am I possibly losing any speed by having two different speeds of RAM? Should I go into the BIOS and manually set the timing to match what the manufacturers say the timing is for them? Not sure if that will make it any better.

2) Fan Setup - I've been toying with fans for quite some time now, trying to figure out the best set up. All my fans are cheap ones. I have:
1 Coolermaster 120mm at 2000RPM
1 Masscool 120mm at 1500RPM
4 Kingwin 120mm at 950RPM
1 Enermax 120mm at 1200RPM
1 Coolermaster fan that came with the Hyper Plus Heatsink
Then the 140mm and 120mm NZXT fans that came with the case

The Coolermaster and the MassCool ones are really loud, and I think they might be broken (make a weird buzzing sound sometimes). So I took those out and replaced them with the Kingwin.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ericyoo/9063879958/

Basically I have two intake fans in the front of the case, one fan blowing upwards from the bottom of the case, the NZXT fans which are exhaust in back and on top, another fan exhausting from the top, then push/pull on the heatsink. I keep checking temperatures and I get mixed results. However, I never get to dangerous temps, so I don't think I have major issues, but I was wondering if people put in more fans than they might need. The one I have from the bottom of the case as intake seems to possibly go in the opposite direction of my GPU (HD6670), so I think it's a few degrees higher than without it. For Push/Pull, I noticed that when I put the high RPM fan in, my CPU cores seem to be a few degrees lower, but those high RPM ones I have are really loud and annoying. Do most of you use a fan controller? None of my fans are PWM, and I wasn't sure if I have to buy PWM fans to allow them to hook up to a fan controller (was considering the NZXT Sentry 2, the LCD screen one). I don't see many PWM fans at the local computer stores, and they are kinda pricey (esp. if I am going to buy multiple). The Gigabyte manual for the UD5H board was a bit confusing to me, I plugged my fans into the various SYS_FAN slots. It says SYS_FAN1 can be controlled, but does that mean only with a PWM fan? I would ideally like my fans to only be loud if my computer is under load.

3) PSU - Although my machine is running fine, I have this addiction to wanting to upgrade parts, etc. The one thing I can upgrade significantly is my GPU. I have an ASUS HD6670. It's a big step above the HD4000 I was running, and compared to my old computer (HD5670, but I think it was like a mobile version or something because the 6670 seems to get much better results). I am starting to see a lot of deals for 7XXX GPU's, but I have a feeling I'll need a better PSU (currently 430W Corsair). My question: HWMonitor shows 5 voltages for the power supply. Is there a way I can add up those numbers and see how much power I'm using? I don't really understand rails/volts/watts, etc. I know they have calculators online, but with all the extra junk I have (all my fans and a memory card reader), I have a feeling I could be calculating wrong and I wanted to budget for a PSU if I end up needing a new one.

Thanks for the help!

 

[c00lbeans]

1. I believe you should set your ram to what ever the slowest one is. So set everything at 1600 cl 9-9-9-24 or what ever those sticks say on the label. Your current settings are probably unstable. Because ram is expensive right now, I would sell the 2x4mb kinston sticks and just use those ripjaws. When ram comes back down buy another 2x8 ripjaw set.

2. Google your case model and look for other peoples fan setups. It looks like what you have is overkill, so if temps seem high, its probably your thermal paste.

Your sys_fan_1 PWM header is compatible with 3 pin fans. In the bios if you choose smart fan controll you should select voltage instead PWM, becuase the 4th pin your not using is for PWM controll.

Look closely at the 4 pin header and you'll see that the locating tab on the header is offset a bit so that you can properly line up and use a 3-pin connector.

Google how PWM fans work.

3. No, you need one of these http://www.amazon.com/P3-International-P4400-Electricity-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU?tag=vglnk-c1001-20
HWmonitor is not showing you all voltages for your power supply. The 12v is your main power supply, Might be a 5v and 3.3v also, they are not as important, and mostly show the same numbers at all times(so nothing really usefull about them). The rest are most likely stuff on your motherboard like Vcore, Ram voltage, your VCCIO/VCCSA and other stuff that all mostly feeds off the 12v and 5v rail in your cpu. If your see your 12v dipping into the 11s under heavy load then your psu might have issues. Google how CPUs work and the names of the voltages and you will find more specifics on how things work and what to check and what they actually are.

 

[killacam7478]

Hey Coolbeans, thanks for the info, much appreciated. I ended up buying that fan controller just for fun, since I had a gift card. I realized after getting that during idle, there is no point to run all those fans because the temp doesn't really change much. Under load, running them seems to cool it down a bit. So I can keep the LED lights and fan noise down when I'm not doing anything intensive.

My temps are actually within the norm (maybe even a bit better). Mid 30's for idle, high 60's to low 70's running Prime torture test. I just got all those fans and such because they were free after rebate, and just to mess around. I have a Coolermaster Hyper 212 and it seems to keep my cores cool enough when overclocking.

I'll try out the RAM speed and see if it changes my Geekbench score. I didn't even think of selling some of that RAM, but good point because my comp never uses that much RAM.

Thanks for the tips on the power too, I think I'll save my money as everything seems to run efficiently so probably won't upgrade my PSU unless I end up getting a better GPU.