Jump to content

Tf Computer Nerds (Gamers, Overclockers, Server-Ists Etc)


Muel

Recommended Posts

This actually reminds me that I was in a coffee shop in Bristol the other day and clocked some dude editing a video on Premiere Pro CS6 on a dinky little laptop and I had a brief debate with myself about whether to ask him what laptop it was, how well it worked, etc. I then thought about how I'd feel about some randomer interrupting me when I'm mid-edit and realised it would be a fairly spectacular dick move.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I love being an engineering nerd :D

My recent bout of pc upgrading and overclocking has resulted in a higher thermal output and the requirement for it to be quiet.

Currently spec is: -

i5 750 @4.2ghz (2.67ghz stock)

8gb ddr3 1600 @ 1680mhz

gtx660 @ stock clocks

128gb crucial mx100 ssd

1tb seagate 7200rpm sshd

The cpu is cooled by a thermalright truespirit bw140, the case is currently open but will be closed up soon. Full load temperatures peak at 76°C @ 20°C ambient, idle temps are ambient +8°C; on idle the machine is virtually silent compared to a mouse click.

I was finding that the gpu fan was pretty noisy in comparison and peak temps were hitting 75°C after 20 minutes of furmark stress testing. Looking around for an aftermarket cooler for the gtx660 and virtually nothing is available, especially a passive one as I intend to use a case fan to draw cold air from the bottom of the machine directly onto the gpu. Because I really like the design and quality of thermalright kit I picked up a thermalright hr03gtx from ebay in spain for a tenner :)

The hr03gtx is designed for the gtx260/275/280 cards so won't actually fit the gtx660 without some modification! The 200 series gtx hole centres are 62mm, the centres on the gtx660 are 58mm so out came the dremel and after a little elongation of holes it fits! I added some passive ram heatsinks for good measure, not really required as the original heatsink didn't cool them but gives me some overhead for overclocking.

I've added a pair of enermax 140mm case fans to the bottom of my wall mounted, home built wooden case, they are completely silent and have a nice addition of a built in thermocouple and pwm controller so I can glue it to the heatpipes on the gpu if it struggles with cooling at low speeds.

Ran a furmark stress test again and after 20 minutes the gpu hasn't topped 48°C, a considerable drop from 75°C! I pinched the thermocouple between my fingers to increase the pwm speed and temps dropped to 45°C at full speed. I dare say that when I have the case side on and the airflow is much faster and more focussed it may be lower :)

Very happy indeed!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My computer has now sat almost unchanged for 2 years (new case and SSD), all the components have been the same since 2010. Starting to have multiple issue with it, like having to jiggle the HDMI and Ethernet cables to make them work, crashing if I have the power saving thing turned on that scales down the CPU clock, crashing unless I run extra volts at stock clocks etc. Problem is it still works so I can't bring myself to spend money on it. :lol:

The hr03gtx is designed for the gtx260/275/280 cards so won't actually fit the gtx660 without some modification! The 200 series gtx hole centres are 62mm, the centres on the gtx660 are 58mm so out came the dremel and after a little elongation of holes it fits! I added some passive ram heatsinks for good measure, not really required as the original heatsink didn't cool them but gives me some overhead for overclocking.

Gonna need pics of this Frankenstein card mate. :P

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This should murder it apart from the disk speed, that could be rectified by getting a 1tb sshd for 60 quid or so, that way you keep the storage but if you're working on a file more than once it's written to a small ssd which speeds up performance.

Just bouncing back to this post - how easy is it to fit a drive like that to a laptop? I thought most laptops were fairly kind of sealed up?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've done it in 10 mins tops. So you should manage it in 5.

Although that isn't a SSD, it's a hybrid dive. As cheap as SSDs are these days I wouldn't bother with a hybrid.

Edited by JT!
Link to comment
Share on other sites

True, as long as you don't require the tb storage a 256gb ssd would be a better call although a touch more expensive.

The only issue with replacing an existing laptop drive is you get the same thickness drive, just take it out and measure it :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Is that an issue? I thought all SSDs are thinner or at least the same as a standard laptop drive?

Also, a SSD will save a fair amount of your battery life.

2.5" hdd-s are usually 9mm thick, a 2.5"ssd is usualy 7mm, though you can get adaptors for a few quid

my next build will consist of SSDs only, no mechanical disks.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just as a quick "I have no idea what I'm doing" post - would buying this be a mistake? http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-p189sa-15-6-laptop-white-10075548-pdt.html#cat-0

Obviously it's got the slightly lower hard drive speed but aside from that I should be good to go, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Others more knowledgable will say otherwise if I'm wrong, but I really think the hard drive speed should be a major factor in your choice for editing work because of the sheer amount of data transfer. 5400rpm is as slow as you can get as far as I know... That said, buying something with a slow HDD because you're going to swap it for an SSD is probably a smart move.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks to be a pretty good solid machine which should ace what you need. If you find you're struggling with hard disk speed then dropping an ssd in at a later date isn't the end of the world. You could probably get a usb disk enclosure to mount the 1.5tb in for storage :)

Edited by forteh
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just as a quick "I have no idea what I'm doing" post - would buying this be a mistake? http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-p189sa-15-6-laptop-white-10075548-pdt.html#cat-0

Obviously it's got the slightly lower hard drive speed but aside from that I should be good to go, right?

took a look around, it is the best you can get

Regarding drive speed: it will be fine... although ofc there is always an upgrade

Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you don't need a full HD screen then it looks pretty good.

Just as a quick "I have no idea what I'm doing" post - would buying this be a mistake? http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/computing/laptops/laptops/hp-pavilion-15-p189sa-15-6-laptop-white-10075548-pdt.html#cat-0

Obviously it's got the slightly lower hard drive speed but aside from that I should be good to go, right?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That's convenient because I'm currently typing this on one. Change scares me.

Also, why the f**k would you automatically enable "Reverse scrolling"? It basically means that when you scroll up/down using the mouse pad it goes the wrong way. As a default thing that option is checked. wut.

EDIT: Also, there's a frankly incredible amount of shit installed on this computer as standard. Still going through it all and uninstalling random programs and apps.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've been hovering my mouse over the order button at overclockers. Been meaning to shrink my computer for a while and kinda settling for the corsair carbide 240 and an asus z97 gryphon micro atx motherboard. My current CPU and GPUs are both compatible. Only other thing I need to replace is the CM hyper 212 heatsink which is too big, with a CPU watercooler of some sort.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...