Heat or Power?

[Cutless009]

So I recently started having problems with random reboots during gaming. At first I suspected the processor since I have it clocked at 4.2ghz for 24/7 use, so I popped out to windows and stress tested it.

It ran LinX all night at its highest setting and ran out 250 iterations, no errors, no reboots, no anything.

Ok fine, so I left it crunching all night, come back, no reboots, everything running fine.

Ok well maybe its some other part of the system, so I boot up Everest Ultimate, and set the stress test to stress the FPU, CPU, and RAM, let that run all night, come back, no restarts, no problems.

Ok so it must not be the cpu, right? Only other culprit I could think of was the graphics cards.

So open goes furmark, 640x480 windowed, runs fine, high fps, heat goes to ~81c, 1024x768, windows, FSAA16, nice fps, heat jumps to 85C.

1920x1200, full screen, FSAA16, ~57fps, heat jumps to ~93c, leave it running, sure enough, 4-5 minutes later, BAM, blue screen.


Symptons:

Whatever application/game is running, stops running, continues the last sound is was making, screen goes black and monitor loses signal for about 1 minute, then blue screen appears, dumps memory, reboots system. Upon reboot and POST, post reports "operating system missing", but as soon as I hit reset it POSTs fine and everything runs normal?

I cant decide, are the cards getting too hot, is it a bad card in general, did heat fry one of the cards, or is it just that the computer itself isnt getting enough power from this cheesy PSU to run so its shitting itself?

[zlojack]

How many cards are you running?

Test them one at a time and see what happens.

It sounds like they're overheating to me.

[Cutless009]

tri sli GTX 285's, and they get to ~91c highest temp. Thats too high even for a gpu I take it?

[zlojack]

Seems hot to me...

[Silverion77]

Well idk about the 285's heat tolerance, but my GX2 was considered to be a hot card and it gets around 70-80 (depending on use)

90 seems a little crazy...
U get any artifacts while u test it? Thats one general sign of overheating

[Cutless009]

nope no artifacts and runs smooth up until the bluescreen of doomages.

[Langer]

I had a lot of overheating issues when I was running tri 9800 SSC's - sounds like the exact same problem you're having.

The problem for me was heat.

My solution was bitch and bitch and eventually RMA's my 3x9800 SSC's to 3xGTX280 SSC's (for free). The GTX280's had the same heating problem so I then used one of them elsewhere.
In the end I was going to watercool them anyway, but I wanted the PCI-e slot for a RAID controller.

I suggest you loose the middle card, or strap some water to those babies.

[rubidium]

nope no artifacts and runs smooth up until the bluescreen of doomages.

I would repeat that stress while reaching for my trusty voltmeter to take a peep at the 12v lines in assorted places, and comparing with measurements at idle. Even better, if you have a multimeter that has a frequency measure (like a Fluke or even the mid-grade one from radio shack), you better be seeing 0Hz. If the PSU isn't handling the peak load, it may be crying uncle in the form of excessive switching noise getting by inadequate output capacitors.

rubidium

[Snyxxx]

With tri-SLI, I am sure the southbridge is getting a good work-out. How do you have it cooled? My southbridge gets really hot with just normal SLI.

[LowBrowser]

The same fucking thing kept happening to me, and as far as I know is going to again some time. It's either Fallout 3, which crashes all the time. Or it's Vista 64, which I personally like to blame (does stand up comedian act, so anybody here running Vista?).

[BiNGE]

With tri-SLI, I am sure the southbridge is getting a good work-out. How do you have it cooled? My southbridge gets really hot with just normal SLI.

You mean the North Bridge?

heh... anyway man I'll just say my 280, which has much more beefy cooling than the 285 would start to freak out at temps above 65C and at 70C+ it became grounds to crash the whole computer.

Heat will cause electrical components to fail and perform well under spec. I'd eliminate heat as well as continue to hunt for another possible solution to increase your stability with the pci-e (if the problem is there to begin with). One easy way to trouble shoot this is to see what windows says was the reason for your crash. If it has to do with a VGA device being "removed" or powering off then it's because heat caused it to fail. When you OC the headroom of the cards goes away and they'll crash at lower temps.

[Hondacity]

i'd say its the power ...

i have one gtx285 thats overclocked to 740/1400 and its asking for around 200w-dc

at 768/1450 its asking for around 220w-dc

if you have 3...thats 600w from the psu already...add in the i920.. thats over 700w

i say buy yourself a kill-a-watt and see foryourself the total power consumed.

i have problems with my 4.3ghz i940 and my gtx285 at 768mhz/1450...so i placed an order for the enermax..since its the only decent under 300$ psu i can find...

[Cutless009]

So I'm thinking of going with this set up for cooling:

Watercool Heatkiller GPU GTX285 x3 + tri sli link
DDC 3.2 pump w/ EK top
2x Swiffy 2x120 Stackable
4x Delta TFB1212GHE

Then beefing up the CPU loop with:

Swap 3 slipstreams in push to 6x Delta TFB1212GHE in push/pull on Feser Rad
Add BP EVGA X58 NB/SB Block and MOSFET block to loop
Upgrade from Kaze Master FC's to Lamptron FC-2


And I'll also be throwing my T12W 1200watt PCP&C PSU in here if need be.


Thoughts?

[Hondacity]

wow the ghe fans...220cfm and 32w thats crazy....4x is around 130w easy....good psu tester...

i was looking at the uhe though 252cfm 48w....

i cant really see the how it will work for you...before putting the waterblocks...replace the power supply..if it works..then the initial culprit was your psu...

enjoy watercooling those 285s

[Langer]

I just ordered my first Delta fans, and I'm curious as the the major difference between the TFB1212GHE (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/de12tfexhisp.html) series fans you're looking at and the AFB1212GHE (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/deaf12recgrh.html) I ordered?

TFB1212GHE:
120x120x38mm
220.01 CFM @ 4600 RPM
65.0 dBA
29.40 watts
2.45 amps
Maximum Air Pressure 26.44 mm H2O
12v DC
$25.95

AFB1212GHE-CF00:
120x120x38mm
240.96 CFM @ 5200 RPM
62.0 dBA
27.48 watts
2.45 amps
Maximum Air Pressure 27.48 mm H²O
12v DC
$22.95

I'm puzzled why the TFB costs more?!

[Hondacity]

the major difference is the fin design...

the tfb1212ghe is old as compared to that afb1212ghe...just looking at the rpm

i think they stopped improving the tfb

now they have the phb1212uhe at 66.5db its got 252cfm..which is an improvement...

and at an airpressure of 35.87

[Langer]

Thanks for that Honda - I did notice the PFB model but the added cost didn't outweigh the benefits for me. I was under the assumption that they were different technologies (ie ball vs sleeve bearing, or something like that).

[zlojack]

62 dBA???

Fuck, my ears!

[Hondacity]

anytime,

i really want those pfb's though...you said you had the 220cfm fans...how does the 60+db sound? i'm kinda curious how they sound..i have the 45+db sound of kaze3000 and they're not that irritating...lol

[Langer]

I just ordered my first Delta fans
*this morning at 2am.

I haven't taken delivery of the new order yet.

However the Bell scale is an exponential scale...
The hearing threshold is 0dB = 10to the power of 0
45 dB = a mere 10to the power of 4.5 times greater than the threshold level.
60 dB = a whopping 10to the power of 6 x threshold (this is about the noise level of a busy city street)

[Cutless009]

exactly how "bad" are slipstreams? I am really on a budget on this and having a hard time coming up with the cash for deltas.

[Langer]

Take a look at this (http://www.sidewindercomputers.com/deaf12suhisp.html) Delta, the AFB1212SHE.

120x120x38 mm
151.85 CFM @ 3700 RPM
53.0 dBA
12.60 watts
1.05 amps
Maximum Air Pressure 14.50 mm H²O
12v DC
only $13.95 on sale at sidewinders.

or

Get some ultra Scythe Kaze3000's for under $10 from NCIX. 154CFM iirc.

[Cutless009]

Im a little hesitant to order from NCIX again, unless Linus has gotten his shit in order.

[Hondacity]

exactly how "bad" are slipstreams? I am really on a budget on this and having a hard time coming up with the cash for deltas.

i tried the slipstream on the mcr...it worked ok..but not as good as my other 25mm fans...