Here is a screen-grab to illustrate a fast computer running quiet and cool.

This is a program that comes with the ASUS “republic of Gaming” motherboards, the ones with the “DUAL INTELLIGENT PROCESSOR 5” feature that runs in the background to monitor and control the the various functions of the board.

I can’t tell you if there are similar software-hardware packages with the competitors, but several of the more expensive models are just as popular, so I suspect so. Some simpler boards have this information available only by monitoring it in the BIOS.

This one is called AI Suite 3 and it can be displayed on the screen, as you see here, while a fairly-taxing spyware scan, the free version of SUPERAntiSpyware is in progress for a few minutes.  AS ALWAYS, CLICK THE PICTURE TO SEE IT BIGGER AND CLICK THE x ON THE BROWSER TAB OR THE BACK-ARROW ON YOUR BROWSER TO GO BACK TO READING!

In the picture above, the scan is running (partly-obscured) and the monitoring program is overlaid in a window on top of it.

On the top, the water pump curve is shown, running at a fixed full speed at any temp, and the CPU cooler fans are running in the extremely quiet zone (yellow dot in blue zone) around 400 RPM and one case fan is shown in the quiet 5oo RPM range. This is a fan-configuration screen, but it demonstrates many of the things on topic. The yellow dots track the temperature of the monitored item and the associated fan speed.

Below notice the CPU is running at 4800 MHz (4.8 GHz) at 20% overclock (of the i7-6700k 4 GHz CPU). All four cores are running, one shown, and the CPU is drawing about 35 watts (a dim light bulb). The processor is capable of about 95 watts,but this is the strongest program that I run on a daily basis.

The memory (RAM) is running at about 3000 MHz, which is its highest rated overclock speed “16 GB DDR4, 3000”, (for you nerds).

Nothing is being run over-voltage. (as that tends to prematurely wear out parts)

To the right of center, the CPU internal temperature is less than body temperature (think “98.6F is about 37C.”) This reading is below skin temperature,  which is few degrees cooler. So the CPU isn’t even “warm” at 20% overclock.

To the right, four fan speeds are shown, all in the “quiet” zone around 500RPM.

This is what I mean when I say “fast, cool, quiet.”

When the scan is done, the computer would automatically “throttle back” (idle) at a much slower speed, typically 800 MHz , when there is not much to do (waiting at a stop light).

Of course, the purpose of this description is to compare the readings to things you are familiar with.

Quiet and cool.

Frankly, it’s a lot better than it has to be. I’m just testing things out but on the hottest day of the year (90’s) with no air con it was in the mid 80″s indoors, yet I couldn’t get the cpu temp above low 50’s celsius. That’s on burn-in programs that before would be in the 90’s c.

It is easily able to run the fans at about 700 rpm, less than about 45%, which is very quiet.

It took me most of the day because, as it turns out, {gulp} the case I put it in isn’t supposed to work with a 240mm radiator. My goof in assuming it would work without actually reading the case promo….

The grill at the top is a little too close to the motherboard. But I was able to mount the radiator and fans a little off-center and have everything fit.

This motherboard has all kinds of ways to control the water pump and fans. I tried something simple and could easily tweak the fan curves to where I wanted them. I won’t go into it because you’re not likely to have the same brand and model. I’ll just say that the ASUS Maximus VIII “Ranger” is WAY overbuilt for tweaking at higher clock rates. I’m still running at my old standard 7% overclock with the RAM at 3000MHz, but it just purrs like a kitten, even on hot days.

I suspect I may revisit higher speeds, but for now I feel the processor won’t be accidentally overheated.

There are as many ideas about the best way to cool a computer as there are enthusiasts who try to make them go faster.

I have been running a slightly-overclocked i7 6700k for a few months and have developed a plan of attack for making it go faster.

Don’t get me wrong, this machine is pretty fast.

I had decided before I put it together that I’d wait to develop the feeling I needed more speed before I’d go to more expensive cooling. (As an example, I haven’t developed the “need” for a better guitar because I’m such a Klutz playing it.) But I overdrive the processor on a number of daily tasks, such as malware scans and video processing. Not your ordinary stuff like streaming Netflix. I had been concerned that I would waste money on making a super gaming machine and then not like gaming, so my “hot rod” would just “sit in the garage”. This is, of course, a realistic concern about “boys and their toys”.

I’ve found a liquid “closed-loop” cooler that is supposed to work great and operate fairly quietly and not break the bank. It is an ID-Cooling Frostflow 240L CPU Liquid Cooler. Closed-loop systems come assembled and are never taken apart and tend to not have leakage problems. The most popular ones, by far, come from Corsair, which also makes the computer case I use, a 200r case.

This particular cooler has a very dense radiator and two high pressure fans. The trick with radiators is getting the air through them and having enough liquid flow through them for a good thermal exchange to happen.

The fans are capable of forcing air through the radiator with a high “static pressure” of 3.2 “inches of water”. HUH? When it is blocked it will build up pressure equivalent to a force that would lift water 3.2 inches. That’s how air delivery is often rated. Saying how fast it moves or how much volume it moves per minute doesn’t say how it reacts to trying to push it through a radiator. You need high static pressure and somewhat high CFM “cubic feet per minute” to get the job done.

High speed fans that have low static pressure just make noise from the fan blades and the air “escaping” because it can’t go through the radiator. Do you sort-of get it? If you do, you’re WAY AHEAD of most people.

This is why some buildings have noisy heating and cooling systems and some are very quiet. It’s because they chose air speed over static pressure. I personally HATE the cheap fan hood over my kitchen stove because it makes lots of noise and doesn’t exhaust much air, the one thing it is supposed to do.

Some of the less restricted cooling in the computer box just relies on air exchange such as the air to the graphics processing unit, the video card. Here you want air that isn’t just static; you want a little breeze so the box isn’t full of hot air.

Computer cases typically have a fan going in and a fan going out for this exchange. If you force a lot more air out with these two added high pressure fans (and remove the fan and radiator directly connected to the top of the processor) there may be a shortage of pressure (a partial vacuum) in the computer case. (That “sucks!”) It might suck cat hair and dust in through the CD openings and all the little holes around the case. There would probably be less air movement on the GPU and other components, like the RAM sticks.

I hope that doesn’t surprise you. You just removed a great big fan from the computer board and replaced it with two fans way at the top of the case. The air flow will be a lot different if you don’t compensate.

Here, I’m not sure. My “gut feeling” is that I should add a little pressure to the case, as popular wisdom seems to favor a slightly pressurized case over a slight vacuum, for dust reasons. Whether those anecdotes are true or not is yet to be discovered.

My first stab at this balancing act will be to replace the front intake fan with the relatively high pressure CPU fan (that would be removed) and take the former front intake fan and add it to the side. This is just a guess, as the front position is more restricted, necessitating more pressure, and the air exchange is lateral, which LOOKS LIKE how the lateral cooling fins on the GPU seem to be aligned. Also the re-positioned fan on the side might divert the air flow THROUGH the case and out the back or top. A little encouragement to keep moving in the front-to-back direction.

The concept of flows and diverting flows is a fascinating one that is hardly taught in school directly. Archaeologists are “fascinated” that Incas could build such simple and effective water works. Few people understand tubes or transistors, that a little flow diverts a huge flow. That’s why cows can be so easily be herded. It’s just NOT taught.

If I had a “clean room fogger” I could test my “laminar (non-turbulent) airflow theory (he says with a straight face…..). But, for now, that’s my gut feeling.

The overall theory for computer cooling is that good heat exchange at the radiator shouldn’t require high air speeds and should be both effective and quiet.

Wish me luck. I’ll report back next month.

When I was graduating from OSU (late 1970’s) a few terms cought my attention.

I thought personal computers should be called “home” computers. I was wrong. And it should be obvious my vision was too short, thinking of my clunky desktop (which I built BEFORE Apple “invented” the Apple 2. I was there when it was first shown.)
I had a teacher who kept telling us we were entering the “Information Age”. The term seemed pretentious. It was spot-on.
Today, we generate as much information in two days as we did in the history of man before computers.
In College, I strung wires across campus so that researchers could communicate with librarians could do country-wide searches for similar topics for doctoral theses.
There was no Internet, only Darpanet, which mostly used dial-up modems for searches. If you had a 1200 baud (bit/second) modem you were king.
I did my first e-mail (from my home on a home-made computer and modem) in late 1977 on a system cobbled together on the University computer using a “tie-line” to a Portland phone number 90 miles away. In those days, there was nobody to communicate with.
I don’t think many people have pondered how much change has come about because of Google and similar search engines.

There are several GOTCHA’S that can trip you up regarding cables.
Normally USB 3.0 means 5Mbits/sec and USB 3.1 means 10 Mbits/sec.
Normally “high speed” means 5Mbits/sec and “super speed” means 10Mbits/sec.
USB 3.1 (“original or “issue one”) as used on Apple products, is sometimes called USB 3.1, but is limited to 5 Mbits/sec, typically called “high speed”. So, some type c “high speed” “USB 3.1” cables sold to Apple users actually only communicate at 5Mbits/sec. Some of them are called the SAME, but communicate at 10Mbits/sec if connected to a non-Apple machine that supports true USB 3.1.
This is because of changing naming standards. USB 3.1 superspeed 10Mbits/sec is technically “USB 3.1-2”, but nobody uses that term.

I’d suggest if you have the superspeed port (hardly anybody has one at this writing) and want a superspeed cable, look for the “superspeed” designation or the 10Mbits/sec spec. Sometimes 10Mbits/sec cables are listed as “highspeed”, just to add to the confusion.

OF COURSE, USB 3.1 IS THE DESIRABLE CABLE TO USE WITH FUTURE DEVICES,

USB3.1 superspeed cables or ports can be either type A (square) or type c (oval, reversible).

Also, not all type c cables support 3A currents. They should have a statement that they support charging at high currents. Being just a “data sync” cable doesn’t say anything about whether they work with various chargers.

Most of these things will iron themselves out in a year or so, but for now, read the description carefully.

These are a few images I generated with Fractal Photographer, a bone-head simple “app” for Windows 10.

It may help to click on each image to get a better look.

Since I have a somewhat cautious attitude about such things, I don’t expect an OSHA warning label on a hammer telling me not to hit my head with it.

OF COURSE, DON’T PLUG A CHARGER INTO ANOTHER CHARGER! They’re chargers! Not push-me-pull-yous from a Dr Dolittle movie.

Just to be “safe” label your charging cable as that and only connect the type c charger to the device it was intended to charge. Also, resist the urge to plug from a charger to some sort of box that can support several connectors, such as a hub unless you are sure you won’t be delivering power (charging?) something else by mistake.

It appears that the Nexus 6P and the Nexus 5X OEM chargers do not have a sense line to guarantee that they are plugged into their intended chargeable devices before allowing the charger to try to charge. These would be not in compliance with established USB rules.

As a note: you can plug different combinations of Nexus 6p and Nexus 5x together and (depending on combination) charge the other. Y

The Google type c charger, sold on the website is properly designed to verify that it is plugged into the right thing before it will deliver power.

So, how big of deal is this? (Pay attention to the first sentence.) For some, it is better to only use type c chargers that have been tested to use this sense line, like the Google type c charger on the Google website.

Here, I’ve only talked about chargers, not type c cables. I’m sure more will come in the future, when people get more fast data USB c ports. For now stick with cables you can buy from Amazon as they are tested to comply with known USB standards. Eventually you may be glad you have labeled each cable you get as to it’s compliance standards, as they “all look the same”.