Cooling

GeForce RTX 2080 Multi-GPU Scaling in OctaneRender and Redshift

Posted on by William George

We found previously that stacking multiple RTX 2080 video cards next to each other for multi-GPU rendering led to overheating and significant performance throttling, due to the dual-fan cooler NVIDIA has adopted as the standard on this generation of Founders Edition cards. Now that manufacturers like Asus are putting out single-fan, blower-style cards we can repeat our testing to see if the throttling issues are resolved and find out how well these video cards scale when using 1, 2, 3, or even 4 of them for GPU-based rendering in OctaneRender and Redshift.

Impact of Temperature on Intel CPU Performance

Posted on by Matt Bach

While we all know that modern processors need active cooling, there is actually very little official information on how temperature affects a CPU’s performance. Do you really need a high-end liquid cooled setup to get peak performance, or is the little stock cooler that comes with most CPUs enough? In this article we will examine exactly how temperature affects CPU performance.

Review: Corsair Hydro H60 CPU Cooler (Rev.2)

Posted on by Matt Bach

Closed-loop liquid cooling units are a great way to get exceptional cooling without the hassle and risk of a traditional liquid cooling systems. The Corsair Hydro H60 CPU Cooler is one such cooler that has recently had some improvements made. In this article, we will be taking a look at the changes to determine the effect on both the overall cooling performance and noise levels.

Thermal Paste Application Techniques

Posted on by Matt Bach

The best technique to apply thermal paste is something that is often debated, and as a whole the internet has not decided on a standard technique. There are many varying techniques that are recommended, so in this article we will best test a variety of techniques to see which performs the best.

Ivy Bridge CPU TIM Paste Replacement

Posted on by Matt Bach

Even before launch of the Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs in April 2012, it was discovered that the CPUs were running a bit hotter than expected. The TIM paste was proven to be the culprit by the Japanese site PC Watch when they reported that by replacing the TIM paste they saw a load temperature drop of 8-11 *C at stock clock speeds, and an amazing 15-20*C drop in load temperatures when overclocked to 4.6 GHz.

We decided that it was time to do our own testing to see if anything has changed in recent months. The result was some very interesting data that caught us a bit by surprise.

Effects of Grill Patterns on Fan Performance/Noise

Posted on by Matt Bach

Fan grills are a component in a computer that is often underestimated in terms of their contribution to both system noise and airflow. Most often, grills are chosen based on aesthetics with only a small thought towards performance. In this article, we will be examining nine different grills to determine the effects of grill design on both noise and airflow.

Cooling Solutions for Intel Core i7

Posted on by Daniel Olson

The latest powerhouse CPU offering from Intel is here. The Intel Core i7 — a quad-core processor available in three different speed configurations that is really taking the computing world by storm. Several new features have been added to this processor, such as on-chip DDR3 memory controller, smart cache, and HD boost. Of course, with all the extra features and power comes the issue of how to keep it cool. The Core i7 may be powerful, but it is also very hot running. From the stock heat sinks and fans, to liquid cooled solutions, the cooling possibilities are many. Unfortunately we can’t test them all, so in this article we’ll take a look at 4 popular cooling solutions and how they fared.