How to keep my fan speed down (GPU coolest)?

[My2Cents]

I'm currently playing on an old Dimension Desktop circa 2006 with onboard Intel Chipset (so I'm DX9 with a lot of "low" graphics settings):

Are there any particular DDO graphics options I can or should set lower to lower the internal temp of my graphics processor so the fan will run softer? I may be playing in a relatively high heat environment this summer and I just reset my graphics settings in game to defaults, so want to make this baby run the coolest I can.

[learst]

Open up the tower and clean the CPU fan /ventilation. That's probably the number 1 thing you can do to keep it running cooler.

[sebastianosmith]

Open up the tower and clean the CPU fan /ventilation. That's probably the number 1 thing you can do to keep it running cooler.

Yep. Keeping your air flow path clean and free of dust, pet hair, spider webs, dead rodents, etc. is the best way to run cool. You should perform a case cleaning at least twice a year. More often if you have pets, children or pest infestations.

If you are really adventuresome, pop off the heat sinks on your CPU/GPU and apply some Arctic Silver thermal compound. That can make a 3C-4C degree difference, especially on older OEM boxes that likely didn't have the thermal compound applied correctly to begin with.

[MsEricka]

Adding thermal compound is the best suggestion. You may also want to take a look at having a secondary case fan added and also a hard disk fan added.

You could TRY some of the fan controller software out there but I don't think they'll work on your system as it's quite dated. These programs step up the fan speeds, but also step up noise from the fan.

[xman26]

I'm currently playing on an old Dimension Desktop circa 2006 with onboard Intel Chipset (so I'm DX9 with a lot of "low" graphics settings):

Are there any particular DDO graphics options I can or should set lower to lower the internal temp of my graphics processor so the fan will run softer? I may be playing in a relatively high heat environment this summer and I just reset my graphics settings in game to defaults, so want to make this baby run the coolest I can.

What Dell Dimension do you have?

[My2Cents]

What Dell Dimension do you have?

5150 - works reliably well enough (if maintained)...I had the original power supply replaced (DELL proprietary replacement) awhile back and it seems reliable enough for what it does. Not enough power that I want to try and put a new GPU card on it...

I'm considering getting something newer if I can scrape together some $$$, but that's uncertain right now. If I can't, I just want to minimize the wear and tear on it in the heat of summer. I get nervous when I run something that causes the fan to run all-out so I like to know any little thing I can do to help not over-use it.

I'm not graphics picky, so I am happy to settle for a lot less than others...

[xman26]

5150 - works reliably well enough (if maintained)...I had the original power supply replaced (DELL proprietary replacement) awhile back and it seems reliable enough for what it does. Not enough power that I want to try and put a new GPU card on it...

I'm considering getting something newer if I can scrape together some $$$, but that's uncertain right now. If I can't, I just want to minimize the wear and tear on it in the heat of summer. I get nervous when I run something that causes the fan to run all-out so I like to know any little thing I can do to help not over-use it.

I'm not graphics picky, so I am happy to settle for a lot less than others...

welp, the PSU isn't proprietary as you think, i work on PCs and replace those with standard PSU all the time, but these cards will give you good bang for buck and not stress the PSU in the slightest.

(listed best to worst in terms of performance)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102942
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814187138
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121471
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150571
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814129187
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130680

All for around $50 bucks.

[My2Cents]

Thanks for the links! Well I'd been told the pinout was slightly different than the standard (was it ATX?) power supply, but it wasn't pricey and done a long time ago so it's not important right now.

Any difference from those with fans and those without? Cooler with fan? Noiser? Radeon vs. GeForce? Doesn't really matter?

I'm very pleased to find graphics adapters that won't stress my PSU. Will they add any significant heat I need to worry about?

(At some point in the future I may have to get another box for work purposes, and I was curious what I would need to have to do to it to do double duty for DDO...looks like not much...)

welp, the PSU isn't proprietary as you think, i work on PCs and replace those with standard PSU all the time, but these cards will give you good bang for buck and not stress the PSU in the slightest.

(listed best to worst in terms of performance)
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814102942
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814187138
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814121471
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814150571
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814129187
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814130680

All for around $50 bucks.

[xman26]

Thanks for the links! Well I'd been told the pinout was slightly different than the standard (was it ATX?) power supply, but it wasn't pricey and done a long time ago so it's not important right now.

Any difference from those with fans and those without? Cooler with fan? Noiser? Radeon vs. GeForce? Doesn't really matter?

I'm very pleased to find graphics adapters that won't stress my PSU. Will they add any significant heat I need to worry about?

(At some point in the future I may have to get another box for work purposes, and I was curious what I would need to have to do to it to do double duty for DDO...looks like not much...)

No, pinout is the same, dell just uses different coloring wires than retail PSU makers which leads to some techs to think they are special.

as to with or with out fan coolers, the difference is overall temps and noise. Those with a fan may run a bit cooler but will have some noise, propably not noticable over your cpu fan tho. the no fan ones will run a bit warmer but make no noice at all.

PS: after the gpu upgrade, you will be pretty much done with that machine, it wont do Dual core CPUs like the Pentium D (P4 based dual core cpus) or even the lower end E4xxx series C2D CPUs. Your next upgrade should be to a new system or a good used machine that can do DDR2 and atleast a dual core CPU(AMD or intel, makes no difference)

[arminius]

For anyone who came to this thread looking for laptop cooling advice, this fan pad is amazing. Its fans run quieter than your laptop fans do--which means everything is quieter because the laptop fan never kicks on.

I often find myself doublechecking to see if the pad is really running, it is so quiet. Had a laptop that would overheat and shut down in under an hour, now it never does.

Cooler Master Notepal X2 Notebook Cooler R9-NBC-4WAK-GP
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...00_i00_details

[Michaelaz2]

While some knowable advice has been given , I just replaced my CPU fan on my 5150 so I can offer you facts.

The 5150 fan is a Pulse wave fan and sometimes can be adjusted thru BIOS at which temp point to spin up and what % of RPM's.

The fan on the 5150 is actually a server cpu fan and RPM's are controlled via the CPU and is proprietary as far as the pin out to motherboard. I discovered this the hard way after ordering one from new egg. Dell uses a 5 pin whereas most are 4 pin. After a hour of searching, researching I found this:
http://www.overclock.net/t/890610/ho...ny-motherboard

With this you will see the wiring diagram, I simply cut pin off 4" old dell fan 5 pin, and 4" off new fan 4 pin and connected new fan to old dell pin out (hope that makes sense) I did use shrink tubing and I tin soldered the wires together.
It's pretty basic ,Red to red, black to black, blue to blue and that's only 1 wire left on each pin.

One last point I'd like to make is having the correct amount of thermal compound. Too much is also just as bad for cpu, I always remove the old using rubbing alcohol, letting dry, reapplying a thin layer.

Good luck and feel free to let me know if you need more help.

[Michaelaz2]

Heres the videocard I just installed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133386

Power Supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371033

CPU fan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835706028

All 3 for $128.20

[xman26]

Heres the videocard I just installed:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16814133386

Power Supply:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817371033

CPU fan

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16835706028

All 3 for $128.20

Awesome, now how much has your game enjorment improved graphicly and speed wise compared to before.

[Missing_Minds]

You can put a cap on the frame rate. I do taht to help limit myown temps. I have a cap of about 75 or so even though my GPU can create frames much higher, I can't see the difference so why waste the power?

options->troubleshoot-> maximum frame rate <it is a slider>
you can also probalby change engine speed settings. I have NO idea what those do, honestly. I didn't even know that was there till now.

Also, you probably want your fan speed maxed out to keep the GPU cool. That is normally in the driver settings.