Folding Forum

I'm seeing CPU temps of ~70-80C even when only folding on my GPU. If I start folding on my CPU, the core/case temps skyrocket to ~100C. My system is in an open case, so airflow is not an issue.

CPU: i7 6700k overclocked to 4.6 GHz
Cooler: Corsair H115i
GPU: Gigabyte GTX 1070 G1 Gaming

When I'm only folding on my GPU the CPU load (with everything else at idle) sits around 12%, which seems odd considering the high temperatures. Can anyone help me understand what is going on here?

I have a couple of open case PCs. Temperatures are significantly lower since I put a small box fan blowing on the PC. You didn't say if the temperatures are something new or if it's a new PC. My first (not open case) PC had such high temperatures that it would crash. I cured it by changing to a better cpu cooler which cured the problem. My other two PCs I built with the better cpu coolers from the beginning and never had a problem.

The temperatures are new. I've had the computer for the better part of a year (built it in January), and I was folding earlier this year on both the CPU and GPU with no problems. As for the cooler, my understanding is that the one I have installed is one of the best AIO coolers out there. I've seen it in other builds that clock higher than this one, and I've not had these sorts of temperatures except with Prime95 running AVX instructions through the FPU, which shouldn't be happening when I'm not folding on the CPU.

Update:

After reapplying MX-4, I believe I must have done a poor job applying the thermal paste last time around. I am now seeing package temperatures under 50C while folding on GPU alone, while temperatures rise when folding on CPU (thanks to the way 6th gen intel processors handle AVX).

Have you cleaned out the rads on that h115i? if not get a can of compressed air and blow all the dust out. I would also get the case closed up if you can, good pc temps are about air flow and cooling capacity

Nathan_P wrote:Have you cleaned out the rads on that h115i? if not get a can of compressed air and blow all the dust out. I would also get the case closed up if you can, good pc temps are about air flow and cooling capacity

My open air PCs run plenty cool and haven't collected any dust. And also, I couldn't possibly get 5 GPUs inside a case. Of course this topic isn't about me.

Nathan_P wrote:Have you cleaned out the rads on that h115i? if not get a can of compressed air and blow all the dust out. I would also get the case closed up if you can, good pc temps are about air flow and cooling capacity

I cleaned the rad when I had the glass off to replace the thermal compound last night. There wasn't enough dust on it to make a noticeable difference in temps. As for air flow, the only reason it is an issue with closed cases is because the case needs to get a sufficient supply of ambient air coming into the case. In an open case *all* of the air available to the fans (on the cpu rad and the graphics card) is ambient, so that's a non issue.

ArtemisFolly wrote:Update:

After reapplying MX-4, I believe I must have done a poor job applying the thermal paste last time around. I am now seeing package temperatures under 50C while folding on GPU alone, while temperatures rise when folding on CPU (thanks to the way 6th gen intel processors handle AVX).

Too much thermal paste can have the opposite effect and reduce cooling ... I guess you fixed our issue on your own.

I decided a while ago to donate some cycles to this worthwhile project.

I installed FAH on my windows 10 workstation

SuperMicro X10SL7-F
Intel Xeon e3-1231v3
4 Crucial ECC 8GB DDR4
AMD FirePro W4100
Windows 10 Pro
Corsair CX750
Fractal Design Node 804
7 Noctua 12000RPM 12cm Case Fans

But was underwhelmed by the results after doing some research and installing the client also on the kid’s gaming rig that has a Gigabyte 6GB GTX1060.

I picked up a EVGA GTX1060 03G-P4-6162-KR (1607 Core, 1807 Boost) to attempt to up my points and found that little beast needed some airflow to fold efficiently even at the stock clock.

I want to go back to my FirePro that sips power but can drive 3 2K displays and get the noise levels back down in my workspace (I don’t game but I’m a heavy Photoshop & Lightroom user). I was looking at socket 1151 motherboards and Celeron or Pentium Skylakes as with DDR3 they seemed like the best bang for the buck to drive a 1060 but I won’t have the budget for a few months.

In the interim I rummaged through the graveyard and cobbled together a FrankenFolder:
Acer AX3400 Motherboard nForce MCP78PV PCIe 2.0x16
AMD Athlon 64 XII 2.9GHz
3GB DDR2 1333 (2GB, 1GB)
Super Micro SC-731B Micro ATX Mid Tower
SuperMicro 300W Bronze PS
SanDisk 128GB SSD
Ubuntu 18.?
SuperMicro 3200RPM PWM 9cm case Fan (rear, pull)
Noctua 1200RPM PWM 8cm case fan (front, push)

I managed to get the latest version of Ubuntu on it using the mini network install and it is folding away but it is LOUD and Hot (73C with 75% Fan, no overclocks)

A few questions:

I’ve tried a -100 and -200 downclock but the EVGA still cranks out above 70C which I’m not keen on. Any pointers to get the temperature and decibels lower? I’m pretty comfortable with *Nix OSes but know little about the NVidia drivers.

Due to the paucity of RAM and the older CPU (top is showing 100 - 110% CPU) I’d prefer to run the system without X. Is it possible to just load the drivers and run it headless? I seem to remember seeing some posts here or on other forums but darned if I can find them now.

Regards,

Bruce

Welcome to foldingforum.org, Bruce (from Bruce)

FAH is happy to run headless once FAHClient is installed. The installation will set up a proposed configuration but you will want to add your Name/Team/Passkey if you're interested in earning points.

I recommend you set up a GUI to get things started but you won't need it after that. While the configuration file can be changed with an editor, FAH is VERY particular about the syntax of the .xml and gives you absolutely no help if it doesn't like what you changed -- so I don't recommend you do it that way. Use FAHControl if at all possible.

Long-term, if you have one GUI anywhere on you LAN (either Linux of Windows -- or maybe even OS-X, though I've never tried that) FAHControl can be configured to manage all of the Clients that can be reached by a telnet connection. (Acually, anywhere over the internet, but that adds some complications due to the added security issues.)

70C+ isn't particularly hot for a GPU. They often run hotter than that but you do need to design your system to have enough airflow. (I've seen systems that run fine at 80+.) Unfortunately there's not much that you can do about the noise.

Thanks Bruce,

I already have a window manager installed and have the client configured so I can control the folding remotely. I’ll have to tune the folding. I’ve set the max power to 110 and will monitor the temperature, power consumption and PPD for a couple of days then try backing down the max power to attempt to achieve a good balance between folding performance and power consumption which should also get the single fan down in a quieter range.

Regards,

Bruce

gordonbb wrote:A few questions:

I’ve tried a -100 and -200 downclock but the EVGA still cranks out above 70C which I’m not keen on. Any pointers to get the temperature and decibels lower?

Undervolting. A kind of.

Pascal GPUs don´t run with lower voltage, but you can raise the clock at same voltage. You may call this overclocking. Or you call it tuning the efficiency.

Screenshot from Afterburner (CTRL-F) custom curve, available for windows 7/8/10, the GPU in this setting will downclock in energy states (0.800V untouched), but at full load limited to voltage step 0.812V, the clock level is up to your approach and practical experience. You have to test it, i.e. try FAHBench (link).



Editing the nvidia guidelines in a custom setting needs attention and stability tests. Lower voltage does reduce temperatures instantly, automatic fan will run slower, energy consumption follows, but ... PPD as well.

Reducing the nvidia power limit sticks to the nvidia guidelines, but low voltage imply too low clocks for folding matters (heavy PPDs drop), finding out the best compromise is not easy, for me it was the lowest voltage with nearly highest clocks for that voltage point. This can be done with less risks of stability as at high clock rates. For me it´s o.k. to manage this kind of downclocking -200 Mhz to regular clock rates (-10%), but get -22% lower voltage. Not the best choice for points, but one of the best methods to get a scarcely audible folding/BOINC system.

I set GPU power limit and fan speed to 65% and temp to 80°C which I cannot hear anymore out of the box.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm starting to understand the Pascal Architecture more and running: in a putty session while folding to get a better idea of the power efficiency (or lack thereof at high clocks

I'm going to do some minimal tweaks until I can get a new motherboard & CPU as I suspect running 10 year-old hardware full-time will cause it to fail sooner.

I'm debating between a BioStar (shudder) AMD-based Embedded motherboard with a PCIe gen 2 x8 in a x16 slot versus just getting an inexpensive Asus micro ATX Socket 1151 motherboard and a Skylake while they are still available so I can put DDR3 in it and not pay the premium for DDR4.

Regards,

Bruce

For FAH, do not overclock memory -- or even underclock it. If you do, heat will go up or down and performance change will be minimal. Use that extra heat margin for a potential increase in shader (GPU) clock speed.