XPS 8940, Better 3rd party cooler

Thanks Dell630i... way back, when I worked with motherboards, DDR and ECC was just coming out - in the stone age, and clocking on the leading and trailing edge of the clock ; 2 clocks per cycle, was an amazing feat. I have not kept track of memory progress since that time but DDR4 sounds interesting. 

Thanks for the verification on CPU temps.

Scott

This is what I see when I run Speccy. I did download HWinfo64 which shows so much data I'm not sure where to look.. but I just did that and will be checking this for temps. You can see the 77F reading for the CPU.

@Colorado_scott 

DDR stands for "Double Data Rate" . . . so your frequency reported at 1423 MHz would represent a bandwidth of 2846. SPD 2933 is the max bandwidth for your memory.

Your air cooled CPU idling about 8C over ambient would be "normal".

Good luck with your mod. Drop some photos when you do it.

Found the temps on HWinfo64.. this seems to be the same as Speccy reads.

@Colorado_scott  I've been using Speccy for a very long time and temps are always consistent with what any other software reports. I use Speccy because it lets me put the temp icon on the taskbar, while most others apps like this don't. So with just a quick glance I see the CPU temp.

As I said in one of your threads, Speccy has an old bug reporting RAM size on GPUs that just never got fixed. It has issues with any GPU having more than 2 GB of RAM onboard so Speccy reports 2047 MB for any card with more than that amount. GPU-Z (free) reports the correct amount of RAM on a GPU...

Mouse over that icon and you'll see temps for whatever other devices it's monitoring too, eg GPU, HDDs etc...

And if you haven't already done it, enable Speccy to load automatically at boot too.

That's what Search is for on this forum...

Cool tip... I just saw the temp on system tray tab.. I've enabled.. thanks..

I'll take a look at GPU-Z, but now that I know Speccy is not accurate, and I know I have 6Gb on the card, I'm fine knowing this.. 

While information in the forum is listed in one place, it's nice to have a few references to the same data in other places so it makes it easier for those looking for the 'some information' can find it in a few places. Just easier to find. Telling someone to look through the 15 pages of posts when they ask a question is not real productive, it's just easier for them, and others, to give them the answer again - even though it's a duplicate from another post. (just my opinion). 

Thanks for your help.. it helps us all.

Yes, thanks. I did this and it worked fine. (mouse over icon - I actually clicked on the icon and the temp stayed on the taskbar). I'm not sure I want this running all the time as I just want to monitor my temp now and then to see what they are, and once I'm assured my temps are OK, I'll check every few months, but a neat feature.

Yes,... I get the search function.. and it works well at times. But come on, let's help (and by that I mean you - as your knowledge transcends many - but I'll help out when I can) those that don't know or use this and give answers (if you know them - and I'm sure you know most) - it just saves time. But I know it's hard - but it is helpful. They are not trying to cheat the system, some just want fast answers if available. Just a thought. 

Scott

Did the fan modification tonight.. yes, simple to do, about 45 minutes. These Nactua fans are amazingly quiet - but they are running slow as mine are plugged into the MB headers - which ensures no BIOS errors. There may be a point where I get the controller and control the fan speed manually, but this won't be for a while. I'll be checking temps in the summer when it's 95 outside. It's 67F in my room and the temps are about 8F over this (see picture). I will say these fans came very professionally packaged - it's not often I think I get what I pay for, but when you get these, and see the packaging and quality of the fans and heat sink, you wont regret getting them. Glad I made the mod. (I made the mod using the black spacers that came with the kit (as others have done) - you will get 3 sets of spacers, white, gray/brown and black. Plenty of Noctua thermal paste and some left over. As many have said, only need the 3mx16mm (4) and washers. Got mine at Ace hardware.

@Colorado_scott      Did the fan modification tonight..

Nice work . . . looks great!

If you switch to Noctua 3-pin fans they will not be modulated and run at max rpm. If you switch your temp readouts to centigrade the values are a lot cooler 

@Colorado_scott    I was not aware of the 3 pin change running at full speed... but does that throw a BIOS error? 

Most of my experience is over on the Alienware side    but my XPS 8930 is all 3-pin fans with no BIOS error. The Noctua fans usually come with some LNR adapters . . . so there is some optionality as to exactly what "full speed" means.

@Colorado_scott     does your 8930 have 3 or 4 pin headers on the motherboard? 

The TOP_FAN and CPU_FAN headers on the XPS 8930 are both 4-pin. I have a 3-pin top exhaust fan connected to TOP_FAN and a lower front intake fan and upper front intake fan (both 3-pin) connected to CPU_FAN with a Y-splitter. Both my CPU and graphics card are liquid cooled . . . so no fans. I wish I still had my original Noctua fans installed, which were much more quiet than the current fans.

Dell... that is a serious Computer!! Nice to see. As you state: I see you are running some liquid into the fittings I see on the CPU and graphic card. Amazing. Thanks for the info on the fans. I'll play with this. 

I wanted to post that I put too much Thermal Paste on my CPU when I made the fan / heat sink change... too much thermal paste actually degrades the transfer of heat to the heat sink. I did a lot of reading - after the fact, and found 'less is better'. Originally I put a thin layer of grease on the heat sink AND the CPU. In removing the HS I found way too much thermal paste had leaked over the sides (I should have put the thermal paste on just the CPU or the heat sink, not both). I then cleaned all and put a very thin layer of grease on the HS (I used a credit card to spread the thermal paste VERY thinly), then reattached. My temp dropped about 4-5 degrees on average. Below is a picture of the new temp.. I am happy now.