Eastern Technology Fund

Archive for the ‘CPU’ Category

My PC has been an absolute slug recently. I’m not an obsessive gamer or anything that needs to push my machine to the limits, but come on, there’s slow and then there’s my computer. It’s almost beyond ridiculous. I reached the point the other day where I told myself, “right, I’m either going to buy a new computer or find out how I can make this one a heck of a lot faster”. I had a look at some new computers and it didn’t take long to realize I didn’t have the necessary budget. So plan B it was.

After searching around on the Internet, I came across James Scholes’ guide: “Overclocking Your CPU to the Extreme”. I found the website that was selling it to be a little “hypey”, but it seemed to be getting some good reviews so I took the plunge and bought it. After all, it came with a 60 day money back guarantee so I didn’t really have anything to lose. I thought I’d document what I thought of the guide, so here’s my “Overclocking Your CPU to the Extreme” review:

The whole world of computer speak and overclocking my CPU was completely new to me, so I have to give credit to James, the manual is very informative and easy to follow. Even for a noob. Everything’s in a step-by-step manner and he provides pictures with annotations where necessary.

Thermaltake is a Taiwanese based company based on the extensive knowledge of PC thermal management. It is well-known to most PC enthusiasts.

Thermaltake has released the SpinQ CPU cooler, which are able to slap on the CPU socket to keep the processor’s temperature down. The SpinQ uses an 80mm centrifugal style fan instead of a standard blade fan. This fan not only cools the fins of the cooler but air is drawn in both ends and blown out in all directions across the body of the SpinQ. The packaging for the Thermaltake SpinQ CPU Cooler is a very simplistic and refined looking package, as it is colored and brilliant white cooler with a black top and bottom.

Apart from the cylindrical array of spiral cut aluminum fins, this CPU cooler features six heat pipes, and an integrated squirrel-cage blower with LEDs and variable speed control. One of the highlighting features of the SpinQ design is that it pulls air in from both ends and blows the air out radially through the aluminum fins, which helps cool the CPU socket area. Moreover, the heat pipes are commonly used to efficiently transport heat from one location to another.

Laptops contain a central processor with a fan dedicated to cooling the processor. Unlike desktops, space requirements limit the size and power of laptop fans, as well as the amount of ventilation. This can cause a laptop to become clogged with dust, trapping heat and overheating the CPU. If you think your laptop’s CPU is overheating, there are several steps you can take to attack the problem.

Feel the bottom of the laptop and sides to see if it is warm or hot to the touch. Most CPU’s can operate safely up to 65 or 70 degrees Celsius, but may overheat above that. If your laptop feels hot to the touch, there’s a chance the CPU is running too hot. If it is just mildly warm, your CPU is probably fine. HP pavillion battery

Use a CPU temperature monitor to determine the exact temperature. Motherboards are installed with a CPU monitor which can be accessed during start up by entering the BIOS setup utility. (This usually requires pressing a certain key, such as delete, F1 or F2 during start up.) While checking the CPU temperature during start up can be useful, it is even better to monitor the CPU temperature during use, when it is more likely to overheat. There are several free downloads that tap into the motherboard’s temperature monitor system and allow you to view the CPU temperature in real time. Speedfan and Everest are two popular temperature monitors (see Resources). If the CPU temperature is over 70 degrees Celsius, you should take steps to cool it down.

There are various types of computer fans and CPU cooling fan is one among them. CPU Cooling Fan can be any fan inside a computer case used for cooling purposes or to thrash out the heat. The components in a computer system carry on various activities or operations and while carrying out these they produce large amount of heat. The heat generated must be dispersed with an immediate effect else they may have some adverse reactions in damaging computer components.

Computer Fans are used to disperse the excess heat generated and keep the equipment cool. The process of expelling heat using fans or any other hardware devices is sometimes referred as Active Cooling. A Computer Fan either throws the heat away or transfers the heat across heat sink. Improper maintenance of heat generated may reduce the life span of certain components like circuits, chipsets, RAM or hard drives.

If you are in the market to purchase a computer there are many options in existence. You can purchase a Hewlett Packard, Gateway, IBM, or a custom built system. But there is one thing that all of these computers will utilize and that is a CPU (central processing unit). The CPU is responsible for interpreting and executing instructions for the motherboard. CPU’s are key to the functioning of your new computer. CPU’s from Intel and AMD power virtually every personal computer that you can purchase today.

The argument over an AMD CPU versus an Intel CPU and which has a higher functionality is currently raging. Simply two years ago this was not even a question. Anyone would tell you that the Intel CPU won the speed and complex algorithm war with AMD CPU’s without question. Fast-forward to today and Intel is now playing catch-up to the latest in AMD technologies.

Intel played marketing games with their CPU’s pricing them high and touting the functionality that they posses as cutting edge. AMD started out as the cheap alternative CPU manufacturer for computer brands such as e-Machines and low-end Compaqs. From the beginning, AMD CPU’s were fighting an uphill battle to catch up with the technology in the Intel CPU. As the years have progressed, AMD has progressed.