Tech Corner

[mr.hackcrag]

For the bios, I don't play around with that because I don't know what I'm doing.

Should my PC be working hard (or at least sounds like it) to run a game like this? Here are the settings I'm running it on.

[Pol]

Still Guacamelee 2? That looks like in the middle, so it's actually perfect adept for tunning.

Do you use gaming profiles?

https://support.amd.com/en-us/kb-articl ... tware.aspx

After SCAN you should get one and just apply it.

[mr.hackcrag]

Yes, that is screenshot of guacamelee 2 options menu.

I don't use gaming profiles.

As soon as I run the game, in less than 5 minutes, the gpu fan goes more than 3000 rpm and it is so loud (like a blow dryer) that it makes me not want to play. I'm actually regretting upgrading my PC.

[Pol]

Try to enable "Radeon Chill" in drivers and also please read the temps from the driver, when the card is noisy. I assume that your cooler threshold will be around 60°C?

Gaming >> Global Settings >> Chill

PS Radeon Chill is not supported on all games.

Profiles should apply automatically for you, no need to worry. Mission is "easy" you need to keep you temperature below card "Silent threshold", when in full load. Real safe values are probably 65°- 70°C, depends on the piece.

Or/And you will need to add additional cooler in the bottom part of your computer, in-slot ones might cut it, take a look on them. This one looks better.

Root of this problem is, that you don't have sufficient airflow in the bottom part of your PC. Where the upper part is perhaps saved by that one system cooler.

Where is your PC placed, does it have at least 7-10cm from the wall?

Also check if you card is having hw switch Silent/OC, for older edition it looked like this and it still should been here:


As for undervolting Reddit says:

I have the XFX RX 580 8GB so pretty much the same card. Not got the info in front of me but I believe it's 0.836 for the core and 0.9 for the memory. Haven't tried going lower as I've read this is the lowest it goes without instability.

[mr.hackcrag]

The temperature has usually stayed around 55 degrees C, it's just that it is super noisy.

After enabling "Chill" option, it still gets loud, but maybe not as quickly as before. Temperature was around 55 degrees C on chill mode too.

PC is several inches from wall.

How can you be sure sufficient airflow in bottom of PC is root problem?

And why didn't the PC get this loud when the store did stress test using USB? The only difference I can think of between my home and when they did stress test at store is:

1. The stress test involved running some program from USB where as I experience the noise when I am playing games.
2. At the store, they used their own monitor, but at my home, I am using my monitor which is probably higher resolution and other specs.

Maybe I should go back to store and run game and then get their opinion?

[Pol]

There are several good questions:

"it still gets loud, but maybe not as quickly as befor"
And the temperature is ramping up or staying around 55°C?

"How can you be sure sufficient airflow in bottom of PC is root problem?"
It looks like, assuming that you have your case closed, then down it accumulates hot air as there's just GPU cooler and there should be one more.

"And why didn't the PC get this loud when the store did stress test using USB?"
Could it be something else than cooler? Card itself also can make sounds. Or wasn't it open? Or in colder environment?

Yup, that's pretty good idea, if this game causes it - just show that to them. Tests are usually just synthetic benchmarks - so will not uncover all troubles.

Sure your monitor draw more power from the card as it's running on pretty high resolution.


----------------
Anyway it's abnormal. Did you find the switch Silent/OC?

The card is having 5 temperature/speed thresholds. So, with the game like this, you should be on 40% rpm and that means almost no sound (within 40dB). Certainly not like starting jet.

Does it resonate? Case or just the cooler?

Diagnostic over distance is limited. Tho who see it can probably determine it pretty quickly, you just need to be able to demonstrate it.

So before going to the shop, can you check if the same jet sound will be here with the same game but with your old monitor?

[mr.hackcrag]

Here's something I learned. When change the option settings to Windowed mode where I can't control game resolution. The GPU performance in Task Manager tab is around 25% and the fans don't get that loud.

When I select Full Screen mode, then I ALT + Escape to see the GPU performance in task manager, I have seen the performance ranging from 50% to 100% (it's hard to know exact # because as soon as I tab out of game, the GPU % drops.) So Full Screen mode causes my GPU to get crazy loud.

Maybe it's related to optimization of game. There have been only two games I've played so far that makes GPU roar. This game on fullscreen (but not windowed mode) and a browser game that is in beta and probably not optimized.

What are your thoughts?

[Pol]

Genuinely possible. Some games can cauze that because they are badly written or there's error in them. In that case you should complain to both vendors.

What drivers you are using, these from Power Color site or universal AMD? As the ones on the Power Color site are outdated. (Although guaranteed to 100% comply.) You should use drivers directly from AMD.

[mr.hackcrag]

The AMD System tab says Adrenalin 18.8.1.

I'm not sure if there are any Power Color drivers installed or not. There's nothing in control panel indicating that there is.

[Pol]

Okey, these are the latest from AMD.

[Pol]

@mr.hackcrag
Did they fixed it for you? Or does it moved somehow?

[mr.hackcrag]

I didn't visit store again since I'm not sure if I have problem or not and first time I went there didn't help.

In retrospect, I think I made wrong choice of GPU. It can not run games at my monitors native resolution with perfect performance and fans going really crazy. At lower resolutions, it plays games okay, but it is still noticeably loud (less loud than at high resolution). Game I am playing right now is Divinity 2 Definitive Edition. A lot of fun and I recommend it.

I'm not sure if everything is working as it should be or there is some kind of tech problem. I thought about getting different (more expensive) GPU, but don't want to spend again and it might not even help.

I learned that in the future when I build next PC, I will invest more in trying to do quiet build that is efficient in cooling. You often learn lesson in life hard way.

[Pol]

You can overclock your CPU or there's some CPU Boost function, I don't recall the name exactly. But you need a better cooler for it.

However, you need to get a better coolers. One tower for CPU and the second in-slot under you GPU card.

That would achieve both, it would become more silent and it would geat a bit of extra performance.

When game supports properly GPU, or have even Vulkan support, the performance should be enough.

Of course more costly CPU, deliver more performance. Not always, not for the same performance/money ratio but usually they do.

[mr.hackcrag]

You listed two earlier. I would choose one of these and what else would I need?

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4775 ... CPU_Cooler

http://www.microcenter.com/product/4791 ... CPU_Cooler

[Pol]

That depends on the space, take ruler and check how much space do you have. Be carefull about memory slots, how high they are? Will they interfere with the cooler or not?

Noctua is superior from these two, more silent, more pipes, better cooling but the question is if it will fit? Also is better to have a sandwitch. Please note that this cooler require AM4 mounting kit. And as a last but not least it's pretty costy.

What about this:
http://www.microcenter.com/product/4719 ... cpu-cooler

Sandwitch means to get the same (or very similar) cooler from the other side and attach it here with clips. So it require extra clips and power connector on the board. The shop should be able to check and do that.

What about the cooler under your GPU? You need them both.

More coolers, if done rightly, doesn't mean more noise - it's the opposite. But they need to be carefully selected and tuned to work on lower RPM. And not resonate.

[mr.hackcrag]

I got this virus on PC: http://www.computips.org/remove-gandcra ... ted-files/

Well, time to kiss my life's work goodbye with a system reset. It does feel strange having your past erased like that.

I did backup some things, but the thousands of documents I've written and pictures I've taken are gone. Such is my stupid life.

[Pol]

@mr.hackcrag
And you were here?

Common practice is to try to decrypt them first. And also is good to use some AV + FW solution, as a prevention. Where did you get it?

[mr.hackcrag]

No, I was not there, but I did go to site below and it said that there was currently no decryption for the file I uploaded. I did copy some of my decrypted files to a flash drive in case it might be possible to decrypt them in the future, but I'm not getting my hopes up.

https://id-ransomware.malwarehunterteam.com/

I got it because I'm stupid; allowing something Windows Defender blocked.

[Pol]

What about your identification, it's indeed GrandCrab 5.0 or some other version? Sooner or later they will decrypt it. Also, for some ransomware it's true, that it leaves encryption key somewhere - that's how they got it.

This page I found to be most informative.

Do you have shadow volumes? (You have them automatically, if you leave "Restore Points" function enabled. They are stored in the folder which is not normally accessible.) Anyway, first you need to remove the ransomware and be very sure about it.

[mr.hackcrag]

I'm not sure which version I have and don't care at the moment to research it more.

After I got virus, I ran Malaware Bytes scan, then removed all quarantined files it found. After that, I did "Reset this PC" in Windows Settings which deleted every file on my SSD and HD. I presume that got virus out of my system.

Before PC reset, I copied most of the encrypted files to a flash drive.

As for System Restore Points and Shadow volumes, I did not have that feature enabled so it is not an option.