Mark McCoy 823112 Posted May 5, 2010 at 05:31 AM Posted May 5, 2010 at 05:31 AM Slight note.. I'd been experiecing a gradual degredation of my PC's flightsim performance over the past 6-8 months or so, and despite running a super-clean machine with the latest drivers, optimized registry, clean FS installs, etc., I was unable to diagnose it. Until last night. Last night I had an epiphany. My PC's three cooling fans had been a little louder and more active lately.. perhaps I should take a peek inside and see how the dust accomeulation looked. If anything, she was due for a date with a can of compressed air. When I cracked the case this afternoon, I was in awe of what I saw. Somehow my PC had become all but clogged at almost every air entry and exit port with thick dust bunnies.. more than ever before. To make matters worse, the other 2 fans were left pulling "cooler" air from the only remaining (and highly-constricted) open fan grill.. asphyxiating my machine's cooling capabilities. So I spent about 20 minutes clearing the dust from every nook and cranny, cleaned her up and fired the machine back up with FS.. and I'm not exaggerating when I say that my FPS jumped about 15-18, and my machine is much "snappier" than it's been in a long time. I've seen the effect that heat-insulating dust can have on components, but I'd never experienced such a direct performance improvement following a good dust removal. My guess is that my Intel CPU throttled back during peak loads and high heat, which is just about every single time FS ran. The three fans are near silent now with the airflow constrictions removed and the heat-insulating dust gone, and my flight tonight from PHX-RDU in a lovely Canyon Blue PMDG SWA 737-700 was at peak FPS with all of my settings maxed. Amazing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Richard Gerrish Posted May 5, 2010 at 04:54 PM Posted May 5, 2010 at 04:54 PM yup it happens. I normally recommmend to my clients that they either blow the tower out themselves or bring it into the shop for a free cleaning once a month depending on the size and number of fans they have installed. Richard Gerrish Developer, STM Applications Group Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darrol Larrok 1140797 Posted May 5, 2010 at 05:27 PM Posted May 5, 2010 at 05:27 PM Yup, when processors get too hot they throttle to prevent damage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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