Getting a new PC

[grommet]

Yes, the size of the case is definitely a factor in thermodynamics on a simple premise. The more air you can circulate inside the case and successfully exhaust it, the better. But wow, to go beyond idle temps and keep in the 40 degree range at load is amazing. Especially for that newer CPU.

Can't help you with streaming, but perhaps YouTube can:

I want to explain. I am worried it is not understandable why I am doing so much for a game. I am unhappy. I have not like most of the things other people do. I do not know about singers or celebrities, when people name them I do not know who they are. I have never in my life noticed fashion and wanted something. I do not go to concerts. People would tell me about the fun they had going to bars and drinking. The idea scared me. I tried a little and did not like it.

All the things people seem to like did not make me happy like it did for them. Also, when I was young and had to move away from home, things were very bad. I was almost homeless then I lived in the group home.

When I play MSFS 2024 it has been some of the happiest times in my life. I flew from the coast of Massachusetts to Martha's Vineyard. As I flew towards the coast in the early evening in the winter, the sun was showing on the snow on the ground. As I flew over the cities and it go darker I saw lights come on in the houses. I thought about the families there and linen closets. I know that sounds strange but when I was a kid and would go to other people's houses they had a linen closet with extra clean towels and sheets. They were a family and did things like that. The house I grew up in was awful. Nothing was good, no family. Then I had to move out and was alone and autistic so I could not understand things very well.

The people at the group home were nice but the home was very scary for me. In the middle of the night I would have to leave my small room to use the bathroom at the end of the hall. I had been asleep but I opened the door to my room and walked down a bright hall with fluorescent lights to a bathroom like a school bathroom. It was scary, institutional.

I am sorry I am different and cannot run in races on weekends with other people, go to their houses for parties and barbecues. Not their fault, other people, I cannot understand things and fit in. Most of the world I see does not make sense to me.

But at home at night flying in flight simulator it is like heaven. I am out in the world and it is so beautiful. So it is not like a video game to me. It is a time to be super happy. Like really happy. The joy almost hurts sometimes when I see beautiful fields or clouds and sunsets.

I think it is hard for autistic people to feel better. I am not saying everyone is like me but I seem to talk to a lot of people who are unhappy a lot like me so when something is good, it becomes very important. I do not know what it would cost now but I knew an autistic woman who loved sewing and bought a $5,000 sewing machine. I understand.

So I have been spending all I have and doing what I can to make MSFS 2024 just right. It has to be. On the monitor I use now it is .. hard to explain, it is like I have food on the table but I can only sit there, I cannot eat the food. I want the whole game.

I think the thing that has made me saddest my whole life is not being able to connect with people. In the game no people, I go out in the world and it is not real I know but some part of my brain feels so good. Also, I am afraid right now to do it, but there is a way to play the game and meet other people, even share flying with them. So it means a lot to me. Sorry for the long post.

 

[grommet]

The only real difference between monitors these days is the Response Time, how quickly the monitor can update itself as the scenes change in your games. You want a monitor with a 1 milisecond response time.

I watch Youtube videos and they talk about that but also other things, like brightness, refresh rate and colors. One person said if the monitor could run at 144Hz but my PC could not make the game run at 144fps or higher, it could cause, I cannot remember exactly what he said, maybe blurriness or he used another word. He was explaining the need to match the monitor with my needs, with my PC and the game.

I do not know what to do. The monitor I had had a response time of .1 milliseconds.

 

[Outdated]

I do not know what to do.

You said that the old spare monitor you're using now looks good, that means you don't have to rush to make a decision. You can take your time and explore all the differences between them and make a decision when it feels right.

 

[Judge]

I checked and the temperature was higher today but it was warmer outside too. I saw that my CPU is at 94%. The GPU was less than 40%. So CPU is the bottleneck. Videos explain how it can be one or the other sometimes.

Let's deal with this alone for now. I assume you mean degrees in Celcius rather than percentages.

If you mean your CPU was running under load at 94 degrees that will likely be fatal to either your CPU or the motherboard- or both. I know very little about this new CPU, though in general it's my understanding that you don't ever want a sustained load operating at anything above 80 degrees Celcius.

So what is the idle temperature? Leave your system off and let it cool down. Then reboot it, and leave it running without turning on any additional programs other than what comes on with startup. Keeping in mind that Windows is notorious for running too many programs in the background from the start. Let it run without touching anything for about 1o to 15 minutes to see what the idle temperature may be.

No question living in the desert on a hot day (95 degrees Fahrenheit) that my indoor temperature with central air conditioning runs at idle around 30 to 33 degrees Celcius, considered good. In cooler weather outdoors it can idle in the teens and twenties Fahrenheit. Presently I don't run any games that would put any kind of load on my Linux system, though with some memory intensive programs my CPU temperature at load might bounce between 40 and 50 degrees Celcius.

The bad news is that a load of 94 degrees Celcius on the CPU isn't bad- it's unacceptable. The good news is your video card is running without any strain at 40 degrees, if that's what you meant.

However...if it were my computer, the first thing I would do is to take a long look at the AIO liquid cooler and how well or not it is secured to the surface of your CPU. Unfortunately there's not much I can elaborate on when it comes to any liquid-cooled AIO. You might also listen to it with the cover removed to listen and try to tell if the system is straining. Simply put, no properly running AIO cooler should deliver 94 degrees for the CPU. Something sounds terribly wrong here, especially if the GPU is getting adequate cooling and airflow. A simple thing to do at the outset is to change it to something other than "performance mode" and see what temps are generated.

Knowing your inherent issue with attempting a return of such a large computer, you might consider spending another $200 to $300 and get a top-grade AIO cooler. Perhaps some others who game here with a liquid-cooled system can give you more on how to troubleshoot them.

With such a new CPU as well, it might have issues. Though again, I have nothing to offer, not to mention I have a complete prejudice of Intel processors beyond their 12th generation.

Under better circumstances I'd be happy to hear your system operates so quietly. However with that kind of CPU temperature under load, it sounds like your case fans may all be running at insufficient RPMs. You might check in your BIOS to actually see the RPM numbers when the system is warm or hot. Lower RPMs offers much less noise, but it also means much less airflow. It also depends where the fans are located as well. More fans don't always solve thermodynamic issues. Sometimes it just depends on where they are fixed within the case, and the way the case is designed.

You may have to completely alter the fan speed curve within your motherboard BIOS. Though unless it's an MSI motherboard, I can't offer you much help there. Frankly I've little luck in customizing my fan curves, and ultimately seem to get the best temps by fully automating them. Though again, given your GPU temps, your fans may all be operating optimally. That the most likely culprit of overly hot temps on a hot day lies with the AIO liquid cooler. Frankly they scare the hell out of me, though I accept that those using the most powerful and hot CPUs may be better off with them, as long as they don't begin to leak. If it were me, I'd yank that AIO out in a heartbeat and spend some serious bucks for a very large cpu air cooler with an obnoxious heatsink given the enormity of your case.

 

[grommet]

You said that the old spare monitor you're using now looks good, that means you don't have to rush to make a decision. You can take your time and explore all the differences between them and make a decision when it feels right.

Thank you very much.

 

[Judge]

I watch Youtube videos and they talk about that but also other things, like brightness, refresh rate and colors. One person said if the monitor could run at 144Hz but my PC could not make the game run at 144fps or higher, it could cause, I cannot remember exactly what he said, maybe blurriness or he used another word. He was explaining the need to match the monitor with my needs, with my PC and the game.

I do not know what to do. The monitor I had had a response time of .1 milliseconds.

Be careful about observing advertised response times. Though for most people I'd think anything from one to five milliseconds (GTG) is respectable. Anything higher, avoid them.

But ideally you want to look at monitors showing a "GTG" rating at 1 ms. If the monitor specs show another metric used, do some research to convert it to something more meaningful like GTG.

 

[grommet]

Let's deal with this alone for now. I assume you mean degrees in Celcius rather than percentages.

If you mean your CPU was running under load at 94 degrees that will likely be fatal to either your CPU or the motherboard- or both. I know very little about this new CPU, though in general it's my understanding that you don't ever want a sustained load operating at anything above 80 degrees Celcius.

So what is the idle temperature? Leave your system off and let it cool down. Then reboot it, and leave it running without turning on any additional programs other than what comes on with startup. Keeping in mind that Windows is notorious for running too many programs in the background from the start. Let it run without touching anything for about 1o to 15 minutes to see what the idle temperature may be.

No question living in the desert on a hot day (95 degrees Fahrenheit) that my indoor temperature with central air conditioning runs at idle around 30 to 33 degrees Celcius, considered good. In cooler weather outdoors it can idle in the teens and twenties Fahrenheit. Presently I don't run any games that would put any kind of load on my Linux system, though with some memory intensive programs my CPU temperature at load might bounce between 40 and 50 degrees Celcius.

The bad news is that a load of 94 degrees Celcius on the CPU isn't bad- it's unacceptable. The good news is your video card is running without any strain at 40 degrees, if that's what you meant.

However...if it were my computer, the first thing I would do is to take a long look at the AIO liquid cooler and how well or not it is secured to the surface of your CPU. Unfortunately there's not much I can elaborate on when it comes to any liquid-cooled AIO. You might also listen to it with the cover removed to listen and try to tell if the system is straining. Simply put, no properly running AIO cooler should deliver 94 degrees for the CPU. Something sounds terribly wrong here, especially if the GPU is getting adequate cooling and airflow. A simple thing to do at the outset is to change it to something other than "performance mode" and see what temps are generated.

Knowing your inherent issue with attempting a return of such a large computer, you might consider spending another $200 to $300 and get a top-grade AIO cooler. Perhaps some others who game here with a liquid-cooled system can give you more on how to troubleshoot them.

With such a new CPU as well, it might have issues. Though again, I have nothing to offer, not to mention I have a complete prejudice of Intel processors beyond their 12th generation.

Under better circumstances I'd be happy to hear your system operates so quietly. However with that kind of CPU temperature under load, it sounds like your case fans may all be running at insufficient RPMs. You might check in your BIOS to actually see the RPM numbers when the system is warm or hot. Lower RPMs offers much less noise, but it also means much less airflow. It also depends where the fans are located as well. More fans don't always solve thermodynamic issues. Sometimes it just depends on where they are fixed within the case, and the way the case is designed.

You may have to completely alter the fan speed curve within your motherboard BIOS. Though unless it's an MSI motherboard, I can't offer you much help there. Frankly I've little luck in customizing my fan curves, and ultimately seem to get the best temps by fully automating them. Though again, given your GPU temps, your fans may all be operating optimally. That the most likely culprit of overly hot temps on a hot day lies with the AIO liquid cooler. Frankly they scare the hell out of me, though I accept that those using the most powerful CPUs may be better off with them, as long as they don't begin to leak.

I am sorry, I did not keep reading your reply because it is different information. I did mean 94% usage, not temperature. I have a utility I can put on the screen from the Alienware Command Center. It shows me temperatures and what percentage is being used. The temperature today, the CPU did go briefly into the low 50s Celsius. The percentage of the CPU being used was 94%. The GPU was lower than 40%.

 

[Judge]

I am sorry, I did not keep reading your reply because it is different information. I did mean 94% usage, not temperature. I have a utility I can put on the screen from the Alienware Command Center. It shows me temperatures and what percentage is being used. The temperature today, the CPU did go briefly into the low 50s Celsius. The percentage of the CPU being used was 94%. The GPU was lower than 40%.

LOL...thanks for clarifying. That makes a huge difference.

That's interesting though to see a CPU that can run to 94% capacity and yet maintain such a low temperature at such a high load. Maybe that's much of the hoopla I've heard about these cpus. Yet the typical social media gurus seem overly critical of these cpus. I just haven't taken the time to really listen to them in any detail.

I want to laugh and shake my head over this. 94% of capacity, yet only running at 50+ degrees Celcius.
Sounds more like an Apple M4 chip...maybe their new M5. I know they've really solved some serious thermodynamic issues, but if these numbers you gave are accurate, I'm impressed. Just wondering what happens at 100% of use, even with a temperature in the 70s? Will it throttle back like earlier cpus? I have no idea.

So, now that you've clarified this, go into your Nvidia control panel and tell me what temps your video card is running when it's producing some serious frame rates. Just curious. Don't be surprised if it idles at maybe more than ten degrees than your motherboard temperature found in your BIOS.

 

[Outdated]

I want to laugh and shake my head over this. 94% of capacity, yet only running at 50+ degrees Celcius.

This is pretty standard these days. Mine is only a quad core i3 so it reaches it's capacity quite often but rarely ever gets up to 50 degrees.

My graphics card also always stays relatively cool, I never bothered to check it's temperatures though, I just judge by the noise it's fans make. I play some relatively high end games and it's only on loading new scenes or environments that I hear the fans wizz up, and even then it's only for a few seconds. It normally runs very quietly.

What did interest me is the temperature of the card edges on my ram. They're often around 85 degrees when I'm gaming.

 

[Judge]

This is pretty standard these days. Mine is only a quad core i3 so it reaches it's capacity quite often but rarely ever gets up to 50 degrees.

My graphics card also always stays relatively cool, I never bothered to check it's temperatures though, I just judge by the noise it's fans make. I play some relatively high end games and it's only on loading new scenes or environments that I hear the fans wizz up, and even then it's only for a few seconds. It normally runs very quietly.

What did interest me is the temperature of the card edges on my ram. They're often around 85 degrees when I'm gaming.

Sounds reasonable to me with my i5 with six cores and twelve threads. I just don't have much software to really test out the limits. The highest loads I've seen so far weren't with games, but nevertheless didn't product temps more than the low 50s and on very rare occasions.

Though I also recognize that with PCs in general, how they are configured relative to hardware and software in terms of thermodynamics can vary greatly in terms of optimal and minimal cooling.

 

[Outdated]

I just don't have much software to really test out the limits.

You should check out some of the open source games in your repository, none of them are what I would call high end in what they demand in resources but there's some very well developed games there completely and legally free.

My personal preference is for strategy and building games over first person shooters so:

0 AD. A war strategy game in a similar vein as Age of Empires but with decent graphics and mechanics.

Widelands. A clone of the old Civilisation game.

 

[Judge]

You should check out some of the open source games in your repository, none of them are what I would call high end in what they demand in resources but there's some very well developed games there completely and legally free.

My personal preference is for strategy and building games over first person shooters so:

0 AD. A war strategy game in a similar vein as Age of Empires but with decent graphics and mechanics.

Widelands. A clone of the old Civilisation game.

It's on my list of things to do. Frankly with my main system there's no longer much left to modify. I thought for a bit about installing a second Noctua cpu fan to work on a push-pull basis, but it would seem to generate no more than a loss of three degrees celcius in most cases.

I already have a "Quake III" equivalent (Open Arena) I play once in a while. Though so far despite some spirited gameplay it doesn't seem to strain my system at all.

Though part of my plan is back on track in terms of installing Windows 11 (hopefully with the 25H2 update) coming out some time in the fall. Then using Steam to get the games I really want to play again. Otherwise the only Linux game that interests me is a minor golf game apparently not in the league of the two major games in Windows.

Right now considering installing Windows 11 with only 24H2 makes me want to puke. Too many issues that 25H2 may have solved in whole or in part.

 

[Outdated]

Then using Steam to get the games I really want to play again.

With Steam you can not not play online, and updates are forced on you wether or not you want them. For me that's a deal breaker.

The alternative is to buy stand alone versions of games from GOG.

Best Video games, DRM-free | GOG.COM

 

[Judge]

With Steam you can not not play online, and updates are forced on you whether or not you want them. For me that's a deal breaker.

The alternative is to buy stand alone versions of games from GOG.

Best Video games, DRM-free | GOG.COM

Updates of Steam's GUI or individual games? I've never had any interest playing human opponents.

I'm somewhat aware of GOG....but thought most of their games are more indicative of yesteryear. Stuff that may or may not be ported to Windows beyond XP.

 

[grommet]

LOL...thanks for clarifying. That makes a huge difference.

That's interesting though to see a CPU that can run to 94% capacity and yet maintain such a low temperature at such a high load. Maybe that's much of the hoopla I've heard about these cpus. Yet the typical social media gurus seem overly critical of these cpus. I just haven't taken the time to really listen to them in any detail.

I want to laugh and shake my head over this. 94% of capacity, yet only running at 50+ degrees Celcius.
Sounds more like an Apple M4 chip...maybe their new M5. I know they've really solved some serious thermodynamic issues, but if these numbers you gave are accurate, I'm impressed. Just wondering what happens at 100% of use, even with a temperature in the 70s? Will it throttle back like earlier cpus? I have no idea.

So, now that you've clarified this, go into your Nvidia control panel and tell me what temps your video card is running when it's producing some serious frame rates. Just curious. Don't be surprised if it idles at maybe more than ten degrees than your motherboard temperature found in your BIOS.

Thank you for not being angry I did not read your full first answer, I worried I was so direct I was rude. I did not know how else to put it. I changed some settings in the graphics for the game and the difference is astonishing. I have never seen it look so good. Everything is razor sharp, every detail crystal clear and the numbers in the cockpit instrumentation shows no blur while moving. I turned off DLSS and went to TAA, then set theRender Scaling to 200. I had to lower other things like shadows and depth of field so the computer would still run.

My CPU usage dropped by two thirds, my RTX 5090 usage went to 99%. I am showing you a picture I took of the measurements. I think it is amazing.

 

[Outdated]

individual games?

Individual games are updated constantly. Every time you go to play you'll have to wait while it installs new updates. And with many games on the very first attempt at playing you'll have to wait for it to do a 40 or 60 gigabyte update.

This is because in order for people to play online they all have to be using the exact same version of the game, so if one person updates then everyone has to.

I like the GoG versions, I install them using Wine and they're completely sandboxed, no internet access in any way shape or form.

 

[Judge]

Very interesting! Just looking at those numbers, the first thing I thought of wasn't a hardware issue, but a single piece of software.

That MSFS may inherently be on the cutting edge of the latest technology. So far that even with the most advanced hardware, Microsoft developers might actually be ahead of the curve, instead of usually being behind it.

Though you might lower the performance settings a bit, just to see if any numbers change significantly.

 

[Judge]

Individual games are updated constantly. Every time you go to play you'll have to wait while it installs new updates. And with many games on the very first attempt at playing you'll have to wait for it to do a 40 or 60 gigabyte update.

This is because in order for people to play online they all have to be using the exact same version of the game, so if one person updates then everyone has to.

I like the GoG versions, I install them using Wine and they're completely sandboxed, no internet access in any way shape or form.

Well that sucks...lol. Dang...I like the sandboxing of those GoG games though. Makes so much sense.

 

[grommet]

ChatGPT said this:

"The sharpness increase is coming from the GPU doing all the work now

• Your i9 Ultra is relaxed, which is good — it’s no longer choking the game
• You’ve now optimized for clarity, not just raw frame rate

 

[Judge]

ChatGPT said this:

"The sharpness increase is coming from the GPU doing all the work now

• Your i9 Ultra is relaxed, which is good — it’s no longer choking the game
• You’ve now optimized for clarity, not just raw frame rate

Seems to me under such circumstances (if correct) is whether or not there is any foreseeable bottleneck at all. If not, it would seem "you have it made in the shade". Especially with your friend to actually see it and comment on comparisons.

Though I'd think ideally you wouldn't want maximum strain on the GPU all the time either. That it could shorten its life as a hardware peripheral. That's why I suggested lowering settings a bit to see if you can lower that usage percentage of the GPU. Try to attain a somewhat better balance.

I don't think I'd ever want to see my graphics card operating consistently at 99%. That would spook me. No matter how cool and clear it all looks.