Sorry for the title, but this got me intrigued. Two days ago I installed Windows 10 Pro 1607. The AMD driver installed was at version 16.03, and since this version is buggy when using Blender with it, I upgraded it to 16.7.3. Today after one reboot, my monitor (which I use at 1280x1024 @75Hz) was only going till 60 Hz, no matter the resolution. Since this is a CRT monitor, it's hard to use it on such low refresh rate. I then went to the Monitor properties and removed the driver, then did a reboot. Not fixed. Re-installed the driver from the Monitor properties, selected the 20.X version. Rebooted. Not fixed. Re-installed the AMD driver (16.7.3) and rebooted. Not fixed. I noticed that when stress testing my PC with prime95 it would go till 80ºC. This was when the driver was buggy. Then after shuting it down and replacing the CPU fan (80mm) with the original Box fan (70mm), the monitor/driver went back to normal like if Magic just happened. What really caught my attention is that now the CPU doesn't go beyond 61ºC, I've been running prime95 for over 20 minutes and this is the hottest it will go. And when the driver was buggy, my vCore was actually 1.28v (vdroop to 1.26), and now I set it to 1.3v (vdroop to 1.27), which would make the CPU run hotter, but it doesn't. So my question is: What the hell could have happened? PS: The previous fan was a standard 2-wire 80mm fan that was connected to the PSU's molar connector, and the 70mm fan was sitting down on my bed.
i remember an amd driver issue with 1607. 1607 is called another beta or alpha stage of windows 10. pity that home users have no choice - my pro or ltsb will remain 1511 for a longer period now.
Just throwing ideas. Either the reported temps aren't accurate. Or the larger fans throw isn't concentrated enough & or at the hot spot. I had a larger than stock CPU fan that was worse temp wise until installing a custom cowling that refocused the air flow.
Same reading across 6 or 7 different programs. Not to mention the stock fan also reported ~80ºC. It ran with 19v It was throwing a lot of air at the heat-sink.
Air flow & it's efficiency to lower temps on Heat Sinks isn't as easy & straight forward as it would seem. Speed, proper diffusion, how the flow reacts to the fins & a few more that I can't recall. You're not the only one by far that finds the original fan does a better job cooling than larger aftermarket fans.
Computer processors rarely go bad. Any other piece of hardware is likely to fail long before the processor does. Computers are long-lasting and being now on my fifth computer - I'm happy with it.
Mine is less than 6 months old, though. Not that is tells if it's going bad or not. Interesting. Thanks.
My CRT monitor lasted 12 years before it went bad. It was rock-solid and at the time as long it as worked, why upgrade? Now I'm on a flat-panel display monitor.