UPDATED - VERY STRANGE PROBLEM AFTER REPLACING STOCK THERMAL PASTE

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muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
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When I first tested my i7 920 system ( with Vista Ultimate 64 bit OS ) for video encoding, I was able to covert a 700 Mb AVI file to DVD using Nero in only 14 minutes. This was almost 4 times faster than my Athlon X2 64-bit 6000+ 3.0Ghz.

Before conducting any Over-clocking tests, I decided to replace the stock thermal compound with OCZ Extreme Freeze.

After reinstalling the heat sink, I ran the same video encoding test as above and it took nearly 40 minutes to perform the identical task.

What?s odd is the CPU load starts off at about 70% and slowly declines to 30%. So as Nero runs, the estimated time to complete the task on the application window would gradually increase.

Additionally, I did a fresh install of Vista Ultimate 64 as well as XP pro 32bit and XP Pro 64bit on another HHD and the same thing occurred. The CPU usage would start off at 70% and decrease to 30%.

I even reverted the BIOS to default settings and this made no difference as well nor did assigning "High Priority" for Nero in the task manager.

I don't believe this has to overheating because the CPU temp never approached the threshold of 60degC and this is monitored by 2 different programs (Speed Fan and Asus Probe II)

Finally, it's important to note that I have NOT done any overclocking whatsoever and the system is only 3 days old.

Anyone have an idea of what caused this.

 
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katank

Senior member
Jul 18, 2008
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Have you checked all your mobo connections? Perhaps in replacing the thermal paste, you disconnected some wires which provide additional power to the CPU. It's not unable to get that power and is thus throttling down.

Have you monitored the CPU speed and voltage w/ CPU-Z or some other app?
 
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heyheybooboo

Diamond Member
Jun 29, 2007
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I tried some OCZ Freeze on a rig upgrade the other day and it seems to be working well ...

Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------
Temperature sensor 0 -272°C (-459°F) [0x1] (THRM)

Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ hardware monitor
Temperature sensor 0 2°C (36°F) [0xCD] (Core #0)
Temperature sensor 1 -9°C (14°F) [0x9D] (Core #1)



I think you need to look elsewhere for your problem ...
 
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muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
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Is it possible that the Asus power save feature is causing this unpleasantness. Whenever my PC is idling, it clocks down to 1.6 GHz. I've heard that this power save feature is a pain in the A$$ because of various bugs that come with it.

Both the CPU Performance lag while video encoding issue and the CPU dropping to 1.6 GHz while idling both coincided each other. That is, they both started around the time I replaced the thermal paste.

So the power save feature is causing the video encoding problems.

 
K

katank

Senior member
Jul 18, 2008
385
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Then it has nothing to do with the thermal paste. Go into the BIOS and disable both SpeedStep and C1E options. That should prevent any downclocking.
 
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muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
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Originally posted by: katank
Then it has nothing to do with the thermal paste. Go into the BIOS and disable both SpeedStep and C1E options. That should prevent any downclocking.
Click to expand...

Thanks.

Just curious, would pulling out the battery on the MB do the same thing. Since this problem happened on fresh installs of windows on 3 other HHD's, this should indicate that it's stored in the CMOS. Correct?
 
Quiksilver

Quiksilver

Diamond Member
Jul 3, 2005
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Pulling the CMOS battery would reset the BIOS back to factory defaults, turning speed step and c1e back on.
Also I suggest checking your temps; cpu could be throttling itseld down due to heat issues.
Check to make sure the hetasink is mountly properly and you didn't add to much thermal paste.
Also use Realtemp.
 
M

muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
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UPDATE:

Checked heatsink mounting and deactivated Power Save settings in the Bios. These actions did not remedy the fluctuating CPU problem when running Nero. The CPU load would begin at 70% and work it's way down to 30%.

I also ran Realtemp and temp's were pretty much the same as from Fan Speed and Asus Probe II.

However, I decided to use another video encoding benchmark. Prior to these problems, I also ran Winavi to convert the same Avi file to DVD. On my Athlon x64 6000+, this took 15 minutes. On my new i7 system, this task was completed in 7 minutes.


When I ran the same project again, it was done in 7 minutes, just like the first time. Core load hovered around 15% throughout the entire process.

Important to note, Winavi is a program that doesn't benefit from multiple cores but Nero does.


Does this shed light on anything?
 
K

katank

Senior member
Jul 18, 2008
385
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0
Define fluctuating CPU problem. You can either have speed fluctuations due to power saving options. You can also have fluctuations in CPU load during the encoding.

The former should be fixed by BIOS options. The latter sounds like a software problem. Did the CPU speed change when the load changes?
 
Liet

Liet

Golden Member
Jun 9, 2001
1,529
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I also think you should monitor a program that displays current CPU speed & multiplier while you're actually doing the encoding. I believe CPU-Z will do this, but I have no idea whether it's been updated to work properly with i7s.
 
M

muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
1
81
Originally posted by: katank
Define fluctuating CPU problem. You can either have speed fluctuations due to power saving options. You can also have fluctuations in CPU load during the encoding.

The former should be fixed by BIOS options. The latter sounds like a software problem. Did the CPU speed change when the load changes?
Click to expand...

Thanks Again for replying,

Perhaps fluctuating is a little misleading. See attached.

http://i239.photobucket.com/al...ite_Me_CR/NeroCPUy.jpg

Remember, I deactivated the power saving options.

CPU speed remained constant as CPU load changed.
 
N

nyker96

Diamond Member
Apr 19, 2005
5,630
2
81
Originally posted by: heyheybooboo
I tried some OCZ Freeze on a rig upgrade the other day and it seems to be working well ...

Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------
Temperature sensor 0 -272°C (-459°F) [0x1] (THRM)

Hardware monitor
-----------------------------------------------------
AMD Athlon 64 X2 5400+ hardware monitor
Temperature sensor 0 2°C (36°F) [0xCD] (Core #0)
Temperature sensor 1 -9°C (14°F) [0x9D] (Core #1)



I think you need to look elsewhere for your problem ...
Click to expand...

-272C? I say it's working too well, you are approching 0 Kelvin. you official got a superconducting CPU! Congrads!
 
M

muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
1
81

I decided to install Vista Ultimate 64 on two different HDD. One was a Seagate 1Tb 32 Mb Cache and the other was a WD Caviar Green 500Gb with 16Mb Cache.

Running Nero 7 on the WD Hard Drive, converting a 700Mb Avi to DVD took 12 minutes, average CPU load was around 60%

On the Seagate, the exact same task took over 40 minutes. Average CPU load was approx 45%.

So can anyone explain why the Seagate performed so poorly? Is it the larger capacity, cache or are they just bad?
 
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muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
1
81
When I got the slugglish performance, I used Vista's driver update feature and it indicated that the latest driver was already installed. When I get home tonight, I'll run that Seagate program to determine if my HDD is affected.

Thanks for the info!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
M

muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
1
81
Yet another update:

I decided to install the Cool Master V-8 and the time it took for Nero to encode the file was unchanged from 13 minutes on the WD.

However, the time on the Seagate was reduced from 40 min to 16 minutes. Still slower than the WD.

So was the CPU running hotter on the Seagate whiched caused the CPU to slow down?
 
M

muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
1
81
Originally posted by: Nmascarenhas
Make sure AAM is off on both your drives.
Click to expand...

OK, at first, I had no idea what AAM was. So I looked it up as being Automatic Acoustic Management which reduces the noise a HHD creates. More relevant, if AAM is engaged it's said to dramatically reduce performance.

So how is this done? I've seached the web and it only brings up other people asking the same question. It seems that this can only be done by tweaking the firmware.
 
M

muskyx1

Member
Apr 20, 2005
151
1
81
Originally posted by: Nmascarenhas
http://hddguru.com/content/en/...hi-Drive-Feature-Tool/
I'm having some problems posting, this is my 3rd try. Sorry if it repeats.
Click to expand...

Thanks man, I ended up returning the Seagate for a Velicoraptor. When I ran the same test, the raptor shaved between 30 to 45 seconds off the Cavair green.

I have another Seagate that also runs really slow and I'll see if disabling the AAM on that will improve things.

 
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