With the latest hardware from AMD, Intel and NVIDIA, as well as other component vendors, it's possible to overclock PCs and push them further than ever before. The only downside to really putting your system under strain is heat and the accompanying noise from the cooling solution that attempts to keep everything within thermal limits. Some may prefer a quiet experience while others enjoy reaching at least 60 frames per second (FPS) in Star Citizen with everything turned up to the max.
Having a total of six fans running at full power may be able to keep an overclocked Intel Core i7 and other internals running just fine, but you'll have to deal with the sound of air movement and the fans themselves. We're interested in hearing how you configure fan profiles, whether you don't mind fans spinning up to keep everything well within temperature ranges, or if you let the heat build up to bring the sound down a few dB levels. There's a related thread in our forums right now.
PC hardware has come a long way over the past few decades and with the possibility of overclocking, things are really heating up in-game and intense applications. And by that, we also mean actual heat. While some are rocking water-cooling solutions, many still rely on air cooling but both can become rather loud when the system is put under strain. Do you balance noise and performance by...
Rich Edmonds
Join the discussion and let us know how you approach this. There's no right or wrong way, but we know some folks feel strongly.
From the forum: How do you balance noise and performance?
