Silent Pipe & TPM questions re GA-X38-DQ6

[Pooga]

Hello all,
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I've just put together a new system (specs below) and have a performance question (Silent Pipe) and a curiosity question (TPM).
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First, the relevant specs (irrelevant specs available on request):
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<TABLE style="WIDTH: 443pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=590 border=0 x:str><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 66pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3218" width=88><COL style="WIDTH: 73pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 3547" width=97><COL style="WIDTH: 304pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 14811" width=405><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; WIDTH: 66pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=88 height=17>Part</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; WIDTH: 73pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=97>Manufacturer</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; WIDTH: 304pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" width=405>Item</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>Case</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Gigabyte</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Triton 180 Silver Mid-Tower Case</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>Power Supply</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Rosewill</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Rosewill XTREME Series 750W Power Supply</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>Motherboard</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Gigabyte</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">GA-X38-DQ6 Motherboard</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>Processor</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Intel</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Core 2 Duo E8400 Processor</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>Heatsink/Fan</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Arctic Cooling</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Freezer 7 Pro 92mm CPU Fan & Heatsink</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>Memory</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Crucial</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">4 x Ballistix 1GB DDR2 1066/PC2 8500 (4GB Total)</TD></TR><TR style="HEIGHT: 12.75pt" height=17><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; HEIGHT: 12.75pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" height=17>Video</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">SAPPHIRE</TD><TD style="BORDER-RIGHT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-TOP: #e0e0e0; BORDER-LEFT: #e0e0e0; BORDER-BOTTOM: #e0e0e0; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent">Radeon HD 3850 512MB</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

I am fairly certain I am having heat issues, most likely with the memory. I've done about a week of "elimination of factors" testing. If the system has been off for 1/2 hour or more, Memtest86+ will run 3-6 hours before finding errors. It will then return errors on the first pass if restarted. I unplugged/removed/disabled everything not needed to run Memtest86+, and tested the DIMMs in different combinations. I finally went 24 hours with no errors when I ran with the case on its side with the side panel open. There seemed to be no pattern to which test would fail, or in what block of memory the errors occurred, just that it took a few hours before they started.<o:p></o:p>
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From what I can tell, the Silent Pipe layout is designed to pull heat up and to the back of the board, away from first the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" /><st1:City w:st="on"><st1:place w:st="on">Southbridge</st1:place></st1:City> and then the Northbridge chipsets. That would indicate to me that the bulk of the heat dissipation would be from airflow across the final set of fins, positioned behind the CPU. If so, I would think the FreezerPro should be well placed to cool the Silent Pipe, as it directs airflow almost directly into the final radiator on the Silent Pipe. Similarly, the memory is located directly in front of the fan, which should draw air across the top of the DIMMs. To illustrate:

(My apologies for the rather lame mock-up images)

OTOH, the stock CPU fan pulls air from the side vent and blows it outward in a circular pattern, would actually blow air into the Northbridge heatsink and memory slot area. Is the layout of components on this board such that I would get better heat dissipation if I stuck with the stock fan? In other words:

My other question is about the TPM header pins. While this obviously isn’t going to be a business system with highly sensitive data on it, I would like to have some of the hardware encryption options available through a TPM. At this point, I’ve Googled about every possible combination I can think of in search of any TPM that could connect to this header from any company, and cannot find one. Is there such a thing as an add-on TPM that can connect to this header? If so, where can I find it?<o:p></o:p>
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[Rewl]

Re: Silent Pipe &amp; TPM questions re GA-X38-DQ6

If you can RMA the board without being 100% it's defective, i'd try that first of all.

about cooling: make sure you have a decent exhaust-fan at the back of the case;
the side-duct..hmm..i've been experimenting with mine for a while (i own a similar case) and decided to ditch it - instead i tried to optimize the flow from front-intake to back-exhaust by using a silentpipe-cooler like the one on your first image
if the mounting holes of your duct are in fan standard measurements you could try replacing it with a fan blowing inward, that should cover memory and board-coolers;

no idea about the trusted thingie, how about system-drive encryption with truecrypt?