bios download for m3300 improve performance

byrondade
byrondade Member Posts: 1 New User

My M3300 is very slow. The performance is poor, with stalling and freezing. CPU use is low, 10-25% depending using Windows 7 64 bit system, 8 GB RAM with 5.5 GB available. What bios upgrade is appropriate?

Answers

  • adamromagnoli
    adamromagnoli Member Posts: 1 New User

    Hello,  I feel compelled to write to you as I have expeienced the exact same issues with my M3300 recently and I can outline the steps quickly that I took to remedy the various problems.

     

    1)  At first I thought the problem was Video Card related as most crashes were screen freezes or during games.  I upgraded my video card to a much better unit (GT550ti to GTX570).  Video graphics and gaming performace were increased but crashing and freezing remained.

    2)  When I installed the new video card I noticed there was a lot of dust on inside so I invested some money in cans of compressed air to clean all the dust out of every part of the case including the CPU heatsink.  There was dust in between the heatsink fins preventing proper cooling of the cpu.  I used software like Speedfan and HW Monitor to determine the temperatures of my CPU and Motherboard.  At the worst when everything was freezing and crashing my CPU temp was 60 deg C and motherboard temps were 70 deg C.  These numbers are high and were stressing the 810 quad core CPU causing it to freeze and crash. 

    3) I installed aftermarket cooling on the CPU the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 92mm 2 fan 'Push / Pull' Heatsink.  Remember that 120mm Heatsinks wont fit in this small case.  I also replaced the stock case fan with a new after market Arctic Cool unit.  I installed a PCI slot fan on the bottom of the case to add extra air movement.  Optionally I added an external 92mm Arctic cool fan blowing fresh air through filters into the case for extra airflow.  Airflow was a significant part of this case overheating, crashing and freezing.

    4) Since I replaced the heatsink with aftermarked I changed the CPU to a 960T Zuban processor and attached it with a THIN layer (size of grain of rice) of Arctic Silver thermal compound (use the good stuff its literally a dollar more).  Its a x4 with 2 hidden cores that can be unlocked by a better motherboard, haha the price we pay for having a cheapy motherboard from Acer.  I easily overcloked it to 3.8ghz on stock voltage with minimal temp rise.

    5) Looking at our motherboard its evident that there are plenty of chips with no heatsinks.  I spent around $30 sourcing various aluminum and copper .5"x.5" heat sinks.  I think I used 8 copper pcs and 12 aluminum pieces and I attached them depending on shape and size to almost every exposed chip, using arctic silver G compound to affix them to the chips.  I made sure that all the VRM's and Mosfets around the CPU recieved heatsinks as with aftermarked cooling the air no longer blows down on the chips.

    6) Putting this all together I havent had a crash or freeze since I cleaned everything out and made cooling my number 1 priority.  My CPU temps are 23 deg C, down a staggering 40 degrees.  My motherboard temps are down from 10 to 55 degrees depending on the sensor!  Thats pretty significant.

    I hope that this helps and trust me, I have the exact same box with 2 HDD's and 2 DVD drives. It gets hot fast.  I went from 2 fans stock to my current setup which currently runs 5 fans.

     

    Thanks

     

    Adam

     

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