7v mod--of course higher temps, but ok?

[Comrade]

I did a beautiful 7 volt modification to my HSF (http://powercooler-usa.com/SocketSolution/pch610t.htm) and now the CPU temp is at least 14 *C higher than normal (to be 56* C).

Of course the reduced power is going to result in a hotter chip, but is 56 *C okay for an Athlon XP 1800+ w/o o/c? If so, what's the hottest it should EVER run (if o/c'ed, perhaps)?

[Yakbak]

56 C is pretty bad...things might get unstable at 60 and above...and it's dangerous for the life of your CPU to be at this high temperature for a long period of time...

Get a better HSF...

[Mysphyt]

Is 56C high? Comparitively, yeah. But the Athlon XP is rated to withstand temps up to 95C--which you're not even close to. Now, admittedly, you're going to start seeing instability issues a lot sooner than that, but let me say something that almost never gets said on these boards:

Cooler is not necessarily better.

If you're running at stock speeds, all you need to worry about is stability. If your computer is locking up a lot, crashing a lot, or if you're getting too familiar with the BSOD, then you need to start worrying about your temps. If your computer runs stably, then you won't notice a difference between 56 and 36C.

Temps are an issue for o/cers because they're trying to get as much out of their processor as possible by exceeding what the processor was intended for. When they up their FSB or increase their multiplier, they increase the temps, thereby decreasing processor life and creating more stability issues. Cooling is more important for them because they need to counter the negative effects produced by o/cing.

That said, I've got an XP 1800+ too--it runs at anywhere between 40 and 50C, depending on ambient and load, and I get nervous if it gets any higher. My recommendation, of course, involves more modding--put a simple DPST switch on your case somewhere, rig it to the wiring on your HSF, so that up runs it at 12v and down runs it at 7v. That way, you have the quietness for when you're not doing much and the extra cooling for when you need it. If you want to do that, here's the circuit:

Red (power) wire on fan: 12v line
Black (ground) wire on fan: center pole of switch
Top pole of switch: ground on PSU
Bottom pole of switch: 5v on PSU.

You could also rig that to a molex connector, if you don't want to hack up your PSU like I did mine. :P

[rUfUnKy]

You sure you didn't do a 5 volt mod ..common mistake and it could drop your temps drastically (some fans will barely run on 5 volts)
http://www.overclockershideout.com/7voltmod.shtml

[Comrade]

Originally posted by rUfUnKy
You sure you didn't do a 5 volt mod ..common mistake and it could drop your temps drastically (some fans will barely run on 5 volts)
http://www.overclockershideout.com/7voltmod.shtml

Er, this is my mod:

http://www.deadzoom.com/uploads/UP367527.gif

Is there something wrong with that? It seems to be running fine, the comp's stable, and everything's MUCH quieter. I've set it up so that I can turn it back if I need to. The tips of the stray cables go to the HSF, and are really colored black and red (as denoted by the tips).

[Spec_Ops2087]

picture is dead man....upload it to the OC forums....


Spec

[Mysphyt]

If I'm hearing what it sounds like I'm hearing, then rUfUnky is right, and you've done a 5v mod. You said "they really are colored black and red," and it sounded like you meant the fan wires. They are--but they're not color coded.

If you've hooked the red wire on the fan to the red wire on the PSU and black to black, then you're running your CPU fan at 5v--not the best of ideas, because that's probably below the operating voltage. It may be much quieter 'cause it's not spinning at all, instead of spinning more slowly.

There is no 7v line on a PSU; there's 12v and 5v. Think of this like dropping something, and this'll make sense. Usually, a fan runs at 12v by running from the 12v line on the PSU to the ground. That's like dropping something from 12 feet in the air and having it hit the ground--a 12 foot drop. If you've hooked red to red and black to black, you're going from 5v to ground--a 5 foot drop. In a 7v mod, you connect the 12v line (yellow wire on the PSU) to the red wire of the fan and the 5v line (red wire on the PSU) to the black wire of the fan. Now, instead of dropping from 12 feet in the air to the ground we're dropping on to a 5 foot high table--with a difference of 7 feet. So now our fan's running at 7v. For most fans, the minimum operating voltage is somewhere between 6 and 7, so it still works fine and pushes almost as much air as before, but is a lot quieter.

That would make sense, too, 'cause 14C seems like a really big jump for this.

[Comrade]

Thanks a lot for the help. I still think I hooked it right, here's the pic:

[jokrswild]

yeah,, that looks right. as long as your positive is on the 12, and your negative is on the 5, you should be getting 7 volts. If you don't notice any stability issues at all, then dont' worry about it too much. Again, hooking up a switch might be better so at night, if you're not doing anyting, you can run it low, then during the day run it high.

And alternative would to get a rheostat, so you can change it to any fan speed you want. You might like that idea better. Rig it up, and then you can better choose between noise and temperature.

[Comrade]

I'm loving the way it is now, but I'll definitely look into a rheostat.
Thanks for all the help guys--when I read the principle behind a 7 volt mod (which was a week ago) it wasn't hard to execute nor remember. I knew that yellow was 12v and red was 5v, and it was the difference if you use the 5v to ground.

I'm only saying this because twice people suggested I did it incorrectly--that was a non-issue. I also did it my way (see pic) because my HSF cable is connected to a Molex passthru (see pic) and I wanted to still connect it to my CDRW instead of having a dead circuit.

I really appreciate the help though. For some reason my method seems a LOT easier than the other way (http://www.overclockershideout.com/7voltmod.shtml) not only because it's reversible and with fewer steps but also because you can still use the passthrough feature.