Some 2.6c questions

[BradJoeB]

I just built a 2.6c system(see sig below)

First i bumped up my speed to 3.25ghz and it seemed to run stable at 1.5v.

Then i tried better ram timings and i got it to run at 2.5 3 3 6 but i had too increase my voltage to 1.675 for it too even run.

I watched my temps with a program called fanspeed that i found on benchmarkhq. It showed my temps rise to 61~63c

i know that abit boards report too high of temps, but that high?

are these temps and voltages too excessive?

[substratus]

I think for the vcore, 1.675 should be just fine, in truth you would be fine with 1.7, but I like to stay well below 1.75, it starts to get kind of irresponsible at that much juice, lol. But if it makes you feel better I myself am running at 1.675. I have managed to get to 3.45ghz with this rig but I have a 3.0p4... yours is probably at least as fast cause you were probably able to jack up your FSB a lot higher. Feel free to jack up your DDR reference voltage, that will help your ram run more stable. Keep the vcore at 1.65 or 1.675 though. Whichever of those gives you an edge is the one you should go with.

Unfortunately your temps are a problem if your mobo is accurate. I doubt it is accurate. I can't tell if your temps are too excessive based on the lack of accuracy on the part of your mobo, but I can tell you that there is no way you should have a problem at 1.675vcore.

While we're at it, what are you doing for your heatsink? :)

[modenaf1]

http://www.theforumisdown.com/uploadfiles/0103/welcometotheforums.JPG

[BradJoeB]

I'm using the thermaltake spark 7 hsf. I used ceramique arctic silver thermal paste.

does anybody know if this hsf is as good as thermaltake has made it out to be?

[modenaf1]

i know that some thermal take products are very poorly machined. my volcano 9 was total crap until i lapped it.

[Ununquadium114]

I have found that a lower Vcore is actually better than a high one on air. I can 275 fsb stable at, 1.5875 & putting it higher just gets me higher temps &/or freezes. Relaxed ram timimgs, 2-4-4-8 were helpful too. I would try to bump these up, but right now I have 1 512 stick of pc2700 - just upgraded to ocz gold though.

[FIZZ3]

Tighter ram timings should not need CPU voltage increase. Make sure your cpu runs stable with a program like Prime95, then proceed to adjust the ram timings. Increasing the RAM voltage may help then, as mentioned above.
The temp reading may be too high, but even if you deduct a 10C 'error term', you're left with 50C+ temps. I am no fan of ThermalTake either, so I'd say a better heatsink could help you out there. BTW, you should never put much faith in (any) manufacturer's claims about their own products. They want to sell their product, not the truth.
ThermalRight, Swiftech and Alpha make good sinks.