High temperatures with P4C800-E Dlx OC'ed

System info:
Asus P4C800-E Dlc
P4 2.6 GHz
1GB Kingston HyperX KHX4000K2

Current settings:

VCore 1.575 V
RAM 2.85 V
FSB 240
Divider 1:1
Timings: 3-4-4-8-8
All performance options in BIOS are on Auto or Disabled

System is completely stable, bumping the RAM Voltage up from Auto to 2.85 did the trick.

Memtest and Prime95 each for ran for 4+ hours until I stopped them. No errors.

My CPU temp fluctuates between 50~53 at full load. 28~30 at idle.

I have an infrared thermometer, so I checked various areas of the mobo for temps.
Most seemed fine except in a couple places. I am attaching a picture to point this out.



The Northbridge chip is pretty hot. The heatsink measured as high as 68 degrees
at full load at 240 FSB. I might replace this with a better heatsink or put a small
fan on it if I push the speed higher.

There are 2 chips just below the memory bank on the right. The bottom chip was as high as 75 degrees at full load !!!
The HyperX modules are spec'd to run at temps up to 70 degrees, so I checked them as well, but 59 was the highest at full load. Again, higher speeds here might warrant some active cooling.

The Promise SATA chip runs hovers around 55 degrees.

Any thoughts on the temp readings for the mentioned chips ???

I'm going to back the RAM voltage down to 2.75 and see if it remains stable. I know 2.65 won't work. Then I'll probably lower the VCore as well to find the lowest stable setting.

The Sonata is a great case. And it's too pretty for me to want to cut it up for extra cooling. Unfortunately, the cooling ability of this thing isn't great for excessive overclocking.

I might just add a fan to the bottom of the case blowing upward. I'd raise it off the bottom of the case an inch or so. This would move a little more air toward the memory and the northbridge chip.

Hi Brad_C
I have just this weekend finished putting together a system (see specs below)
Mobo 24C / cpu 23 idle 40C load
You don`t say what PSU you have & your case might be chocking because of lack of air?
eg: I have a Antec case 2x80mm YS quite fans in the front. 2x80mm rear fans the PSU has 2 fans my 9800Pro has a exhaust duct & fan & it is all very quiet. You must cool things down to achieve your results & also balance the air in/out.
Also if your PSU is only 300watt it could be overworking.

Hope this helps

Acko

The Sonata comes with a 380 Watt PSU. The PSU fan is geared toward the quite side, not the high volume air moving variety fan.
Monitors report it spinning at 1700 RPM.

The Sonata is designed to give good cooling with a huge reduction in noise - at normal processor speeds. The extra heat that is generated from overclocking RAM and CPU will test the cooling ability of the Sonata.

I need to find a balance between temperature/performance when OC'ed. That is why I won't be trying for 250+ FSB with standard cooling. I still want this thing to be quiet.

I was just worried about the NB temp and the temp of the chips below the memory bank. I can't really put a heatsink there, but I could direct some better air flow in that direction.

I'd put a fan on the northbridge and maybe make up some heatsinks for the other chips.

I picked up a heatsink about 1.5 x 1.5 with a 40mm fan for $2.00
at a surplus store