which cooling to get

Hey, this is my first system to overclock and I need some advice.

I've got a Barton 2500, its locked =( so I am looking to OC it to 2.2GHz (200 * 11) maybe more in the future, I don't know. I can only get it to stay stable up to (185*11) on default vcore 1.65. Even then it runs pretty hot when I tested it on Prime 95 for 13 hours, it hit mid to upper 40's (hit 49 at one point I believe). It usually idles 36-38 and hits 42-45 when playing games, although it has gone up a little since I increased the FSB from 166 to 185. It really depends on the temp of my room, today I opened the windows (its below freezing outside) and it dropped my temps 3 or 4 degrees. A couple days ago I increased the vcore to 1.70 and the FSB to 200, but it got over 50 after around 30-45 minutes of playing games. I guess the only way I'm going to be stable at 2.2 GHz is to increase the Vcore.

So, I've said all that to say that I need cooling, I only have one rear case fan, its 120mm, came with my Antec SLK3700 BQE case. There is room for a front 120mm case fan. How much cooling would I get from adding a front 120mm fan?

However I think my main problem is the heatsink, I just have the AMD heatsink that came with the retail processor (I did use Ceramique). I would really like to keep my PC as quiet as possible, it is very quiet now. I've read that the Thermalright SLK800 is a good choice with a Panaflo 80mm L1A fan. Am I right about this? If so where would be the best place to buy it.

So I guess my options are to just try another case fan and see if that provides adequate cooling (I don't think it will, but I may have underestimated the cooling efficiency of 2 120mm case fans), or to get a new heatsink and fan, or both. What is by best option (taking into account what I want to acheive and noise)?

Here are some specs on my system:
AMD Barton 2500+
Asus A7N8X Deluxe Rev 2.0
Retail heatsink and fan
Antec SLK3700 BQE case with one rear 120mm Antec fan
1 512MB Crucial PC3200 RAM
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro
Liteon DVD-ROM
IBM HD

If you need anything else, let me know and thanks for your help.

WELCOME TO THE FORUMS:Heres a link to the heat sink review.
The website also has other good articles and tips.This will give you something to read until the AMD guys come.I run a SP_94
Thermalright HS the best going.They also service AMD.
THE FANMAN

HS REVIEW LINK

www.thermalright.com

If I remember correctly, I got to 2.2ghz on the stock cooler, but the temps were a tad high. If you want cooler temps, I would reccomend the Thermalright SK-7 heatsink with a Thermaltake Smartfan II. The heatsink is very economical, and the smartfan's speed is adjustible.

I can't find the SK-7 for sale anywhere? Does anybody know where to get it?

That's odd, svc doesn't have it. Maybe it was discontinued? i dunno

yea, i wanted to order it for my cuz, couldn't find it any where...
even newegg is out

Yeah, I think I did read it was discontinued on some site. What about the ALX-800, its their new one.

wait till the sp97 comes on and slap a 92mm tornado on there. If you got dogs, they will freak out whenever you boot up, is sounds like a vacum cleaner, only higher pitched.

Well I don't really want a loud fan, I want to keep my computer as quiet as possible. I think I'm gonna use the Thermaltake Smartfan II. I just have to decide which heatsink to use, ALX-800, SLK-800, any suggestions?

If you don't want a loud fan, stay away from the SF2.

blkgti said:

If you don't want a loud fan, stay away from the SF2.

Click to expand...

This person does not know what he is talking about. The SF2 is adjustible. At the higher settings it is pretty loud, but at the lowest setting, it is only 17db(a), which in all practicality is inaudible.