heat type questions on my GA -7N400Pro2/Barton 2600 System

hello,

just got my system running at stock,

GA-7N400Pro2 on F5 BIOS
Barton 2600 XP on 333fsb
2x 512Mb crucial 3200 running at 400fsb

right. my temps seem very high, idle CPU 52 system 32, Prime 95 Load CPU 62 degrees centigrade.

i have a zalman flower cooler (the all copper one), apparently rated to be ok with 3200 speeds.

basically the problem is that the system is not very happy when i take even the smallest step to running my CPU at 400fsb to match the rest of the system. (just changing fsb, cpu is locked)

firstly my Vcore is 1.720 stock. is this right? seems a high to me, is there any way i can lower it (the board bios only has percentage increases)

obviously i am thinking about getting a thermalright 800A or 900A, however their weights do worry me slightly with just using the clips, is this an issue?

also can anyone recommend any manufacturers of quiet fans with a respectable airflow? i think my general case temp is too high also.

oh crap, another q hehe: in the meantime will i be better off running my ram at 166fsb rather than 200 so it matches my CPU, or is the mismatch not a big issue?

many thanks for your help.

Richard

isotone,
sorry im in a hurry at this time, so here is a qick link to the gigabyte faq
Gigabyte new owners faq

youre gonna find most of the anwsers to any questions you may have in that link


Laterz,
3sixes -aka-dafanman

thanks 3sixes, that faq has been updated last time i read it.

however still got a few questions lets see if i got it straight...

so the fact that my temps are around 55 idle isnt a problem as the pro2 measures in a different way?

i tried the amdmb guide to overclocking, however as my barton is super locked (educated guess from the fact that i changed the multiplier switches on the board and it didnt do anything) i can just fiddle with memory timings and fsb.

problem is that system will not go over 175fsb (from 166), at 180 it gets past the simple black 'loading windows 2000' screen only to fail at the splash screen, and at 180fsb it doesnt get past it.

i have a q-technology quiet 350W PSU, all the power lines are just over their respective requirements, and as ive only got an old 32MB Geforce 2 GTS i dont think power is a problem...

the memory is rated to 400fsb so atm they are running below speed.

the only think i can think to do is improve airflow on and around my cpu -although if the temperatures i read are 5-10 over the others i read here (due to the pro2 on die sensor) then the problem must lie somewhere else?

hmmm

isotone,
It really breaks down like this:
Because your board is based on 4 layer pcb design, you wont have as many features as my 6 layer board.

That is the reason that your cpu is over volted to 1.72 instead of the 1.65 it should be, dont worry about it though, casue you cant adjust it down to 1.65.

The common issues with the giga boards are allways the same,
Memory, power, setup.

First, did you realize the cpu socket is rotated 90degrees, alot of users did not and as a result are putting thier hs on backwards, check it and make sure the hs and socket ledges line up properly
Socket A hs install video

second, is ram: no name/generic/oem ram does not do well on the nforce2 boards(what is the name on the chips on your ram?)
If possible see if you can borrow some good quality brand name ram to test with.

Power:Gigabyte Nforce Power supply guide

Read the reccomendations for power there, this is gatherd from monitoring many useres experiences.

See if any of that makes sense to ya.

Laterz,
3sixes -aka- dafanman

I have found that the Gigabyte 7n400 board I used to build a gaming unit for my nephew runs idle at about 58 Degress Celsius.

Kind of warm I think

We had overclocked the 2600 Barton (from 1.8GHz to 2.23 GHz) he got and cooled it with a zalman heatsink, and 75CFM 82mm fan.


I think that they just run warm

I did like one thing a lot, It ran up quick and stable to oc. Never have I seen such an easy overclock before
still no cooler than at stock speeds

thanks for the advice guys.

computerbias, do you know what PSU your friend had, and what Vcore settings you tried?

3sixes, i have two sticks of 512Mb 3200 Crucial Ram, good quality i think!. also i just bought a 350W PSU thinking it would be fine, it is a good quality one i believe (QTecnology, different to Qtec), specs say it can give 28A at 3.3V, 30A at 5V, and 18A at 12V, with a combined maximum of 220W at 3.3V/5V. mean anything to anyone?

have just ordered another 92mm zalman fan so i will have two on the HS. and some round IDE and floppy cables to tidy things up a bit. hope that makes some difference! otherwise i would appreciate some recomendations on high throughput 80mm case fans that are fairly quiet.

cheers

Rich

meh. i reckon its the PSU not giving enough on the 12V rail.
i'm going to try and return it for a better one.