Just built my 1st system, COOLING ISSUES!

[josh2641]

OK, so I just built my first system and I'm not sure if I'm having cooling issues or not... when cpu is idle: 44-46.4c. It's not over clocked at all... I dont know what my voltage settings should be. I was having problems getting my CPU to get to 1.4 because I let my mobo automatically set the clock/bus and vcore for me, can anyone tell me what my voltage should be for 1.4ghz?

also do you guys think I have a cooling problem?
Here's my setup...

Antec SX1030 case
MSI K7 Master mobo MS-6341
Swiftec MC370-0a (aluminum)
AMD Athlon (T-bird) 1.4 ghz 266FSB AYHJA
512mb Crucial DDR
IBM deskstar 7200 RPM 40g hard drive
ATI RADEON VE 32mb DDR
Philips Accoustic edge sound card
300W PC+Power cooling.com "TURBO-COOL" PS

I know AMD's run hot but from other posts I have read on here...I think that theres a problem. Am I supposed to put the arctic silver only on the raised core portion of the CPU? Or over the entire thing? How do I tell if my swiftech HSF is seated on the CPU firmly? It seems like it is... whenever I get to playing TRIBES2 sometimes the system just resets itself. Also I have updated my BIOS, downloaded ATI's latest drivers (that doesnt have anything to do with cooling, but with my system randomly restarting)

ANY HELP IS APRECIATED!

[silent bob]

welcome to the forums , what an awesome rig ,very jealous, the way to check the ASII is to remove the HS and look at it and see .
sorry I cant be more of a help but I'm not farmiliar enough with your setup,

[josh2641]

Thanx...I put alot of money into it and did alot of homework on what components to buy...

OK so I look at the heatsink and I see the arctic silver and a little bit of condensation... it seems like its on there tight..

ALSO.. I'm using some unknown brand of thermal compond...I guess I shouldnt say "arctic silver" but the guy at the local shop said its good stuff.. he said something about it's endorsed by overclockers.com

but the tube is generic looking...nothing written on it at all
should I buy some genuine arctic silver2 ??

[Amedeo602]

i think he was feeding you a line and you took it hook line and sinker...

www.arcticsilver.com

look at what they have to say about no-name silver wannabes...

[NotHisTechiness]

houston we have a problem, did you say condensation cause there really shouldn't be any at all. as for the thermal grease, it should be applied to the core only. also, i wouldn't recommend an aluminum hsf because it doesn't cool very well as opposed to copper and you need all the cooling you can get for that 1.4. you can always try to just switch the fan on the hs and see if that helps or just get a whole new one. also, what airflow you getting in there?

p.s. welcome to the forums

[WyrmMaster]

Hey, someone from near me, welcome to the forums. I have an uncle that lives in Boise by the way.

[josh2641]

uhhhh

my tube looks like that one on www.arcticsilver.com except it has no label....

oh well, it was only 6 bucks
and I guess I'm not really sure if it's condensation or not, because its not like small drops of water on a can of pop on a hot humid summer day ...does that make sense??
anyways, my point is, I dont know what the hell it is surronding the core of my AMD...

so can any of you guys give me any suggestions on a new heatsink? I'm gonna go check out www.coolerguys.com they have good prices, I hear alot of guys talking about the copper SK6, so I'm gonna check that out...

Oh what should I set my BIOS to for 1.4ghz? As far as CPU Clock Multiplier and vcore.

Thanks guys.

[NotHisTechiness]

i haven't had any experience with coolerguys but the guys/gals here have had some pretty bad experience with them so i wouldn't suggest buying from them. however, i have dealt with www.2cooltek.com and they're good people so check em out if you have the time. as for heatsinks go, i suggest the sk-6 or the vantec cck-6035d. i'm not too sure about the v core but i would suggest the multiplier to be 10 cause amd tends to like that number for some reason beyond me. hope this helps

[TUK101]

Do you have any fans in the case to get the air moving into and out of the case? If not I would at least get a fan in the front of that case to draw some fresh air into that awesome rig that you have built.

[josh2641]

Yeah I got 2 pretty large fans that were in the rear of the case pushing air out, so I took one and put it in the front of the case to pull air in...

fans are the least bit of my worries now... THIS SYSTEM IS SO UNSTABLE... zonealarm is a piece of crap, if you want to uninstall it it will block all your internet access... GRRRRRR

I'm so tired of messing with this dang puter...
I got dark circles unber my eyes and am in need of a shower... 2 words - NASTY B.O.

BUT I WANNA PLAY TRIBES2 DAMN IT!


if anyone could help me with the CPU and vcore settings I would appreciate it!

I tried 10 too BTW...

[josh2641]

Well...I've given up on TRIBES2. I installed Covert OPS on my new rig and it runs great...

Now my philips sound card is stopping working...

I'm going to bed... almost 3am

when I wake up tomorrow I'm putting the soundcard up for auction on eBay, I knew I should have went with a SoundBlaster Live! Platinum...

Also I just ordered a SUNON 92mm fan for the front of my rig to bring in lots of fresh air so the 2 80mm fans on the back can act as exaust fans on top of my turbo-cool PS that really ought to bring in some good airflow...

I think I've finally set my BIOS up correctly, the T-BIRD is running @ 1.4ghz and I'm not gonna overclock till I get an SK6/Delta HSF setup...

G'night folks!

[lennytiger]

make sure you are getting good airflow thru the case and that your cables are neat and tidy....

Heatsink check if its on the right way round...

[josh2641]

My system is SO UNSTABLE

how do I figure out whats causing it?
I suspect I need to set the bus/clock multiplier and vcore settings properly but nobody on here can tell me what they should be?

HELP!

[lennytiger]

is there an auto setting on your mobo?
If there is let it sort itself out and see if its stable then....

My mobo is all auto apart from setting the FSB which currently is only at 100MHz and the VCore set automatically is at 1.75V

I personally would lower the VCore value on your system and then see how far it can go before running unstably again.

(is unstably a word???)

[josh2641]

thats just it Lenny

I bought a 1.4ghz from newegg.com
if I let my MOBO automatically detect its speed it only runs @ 1mhz

I e-mailed them and they wouldnt take it back saying:

Dear Valued Customer -
I believe you do have the correct item. We run into this situation
all the time. It has to do with the chip and bios setting. Call AMD at
408-749-3060 and they will walk you through the re-set. If that
doesn't solve the problem, call us. Additionally, you can try this link:
http://ask.amd.com/SRVS/CGI-BIN/WEBCGI.EXE/,/?St=56,E=0000000000012069781,K=164,Sxi=1,Problem=o b(4493)


So do you think they rooked me and sent me a 1ghz?

it will run @ 1.4ghz 266FSB but it's pretty unstable, I set multiplier to 10.5 and bus to 133, and even if I leave the vcore at default, same thing.

[josh2641]

BUMP!

:mad:

[lennytiger]

I would say they have really ripped you off with that chip. Try Running it at speeds around 1.2GHz see what it does then...

The only problem buying over the web is that if they send you out the wrong equipment (or you order the wrong stuff) they may not take it back.

Personally I order my stuff from a local PC store I know the people their and get good prices. If they screw something I just tell them they don't get the money till it works stable.

With web companys they can be right B@ST@RDS because they are to proud to take them back...

Who was the company lets put them to shame...

If they do sort it out and everything is stable good for you and them. I hate companys that screw consumers around!

[josh2641]

it runs stable @ 1.276ghz...

I think that I just need better cooling or dont know the correct settings for my BIOS

I'll wait for my 92mm SUNON fan for the front of the case...

maybe that will help...
if not I'm gonna try water cooling

[Sonny]

Try your multiplier at 10.5 X 133 again & set the VCore voltage to what you see in a hardware monitor in windows or whatever OS you are using. Some mobos add extra power,sometimes a +.1V or higher, to whatever you set in he BIOS & this could be the cause of your overheating & stability problems.

[snyper1982]

ive never really ran into stability problems, so i cant really help you out from experience, but i will try to give you some suggestions. Ok have you tried SANDRA. its a great program that everyone should have. and second, if you have a setting for performance in your bios try normal not optimal, that might fix it. it could also be your memory i know i was runing my memory at 133 but i had to drop it to 100 cause one of my modules was only rated at 100 and i didnt know that. it still ran ok at 133 but, after my computer was on for a while i guess my memory would get to hot or something, and my system would start hanging. so try all the lowest settings you can and if its stable then, change one thing at a time till you find out what the problem is. i know that sucks but thats what your going to have to do. you could also pay to get it checked but then you wouldnt be TRUE overclocker now would you? LOL. well hope this helped.

[EFWrestler72]

Hey josh

Dont worry dude!

Your cooling is FINE!

Its the MB

Go to msihardware.com and to the forums there it will help you with your problems

If you want your 3d apps to work and want your computer to be stable, here's a work around

You've been affected by the FSB133 bug!

First, update to the 1.2 BIOS for the board

Then set all your BIOS settings up!
You MUST set the bios manually for 133 bus (just go to frequency\voltage settings in the BIOS and chage the FSB)
You must set it to 133 fsb manually because the EV266 bus is not autodetectable FSB!

Then, shut down your comp and plug the power plug\or turn the Powersupply switch off.

Wait 20 seconds then start again, then procede to install the AMD AGP miniport drivers and the latest Via 4-1 4.33 (select everything EXCEPT the Via AGP driver!)

Then EVERYTHING will be rock stable!!!!

The catch is, you must turn off the powerswitch on your Power supply OR pull teh power cord WHENEVER you shut down in order to not face this issue.

It has to do with some powersupplies suppling too high of a 3.3v Rail and MSI is working hard on the 1.3 BIOS to fix it!

At first, I paniced when this happened, but now its just a nagging problem waiting to be fixed. If it really bothers you, RMA the board and if you're lucky you'll get the newer revision without this problem!

Hope I helped and feel free to Email me!

[Spuppy21]

I have the same Mobo as you, I have version 1.1 with the athlon xp 2000+ on it. I have/had the random reboots like you. I have talked to both ATI (Radeon 7500) and MSI and I found out that its the transfer rate. If you switch your bios transfer rate to 1x/2x the system wont randomly reboot. Something to the effect of the DDR ram in the cards is "too slow" for 4x. Sounds like a bunch of BS to me but whatever. I am happy that the system doesnt randomly reboot, yet ****ed that I spent the money for 4x card when it can only run at 2x.

Im looking into overclocking too so I have been reading yoru post. What did you get your 1.4 up to? Or did you just dump the machine?

[rb26dett]

AS3 is the best .. before I used AS3 I was gettin temps of 54idle 58-60 full load ... after applying AS3 + V9 my temps are idle 32-34idle 36-38 full load =)

[Deathknight]

While those temps are not super low I don't think they should be limiting you from achieving the rated speed of your processor. You should be able to take the default settings for your voltage and memory timings and just make sure that the FSB is set to 133mhz.

[CrystalMethod]

Hmmm... Josh, do you have an Athlon XP 1400+ or a Athlon 1.4 T-bird? There's a big difference between the two.