My first successful OC

[Krusty]

I just had to announce that I am proud to now be an official overclocker (now to get that new member thing off my name).

I found out that the reason my system was bogged down enough to need underclocking was my crappy brand pc2100 memory that wouldnt perform over 129mhz. So I bought myself 2x256 meg sticks of corsair pc2400 c2 RAM and a 120mm 108cfm fan.

Just yesterday, I popped in the new memory and found that I was able to finally run my 1.4 athlon at 1.4. I busted out the jig saw and drill and put a nice hole in the case over my cpu. I attached the fan, made a cheap 120mm-60mm converter/duct out of cardboard and duct tape (made sure to leave about 1/2 to 1 inch room between duct and hsf).

I hopped in the BIOS, set my memory to 2-2-2 (default is 2-3-3), upped my fsb up to 145mhz in 3mhz or so increments and found that my system seems to be running stable at 1.52ghz and memory performing better than I had expected.

I, however, do appear to have a problem. From what I have read on these forums, putting a duct on the side of the case seems to bring cpu temps down drastically, sometimes to below motherboard temp. After running 3dmark 2001 in a loop for about half an hour, my cpu temp reaches 50C. My mobo temp doesnt seem to be decreasing by much either. I have not tested out my system under load for more than an hour, so I am afraid to attempt an OC to 1600 at the moment.

Here are the options I believe I may have to fix this:

remove my fan from my glaciator hsf. It may actually be hindering airflow.

up my vcore. I am still running at stock vcore (pretty sure this will RAISE temps though)

find a way to increase airflow --I don't see how this is possible though. My computer already sounds like an airplane.


Along with the stuff in my sig, here are some other specs:
120mm fan in case over cpu
slot blower below video card
PSU exhaust fan
80mm (or is it 92?) exhaust fan in rear of case near cpu
80mm (or is it 92?) exhaust fan in front of case (I just flipped this one to exhaust since i put in the 120mm fan)
2 5 1/4 HDD coolers intake that consist of 3 little fans each

I could use a little help for maximizing my performance. I can reach 7200 in 3dmark 2001 with a 20/20 OC to my video card too

I made a quick airflow diagram to help everyone visualize my system too.

Oh, and one more thing! What program do you people use for displaying cpu and video card temps and cpu speed and such? I thought it was SANDRA, but I haven't found a screen that gives all the information in one nice picture.

p.s. sorry about the crappy picture. I'm at school right now and had to use mspaint

[foxmulder]

Congrats on your successful OC. While your temps could be lower I don't think they're too bad either. You could probably try to go a little higher without risking damage to your CPU (other may disagree with me on this). Most of the people around here use MBM5 to dispay temps and fan activity. Just beware that the temp readings are hardly ever really accurate.

[Thelemac]

Well, you probably want to work on your airflow a bit. Something where all the air comes in the back and goes out the front. That way you don't really have too much in the way of air currents that are going nuts. I'd say that taking out the fan from your Glaciator isn't really going to help...it's blowing air just like your other fan is. You might actually consider trying it without the duct...just to see if you get overall cooler system temps.

Good to hear that you're making progress! :)

*Moved to "Cooling"*

[dugans]

I have better results with my airflow coming in the front bottom and cpu duct, and out the back of the case, the psu and the chimney fan at the top.

My front fan is a 120 on a rheostat to change speed: my best results are at about 1/3 max speed. I haven't done math to find this config, just trial and error. Cardboard makes great temporary case sides and ducts!

But different cases/systems seem to prefer airflow different ways(see post up above!) I'd try different things and monitor the temps until you find what works best for you.

[Krusty]

Originally posted by foxmulder
Most of the people around here use MBM5 to dispay temps and fan activity. Just beware that the temp readings are hardly ever really accurate.
:(So what should I use to get accurate temp measurements? I've heard Asus Probe, which came bundled with my motherboard, gives inaccurate measurements too.

[LinkStatic]

Originally posted by Krusty

:(So what should I use to get accurate temp measurements? I've heard Asus Probe, which came bundled with my motherboard, gives inaccurate measurements too.


ASUS probe reads 10oC higher... you can use MBM5. There's no any other utils that I've heard that really measures accurately temps for AMP MPU's....

[Robbie]

dude seems to me like you have WAY too much air comming out of your case and NOT ENOUGH comming in. According to what you posted you only have the one fan over the cpu blowing air INTO the case but at least three sucking air out.

Check it out.

Rob

[Krusty]

Originally posted by Robbie
dude seems to me like you have WAY too much air comming out of your case and NOT ENOUGH comming in. According to what you posted you only have the one fan over the cpu blowing air INTO the case but at least three sucking air out.

Check it out.

Rob

yeah, the 2 80mm fans I have in the case now are pretty pathetic. I don't know what they can push, but I'm sure it's less than 30 cfm. If those two handled 30, and the system blower handled 40, that would be 110. the 120mm fan does 108. The 2 hard drive coolers probably do a bit under 30 or so. That puts me at 110 + PSU fan out and 138 in.

I just realized my duct was about 1cm off center, so I moved my duct a bit to see how my performance is. I'll post the temps from asusprobe and mdm5 pretty soon here to see what everyone thinks.

[Krusty]

Ok, mbm5 and Asus Probe are both registering my cpu temp at 43C and my motherboard temp at 34C both idle. VCORE is at 1.76 still. My 5v lead has dropped to 4.86 and 3.3v is down to 3.23.

Asus Probe doesn't seem to like running with mbm5 though. It keeps saying my 12v lead is dropping to like .05 and my cpu is spiking to like 300c and stuff. Guess I'll just have to trust mbm. I'm gonna run 3dmark 2001 for a couple hours while I do some homework to see how I perform now.

[Krusty]

Ok, I ran 3dmark2001 in a loop for an hour while running SANDRA burn-in (cpu, multi media, memory) looped in the background and my full load temps are 47C cpu, 36Cmobo. Not too bad, but now I want lower mobo temps. Guess the next step is a little chimney exhaust action out the top.

[Robbie]

ok dude just checked out your pic of your system

[Robbie]

ok dude just checked out your pic of your system and I think the lower right of the system should be sucking in COLD air. You don't have ENOUGH cold air comming in.

Rob