Need Advice on OC - Newbie being dangerous!

[Golferdude]

Well this is my first attempt at OC. I seem to have a stable system, running just over 8 hrs on Prime 95 version 25, small sft. The temps are too high I think. They are very steady at: Core 0/1 = 70C and Core 2/3 = 67C. I am set up at 3.2 MHz, 356 x 9, Vcore loaded is 1.25, in bios it is set at, excuse me here as I forgot to write it down, but it is two steps down from 1.35. I had been working up from 1.32 to find what would boot. The ram is set at 2.5 times, so 890, with 5-5-5-15 settings. I have G(MCH) at +.2.

I have the fans set at: Lower one is on high, top back is medium, top is medium, CPU is high, pulling through and aimed up towards the top fan which is pulling it out. I did lap the heatsink but not the CPU.

Idle temps are around 48C.

The ambient temp is around 28C or 82F

Any suggestions on cooling it down or on the OC'ing.

Thanks.. Jimmy

[batboy]

1 rear (standard) 120mm Fan with 3-speed switch control
1 top (standard) 120mm Fan
1 lower chamber (standard) 120mm Fan
1 front (optional) 120mm fan
1 middle (optional) 120mm fan to cool graphics cards

I'm trying to figure out your current cooling. Above is what I found in a review of your case. Sounds like you have the provided fans, but not the optional ones. The lower chamber has one intake fan and the PSU serves as exhaust. I'm assuming both 120mm fan in the top and top rear are exhaust. Load and idle temps are too high which suggests you need better air flow. Looks like you need to fill the optional fan openings with a couple more 120mm fans.

[Golferdude]

Yes the lower one pulls in but it is pretty isolated from the top chamber (cpu. I did put the Raptors down in the lower chamber to keep the heat out of the cpu/board area. I can only put one more fan in, the front one, now that I have hard drives in the upper box. So if I get one more, just have it blow towards the board, pulls in more air?

And the top ones are exhausting air...

[batboy]

Yes, install another fan in the front and make it an intake (blowing into the case). You'll still have negative pressure, but it should be better.

[jason4207]

Put all your fans on high while you OC.

You may want to re-mount. Maybe try using less AS5 this time. Your temps aren't too high, but they are high for the speed you're running. You should be around 70* at 3.6GHz.

Set your RAM at 2.0 until you get everything else where you want it. Then I suggest you keep it at 2.0, and just tighten timings as much as possible, but some prefer to run the RAM faster...up to you.

I don't know how much difference it makes, but I have my CPU fan on push...you have yours on pull.

[Golferdude]

Being a noobie here, on the ram, how do you change the voltage on it. Is there a program to use to modify the bios besides just the one you get by hitting the del as it post? I can change the 5-5-5-15 to 4-4-4-12 but haven't seen the voltage setting any where, besides where I can add voltage by .1 .

On the AS5, I didn't use it, I used the AS ceramique....that might be one of the problems. I was going to run to Fry's and get another fan and some AS5 and put the fan in and lap the CPU and use the AS5.

[jason4207]

You have to press cntrl-F1 while in the BIOS for more options to open up.

The RAM voltage is near the bottom of the MIT section. DRAM overvoltage control

[Golferdude]

I do the Ctrl-F1 but I am thinking it just lets you add voltage....not specify a voltage...or is that adding from 1.8?

[GTengineer]

I do the Ctrl-F1 but I am thinking it just lets you add voltage....not specify a voltage...or is that adding from 1.8?

you are adding in 0.1V increments to 1.8V, so +0.2V equals 2.0V

ctrl+F1 is for memory timing table

[Golferdude]

Ok.....I think the Ballistic's spec 2.2 at 4-4-4-12....should I just put it there or leave it at 2.0.

[batboy]

Ballistix likes voltage. While you probably don't really need 2.2v until you reach DDR2-800 (400 FSB using the 1:1 ratio), might as well use 2.2v (+0.4) at least for now, so that you'll have one less thing to worry about as you sort out max speed for your system.

[Golferdude]

Will do that on the ram voltage.

I took the ultra extreme 120 off the processor and you can see where it was making good contact...about 35 percent of the processor. So after I lap it and put the fan in front, hopefully it will be alot cooler.

Would it help much to put another fan on the UE120 where it is pushing while the top one is pulling and then the case fan is pulling also?

[Golferdude]

Well I took out my cpu and lapped it. It was def. not flat. Then I used AS5, spread it with a razor blade. And on the HS I just ran it on the sandpaper to get a new clean look and then cleaned it up with alcohol, 91%.

I also put a fan in the front middle, pulling air in. It was a Tri-cool, Fry's didn't have much in the 120mm, tons of LED ones but I didn't want one of those.

I also put one of the drives from the middle bay down in the bottom bay. I still have one in the middle which is partially blocking the fan but you can fell the air coming in at the mobo though. I thought about mounting the hard drive in the fdd bay, but it mounts flat on it and wasn't sure about the heat issue with that, so I left it in the middle bay.

Well, my temps are a little better, 66C under load, but still around 47C at idle. And my core temps though have a higher split on temps, now around 5-6C where I was at 3. Not sure if I didn't get enough AS5 or the AS ceramique is better.

Any ideas on getting the idle temp down?

[batboy]

If you cut out the perforated fan openings, that helps air flow and makes the fans a little quieter. Sounds like you have decent case ventilation now. I would think that Scythe heatsink really should perform better. What fan do you have mounted on the heatsink? Maybe you need higher flow blowing across the fins. Might try a second fan for push/pull.

[Golferdude]

I have the scythe SFF21E. Should I relap and reseat the heatsink since I had better temp range between the cores before?

I have another fan, a Tricool, and I could mount it to do the push/pull on the HS.

And I should run the fans all on high or run the exhaust on med and the intake on high to create a positive pressure?

[batboy]

At this point, I encourage experimenting with different fan speeds and different fan setups on the heatsink. Remounting the heatsink might be worthwhile too. It will also give you an idea of contact after you lapped and whether you have enough (or too much) thermal paste. Really though, mid 60's load temp for an overclocked quad on air is not bad.

[Golferdude]

But the idle is pretty high isn't it...I figured if I could get that down some I would be happy with the mid 60's on load...