will water cooling get better results?

if i can get fsb of 260 on stock boxed cooler, what could i get if i used a water block? my chip is 2.6c costa rica, 3317a139,5/28/03.
i have it on a ic7 00 bios, with 2- 256 xms3500c2. hardware doctor reports 50C idle temp. i used the 4:5 ratio, locked the agp/pci, ram voltage at 2.7, cpu voltage one notch above 'by cpu' sorry didn't pay attention to that number just the levels/notches... it might be 1.55 not sure. i tried fsb 265, and 270, and raised the cpu voltage to the 3rd 'notch/setting' from default. but all i got was a dim frozen loading screen - the one where you see the load bar moving from left to right under the text.

the ic7 looks so nice, i'm thinking doing a mod job on the side- plexiglass.

oh yeah, the ram is at 'spd'

thanks-

water won't help you, sorry, but it only helps lower the temps.
I don't think you have a temp problem at this time.(yet,I have no idea what your temps are.)

you are going to have to raise the voltage on your memory to 2.8vdimm.
you may, or may not need the extra voltage to the cpu, but I'm quite sure you'll need to raise the vdimm to go higher.

I think you have more room in that cpu, try to find out by going 3/2 mem ratio first.
you can always try 5/4 ratio later. still use 2.8vdimm, so the mem won't hold you back.

on the abit cd if you search around, you'll find something called abit flashmenu....
load it, then flash to the latest bios....1.4 or the 1.5beta

good luck

mica

how are people geting fsb above 260? are most of them using the 4:5 ratio? i know that 3:2 yeilds higher fsb at the expense of band with. so my next question is- did i hit my 4:5 ratio wall at 260? could i get a higher fsb at the 4:5 ratio?

also what would be the settings to keep my ram at spd, closest to spec, is that at fsb of 250? i read it somewhere. what about 1:1?

last thing what do i gain going from bois 00 to 14?

thanks

first, I don't think you're using the 4/5 ratio....
you're using the 5/4 ratio.

next, your going to need 2.8vdimm.

what you gain from the 1.4bios is:
you'll be able to change the ram timmings and have faster bandwith scores from the improved bios.

try what I say first, then get back to us.

mica

i was able to hit 265 fsb last night. i was wondering how to set up the N/B strap? i have it set at 'by cpu.' should i relax the ram timings to the slowest?

thanks

- i also noticed that my tp430 runs much cooler in the new system then it did when i was running my 2100+

do you think that mother board or cpu could make a psu run warmer? i thought that was strange. also the only problem with my setup was my 9700pro. warcraft 3 would constantly crash within 15 seconds if i used any other driver other then 3.2... and the stock p2.6c only feels psychologically better then my old 2100+ with pc133c2 ram! but the new setup looks killer, black board/dark chocolate!

my next plan is do a home depot/lowes/swiftech water job in the next few weeks.

I think that you'd be able to overclock at least a little higher if you switched from the stock intel HSF to a well-designed water cooling setup.

I know that 3:2 yeilds higher fsb at the expense of band width.

Click to expand...

Not exactly. Read these two articles:

http://overclockers.com/articles756/
http://overclockers.com/articles758/

They talk about how memory speed has very little effect on overall performance compared to CPU speed with these new intel chipsets.

Set your CPU:Memory ratio to 3:2. That way you'll be able to tell just how fast you can push your processor.

Yes, he might get a little more out of the system with water cooling, but if he's a newbie on a budget, it sure ain't worth it. I'd get a better heatsink and fan first long before I worried about watercooling.

I agree BB. I was just responding to this:

micamica1217 said:

water won't help you, sorry, but it only helps lower the temps.

Click to expand...

but the water cooling setup seems exotic. swiftech 8500 kit seems like the perfect water begginers cooling setup. i hear it's just as good as the best air cooler, but it's 4 times the price at $210.

With a little time spent on some research, you could easily put together your own water cooling kit. Buying the parts separately will not only save you money, it will give you better performance than any kit out there, provided you do your homework.

If you are set on buying a wc kit, then performance-wise, the Corsair HydroCool is the best out there. I've also heard a few people say that it is simply the easiest water cooling setup to use, PERIOD. It's also about the same price as that Swiftech kit.

Just make sure that you do a little research before you delve into water cooling. I can't tell you how many posts from people on these forums I've seen that say something to the effect of "man, I wish I hadn't bought a water cooling kit. I wish I had put together my own wc setup."

Just something to think about.

i can't seem to get any thing higher then 260 fsb, 3:2, strap 800, fixed 66/33, 2-7-3-3ram.
i can run the above at 4:5 also. i think i was able to hit 265 but the voltage was liek 3 notches past default, so i got scared of that. i want better cooling before i start to crank up the voltage.

i don't even know if the computer is stable, never did those prime tests that i read about you guys doing for stress loading. right now cpu temps are 42.5C at 1.5 volts. i have this crazzy feeling that if i raised the voltage up to 4 notches, it could hit 265 fsb with 4:5. would lowering the strap, and ram timings help to get to 275? i am so close, i can almost taste it! i hope i can get there. look at what this forum did to me... hahaa

thanks-

I have 2GB of ram so that may be some of my problem but I have a 430w true power and it is dogging it. I plugged in a 12v fan and it locked up the system.

How good is your PSU?

3.4GHz is pretty good especially with no extra vcore.

Also wanted to add my ram doesn't seem to like voltages above 2.6v for some reason. Maybe it is too much power draw from the ram mosfets or caps?

the h/w strap tells the mobo which memory ratios to let you use (3:2 for example), you're fine with it at the by cpu setting.
another thing you can try is to use the pci dividers to set your fsb instead of locking it at 33. just try to keep the frequency under 70/37. that's something to try at least, it helped on the bh7 back when it was new.

Jo-Jo said:

i can't seem to get any thing higher then 260 fsb, 3:2, strap 800, fixed 66/33, 2-7-3-3ram.
i can run the above at 4:5 also. i think i was able to hit 265 but the voltage was liek 3 notches past default, so i got scared of that. i want better cooling before i start to crank up the voltage.

i don't even know if the computer is stable, never did those prime tests that i read about you guys doing for stress loading. right now cpu temps are 42.5C at 1.5 volts. i have this crazzy feeling that if i raised the voltage up to 4 notches, it could hit 265 fsb with 4:5. would lowering the strap, and ram timings help to get to 275? i am so close, i can almost taste it! i hope i can get there. look at what this forum did to me... hahaa

thanks-

Click to expand...

OK, now that you gave a little more info, we can help.

you seem realy new to OCing........
forget watercooling for now, it's simple, and quite good, but a great HS and quiet fan will be all you'll need.

you need to learn how to OC first before looking at water.

first get out a piece of paper and a pen....
now you'll be able to write down what your voltage settings and stuff is so you can remember it when you try to tell us.
(voltage is 3 "notches" above default)

next, testing for stability is more important then just playing around.
we can't help you if we don't know if it is fully stable at a certan speed. run prime95 for as long as you can stand it, before going higher.
when you think you maxed out the cpu at stock voltage, then run prime for at least 4hrs....we need to know it's stable.
I always run prime95 for at least 24hrs at my final OCed speed.

temps: we need idle and full lode temps....anything less and your asking us to guess. try not to go above 50c at lode.

voltage: don't go higher then 1.7vcore....but do raise the voltage if you have to for stability.

ratios: man, I just don't think you are using the 4/5 ratio, or trying to.
you are trying the 5/4 ratio....yes, there is a big differance, and we need proper info to help.

responding: if I or anyone here, asks you a question, or gave you advice, please respond with a reply.
it's the best way we know if something worked for you, or not.

with a little reading, and some testing, you'll be well on your way to OCing goodness.

please let us know if you tryed everthing I as well as others said to get your rig stable.

good luck on your testing....

mica

ol' man said:

I have 2GB of ram so that may be some of my problem but I have a 430w true power and it is dogging it. I plugged in a 12v fan and it locked up the system.

How good is your PSU?

3.4GHz is pretty good especially with no extra vcore.

Click to expand...

we have the same psu, tp430. i had the tp330 first, but it ran really hot in my old amd system. so i thought it was defective, i exchanged it with 430 instead. but that also ran at the same temperatures. so i just left it alone, thinking that the 430 would be better when i would uprade the rest of the system later. fast forward to 'later,' and the tp430 runs considerably cooler now. maybe it's the cpu, or the mother board? the am is now corsair in stead of kinsgston c2. i also chose to upgrade from tp330 to tp430, because of Larva's recomendations.

as far as ram voltage, Mica told me 2.8v. so that's what i do.

updates:
fsb 265
psb800
dram ratio (cpu:dram) 5:4
fixed
66/33
-----

cpu 1.55v
dram 2.8v
agp 1.55v
-----

cas latency time 2
act to precharge delay 7
dram ras# to cas# delay 3
dram ras# to precharge 3
-----------------------------------------
all this results with:

internal clock 345.28
system clock 265.42
system bus speed 1061.69
idle temps 42.c
* when i first booted into windows, i imediately opened the my 'eye' (hehe) winbond dr. and cpu was reporting 54C. but then after sometime, it now reads 42.5. is this the 'throttling effect,' and if so, does it reduce my cpu crunching poewer? is this one of the reasons my 3d marks scores are a bit lower then i expected?
----

if i even try to play around with the game settings, things start to get really weird, so i just leave it at auto.

as for prime 95tests, i will start them tonight.

You have the RAM timings set pretty aggressive, try relaxing them to see if that's a problem. Use something like 3, 9, 4, 4 just to see what happens. I'm not saying to leave them at those settings, this is just to test if that's holding you back. The temp change is because when you first boot, the CPU temps spike due to all the system checks and initial boot sequence, then the system idles which allows the temps to drop. There is a little lag period because temps rise faster than they fall. Thermal throttling kicks in between 65 to 70 degrees. The game settings suck, just leave them at default.

http://mywebpages.comcast.net/obernard/260 ratio54.bmp

some screen shoots, but i haven't prime loaded the system yet.