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Cooling Amateur needs help from the experts

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Terminat.

Member
Joined
Jan 11, 2004
Okay, here's my spec:

AMD Athlon XP 3200+ At 2.4Ghz/1.725V
MSI K7N2 Delta Series Motherboard (Nforce2)
2x512MB OCZ EL DDR PC3500
Maxtor Diamondmax 10 SATA 7200rpm 200GB
2xOptical Drives (Samsung/Lite-On DVD/CD-RW)
Nexus NX-3500 (350W) Special Edition PSU

I have an Arctic Cooler Copper Silent 2L heatsink, set to high mode (http://www.arctic-cooling.com/cpu2.php?idx=14&disc=) and next to it, I have an Antec 80mm Smart Cool fan blowing air out the back. The heatsink compound is the Arctic Silicone stuff that came with the heatsink.

Here's my problem - I have my 3200+ running at 220Mhz FSB (2.42Ghz.) But to keep it stable I have to keep the vcore at 1.725V, and this quickly overheats the processor. While running 3dMark01SE, it gets to 55C and overheats - locking up the pc (case temp is 40C.)

What can I do on air cooling to get the cpu cool enough to keep it stable at this voltage?
 
I would start by replacing the Artic Cooler. Get a Thermalright XP-90 or something similar and a fairly powerful fan. Then look at your case cooling. How many Case fans are you running?
If you want to push your Core Voltages that high using Air coolin you will need a top of the line HS and some good fans with good CFM ratings to make it happen and keep it stable.
 
tommcd64 said:
The sp-97 is one of the best air coolers around for socket A
Agreed, Either this or the SI97 would be excellent choices. However to balance that, there are alot of tower sinks from TT and many others who would be just as good
 
Have you tried running without your side pannel? 40C is a tad bit hot... Even if you could get a regular house fan blowing on it, I bet load temps would drop a bit.

But in the long run, you WILL need a better heatsink.
 
You should be able to knock off 10C with better case ventilation.

You could knock off another 10C by feeding your CPU room air from a side blowhole.
 
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