[DaveMan]

Hey everyone, Nice little place you all have here. I have read into quite a few Threads but I have one question, I have a P4C800-E Deluxe(Bios1019), 2.8 Northwood, 4x512 Kingston 3200 ECC ram, and eVGA GeForce6800GT. Had it over a year now I think, Only recently have I began overclocking and I have had wonderful results so far by useing the Asus Bios Auto Overclocking utility. Well, Wonderful to me anyway I have managed to get up to 3.2 befor heat starts to scare me (59c max via asus probe w/ Stock Intel Fan). I am looking into getting that sexy Thermaltake BigWater Cooling system. Good Match maby?

So my main question: From what I have read many of you do it manualy overclocking this board. Im just wondering if there is a reason why other than that im sure you can get much better performence doing it manualy.

Im just curious, Im not interested in doing any of the soldering mods I have been reading about, as im a overclock newbie Thanks Guys

[Know Nuttin]

not had personal experience with the thermaltake unit but it looks to be decent. Personally, I'd probably go with an air cooler, like an XP-90/120 and a decent fan.

I don't use those auto tools, I like to have total control over the parameters used to overclock with.

[xTrEmEoVrClOcKr]

Couldn't have said it better.

[SolidxSnake]

I am a horrible bias, but i really wouldn't reccommend that thermaltake... get an Air Cooler (Zalman 7000Cu or a XP-90)

Also, I can't stand those auto controls... just like know nuttin, I like to have control over my overclocks... I want a set voltages, and a certain FSB...

Also:

Welcome to the Overclockers Forums!

[DaveMan]

Cool Thanks guys for the feedback

[UnclePow]

is there any sort of voltage to frequency scale for this board? I know I should be able to overclock quite nicely with it. I've got the Thermalright SLK-900U with the vantec tornado 80mm fan. I've gotten it up to 227-230 FSB stable but I can't remember the voltage setting I used. It was quite a long time ago and the temp in my dorm room is not constant enough to keep it at a high overclock. Should I just leave the voltage on auto?

[DaveMan]

Im at 220 fsb auto voltage right now.. could go higher if it wasnt for the stock cooling, 230 should be easy to get even at auto voltage.

[SolidxSnake]

don't do auto voltage...... keep it around 1.55, and then if you need to raise it, go up by .25 till its stable..

and DON'T GO OVER 1.65...

[$anch3z]

make sure you lock the pci/agp to 33/66 and do the overclocking manually from there. Use memtest 86 on boot from either a cd or floppy and let it run a few cycles of 8. Test 5 is usually indicative of instability elsewhere (not always memory). When you find you might need more volts to achieve stability but with the stock cooler i'd be wary of anything above stock volts and certainly not over 1.6 for now. Steer clear of anything thermaltake for cooling as other have said try a Thermalright heatsink (as close to water as ya gonna get). These boards are infamous for volt droop when you find your ceiling or gewt near it so test with prime 95 for a good few hours too. As you can see from my sig those 2.8's are particually good clockers so good luck dude

[ekoshyun]

Here's a post I started. I always think it's more helpful if you get the exact BIOS settings so you can give things a test run.

Check it out if you want: http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=380385

[DaveMan]

Thanks everyone for your continued input.

$anch3z, I have really been looking into the Thermaltake Bigwater cooling kit, My best friend has just built a new AMD64 system with that kit and its siting in my liveing room taunting me with its MAX 30c temps. Where my PC is Maxing at 59c. He had no trouble setting it up and its been runing fine.

I see you have an Asetek Waterchill, Hows that working for you on that setup? I want a watercooled system, im trying to get as much input as I can to see what one I want to get as the wife gave me the OK to buy one ^^ (Thats hard to do!).

Edit: Thought I would add some links of what im currently looking at.
http://www.thermaltake.com/watercool...r/cl-w0005.htm
http://www.thermaltake.com/watercool...r/cl-w0012.htm
http://www.thermaltake.com/watercool...r/cl-w0009.htm

[AlabamaCajun]

It's a great board, Iv'e gotten a 2.6NW to 3.127 but the KHX3200s(2.5-3-3) dropped to 3448 and 166mhz. Went back, kicked in Turbo and manual oc, set coreV to 1.65, FSB 225 and the dimms at 2.65V at 3-3-3-8. This yielded Sandra Chipset SSE2s of 5150 (highest I've ever done on this board) Ram running at 225(900) 1:1. It ran about 30 mins and GPFed. If I move the core to 1.7V and dimm to 2.75V (warrented for 2.8V) I can probably get it stable. I'm not interested pushing it as I want to at least get to run a 3.2 Prescott in it when 3.2 drop below the $200 mark.

I just wish this board had fan voltage controls in the bios.
BTW I have the TT Fanless 103 and a 90mm case fan taking it's heat. Temps are rarely in the 40's. NB gets to 42 with the NB01-Copper (fan in suck mode) :G

[DaveMan]

Originally Posted by AlabamaCajun

It's a great board, Iv'e gotten a 2.6NW to 3.127 but the KHX3200s(2.5-3-3) dropped to 3448 and 166mhz. Went back, kicked in Turbo and manual oc, set coreV to 1.65, FSB 225 and the dimms at 2.65V at 3-3-3-8. This yielded Sandra Chipset SSE2s of 5150 (highest I've ever done on this board) Ram running at 225(900) 1:1. It ran about 30 mins and GPFed. If I move the core to 1.7V and dimm to 2.75V (warrented for 2.8V) I can probably get it stable. I'm not interested pushing it as I want to at least get to run a 3.2 Prescott in it when 3.2 drop below the $200 mark.

I just wish this board had fan voltage controls in the bios.
BTW I have the TT Fanless 103 and a 90mm case fan taking it's heat. Temps are rarely in the 40's. NB gets to 42 with the NB01-Copper (fan in suck mode) :G

Yeah I wanna try and steer clear of pumping too much power into the core, last thing I wanna do is fry my 2.8NW They kinda hard to find for a good price now days. (yes I know overclocking kills but im takein it slooow)

I agree fan voltage controls would rock. Asus has that AI Booster that can controll the CPU fan and just about anything els on the motherboard(Overclock/Underclock), But I found it, well, Slightly Buggy. Needs work is all, but its a great program concept.

One thing with that though, be carful if anyone reads this and installs it, keep in mind when that program loads up it turns your cpu fan off! Took me a moment and a few heart stoping seconds to find out why my alarms were going off. Asus built in a kinda cool and quiet thing into that program and it kinda lowers cpu fan (or turns it off completely in my case) speed at low temps. Funny thing though I never thought 45c idle was a low temp... Smooth. I sat there with sweat dripping down my forhead watching the cpu heat up past 50c, then 55c and still the fan was off. Sh*t a brick at 60c and scrambled to get the fan moveing again. Craaaazy stuff.

Anyway if you look deep enough into the program you can manualy controll the fan.

[Jojo1971]

Originally Posted by DaveMan

Hey everyone, Nice little place you all have here. I have read into quite a few Threads but I have one question, I have a P4C800-E Deluxe(Bios1019), 2.8 Northwood, 4x512 Kingston 3200 ECC ram, and eVGA GeForce6800GT. Had it over a year now I think, Only recently have I began overclocking and I have had wonderful results so far by useing the Asus Bios Auto Overclocking utility. Well, Wonderful to me anyway I have managed to get up to 3.2 befor heat starts to scare me (59c max via asus probe w/ Stock Intel Fan). I am looking into getting that sexy Thermaltake BigWater Cooling system. Good Match maby?

So my main question: From what I have read many of you do it manualy overclocking this board. Im just wondering if there is a reason why other than that im sure you can get much better performence doing it manualy.

Im just curious, Im not interested in doing any of the soldering mods I have been reading about, as im a overclock newbie Thanks Guys

try BIOS 1018- it boots up slow but overclocks higher and more stable..thats what i noticed in my previous p4c800-e dlx's..

[MrCooper]

If you're using TCCD rams. Use bios 1019-1021 and if your using Hynix/BH5 etc stick with 1016-1018

The P4C800-E has problems with TCCD below bios 1019.

[1cem4n]

I don't like Thermaltake a lot after how they copied Zalman's Passive Watercooling. I still have a Zalman V7700-CU and it works like a charm. 45C idle and 57C load. Good by MY standards and I got a zalman VF7000-CU for my VGA and I'm looking into a new chipset cooler just cause the stock one is just getting so damn hot and I can't get any ventilation from the top of the case.

-1cem4n

[SolidxSnake]

really, don't get the thermaltake bigwater... Temps don't really matter as long as it's stable... but you shouldn't be getting those high of temps... clear out your heatisink of dust, and re-wire your case for better airflow...

took my stock temps down from 57°C to 46°C...

[DaveMan]

Originally Posted by 1cem4n

I don't like Thermaltake a lot after how they copied Zalman's Passive Watercooling. I still have a Zalman V7000-CU and it works like a charm. 45C idle and 57C load. Good by MY standards and I got a zalman VF7000-CU for my VGA and I'm looking into a new chipset cooler just cause the stock one is just getting so damn hot and I can't get any ventilation from the top of the case.

-1cem4n

Those temps your getting, are they with the OC you have at 3.8 on your 2.8? Im getting the same temps with my stock cooling but my 2.8 OC is much lower than yours. I may just get a high end zalman cu, be much easyer.

Edit: Moveing to Cooling section http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=382462

[RangerXLT8]

Originally Posted by SolidxSnake

don't do auto voltage...... keep it around 1.55, and then if you need to raise it, go up by .25 till its stable..

and DON'T GO OVER 1.65...

That's crazy he'll burn up his chip on AIR. DON'T GO OVER 1.5V ON AIR!

[Jojo1971]

Originally Posted by RangerXLT8

That's crazy he'll burn up his chip on AIR. DON'T GO OVER 1.5V ON AIR!

the original poster got a 2.8 northwood not prescott so 1.65 max sohould be okay